How International Organizations Change Local Media Coverage of Human Rights

• In Event: International Cooperation, Domestic Politics, and Nonstate Actors

Abstract

How do international institutions change the discussion of human rights violations and how does their message reach the broader public? I show how local media is a key conduit that is affected by international institutions' actions. I use analysis of media coverage from the Philippines to show that the International Criminal Court changed the content of media coverage of the war on drugs. I find that the ICC did not significantly increase total coverage of the war on drugs. However, the ICC triggered contestation between pro- and anti-human rights actors, which increased the proportion of media coverage focusing on the human rights aspects of the war on drugs. This helps explain why international institutions have struggled to win public opinion battles. Though their actions amplify the voices of actors who support the institution, media coverage concurrently amplifies the voices of their opponents. This study provides systematic evidence of how international institutions reach the mass politics through their effect on local media coverage.

Author

• Stephen Chaudoin, Harvard University