Most asked not to be identified. Despite the inevitable wish of readers to discover the source of some observations by way of endnotes, I have been happy to honour the commitments of anonymity that I made to those who helped clarify my perceptions.
I am honoured that under the direction of cochairs David Hamburg and Cyrus Vance, the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict was moved to recognise this issue of the media and the information edge in conflict, and invited me to undertake this study. Hitherto, this issue has tended to be ignored in the study of conflict prevention and management. I am grateful to Jane Holl, the Commission's executive director, and Esther Brimmer, senior associate, for their patience and persuasive skills during my research and preparation. They helped to focus thoughts and open new doors for further examination. The patience of Robert Lande, the Commission's managing editor, was also much appreciated.
The text as published represents a study undertaken until early fall 1996. The subsequent violent events in Kivu and the Great Lakes of Central Africa through early summer 1997 have raised new and pressing uncertainties in whatever relationship exists between the media and conflict management. I suggest that they require further study as a matter of some urgency.
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