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Newspaper coverage of a Sierra Leone war crimes trial: a ‘continuation of conflict by other means’

  • Jon Silverman
    ,
  • Abou Binneh-Kamara
  • Fourah Bay College
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Sustainable Development Goals

  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Abstract

The most controversial trial conducted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone convicted leaders of the Civil Defence Force of serious violations of international humanitarian law during the country’s 11-year civil war. Many in Sierra Leone thought the trial should never have been held, on the grounds that the CDF leadership were ‘heroes’ for coming to the aid of the government in the mid- 1990s. Critics argued that pressure for a prosecution came principally from outside the country, particularly the United States. Opinion in Sierra Leone tended to be shaped along ethnic and regional lines, and a research study, funded by the British Academy, has sought to establish whether domestic newspaper coverage of the trial mirrored this ethno-regional division. Borrowing a paradigm from a study of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the authors conclude that in many respects, the reportage of the trial was ‘a continuation of conflict by other means’.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 56-76

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

African Journalism Studies (Volume 37, Issue 2)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 06/07/2016

Publication status

Published - 06/07/2016

ISSN

2374-3670

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/621929
  • Scopus: 84982292015

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