The influence of media on transitional justice in colombia

The Influence of Media on Transitional Justice in Colombia September 26th, 2016, marked the end of a Colombian civil war that lasted for 52 years and is considered the longest conflict in the Western Hemisphere. As the Government and the rebel group Farc signed the Peace Treaty, the country entered into the Transitional Justice – a period where societies choose peace and reconciliation over war and hostility. Despite the fact that such step is a significant one, it is important to acknowledge the challenges and different forces that might contribute to a faster or slower transition. Media plays a crucial role in the context – they way it portrays current events, negotiation processes, different actors and perspectives, makes an impact on a society and may influence its decisions. Hence, the purpose of this bachelor thesis is to evaluate the influence of the News Media on Transitional Justice in Colombia. In Colombia 57% of media consumers rely on 3 major groups, that hold various media outlets in the country. This is a significant fact in a country that is moving from a conflict to a post-conflict period after a war that lasted for over half a decade. For that reason it is important to look at the dominant narratives and analyze whether they support peace or conflict, how they portray major actors (Government, Farc, Opposition, Victims, International Community) and institutional reforms. The hypothesis of this bachelor thesis is – sensationalism of local media influenced „No“ vote at the public plebiscite, held a week after the Peace Treaty between Government and Farc was signed. In order to check the hypothesis and answer the questions about major actors and institutional reforms, quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted. Three different digital newspapers from each of the groups were analyzed. 236 articles were used in quantitative method and 76 in qualitative one. By analyzing the results of the content analysis, the hypothesis was partly true – one of the digital newspapers (RCN) had a dominance in sensationalism, while others (El Tiempo and El Espectador) supported peace and held a high level of objectivity. Such results proved that Media is an important but only one of the many influencing forces in the processes of Transitional justice. Given outcome can add value in understanding post-conflict situation in Colombia and acting accordingly (i.e. encouraging shared media in the country). Further research in the field should focus on factors that might contribute to a stronger collaboration between different media outlets