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CIAO DATE: 04/05/07
Media in Conflict: Inciting Violence in Kosovo
by Claude Salhani
Given its reach, its power of advocacy, and its capacity to frame and influence political issues, the press is often referred to as “the fourth estate.” The term was first coined by Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish essayist and historian, during the first half of the nineteenth century, and it suggests that the press was so influential in politics that it could almost be considered a fourth component of parliament (the French States General had three official estates). Today, the media remains vital in politics, as acknowledged by the common expression “the power of the press.” In a humanitarian crisis, the role of media becomes even more influential in impacting political decision makers. This was the case in Kosovo, a province of the former Yugoslavia, in 1999, when tens of thousands of civilians were kidnapped, raped, tortured, and killed in ethno-political violence pitting Serbs against Kosovar Albanians. The involvement of the media, however, can yield both positive and negative results. Precisely how the media affect policy decisions—or do not affect them—when it comes to government action in a humanitarian crisis largely depends on how free and objective those media are. It also depends on how receptive politicians are to public opinion.
Media Success: The NATO Intervention. The positive aspect of the media’s influence on politics in the Kosovo conflict was that reports—some of them leaked to the press by official sources in an effort to sway public opinion in favor of military intervention— eventually led to international military intervention that prevented further bloodshed. Britain played an important role in the war in Kosovo by garnering North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) support. The British government portrayed the bombing of Yugoslavia as a “humanitarian war.” “From the top down,” one commentator has written, “the U.K. government committed its considerable media operations resources to the campaign and to the task of mobilizing international and British public opinion [in favor of the war].”
By exercising its influence over public opinion, the international media succeeded in persuading decision makers to intervene in the crisis. This was achieved largely as a result of portraying the unfolding events in the Balkans as a “rescue mission.” Although intervention meant the use of military force, it was nevertheless portrayed as a justifiable cause, one that would serve the overall interests of peace.
During the Balkan war, the United States became actively involved in Kosovo. It led a NATO bombing campaign on Serbian positions, then under the command of President Slobodan Miloševic. The media largely supported the U.S. military involvement in Yugoslavia, an intervention that helped save the lives of tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Some critics of the NATO campaign, however, blame NATO’s intervention for inciting further acts of violence, including instances of “ethnic cleansing.”
With the arrival of international peacekeepers, Miloševic was eventually arrested and remanded to the International Tribunal in The Hague, where he currently remains in custody. The media played a major role in shaping American perceptions of the intervention in Kosovo as a “just war,” unlike the U.S. intervention in Iraq. The portrayal of Miloševic as a rogue leader accused of war crimes and encouraging ethnic cleansing, mass deportation of populations, and other atrocities helped garner public opinion against him.
Whereas the media generally showed support for a U.S./NATO intervention in Europe, the conflict in Iraq, overall, did not enjoy similar support. Outside of conservative media outlets that supported the Bush administration’s call to war, much of the rest of the world saw the U.S. troops in Iraq largely as “invaders.” In Kosovo, however, the United States was (and still is) regarded as a great liberator by the Albanian community in Kosovo. For example, an avenue in the Kosovar capital, Priština, is named for former President Bill Clinton, and a colossal mural of the former president adorns the entire facade of a tall building in the center of the capital.
Claude Salhani is editor of the United Press International Intelligence Desk. He has trained Kosovar and Palestinian journalists in journalistic ethics and conflict avoidance.