Interdependencies in a networked ecology: A vision for (new) mediapolis in global conflict reporting?

Conflict journalism increasingly recognises the range and diversity of a networked ecology involving both traditional media producers and a wide array of actors with multiple skills, technologies, strategies, ideologies and visions of journalism. At the same time, scholars have suggested that such a networked ecology foments “complex interaction and interdependencies” through which to address universal threats to justice, pluralism and democracy (Thompson, 1995, p. 149; Silverstone, 2007). In this paper, we view the actors within a networked ecology from the lens of moral cosmopolitanism i.e. the “willingness to engage with the other” (taken from Hannerz, 1990, p.239). We interrogate how the growing interdependencies between a variety of media producers in global conflict reporting fit into the vision of a ‘mediapolis’ (Silverstone, 2007). Our specific focus is to assess how both synergies and tensions in a networked ecology create spaces for new forms of engagement between actors in global conflict that might give way to reimagine the values and norms that are shared, re-thought or compromised. To achieve this, we draw upon existing literature gathered through a systematic review on 20 years of research on global conflict reporting (2000-2019). In a first step of analysis, we ask retrospectively how scholars in conflict journalism have so far approached and discussed interdependencies between traditional and non-traditional actors. Based on our readings of existing studies, we try to capture how scholars construct ideas of interdependencies and we assess these works through the lens of moral cosmopolitanism. From there, we then aim to imagine perspectives on a future for global conflict reporting that acknowledges the tensions while embracing the opportunities created by interdependencies in an increasingly networked space for conflict journalism.