Media Reporting of War Crimes Trials and Civil Society Responses in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone
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Media Reporting of War Crimes Trials and Civil Society Responses in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone Abou Binneh-Kamara This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. Media Reporting of War Crimes Trials and Civil Society Responses in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone By Abou Bhakarr M. Binneh-Kamara A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. January, 2015 ABSTRACT This study, which seeks to contribute to the shared-body of knowledge on media and war crimes jurisprudence, gauges the impact of the media’s coverage of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) and Charles Taylor trials conducted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on the functionality of civil society organizations (CSOs) in promoting transitional (post-conflict) justice and democratic legitimacy in Sierra Leone. The media’s impact is gauged by contextualizing the stimulus-response paradigm in the behavioral sciences. Thus, media contents are rationalized as stimuli and the perceptions of CSOs’ representatives on the media’s coverage of the trials are deemed to be their responses. The study adopts contents (framing) and discourse analyses and semi-structured interviews to analyse the publications of the selected media (For Di People, Standard Times and Awoko) in Sierra Leone. The responses to such contents are theoretically explained with the aid of the structured interpretative and post-modernistic response approaches to media contents. And, methodologically, CSOs’ representatives’ responses to the media’s contents are elicited by ethnographic surveys (group discussions) conducted across the country. The findings from the contents and discourse analyses, semi-structured interviews and ethnographic surveys are triangulated to establish how the media’s coverage of the two trials impacted CSOs’ representatives’ perceptions on post-conflict justice and democratic legitimacy in Sierra Leone. To test the validity and reliability of the findings from the ethnographic surveys, four hundred (400) questionnaires, one hundred (100) for each of the four regions (East, South, North and Western Area) of Sierra Leone, were administered to barristers, civil/public servants, civil society activists, media practitioners, students etc. The findings, which reflected the perceptions of people from large swathe of opinions in Sierra Leone, appeared to have dovetailed with those of the CSOs’ representatives across the country. The study established that the media’s coverage of the CDF trial appeared to have been tainted with ethno-regional prejudices, and seemed to be ‘a continuation of war by other means’. However, the focus groups perceived the media reporting as having a positive effect on the pursuit of post-conflict justice, good governance and democratic accountability in Sierra Leone. The coverage of the Charles Taylor trial appeared to have been devoid of ethno-regional prejudices, but, in the view of the CSOs, seemed to have been coloured by lenses of patriotism and nationalism. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must thank the British Academy for funding this project and my post-graduate study at the University of Bedfordshire. To my tireless supervisor, Professor Jon Silverman, I acknowledge your unwavering supports and contributions to this thesis, which would not have seen the light of dawn without your critical but invaluable comments. I must also express sincere thanks, appreciation and gratitude to Professor Ivor Gaber (University of Bedfordshire), Professor S. P. Thomas-Gbamanja and Mrs. Bernadette Cole (University of Sierra Leone) and Dr. Josephus Jeremiah Brimah-Jah (Njala University), for the relentless moral and academic spurring, which they demonstrated to me since the dawn of this project. To my late brother, Musa Binneh-Kamara and spiritual father Reverend Torkumboh, I salute you for the moral supports and encouragements you gave me up to when you departed this World. To my mother, Rugiatu Bangura, and late father, Rabin Binneh-Kamara, I say thank you for everything. Finally, to my son, Travis, the light in my life, I say a big thank you. ii LIST OF FIGURES CDF TRIAL Figure 1: For Di People’s Reportage Figure 2: Standard Times’ Reportage Figure 3: Awoko’s Reportage Figure 4: The Selected Media’s Total Reportage (CDF trial) Figure 5: Break down of the Total Reportage of the Selected Media (CDF trial) TAYLOR TRIAL Figure 6: For Di People’s Reportage Figure 7: Standard Times’ Reportage Figure 8: Awoko’s Reportage Figure 9: The Selected Media’s Total Reportage (Taylor trial) Figure 10: Breakdown of the Total Reportage of the Selected Media (Taylor trial) TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE Figure 11: Age Distribution of Respondents Figure 12: Distribution of whether respondents provided vital information Figure 13: Response about whether the money spent on the CDF trial was worth while Figure 14: Response about whether the money spent on the Taylor trial was worthwhile iii LIST OF TABLES CDF TRIAL Table 1: For Di People’s Reportage (CDF trial) Table 2: Standard Times’ Reportage (CDF trial) Table 3: Awoko’s Reportage (CDF trial) Table 4: The Selected Media’s Total Reportage (CDF trial) Table 5: Comprehensive Representation of the Reportage (CDF trial) TAYLOR TRIAL Table 6: For Di People’s Reportage (Taylor trial) Table 7: Standard Times’ Reportage (Taylor trial) Table 8: Awoko’s Reportage (Taylor trial) Table 9: The Selected Media’s Total Reportage (Taylor trial) Table 10: Comprehensive Representation of the Total Reportage (Taylor trial) TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE Table 11: Occupational Distribution Table 12: Sex Distribution Table 13: Age Distribution Table 14: Respondents’ Awareness of the Media’s reporting of the CDF and Taylor trials Table 15: Sources of Information about the trials Table 16: Responses to whether the Respondents understood what the Media Reported about the CDF trial iv Table 17: Responses to whether the Respondents understood what the Media Reported about the Taylor trial Table 18: Responses to whether the Media’s Coverage provided vital information about the trial of the CDF Leaders Table 19: How the Media’s Coverage of the CDF trial influenced Respondents’ Opinion Table 20: How the Media’s Coverage of the Taylor trial influenced Respondents’ Opinion Table 21a: Responses about whether the Media’s Coverage of the CDF trial was balanced Table 21b: Responses about whether the Media’s Coverage of the Taylor trial was balanced Table 22: Responses about why the money spent in the CDF trial not considered worthwhile Table 23: Reasons why the money spent on the Taylor trial not considered worthwhile Table 24: Things learned from the TRC Hearing through the Media’s Coverage Table 25: Influences of the Media’s Coverage of the TRC proceedings on the attitudes of Respondents towards the Justice system of Sierra Leone v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….i Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………. ii List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...iii List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….................iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………….1 1.1 Background and Research Context ……………………………………………………………………………………1 1.2 Aims and Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 1.3 Research Questions ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 1.4 Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 1.5 Significance of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………..7 1.7 Thesis Structure ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………………………………….9 2.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9 2.1 The Media and War Crimes Jurisprudence ……………………………………………………………………..10 2.1.1 The Media and the Nuremberg Military Tribunal ………………………………………………..11 2.1.2 The Media and the Tokyo Military Tribunal …………………………………………………………12 2.1.3 Cold War Politics, the Media and War Crimes Jurisprudence ………………………………14 2.1.4 The Media and the ICTY and ICTR ……………………………………………………………………….15 2.2 Advancing the Frontiers of Media and War Crimes Jurisprudence …………………………………19 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS ……………………………………..33 3.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 3.1 The Media ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 3.1.1 Media History in Perspective ………………………………………………………………………………38 3.1.2 The Print Media ………………………………………………………………………………………………….39 vi 3.1.3 The Electronic Media ………………………………………………………………………………………….40 3.1.4 Media Groupings ………………………………………………………………………………………………..41 3.1.5 Functional and Conflict Perspective of the Media ……………………………………………….42 3.2 Civil Society …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….43 3.3 Transitional (Post-Conflict) Justice ………………………………………………………………………………….53 3.3.1 The SCSL and the TRC: Implications for Transitional Justice and War Crimes Jurisprudence in Sierra Leone ……………………………………………………………………………..57 3.4 The Media, Civil Society and Transitional Justice: The Theoretical Synergy Analysed …..…62 CHAPTER FOUR: MODELS OF MEDIA ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………………………67 4.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………67 4.1 Content Models of Media Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………67 4.2 Response Models of Media Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………78 CHAPTER FIVE: