Media between warmongers and peacemakers

This article addresses key assumptions about the role of media in conflict prevention and proposes to be deeply skeptical about these assumptions which project onto information and communication unrealistic expectations about their impact on human relations. Although there may be doubts about the media's peacemaking potential, it can be demonstrated that news media can make matters a lot worse and can certainly contribute to the escalation of group conflicts into mass killings. This is especially so when media workers become agents for the dissemination of the `elimination belief' and when media are intentionally used as weapons to incite people to commit crimes against humanity. It is therefore of utmost importance that public expressions of elimination beliefs are spotted — and subsequently exposed! — as early as possible. An International Media Alert System (IMAS) is needed to monitor media contents in areas of conflict. This system would provide an `early warning' where and when media set the climate for crimes against humanity and begin to motivate people to kill others.