A Narrative Analysis of US Press Coverage of Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbs in Kosovo

Abstract

This article is an exploratory analysis of the linguistic treatment of the Kosovo bombing and related events as reported in the major US media. It studies the national news reported by nine different news media during a one-week period, 22-28 April 1999. This was a period about midway through the NATO bombing activity in Kosovo.

The Full Repertoire: News and Press Management vs. Media Watchdog

“…To start with, this work is revealing of a national political reality and press system usually overlooked in the literature, and constitutes an elucidating example of the coexisting roles and functioning of the press in democratic societies. More concretely, the vast majority of the mainstream Portuguese media have displayed their vulnerability to serving as organs of political propaganda by sacrificing their informational or monitoring role while accepting at face value the Prime Minister's intention to obscure evidence in public life, to treat genuine issues as marginal and to downsize the affair so as to remove it from the public agenda (Vincent, 2000). An alternative explanation for the lap-dog or selfcensorship attitude of the bulk of the Portuguese press could be the home media's determination to resist the ongoing tendency towards 'news as a spectacle' through the sensationalized exposure of petty scandals (Fallows, 1997: 57).…”

Studying the Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign Policy in International Crises: The United States and the Bosnian Crisis, 1992—1995

“…A comparative analysis was conducted of different types of press-the elite versus popular press.The print media were chosen as they are among the most influential in agenda setting, and the public uses them as a source of detailed information (Auerbach and Bloch-Elkon 2005;Neuman et al 1992;Paletz 2002;Taylor 2000;Vincent 2000). The press is among the key organizations that assist the public and decision makers in formulating and evaluating issues by presenting extensive facts and a variety of commentaries and opinions (Beaudoin and Thorson 2002;Brown 2001).…”

La cobertura mediática de los conflictos armados. El caso de Siria

“…Los resultados conseguidos aportan distintas claves sobre cómo la propia evolución del conflicto condiciona su cobertura. La elección del análisis de diarios de prensa, frente a otros medios de comunicación, radica en su importante influencia en la sociedad (Vicent, 2000). Por otro lado, el objeto de estudio resulta altamente interesante si observamos cómo algunos medios han producido cambios conceptuales en algunos actores que operan en el país especialmente desde el enfoque de su religiosidad por las implicaciones del terrorismo.…”