Media and Mass Atrocity Prevention: Three Pathways of Potential Influence

This article critically examines the media’s complex role in both facilitating and obstructing the prevention of mass atrocities, identifying three key pathways of influence: structural prevention, operational prevention, and crisis response. It addresses a gap in existing research, which has primarily explored media influence on humanitarian aid and political support for interventions, while paying less attention to its specific role in atrocity prevention. By integrating insights from mass atrocity research with scholarship on news media and journalism, and drawing on expert interviews and a practitioner workshop, this article deepens understanding of the interdependencies between media, political actors, and society in high-risk contexts. It also suggests new research avenues to explore these dynamics further and offers some recommendations for journalists, media organisations, and funders.