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News Coverage about the Bosnian War
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of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in reaction to continuous violations of human rights during the war. The tribunal is established May 1993 by Resolution 808 of the Security Council and is operational in autumn of the same year. In 1995 the ICTY receives coverage when it issues the first indictments against Bosnian Serbs and the first trial begins. There is little difference in the attention paid to legal intervention between the four newspapers. De Volkskrant pays most attention to the theme (4.9%) while De Telegraaf pays the least attention to it (4.0%). Dutch Issues, the domestication of the war In the theory part it was argued that newspapers tend to find a national angle in order to ‘domesticate’ the news about foreign affairs. The moment national interests are at stake, news coverage increases considerably. We have already seen proof of this in the attention given to the activities on the battlefield by the four newspapers. This tendency is even more flagrant looking at the Dutch issues. These issues represent only 2.0% of the total news in the chronology, while the relative attention given to Dutch issues in newspapers is more than twice as much (4.4%). The daily average attention to this theme in newspapers is significantly more (9.0) than the daily average attention in the chronology. In 1993 the chronology pays more attention to Dutch issues (2.5%) than in 1995 (1.5%), while the newspapers pay much more attention to Dutch issues in 1995 (6.0%) than in 1993 (3.5%). The presence of Dutch soldiers in Bosnia causes a continues coverage of their activities “Dutch UN-soldier wounded in Bosnia” (de Volkskrant, January 23, 1993); “Our boys in Bosnia under fire” (De Telegraaf, September 3, 1993). Besides the activities of Dutch actors involved in the conflict, this theme includes also the discussion about a military intervention and the role of the Netherlands. This discussion started in August 1992 after the discovery of detention camps in Bosnia and continues in the newspapers in 1993. In summary it’s a discussion between ‘moralists’ and ‘realists’. The moralists argue that ‘something needs to be done’ in order to stop the cruelties against the civilians, while the realists argue that a military intervention will only worsen the situation, since there is no clear political goal to achieve. However, the governmental decision in autumn 1993 to send Dutch soldiers to Bosnia is supported by the moralists as well as the realists. Therefore little discussion about Dutch participation in the UN peace force is found in the newspapers. In 1995 this is different. With the war assuming even more serious proportions when UN blue helmets (some of them Dutch) are taken hostage, the discussion about the importance of Dutch participation flares up in the news. Dutch issues receive most attention during the fall of Srebrenica and its aftermath. With the Dutch soldiers standing powerless opposite the Bosnian Serb forces, national interests are at stake, increasing the news coverage immensely. After the fall of Srebrenica Dutch issues dominate the media agenda discussing in detail the failure of both UN forces and Dutch forces to protect the declared ‘safe area’. During 1995 these discussions lead to a daily average attention for Dutch issues in the newspapers that exceeds significantly the daily average attention to this theme in the chronology. De Telegraaf focuses by far the most on Dutch issues, especially in 1995, when Bosnian Serbs corner Dutch soldiers “Attack on our boys” (De Telegraaf, June 6, 1995), followed by Trouw, where the same pattern can be seen; especially in 1995 Trouw pays relatively much attention to Dutch issues. Both NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant focus less on Dutch issues in comparison to the other two newspapers.
Bosnia-fatigue, the human aspects of the war Susan Moeller talks in her book Compassion Fatigue (1999) about the phenomenon that occurs to readers after being overloaded with a continuous coverage of complex international crises, with no explanation of causes and consequences and eventually reduced to melodrama. In Dutch newspapers this phenomenon, or more specifically a ‘Bosnia-fatigue’ can be found as well, especially in 1995. In figure 2 this is shown. The line ‘Chronology’ represents the total attention
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| | Authors: Ruigrok, Nel., Scholten, Otto. and De Ridder, J.. |
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19
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in reaction to
continuous violations of human rights during the war. The tribunal is established May 1993 by
Resolution 808 of the Security Council and is operational in autumn of the same year. In 1995 the
ICTY receives coverage when it issues the first indictments against Bosnian Serbs and the first
trial begins. There is little difference in the attention paid to legal intervention between the four
newspapers. De Volkskrant pays most attention to the theme (4.9%) while De Telegraaf pays the
least attention to it (4.0%).
Dutch Issues, the domestication of the war
In the theory part it was argued that newspapers tend to find a national angle in order to
‘domesticate’ the news about foreign affairs. The moment national interests are at stake, news
coverage increases considerably. We have already seen proof of this in the attention given to the
activities on the battlefield by the four newspapers. This tendency is even more flagrant looking
at the Dutch issues. These issues represent only 2.0% of the total news in the chronology, while
the relative attention given to Dutch issues in newspapers is more than twice as much (4.4%). The
daily average attention to this theme in newspapers is significantly more (9.0) than the daily
average attention in the chronology. In 1993 the chronology pays more attention to Dutch issues
(2.5%) than in 1995 (1.5%), while the newspapers pay much more attention to Dutch issues in
1995 (6.0%) than in 1993 (3.5%). The presence of Dutch soldiers in Bosnia causes a continues
coverage of their activities “Dutch UN-soldier wounded in Bosnia” (de Volkskrant, January 23,
1993); “Our boys in Bosnia under fire” (De Telegraaf, September 3, 1993). Besides the activities
of Dutch actors involved in the conflict, this theme includes also the discussion about a military
intervention and the role of the Netherlands. This discussion started in August 1992 after the
discovery of detention camps in Bosnia and continues in the newspapers in 1993. In summary it’s
a discussion between ‘moralists’ and ‘realists’. The moralists argue that ‘something needs to be
done’ in order to stop the cruelties against the civilians, while the realists argue that a military
intervention will only worsen the situation, since there is no clear political goal to achieve.
However, the governmental decision in autumn 1993 to send Dutch soldiers to Bosnia is
supported by the moralists as well as the realists. Therefore little discussion about Dutch
participation in the UN peace force is found in the newspapers. In 1995 this is different. With the
war assuming even more serious proportions when UN blue helmets (some of them Dutch) are
taken hostage, the discussion about the importance of Dutch participation flares up in the news.
Dutch issues receive most attention during the fall of Srebrenica and its aftermath. With the
Dutch soldiers standing powerless opposite the Bosnian Serb forces, national interests are at
stake, increasing the news coverage immensely. After the fall of Srebrenica Dutch issues
dominate the media agenda discussing in detail the failure of both UN forces and Dutch forces to
protect the declared ‘safe area’. During 1995 these discussions lead to a daily average attention
for Dutch issues in the newspapers that exceeds significantly the daily average attention to this
theme in the chronology. De Telegraaf focuses by far the most on Dutch issues, especially in
1995, when Bosnian Serbs corner Dutch soldiers “Attack on our boys” (De Telegraaf, June 6,
1995), followed by Trouw, where the same pattern can be seen; especially in 1995 Trouw pays
relatively much attention to Dutch issues. Both NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant focus less
on Dutch issues in comparison to the other two newspapers.
Bosnia-fatigue, the human aspects of the war
Susan Moeller talks in her book Compassion Fatigue (1999) about the phenomenon that occurs
to readers after being overloaded with a continuous coverage of complex international crises,
with no explanation of causes and consequences and eventually reduced to melodrama. In Dutch
newspapers this phenomenon, or more specifically a ‘Bosnia-fatigue’ can be found as well,
especially in 1995. In figure 2 this is shown. The line ‘Chronology’ represents the total attention
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