The humanity of war: iconic photojournalism of the battlefield, 1914–2012

This article examines the changing ethics of war photojournalism. It provides a review of the major paradigms of war communication studies, propaganda and memory studies, to argue that, despite their contributions, neither focuses on historical change in the ethics of war. In the light of an analytical discussion of iconic images of the First World War and Second World War as well as the War on Terror in terms of how they portray the battlefield the article argues that there is a historical shift towards an increasingly explicit visualisation of war, which today tends to emphasise the emotional, rather than physical, impact of the battlefield upon both soldiers and civilians. This shift, it concludes, reflects the contemporary political context of humanitarian wars fought with a view to alleviating suffering, rather than wars fought over national sovereignty

The politics of political communication: Competing news discourses of the 2011 Egyptian protests.

The world witnessed the Egyptian community building political protests toward fundamental government change in early 2011. This research explores how news discourse across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the U.S. constructed these political protests, and how media figure in their narratives. Digital media became central characters in the U.S. version, which often referred to events in Egypt as a ‘facebook revolution’. We question whether this emphasis was shared across other news sources outside of the U.S. in the Arab region. This study builds on research conducted on news discourse of political protests, how U.S. media cover the Middle East, and how comparative research informs our knowledge of political communication

Problems of news culture and truth: the BBC's representation of the invasion of Iraq

This article considers the truth value of the BBC's reporting of the invasion of Iraq in the context of Hannah Arendt's consideration of the US invasion of Vietnam. Arendt theorized that the ‘Pentagon Papers’ exposed a new approach to truth and lies – the ‘modern political lie’ at the heart of modern politics. In this article, Arendt's concept of the modern political lie is examined and comparisons made with Iraq. A case study of the BBC's coverage of the invasion is used to argue that its reporting did not necessarily lie about Iraq, nor did it necessarily create a discursive representation separate to the physical actions of the protagonists. Rather, it appears that strategic considerations on the part of the invading powers changed the factual texture on the ground, which reporting failed to keep up with

Misinformation and Its Correction:Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing

The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation.We first examine the mechanisms by which such misinformation is disseminated in society, both inadvertently and purposely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from works of fiction, governments and politicians, and vested interests. Moreover, changes in the media landscape, including the arrival of the Internet, have fundamentally influenced the ways in which information is communicated and misinformation is spread.We next move to misinformation at the level of the individual, and review the cognitive factors that often render misinformation resistant to correction. We consider how people assess the truth of statements and what makes people believe certain things but not others. We look at people's memory for misinformation and answer the questions of why retractions of misinformation are so ineffective in memory updating and why efforts to retract misinformation can even backfire and, ironically, increase misbelief. Though ideology and personal worldviews can be major obstacles for debiasing, there nonetheless are a number of effective techniques for reducing the impact of misinformation, and we pay special attention to these factors that aid in debiasing.We conclude by providing specific recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendations pertain to the ways in which corrections should be designed, structured, and applied in order to maximize their impact. Grounded in cognitive psychological theory, these recommendations may help practitioners-including journalists, health professionals, educators, and science communicators-design effective misinformation retractions, educational tools, and public-information campaigns.</p