The role of media in constructing the narrative on gender and conflict in Syria

Abstract

This article is part of a broader research project for a doctoral thesis that seeks to understand how armed conflicts affect gender violence in its different manifestations. It explores the roles and responsibilities of different international, national and local actors in the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda. The media play a fundamental role in this context. This article aims to analyse how the media contribute to building narratives about war and do not consider possible approaches to peace when covering armed conflicts. We will focus on the media's narrative of the armed conflict in Syria. On how the biases of the different media of different currents and editorial lines show us apparently different realities in which good and bad are not the same. And where women are victimised and gender stereotypes are perpetuated. We will look into the role that media and journalists play; and we will assess whether the presence of women in the media and war correspondents has an effect on the way armed conflicts are covered and the way the media projects the image of women affected by war.