In the spring of 2011 the Syrian civil war emerged as a late chapter of the Arab Spring, a chapter that in retrospect has turned out to be the most complex and potentially most serious. How such crisis events are framed in press coverage has been identified as important with respect to possible responses the international community makes under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P). By most indicators (number of casualties, number of refugees, plus the use of chemical weapons against civilians), Syria certainly qualified as a candidate for the application of a UN Security Council authorized R2P reaction response; yet during the first two-and-a-half years of the war no such action was forthcoming. This research examines editorial and opinion pieces on Syria appearing in two leading Canadian newspapers, the Globe and Mail and the National Post, from March 2011 to September 2013 in terms of assessing how the civil war was framed regarding the appropriateness of an R2P military response on the part of the international community. The research has both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The former examines whether framing promoted or discouraged international involvement (i.e. a will to intervene), as well as whether diplomatic and especially military actions such as a no-fly zone or more direct military attacks would be likely to result in success or failure. Qualitatively, the major positions taken and arguments presented regarding R2P, and whether it should be invoked for Syria, are reviewed.

Dossier Desinformación. En este estudio se intenta describir la habilidad del Presidente Reagan para lograr que los medios de comunicación colectiva apoyen constantemente la ayuda militar a los Contras nicaraguenses -un factor importante en su estrategia- para derrocar al gobierno Sandinista que tomó el poder en Nicaragua el 19 de julio de 1979.

The Responsibility to Protect , the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), focused on three international responsibilities in the area of human security: the responsibility to prevent, the responsibility to react, and the responsibility to rebuild. The report acknowledged the difficulty of identifying countries likely to experience widespread civil violence and then predicting when this would occur. But the authors of this book submit that if ever a case of a “responsibly to prevent” was possible to anticipate, South Sudan was it. A Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ended the Sudanese second civil war in 2005 with a call for a referendum to be held in South Sudan in 2011 to determine the region’s future, In the event, an overwhelming majority voted for independence for the region. The question that motivated this book is whether the CPA would set in motion a process resulting in yet another brutal conflict, and, if that conflict was widely predicted, what should be the response of the international community in terms of “responsibility to prevent”? Mass media coverage has been identified as an important factor in mobilizing the international community into action in crisis and potential crisis situations; however, the impact of media reporting on actual decision-making is unclear. Thirty-plus years of research has demonstrated consistent agenda-setting effects, while a more recent stream of research has confirmed significant framing effects, the latter most likely to occur in cases where advocacy framing is used. This book examines the way in which the press in Canada and the United States interpreted the potential for violence that accompanied South Sudan’s independence in 2011, and whether or not their governments had a responsibility to prevent.

Transnacionalismo, comunidades y trabajo son los principales ejes teoricos del analisis que nos presenta Catherine Nolan-Ferrell en su libro, en el que analiza los procesos historicos de construccion y apropiacion de identidades colectivas en contextos vinculados con las fronteras nacionales. Desde una perspectiva transnacional, a la autora le interesa saber como personas comunes que viven en una region fronteriza de dos paises vecinos desarrollan conceptos compartidos de ciudadania y nacionalidad. En su consideracion, el transnacionalismo provee un esquema teorico para conceptualizar los procesos historicos que crean distintas identidades nacionales en regiones de frontera caracterizadas por: la diversidad étnica y cultural, el constante movimiento de personas y la expansion de una economia de exportacion. Desde esta perspectiva, para la autora, la ciudadania es un concepto que va mas alla de "la subjetividad politica para incluir la ciudadania flexible y la pertenencia cultural" (12). Por otra parte, la autora considera que la identidad nacional no es una condicion, sino un proceso de identificacion (12). Esta identificacion puede ser categorica cuando hay una clasificacion impuesta por un poder externo (el estado nacional, por ejemplo, a través de funcionarios locales y federales) y también puede ser relacional cuando la pertenencia depende de las relaciones con otros (de los trabajadores, por ejemplo, con sus redes sociales). Los dos tipos de identificacion interactuan para crear diferentes significados de ciudadania y de nacionalidad. De este modo, para la autora, la identidad nacional es un proceso historico de construccion y apropiacion, mediante el cual grupos sociales demandan la membresia a comunidades nacionales segun sus propios intereses y necesidades. Por eso, se enfatiza en la necesidad de "conocer las condiciones en las cuales nacionalidades, comunidades e identidades laborales se fusionan y fragmentan" (1).

For some time the business model underlying newspaper profitability has been under attack: audience fragmentation led to a drop in circulation and the internet poached classified advertising. The financial crisis beginning in 2008 that affected the United States and most of Europe intensified the problem, especially for those newspapers that were operating under a significant debt load. The result was a significant retrenchment, especially in terms of the number of journalists employed and news bureaux maintained. David Levy and Robert Picard’s excellent book stems from a conference held at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2010 and addresses the question of whether alternative forms of ownership – charities and trusts – might prove to be more successful in providing quality news than traditional commercial business enterprises in financial hard times. The book consists of 11 chapters, divided into three parts, and reviews and evaluates alternative ownership models in Great Britain, the United States, Canada and France. In Part I David Levy establishes the context within which charitable and trust ownership models have become options to consider. Major points are that the economic state of affairs for newspapers varies considerably. For example, declines of newspaper revenues of 30 per cent were cited for the USA, 21 per cent for the UK, 17 per cent for Canada and only 4 per cent for France. Conditions also differ significantly for local and regional papers as opposed to national ones. These factors, along with differences in press cultures and national tax codes, mean that no single model emerges that can be applied across the board. Robert Picard’s chapter explains both the development of and differences between charitable and trust ownership and identifies three major types:

Introduction Congo: Understanding the Conflict UN Response: From ONUC to MONUSCO Mass Media, Public Awareness & Television News Coverage of the Congo New York Times Framing of the Second Congo War New York Times Framing of the Third Congo War Media Coverage of the Congo Wars: An Overall Assessment Peacekeeping in the Age of R2P Conclusion: Impact of Mass Media on The Will to Intervene Post-Script: An Up-Date on Events Appendix: Descriptive Language References Index.

Long-simmering conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur came to a boil in the spring of 2003 and became a focus of American media attention in September 2004. After the genocide in Rwanda the international community developed a new way to deal with genocide-the 'Responsibility to Protect' doctrine which legitimized intervention in case of egregious loss of human life. Despite this new doctrine, it took over five years of conflict in Darfur before the U. N. began intervening. The Responsibility to Protect in Darfur: The Role of Mass Media, traces the development of international intervention in domestic conflict, culminating in the concept of 'Responsibility to Protect' in 2001. The authors explain the background and complexity of the crisis besetting Darfur, and document U.S. media coverage of the crisis in terms of framing that would mobilize public opinion behind international intervention. The book traces evolution in international norms regarding state sovereignty and human rights that led to the articulation of 'Responsibility to Protect' and its subsequent adoption by the international community in 2005. It provides an understanding of the complex nature of the Darfur crises, in a way that was seriously lacking in media coverage. The authors also analyze the affects media coverage of the crisis had on the world's reaction, particularly in the U.S. Specifically it looks at television coverage of the crisis, and the newspaper coverage, particularly through The New York Times. Finally, the authors ask if 'Responsibility to Protect' was helpful in Darfur, and if it will be in the future for other countries.