The link between international law and media: case selection in the international criminal court

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1558725 (Table of Contents)

The case-selection policy of the ICC is questioned by various scholars, criticizing the application of legal criteria defined or condemning the Court’s special interest in Africa. However, no work focused on the role of media coverage over case-selection by the Court. Therefore; this study examines the Court’s use of media as a tool of selection when deciding upon formal investigation cases. In this sense, it proposes that the more coverage in media to the cases, the more likely that the Court could take them for formal investigation. Most of the cases forwarded to the Court include violations happened in the countries. So far, the Court opened investigations into the situation in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Cote D’Ivore, Central African Republic and Libya while it rejected the cases - Iraq, Venezuela and Palestine. Moreover, the ICC is still examining the situations in Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, South Korea, Nigeria and Mali. The news data collected shows that most of formal investigation cases received higher levels of coverage in media from various channels. Additionally, deep analysis of news reports to Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, reveals that Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo are selected by the Court because of the media’s higher coverage to violations in these countries whereas Iraq is rejected due to low reporting to the violations occurred during the intervention. Consequently, a positive relationship between the level of media coverage to the cases and their likelihood selection by the Court emerges.