Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Publicación cientíca en formato digital
ISSN-Versión Impresa 0798-1406 / ISSN-Versión on line 2542-3185
Depósito legal pp 197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.40 N° 74
2022
Recibido el 15/06/2022 Aceptado el 26/09/2022
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
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ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
ESTA PU BLI CA CIÓN APA RE CE RE SE ÑA DA, EN TRE OTROS ÍN DI CES, EN
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nes Cien tí fi cas y Tec no ló gi cas Ve ne zo la nas del FO NA CIT, La tin dex.
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Vol. 40, Nº 74 (2022), 293-308
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
The role of the media as a parallel
tool of justice for crimes against a
civilian population
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4074.15
Yuriy Bidzilya *
Lidiya Snitsarchuk **
Yevhen Solomin ***
Hanna Hetsko ****
Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk *****
Abstract
The objective of the study was to determine the forms of media
involvement in justice for crimes against the civilian population.
The research was conducted using the methods of systems
approach, descriptive analysis, forecasting, systematic sampling
and comparative method. The mass media as an institution of
civil society have ample opportunities for active participation in justice, in
particular, in the detection and documentation of crimes, social support
to victims, coordination of eorts of governmental and non-governmental
entities. The media is an active subject in justice for crimes against the
civilian population. However, their functions are not of a legal nature; they
are aimed at establishing the completeness and objectivity of the facts. It
is concluded that the prospects for the development of media activities
envisage the model, which focuses on the detection and documentation
of crimes, in particular through the latest technologies; provision of social
support and opportunities for victims to express their position while
facilitating the coordination of eorts between governmental and non-
governmental entities interested in justice for crimes against civilians.
* Doctor of Science in Social Communications, Professor, Head of the Department of Journalism,
Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod National University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-3239
** Doctor of Science in Social Communications, Professor, Deputy Director-General for Research,
Director of Research Institute for Press Studies, Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientic Library of Ukraine
in Lviv, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-9357
*** PhD in of Sciences in Social Communications, Assocciate Professor, Head of the Department of
Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod National University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID
ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6770-5505
**** PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod
National University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7684-
4790
***** PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod
National University, 88000, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0634-9217
294 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
Keywords: human rights; international crimes; justice system; mass
media; social networks.
El papel de los medios de comunicación como
herramienta paralela de justicia para los delitos contra la
población civil
Resumen
El objetivo del estudio fue determinar las formas de involucramiento
de los medios de comunicación en la justicia por los crímenes contra la
población civil. La investigación se realizó con el uso de los métodos de
enfoque de sistemas, análisis descriptivo, pronóstico, muestreo sistemático
y método comparativo. Los medios de comunicación social como institución
de la sociedad civil tienen amplias oportunidades de participación activa
en la justicia, en particular, en la detección y documentación de delitos,
apoyo social a las víctimas, coordinación de esfuerzos de entidades
gubernamentales y no gubernamentales. Los medios de comunicación son
un sujeto activo en la justicia por los delitos contra la población civil. Sin
embargo, sus funciones no tienen naturaleza jurídica, están encaminadas a
establecer la exhaustividad y objetividad de los hechos. Se concluye que las
perspectivas de desarrollo de las actividades de los medios de comunicación
prevén el modelo, que se centra en la detección y documentación de delitos,
en particular a través de las últimas tecnologías; provisión de apoyo social
y oportunidades para que las víctimas expresen su posición al tiempo que
se propicia la coordinación de esfuerzos entre entidades gubernamentales
y no gubernamentales interesadas en la justicia por delitos contra civiles.
Palabras clave: derechos humanos; crímenes internacionales; sistema
de justicia; medios de comunicación; redes sociales
Introduction
One of the most important challenges for the world community is
violation of the principles and mechanisms of global and regional security
systems. National and international armed conicts entail large-scale
violations of human rights through the mass commission of crimes against
the civilian population. The objectives of national and international justice
in this context are diverse, as it is necessary to bring the perpetrators to
justice, promote restitution and compensation for the victims of crimes.
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Fullment of these objectives directly depends on the quality of pre-trial
procedures, rst of all, the identication, collection, storage of the evidence
for the purpose of its further use in court proceedings. Back in 1996, the
Report on Impunity for Human Rights Violations prepared for the UN
emphasized the “right to the truth.” It provides that information about a
crime is not only a personal right of the victim or his/her relatives, but also
a collective right aimed at preventing recurrence of criminal violations of
human rights (Rolston, 2020).
However, the involvement of civil society institutions in interaction with
all elements of the criminal justice system is extremely urgent because of
the duration and scale of armed conicts, the number of crimes committed,
and partly the limitation on the work of national law enforcement agencies
in documenting them. This became possible primarily due to the position
of researchers and human rights defenders, which was supported by
inuential mass media in the global movement for human rights and the
rule of law (Lohne, 2020).
Mass media (both traditional and modern) occupy the main place among
such institutions. They have a wide range of organizational, nancial, and
technical capabilities to be present at the scenes of crimes against the
civilian population, communicate with victims and parties to conicts.
Initiatives of traditional mass media to call to account those guilty of
crimes against the civilian population can be of dierent scales – from
special courts to the organization of public eorts to collect testimonies
and other evidence. However, these practices draw attention to individual
crimes (Orjuela, 2020). As regards social networks, these platforms are
obviously valuable in collection, storage and presentation of the testimonies
of victims and witnesses of crimes (Goldschmidt-Gjerløw and Remkes,
2019).
This corresponds with the adoption of new rules by the Council of the
European Union on 25 May 2022 that will allow Eurojust to store and analyse
evidence relating to international crimes against civilian population. This is
especially important in combat situations, when the environment does not
allow safe storage of evidence, including photos, videos, audio recordings
(EU Neighbours, 2022).
At the same time, the analysis of the role of mass media in justice
for crimes against the civilian population faces a number of conceptual
problems.
The researchers discuss the understanding of crimes against civilian
population. The current traditional approach covers war crimes, crimes
against humanity and genocide (United Nations, 2003). At the same time,
while the legal qualication of the vast majority of such acts required a
connection with an international armed conict before, now they are an
autonomous concept based on human rights.
296 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
This allows criminalizing large-scale crimes both in wartime and in
peacetime (Akhavan, 2008). Along with this approach, a broad one is
proposed. Its supporters believe that crimes against the civilian population
can also be understood as general criminal oences because of the particular
severity and condemnation by the international community (Eskauriatza,
2021).
The question of involving the media in justice for crimes against the
civilian population, in particular, the possibility of creating a “parallel”
system of such justice, is studied from dierent angles. In general, such
a context is connected with the fact that, in the modern understanding,
criminal processes act as a form of communication and interaction between
the state, victims of crimes and wider sections of the population. This is
especially characteristic of international criminal justice, which generally
does not appeal to harsh sanctions, is not aimed at the rehabilitation of
convicts.
This is a humanitarian form of justice, where the victim occupies a
central place. However, in relation to internal conicts, traditional forms of
justice are sometimes not eective in detecting and proving crimes against
the civilian population. Crimes against civilians often go unpunished during
non-international (internal) armed conict. This is due to the fact that the
state authorities are unable to ensure compliance with the law, although
each commander must punish his subordinates in case of such crimes.
The issue of involving the media in justice for crimes against the civilian
population, in particular, the possibility of creating a “parallel” system
of justice, is studied from dierent perspectives. In general, this context
is connected with the modern understanding that criminal processes act
as a form of communication and interaction between the state, victims of
crimes and wider population groups (Eskauriatza, 2021). This is especially
characteristic of international criminal justice, which generally does not
appeal to harsh sanctions, is not aimed at the rehabilitation of convicts.
This is a humanitarian form of justice, which focuses on the victim (Lohne,
2020). However, traditional forms of justice are sometimes not eective
in detecting and proving crimes against the civilian population in relation
to internal conicts (Gilmartin, 2021). Crimes against civilian population
often go unpunished during non-international (internal) armed conict.
The reason is the inability of public authorities to ensure compliance with
the law, although commanders must punish their subordinates in case, they
commit such crimes (Jöbstl, 2020).
That is why initiatives in the eld of transitional justice are being
advanced. The media intend to create a context in which conicts and
related crimes are discussed (Orjuela, 2020). In general, “media justice” as
a parallel approach can be considered as an indicator that the legal system
does not meet the needs and expectations of victims (Rae, 2020).
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However, the framework in which the mass media can play a role in
justice for crimes against the civilian population has not been clearly
determined. The reason is the ambivalence of the social perception of their
activities. On the one hand, mass media sometimes manipulate public
consciousness and are even used to provoke violence (Carlsvärd, 2019). It
is noted that researchers and specialists in the eld of justice must play
an active role in making ideas of criminal justice in order to neutralize or
counterbalance the inuence of the media (Kania and Walsh, 2010).
On the other hand, the national or local media, whether free or tightly
controlled, can be an important source of information about a large number
of crimes. The experience of recent conicts has shown that data presented
in the mass media turned out to be important evidence in court (CENSS,
2019). Criminal procedure standards are much more serious than those
used by journalists. Therefore, media materials must be collected, stored
and analysed in accordance with these standards. Non-digital evidence
should also be actively used (D’Alessandra and Sutherland, 2021).
All the foregoing urges the issues of determining the role of mass media
in justice for crimes against the civilian population in the modern period.
The main problem is to determine the real possibilities of mass media
involvement in justice regarding crimes against the civilian population, as
well as to identify the main prospects for the development of mass media
involvement in justice.
1. Aim
In view of the above, the aim of this study is to compare the existing
practices of involving mass media in justice for crimes against the civilian
population and identify the main risks for achieving the goals of justice.
This aim provided for identifying the main prospects for the development
of the most eective model of media involvement in this area.
2. Methodology and methods
This study was carried out in stages according to the logic of presentation
of the material in order to achieve the aim and full the objectives of
the research. The research involved the following stages: selection of
literature; analysis of the material presented in the selected literature and
evaluation of the results of these studies; identication of the current state
and conceptual problems of media justice for crimes against the civilian
population; determining the aim of the article; drawing of conclusions and
providing practical recommendations for the development of mass media
298 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
activities in the eld of justice for this category of crimes; outlining the
prospects for further research in this area.
This study involved international legal standards on the features of
crimes that can be classied as crimes against the civilian population, as
well as a generalization of the practice of media involvement in justice for
this category of crimes in the context of the paradigm of media inuence
on criminality. This allowed determining the main prospects for the
development of the most eective model of mass media involvement in
justice for crimes against the civilian population.
The following methods were used in this research in order to achieve the
aim and full the objectives: systems approach was used to study the mass
media involvement in crime control as a complete system of interaction
between the state, society and criminality at the current stage; descriptive
analysis was used to identify and consider the main features of dierent
types of mass media and their role in the prevention of crimes against the
civilian population depending on the type of conicts; generalization and
forecasting were used to determine the prospects for the development of the
most eective model of mass media involvement in this activity; systematic
sampling and the comparative method were used to select and compare the
main features of widespread practices of mass media involvement in justice
for crimes against the civilian population.
3. Results
The analysis of the role of mass media in justice for crimes against the
civilian population provides for determining the conceptual framework
of the analysis. This is why it is important to determine: a) the scope of
understanding crimes against the civilian population; b) understanding
mass media as a civil society institution.
It should be noted that there are no crimes against the civilian population
in international criminal law. For example, Articles 6-8 of the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court apply to genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes. These actions have certain common features of
the elements of crime, including: a) criminal liability is cause by a deliberate
and conscious action, which is committed “inhumanly”, “cruelly”; b) such
an executor’s assessment of his/her actions is not mandatory; c) the term
“executor” is neutral regarding the guilt/innocence of a person, it only
means a person who fully or partially performs actions; d) actions must
mean one or more crimes, that is actions that contradict the Rome Statute
or other international legal norms.
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Accordingly, from this point of view, crimes against the civilian
population can include genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,
where the victims are civilians. They are serious violations of international
humanitarian law and do not require mandatory criminalization in national
criminal law, which would hinder the modernization of international crimes
(International Criminal Court, 2013).
This excludes the category of “illegal combatants” from the list of victims
of crimes against the civilian population, which includes, in particular,
members of armed groups who lose the protected status of civilians by
taking an active part in hostilities (Hathaway et al., 2019). This is why not
all crimes under the Rome Statute are crimes against civilian population.
However, the crimes against civilian population are the core of international
crimes (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Correlation between crimes provided by the Rome Statute and crimes
against the civilian population.
The prospects for the development of international humanitarian
law as the background of international justice are an important aspect of
understanding crimes against the civilian population. However, crimes
against civilian population are recognized by both approaches despite the
existence of broad and narrow approaches to this issue. Their inherent
feature is the violation of human rights (see Figure 2).
300 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
Figure 2: Crimes against civilian population in the context of broad and narrow
approaches to the development of international humanitarian law. Source:
(Eskauriatza, 2021; Carlsvärd, 2019).
At the same time, further research is required on the types of media
that can play a role in justice for crimes against civilian population. In
general, mass media are diversied media technologies intended to reach
a wide audience through mass communication. Mass media comprise
both technical and institutional methods of communication, production
and distribution of news and information. The audience is oered a wide
range of content and media platforms for verication of the information.
Mass media is one of the most important drivers in modern culture. They
reect all the ongoing processes in society. However, another trend is also
important, because they inuence society on a wide range of issues —
from everyday life to socio-political issues. At the same time, mass media
have common tasks in justice for crimes against the civilian population
regardless of whether these are traditional (newspaper, television) or new
(Internet platform, social network) media (see Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Functions of the mass media in justice for crimes against the civilian
population. Source: (D’Alessandra and Sutherland, 2021; Gilmartin, 2021;
Greer, 2017; Goldschmidt-Gjerløw and Remkes, 2019).
So, the mass media try to humanize international and national justice
as much as possible and objectively cover the needs of victims of crimes in
view of the nature of crimes against the civilian population as a violation of
human rights.
At the current stage, there is a signicant potential for the development
of mass media eorts in the eld of justice for crimes against the civilian
population, which include the implementation of the latest technologies
(Freeman, 2021; D’Alessandra and Sutherland, 2021), identication of
vulnerable population groups — potential victims of crimes (Parrin et al.,
2022), collaboration with other subjects in the eld of justice (Crimea SOS,
2022; NISS, 2022; Bachmann et al., 2019) (see Figure 4).
302 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
Figure 4: Prospects for the development of mass media involvement in justice
for crimes against the civilian population.
In view of the foregoing, it is considered appropriate to identify the
prospects of developing a model of mass media involvement in justice for
crimes against the civilian population, taking into account the growth of
international and domestic armed conicts. It should be based on a broad
approach to the role of mass media, which may include such blocks as:
detection and documentation of crimes, in particular through the latest
technologies; providing social support and opportunities for victims to
express their position; coordination of eorts between government and
non-government entities interested in justice for crimes against civilians.
4. Discussion
The conceptual vision of the role of mass media as a parallel tool of
“justice” for crimes against the civilian population is part of the general
discourse on the place of mass media in crime control and the specics
of their inuence on the most socially dangerous types of behaviour. In
general, the position that the mass media shape the understanding of crime
and countermeasures is conrmed (Baranauskas and Drakulich, 2018).
However, such coverage does not really reect the real state of the
criminal situation. This is characteristic of all types of mass media, although
traditional media distort the criminal response in general by paying a
disproportionate attention to it, and social networks cover crime relatively
rarely, unless it is about violent acts (Prieto Curiel et al., 2020).
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In general, it is emphasized that mass media translate cultural and
communication contexts that promote fear of crime on the one hand, while
justifying the illegal actions of the state in ghting crime, in particular
terrorizing the civilian population, on the other hand (Altheide, 2006). It is
emphasized that modern governments depend on public opinion, which, in
turn, depends on the mass media.
This gives the mass media extremely powerful leverage, because the
very fact of discussing its application at the government level will depend on
their position, not only the specic measure (Carlsvärd, 2019). The thesis
that the mass media play a central role in shaping cultural ideas about crime
and measures to combat it can be considered a general conclusion (Wattis,
2021). Therefore, the study of the role of mass media should be at the centre
of criminological studies dealing with the problems of crime control and
social order (Greer, 2017), policies in the eld of justice (Baranauskas and
Drakulich, 2018).
In this context, the understanding of the role of the mass media in justice
for crimes against civilians remains controversial. The reason is a signicant
dierence between the mass media in countries that have become direct
victims of crimes against the civilian population to be investigated in the
course of international judicial proceedings, and the mass media in other
countries (Simons, 2009).
At the same time, the media are blamed for having a double standard
regarding which cases should be prosecuted. As a rule, the agents of the
regime deny the commission of crimes against the civilian population. If
violence is recognized, it is assessed as purely defensive (Jones, 2019). This
causes some scepticism in the human rights community (Simons, 2009).
Moreover, the mass media appeals to the lack of interest of general public
in the legal aspects of judicial proceedings (Simons, 2009).
Besides, mass media usually assess a small fragment of the conict,
sometimes only one incident, a particular crime committed during a
military campaign (Bachmann et al., 2019). Therefore, it is proposed to
carry out a careful assessment of the use of the mass media as a parallel
forum of justice, as it is appropriate to reduce the role of the mass media to
the establishment of an accountability mechanism that can draw attention
to the shortcomings of ocial institutions, measures and processes (Rae,
2020).
At the same time, it is considered more appropriate to recognize the
essential role of mass media in promoting justice for crimes against the
civilian population, which can be divided into limited and broad approaches.
The emphasis on the main task that the mass media should perform is
positive in the limited approach. For example, researchers correctly draw
attention to the algorithms for the correct documentation of crimes against
304 Yuriy Bidzilya, Lidiya Snitsarchuk, Yevhen Solomin, Hanna Hetsko y Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk
The role of the media as a parallel tool of justice for crimes against a civilian population
the civilian population as the main professional opportunity of journalists in
the context of providing evidence for further judicial proceedings (Prostir.
UA, 2022). This involves the work with a list of documents that can be used
in the practice of international and national courts (CENSS, 2019).
It is also considered important to promote the use of programmes for
documenting crimes against the civilian population, which, for example,
automatically transmit information to the International Criminal Court,
which investigates the events (Prostir.UA, 2022). This vision is conrmed
by the modern idea of international justice as a complex information system,
where data ows from civil society reported by the media are processed and
provided to law enforcement and judicial authorities (D’Alessandra and
Sutherland, 2021).
It is also possible to support those researchers who emphasize the role
of mass media in providing comprehensive information to the society and
the world community about crimes against the civilian population (NISS,
2022).
This opens up the opportunity for mobilizing eorts to recognize crimes
against the civilian population and restitution to victims, the communication
of potential crimes is destroyed by organizing international campaigns in
the mass media (Jones, 2019). Supporting victims of crimes against the
civilian population is considered an equally important task of mass media.
It implies uniting them and covering their problems (Goldschmidt-Gjerløw
and Remkes, 2019) reminding society about crimes against the civilian
population.
However, this is possible provided that the mass media go beyond the
legitimacy of the armed conict (Bachmann et al., 2019), when their main
task is to restore justice (Prostir.UA, 2022).
However, a broad approach is considered more promising, as it is based
on the legitimization of justice through the recognition of the results of the
work of judicial bodies as legitimate and rendering of this assessment to
the society (Rosen, 2021). This is especially important for resolving issues
of bringing ocials of foreign states to criminal responsibility, which is
extremely dicult in view of international legal customs and political
considerations (Epik, 2021). The mass media involvement in justice for
crimes against the civilian population allows achieving common goals for
justice and civil society such as establishing justice, accountability and
compensation for victims of crimes (D’Alessandra and Sutherland, 2021).
The ndings of this study evidence that the media’s role in shaping and
providing public space for activists and victims increases when criminal
justice mechanisms are considered limited. In this regard, mass media has
the potential to simulate parallel justice. They determine the agenda, shape
public opinion, and mobilize society for action in support of preventing
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human rights violations and reparation of damages to victims. The media
can also inuence law enforcement agencies to make them respond to
criminal activity (Rae, 2020).
Conclusions
This research allows drawing a number of conclusions on the importance
and directions of mass media involvement in justice for crimes against the
civilian population. It was found that these crimes are one of the most
dangerous international crimes that violate human rights. The mass media
can full a number of non-legal functions aimed at establishing justice for
the victims and strict punishment for the perpetrators. At the same time,
they have common tasks in justice for crimes against the civilian population
regardless of whether the mass media is traditional or new.
It is proposed to develop a model of mass media involvement in justice
for crimes against the civilian population with due regard to the extension
of international and domestic armed conicts. It should be based on a
broad approach to the mass media role, which may include the following
blocks: detection and documentation of crimes, in particular through the
latest technologies; providing social support and opportunities for victims
to express their position; coordination of eorts between government and
non-government actors interested in justice for crimes against civilian
population.
This study paves the path for developing standards for working with
data covered in the mass media for their further use in international legal
proceedings. Another promising area is the development of criminological
studies, which deal with the mass media as subjects of the prevention of
crimes against the civilian population.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Vol.40 Nº 74