Peaceful Media Communication in Post-Conflict Societes 1999-2007

Abstract

The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, which started in 1990, led to the formation of seven new states. Societies of these states went through periods of war and post-conflict developments. Media and public discourse could not avoid being an active part of conflicts and later of post-conflict environments. Kosova, as the youngest state (since 17 February 2008) that emerged from the former federation, experienced a process of war and en masse exodus, and later a peaceful post-conflict transition. The peaceful media model has been an essential part of the transition, which is not over yet, just like is not over the process of building of political democracy. There have been frequent debates on the topic of the responsibilities that may be attributed to the media in a conflict, on the one hand, and the positive role the media and journalists can play in post-conflict societies, on the other. What is the public rhetoric that accompanied the wars and what is the rhetoric that is used in building democratic societies?