109 JAMS 8 (2) pp. 109–126 Intellect Limited 2016 Journal of African Media Studies Volume 8 Number 2 © 2016 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jams.8.2.109_1 KEYWORDS conflict diamonds Angola Congo Sierra Leone resource wars media framing CHRISTOPHER R. COOK University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Diamonds are forever? Press coverage of African conflicts and the Westphalian filter of resource wars ABSTRACT This article argues that when it comes to reporting conflicts in the developing world the western press ignores the private sphere of economic activity because it privileges a narrative of people fighting over the nation state, as well as political ideologies and territory gained and lost. This choice of media framing matters in how west- ern audiences understand the complexity of resource wars. To explore this concept further I examine American and British press coverage of conflict diamonds in the civil wars fought in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone in the pages of four western newspapers of record: The Guardian (UK), The Times (UK), the New York Times (US) and the Washington Post (US). Overall, while conflict diamonds were present in the reporting, the press ignored the full extent of involvement of private companies and international capital in the financing and trading of diamonds to fuel war.