The Portrayal of the Kosovo War in the Western Media

Abstract

During times of international crisis nations are often met with the issue of whether they should militarily intervene for the sake of humanitarian intervention. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the small Serbian province of Kosovo was stripped of its autonomy after the rise of Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic. This paved the way for a year-long reign of terror against the majority ethnic Albanians of Kosovo. During this time the media has played a lead role in depicting the events that occurred. The western media was often thought of as the pushing force in influencing the western powers to intervene in Kosovo. The goal of this paper is to provide examples of the US and the UK’s media coverage throughout the events leading up to NATO’s airstrikes in March 1999 and to explain how framing works in the media to create a dominant narrative for the general public.