Publication

This paper argues that local media have been of great importance in the escalation of inter-ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union. The author explains that while conflict prevention by the OSCE in the region initially did not focus on media issues, media issues have increasingly come to preoccupy the OSCE, chiefly in connection with human rights issues and freedom of speech, but to some extent also as an element of conflict prevention. The paper analyzes the importance of local media for OSCE conflict prevention in terms of the activities of the High Commissioner for National Minorities and Representative on Freedom of the Media, and OSCE annual reports.