Media and Past Conflict in Europe

Focusing on how the history of past conflicts is mediated in the present and recent past in six European countries, this book explores media processes as they intersect with power dynamics and hegemonic narratives of history and historical memory.

The analysis centers around six countries that have experienced past conflict and traumatic past histories–Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Kosovo–selected based on the type of conflict (emanating from WWII, authoritarian past, colonial past, interethnic conflict, or communist past) and its ongoing relevance. Focusing on the mediation of past conflict, the book revolves around the following questions: How do countries that have gone through historical trauma mediate this troubled past? How do they navigate processes of production, representation, and reception? How do journalists negotiate the competing demands of professional values, political tensions, and the emotional fallout of conflict and trauma? How do audiences/publics engage with content that may misrepresent their community or experiences? How do representations of past conflict change over time? How are the mediations of the past involved in present-day politics?

Setting out in each chapter the implications of their analysis for journalistic education and practice, the book will attract readers among academics in the area of media and conflict and media and memory; students of media, communications, and journalism; and journalists who write on past conflict and commemoration, as well as those writing and researching on the six countries that form the case studies.