A Barricade, a Bridge, and a Wall Cypriot Journalism and the Mediation of Conflict in Cyprus
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Abstract
This paper draws on frameworks provided by scholars concerned with the possibility of peace oriented journalism in order to highlight a decidedly conflict centred approach guiding the production and circulation of information in Cypriot media and underscore the problematic (and often unquestioned) role that Cypriot media play in helping to shape the knowledge environments in which publics and policy makers take their cues and consider their options for intervention and action in the seemingly intractable “Cyprus Problem”. One example through which this dynamic becomes visible is a series of news articles published between November 2005 and February 2006 reporting on the opening of an historic landmark that has divided Nicosia,1 the capital of Cyprus, for over forty years. These newspaper articles suggest that the Cypriot media embrace a conflict-centred approach to peace efforts by shaping news that contributes to the increased mystification of the conflict and to a retrenching of divisive attitudes, sympathetic to a cementing of division. The “shaping” takes place indirectly through the “selection” of quotes from elite sources that re-present dominant points of view from within each community. News reporting tends to follow the lead and reproduce the limited perspectives of major national party politics rather than provide a sustained critique of those points of view.
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Nicosia, Communication, Media, Journalist, Journalism, Peace, Press, Ledra Street
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