MASOVNI MEDIJI U KONFLIKTNIM KRIZAMA – DEO REŠENJA ILI DEO PROBLEMA?
MASS MEDIA IN CONFLICT CRISES - PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM?

Summary/Abstract: Depending on the way they are used, the media can promote universal human values (love, truth, justice, understanding, peace), but they can also be the initiator or catalyst of social conflicts and conflicts. All this is conditioned, of course, by the ideology and interests of those who influence media policy. In this paper, we will try to show how the mainstream media in Serbia contributed to the spread of inter-ethnic hatred and intolerance on the eve of the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia, thus preparing the ground for upcoming armed conflicts and the breakup of the country on the ideological and value level. Today, almost 30 years after the end of the wars, the dominant actors on the Serbian political scene are mostly the same as they were during the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. Therefore, the discourse and rhetoric of exclusivity, nationalism and resentment are significantly represented in the state controlled mediam again being a part of the problem, instead of part of the solution. On the other hand, during the genocide during the civil war in Rwanda in 1994, one of the key actors or catalysts of this genocide was the radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, controlled by ruling Hutus. Among the defendants at the International Criminal Tribunal for crimes in Rwanda were journalists from this media who were sentenced to several years in prison. After the end of the conflict, a thorough process of reconciliation, and forgiveness began, in which the mass media were also involved. Today, Rwanda is one of the most successful African countries according to numerous parameters, which proves the thesis that the media in conflict crises, depending on how they are managed, can be not only part of the problem, but also part of the solution.

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