International law as reported in the media: roundtable event summary
How well do journalists report international law issues? Are news audiences sufficiently aware of how contested terms like ‘occupation’ and ‘disproportionate’ are among lawyers?
Today, Just Journalism releases a detailed event summary of a recent roundtable discussion it convened on the subject of how international law is reported by the media. High profile journalists, media academics and legal specialists met at Portcullis House to discuss and debate how British journalists do and should address legal terms like ‘war crimes’, ‘genocide’ and ‘proportionality’ when reporting world conflicts.
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Key observations include:
• International law is a highly politicised subject, with conflicting parties utilising its language to tarnish their opponents. The media plays a crucial role in disseminating claims and counter-claims in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and elsewhere
• International legal concepts such as ‘occupation’ and ‘disproportionate’ are highly contested but not always reported as such; there is less consensus within the legal community than journalists often communicate
• The liberal view of international law dominates public perceptions despite the fact that international law often legitimises war; the media perpetuates rather than challenges the liberal view
• A shift towards opinion and commentary in media reporting may result in more subjective coverage of international law issues
• Journalists unqualified in law may not have sufficient subject knowledge to adjudicate between the conflicting opinions they solicit from legal experts, directly impacting the level of understanding by the public
• Pronouncements in the media about the legal conduct of parties to conflicts can feed in directly to events on the ground. This indicates the seriousness of how journalists deal with international law issues in their reporting
Participants at the event were:
Daniel Johnson, Editor, Standpoint (Chair)
Elizabeth Samson, Visiting Fellow, Hudson Institute (Guest speaker)
Anthony Borden, Executive Director, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Nick Donovan, Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research, Aegis Trust
Dr Suzanne Franks, Director of Research, Centre for Journalism, University of Kent
Jonathan Marcus, Diplomatic Correspondent, BBC World Service
Prof Robert McCorquodale, Director, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Douglas Murray, Director, Centre for Social Cohesion
Prof Jean Seaton, Professor of Media History, Westminster University
Prof Jon Silverman, Professor of Media and Criminal Justice, University of Bedfordshire
Dr Ralph Wilde, Reader in Laws and Vice Dean for Research at UCL