Journal of International Criminal Justice Advance Access originally published online on March 2, 2009
Journal of International Criminal Justice 2009 7(1):83-88; doi:10.1093/jicj/mqp005
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Workshop |
International Criminal Tribunals and the Media
* Journalist; she writes for The New York Times and since 1996 has covered proceedings before the ICTY and other international courts. The article is a revised version of a lecture presented at the meeting ‘New Vistas of International Criminal Justice’ held in Florence between 15 and 17 May 2008. [marlise{at}nytimes.com]
 |
Abstract |
|---|
The media are widely different in outlook and level of interest when the subject is international criminal justice. Newspapers and television stations have widely divergent needs. Similarly, there are marked discrepancies between media in countries directly affected by the atrocities that are probed during international trials, and media elsewhere. In reporting war crimes trials for public opinion at large (in this case in the United States and in Europe), one must take into account the difficulty of capturing the interest of readers. The crimes in Bosnia or in Rwanda were in the headlines more than a decade ago. Today attention has moved to other countries. Ideally, the trials should be presented through captivating narratives, but the complexity and length of criminal proceedings often make this difficult. Although the arrests of senior officials get much attention, interest in the legal aspects of their case wanes quickly. Moreover, the impression that international criminal justice is selective, and seems to wield double standards as to which cases are prosecuted, and which are not, continues to produce scepticism.