Beyond verification: flesh witnessing and the significance of embodiment in conflict news
Open accessAbstract
Platform journalism in the global North is caught within a fragile political economy of emotion and attention, defined, on the one hand, by the proliferation of user-generated, affective news and, on the other, by the risk of fake news and a technocratic commitment to verification. While the field of Journalism Studies has already engaged in rich debates on how to rethink the truth conditions of user-generated content (UGC) in platform journalism, we argue that it has missed out on the ethico-political function of UGC as testimonials of lives-at-risk. If we wish to recognize and act on UGC as techno-social practices of witnessing human pain and death, we propose, then we need to push further the conceptual and analytical boundaries of the field. In this paper, we do this by introducing a view of UGC as flesh witnessing, that is as embodied and mobile testimonies of vulnerable others that, enabled by smartphones, enter global news environments as appeals to attention and action. Drawing on examples from the Syrian conflict, we provide an analysis of the narrative strategies through which flesh witnessing acquires truth-telling authority and we reflect on what is gained and lost in the process. Western story-telling, we conclude, strategically co-opts the affective dimension of flesh witnessing – its focus on child innocence, heroic martyrdom or the data aesthetics of destruction – and selectively minimizes its urgency by downplaying or effacing the bodies of non-western witnesses. This preoccupation with verification should not be subject to geopolitical formulations and needs to be combined with an explicit acknowledgement of the embodied voices of conflict as testimonies of the flesh whose often mortal vulnerability is, in fact, the very condition of possibility upon which western broadcasting rests.
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The diffusion of algorithmically curated platforms, militarized artificial intelligence, and networked surveillance has altered how conflict is waged, represented, and psychologically processed.
“Across the early 2020s, the diffusion of algorithmically curated platforms, militarized artificial intelligence (AI), and networked surveillance has altered how conflict is waged, represented, and psychologically processed.”
From Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology (2026) · cites this paper as Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022
The “UGC and conflict journalism” section (page not provided) says algorithmically shaped platforms privilege fast, emotional content and have changed how conflict is reported. It does not establish that militarized AI or networked surveillance changed how conflict is waged, or that these technologies changed how conflict is psychologically processed. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredParticular technologies can normalize violence through specified psychological mechanisms: emotional numbing and voyeuristic spectatorship in mediated war consumption; dehumanization and moral distancing in autonomous warfare; and the erosion of agency and critical consciousness under digital surveillance.
“Second, it extends technology-and-war debates beyond questions of regulation and strategic stability by specifying the psychological mechanisms through which particular technologies can normalize violence: emotional numbing and voyeuristic spectatorship in mediated war consumption (Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022; Zhan, 2022), dehumanization and moral distancing in autonomous warfare (Asaro, 2012;”
From Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology (2026) · cites this paper as Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPlatform logics can compress attention, intensify emotional arousal, and transform distant violence into consumable spectacle, with ambiguous consequences for empathy and public judgement.
“Studies of digital conflict communication and mediated suffering show that platform logics can compress attention, intensify emotional arousal, and transform distant violence into consumable spectacle, with ambiguous consequences for empathy and public judgement (Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022; Zhan, 2022).”
From Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology (2026) · cites this paper as Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022
The Conclusion (page unavailable) distinguishes the dramatic intensity that drives virality and platform profit from the moral responsibility to acknowledge atrocity. Curated witnessing (page unavailable) describes both compassion for distant victims and the separation of affect from moral force. These passages support the claim’s emotional and ethical ambivalence, but do not establish that platform logics compress attention or turn violence into a consumable spectacle. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAcross television and social media, coverage frequently foregrounds tactical moves, territorial gains and losses, and looping explosions, while effacing the human costs of war.
“Across television and social media (e.g., X/Twitter), coverage frequently foregrounds tactical moves, territorial gains and losses, and looping explosions, while effacing the human costs of war.”
From Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology (2026) · cites this paper as Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022
The Abstract and Non-narrative witnessing section say that western news coverage can downplay witnesses’ bodies and frame the human cost of an attack as a verification problem. They do not establish that television and social media coverage frequently foregrounds tactical moves, territorial gains and losses, or looping explosions. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAs coverage comes to resemble sports broadcasting, images of civilian suffering are quickly subsumed by strategic analysis or state-centered frames.
“As coverage comes to resemble sports broadcasting—with spectators tracking “who is up” on the battlefield, accompanied by nationalistic cheers—images of civilian suffering are quickly subsumed by strategic analysis or state-centered frames (Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022).”
From Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology (2026) · cites this paper as Chouliaraki and Al-Ghazzi, 2022
The Non-narrative witnessing section (page unavailable) describes civilian suffering being framed as a verification problem, and the Conclusion says news media can ignore the precarious bodies of conflict. This supports the broader point that civilian suffering can be downplayed, but the paper does not describe coverage resembling sports broadcasting or suffering being quickly displaced by battlefield analysis or state-centered frames. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Toward a humanized technology: a reinterpretation of Erich Fromm’ s humanistic peace psychology
Wang, Y., Li, P., & Liu, W. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1646601 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chouliaraki, L., & Al-Ghazzi, O.
- Affiliations
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
- Corresponding author
- Chouliaraki, Lilie
- ORCID
- Chouliaraki, Lilie
- Venue
- Journalism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-12-14
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 649-667
- ISSN
- 1464-8849 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3001
- OpenAlex
- W4200589119
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 4.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- orcid.org
- Locations
- Journalism (publishedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Journalism and Media Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis
- Keywords
- embodiment, user-generated content, verification, fake news, Syrian civil war, affect, childhood innocence, martyrdom, attention economy
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