Seventh International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

In the segregated public sphere of Cyprus caused by the prolonged conflict between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, media and journalism’s role becomes crucial in contributing into a conducive environment to the peace efforts. This paper examines how the journalists of the two Cypriot communities have used Twitter to report the peace efforts in Cyprus during the period of intensification of the Cyprus peace process 01 September 2016 – 31 July 2017. The study uses network visualisation and analysis to map and examine the clusters that are created online within which information about the Cyprus peace process flows. The study investigates the relationships developed between journalists of the two communities as well as official and unofficial sources of the two rival sides during periods of ongoing negotiations. The study further analyses the Cypriot journalists’ use of Twitter to identify elements of “next journalism” (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010), defined as service to the citizens rather than as a product that could potentially be conducive to the Cyprus peace process.