Author's Keywords: torture news coverage, news media effects, content analysis, government news management, indexing torture news	Convention Need a solution for abstract management? All Academic can help! Contact us today to find out how our system can help your annual meeting. Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! Click here for more information.
Association: Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
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Graber, Doris. "Wartime Torture Coverage: Problems and Solutions" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Hyatt Regency Chicago and the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, Chicago, IL, Aug 30, 2007 <Not Available>. 2011-06-09 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p210428_index.html>

Graber, D. A. , 2007-08-30 "Wartime Torture Coverage: Problems and Solutions" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Hyatt Regency Chicago and the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, Chicago, IL Online <PDF>. 2011-06-09 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p210428_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Abstract: What Explains Torture Coverage During War Time? A Search for Realistic Answers Governments need information to conduct the public's business. Citizens need information to judge how well their government is serving them. But essential information is often hard to get when the individuals who possess it are unwilling to disclose it. That poses the problem of finding ways to force surrender of the needed information. The problem tends to be especially acute in times of war when governments fear that extremely serious harm to the country and its people may ensue if the information remains hidden. Throughout recorded history, the resolution to this type of dilemma has been the physical or psychological torture of individuals who presumably can provide access to the information. The international community no longer condones torture to extract information and there are multiple legal prohibitions of the practice. Nonetheless, it continues. Recent scholarly literature puts part of the blame for the persistence of torture on the news media's failure to arouse effective opposition to torture policies. The critics claim that coverage has been inadequate at best, and deliberately distorted at worst. To what extent is that charge justified? If it is correct, what explains the situation? To answer these questions, I reviewed content analysis based critiques of news coverage of torture to identify commonalities and major differences. Did the critics find fault with the frequency, framing, language, and the like? Did they complain about a lack of balance between coverage of accusers and accused? Using the critiques as a starting point, I tested how realistic these critics were in dealing with the major dilemmas of torture coverage. These include the lack of a common definition of what constitutes torture, the efforts of accused governments and their accusers to control the framing of the situation for political reasons, and the sentiments of reporters torn between mandates of political loyalty to their governments in war time and the mandates of objective reporting and humanitarian concerns. I also tested the validity of the critiques by content analyzing torture coverage in four elite newspapers published in Britain, Canada, Israel and the United States between April 6 and October 6, 2006. All four countries had been accused of participating in torture events during this period. Based on the outcome of that analysis, I determine which criticisms are valid and which are realistic in terms of normal news reporting practices and common political constraints during war time. I follow with suggestion for media reporting strategies that actually hold promise for reducing incidents of war time torture involving countries which have signed anti-torture agreements and where public opinion polls show large majorities of people categorically opposed to torture. The research is important because critiques of torture coverage amount to little more than helpless hand wringing unless they are grounded in political reality. Analysis of the current situation is a prerequisite for developing viable recommendations to use publicity as a tool to discourage torture in the future.

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