Forging Peace: Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space [Hardcover]

Mark Thompson (Author), Monroe Edwin Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2002

The bloody conflicts of the past decade have focused international attention on the strategic role of the media in promoting war and perpetuating chaos. Written against this backdrop, Forging Peace brings together case studies and legal analysis of the steps that the United Nations, NATO, and other organizations have taken to build pluralist and independent media in the wake of massive human rights violations. It examines current thinking on the legality of unilateral humanitarian intervention, and analyzes in graphic detail the pioneering use of information intervention techniques in conflict zones, ranging from full-scale bombardment and confiscation of transmitters to the establishment of new laws and regulatory regimes. With its focus on the role of media in preventing human rights violations, Forging Peace will influence policy and debate for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Monroe E. Price is the founder and co-director of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford. He is also the Joseph and Sadie Danciger Professor of Law at Yeshiva University. He is author and editor of numerous books, including Television, the Public Sphere and National Identity.

Mark Thompson is a freelance writer and consultant. He is author of A Paper House: The Ending of Yugoslavia and Forging War: The Media in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina--chosen as "Book of the Year" in The Guardian and The Observer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (August 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253341973
• ISBN-13: 978-0253341976
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,236,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exceptional discussion of media intervention, July 30, 2003

By 

P. Nagy "revreader" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forging Peace: Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space (Paperback)

Forging Peace focuses primarily on the problems of media management in conflict and post-conflict situations. More specifically it examines situations where Western democracies, the United Nations, the OSCE and even the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have attempted to transform the media sector in third party states. By examining the legal and political context of the new interest in media before, during, and after conflict, the contributors make current trends more visible and illuminate the relationship between speech and force in international affairs.
Together the contributors consider how international law is changing to encompass, reflect, and channel intervention practices. They each from various academic, legal and diplomatic perspectives look at `information intervention' through the lens of human rights principles, especially those relating to restrictions on hate speech and the right to receive and impart information. They examine the distinctions between State-authorized and rogue uses of media to incite conflict; between authorized and unauthorized incidents of information intervention; and between preventive intervention as opposed to that directed towards resolving conflict. And they test some of the justifications that are articulated for different forms of information intervention, actions that range from mere monitoring of broadcasts to the total reformulation of media laws, and ultimately the seizure or bombing of transmitters, and full-blown cyberwarfare.

5.0 out of 5 stars Precise, Analytical, and Thoughtful, May 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Forging Peace: Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space (Paperback)

Monroe Price and Mark Thompson have assembled a fantastic array of scholars, thinkers, and lawyers who each bring to bear a unique perspective on the intractable relationship between media and conflict. From Alison DesForges's discussion about the impact of hate speech in Rwanda to former U.S. State Department official Jamie Metzl's discussion about United States actions in Somalia, Kosovo, and Serbia the book answers many interesting questions but raises many more. Of particular interest were Eric Blinderman's chapter which discussed the legal rules surrounding, what he terms "information intervention," and Stephanie Farrior's discussion about the legal principles related to hate speech.