Communication

In situations of armed conflict and collective violence, the communication process is often distorted and the exchange of information is influenced by the contentious environment. The present issue of the International Review of the Red Cross looks at the links between communication and armed conflict, for both the media and humanitarian organizations.

Table of contents

• Editorial: Communication

  Indebtedness to the ancient Romans in the field of communication does not end with the Latin root "communicare". Going far beyond interpersonal communication, the Romans devised what might be described as the first communication system in order to centralize control by gathering and giving knowledge about events in its many widespread provinces.
  

• Interview with Fergal Keane, Special Correspondent for BBC News

  Fergal Keane has reported from many of the world’s major trouble spots, from Northern Ireland to Rwanda and Iraq, attracted widespread critical acclaim and won a string of awards for his reports.
  

• Entrepreneurs of hate and entrepreneurs of solidarity: Social identity as a basis for mass communication

  The authors draw upon the principles of the social identity tradition in order to elaborate a psychological model of mass communication.
  Stephen Reicher, Professor
  Nick Hopkins, Senior Lecturer
  Mark Levine, Lecturer
  Rakshi Rath, Doctoral student

• Media under fire: Fact and fiction in conditions of war

  The article reviews recent findings on the quality of war reporting, the conditions under which it takes place, the information policies of the warring parties and their effects.
  Christiane Eilders, Senior researcher

• War and media: Constancy and convulsion

  An effort should be made to identify what has changed and what has remained the same in wartime media management, with due consideration for both dimensions of the relationship that today brings together war and the media, military personnel and journalists.
  Arnaud Mercier, Professor

• Can public communication protect victims?

  With examples from recent conflicts, this article asks whether there are ways in which journalists and humanitarians can contribute to saving lives.
  Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, delegate of the ICRC and presently its Spokesperson in London

• Public communication strategies of international humanitarian organizations

  This article outlines and compares the public communication policies and strategies of the main international and non-governmental humanitarian organizations within the context of their guiding principles. It develops a classification of various humanitarian organizations so as to better explain their differences and enhance understanding of their communication strategies.
  Dennis Dijkzeul
  Markus Moke, Researcher

• ICRC communication: Generating support

  This article describes and analyses certain factors influencing the environment in which the ICRC works and communicates and the impact those changes have had on its communication activities.
  Yves Daccord, ICRC’s Director of Communication

• Visual communication

  Selection of images and accompanying text by Fiona Le Diraison.
  Fiona Le Diraison, Editorial assistant

• Name, rank, date of birth, serial number and the right to remain silent

  This article analyses recurring misconceptions about the questioning of prisoners of war.
  Robin Geiss

• Challenges in applying human rights law to armed conflict

  The debates over the relationship between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, have often focused on the question of whether human rights law continues to apply during armed conflict, and if so, on how these two bodies of law can complement each other.
  Noam Lubell, Reader in Law at the School of Law, University of Essex, UK

• Council of Delegates of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Seoul, 16-18 November 2005

  
  

• Books and articles (Winter 2005)

  Recent acquisitions of the Library & Research Service.