‘Humanitarian intervention’,a predictable narrative? A comparative analysis of media narratives from Serbia to Syria

Abstract

This article examines the narratives produced in Associated Press, The New York Times and The Times (of London) reports surrounding key events in Kosovo and Syria, leading to calls for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention, and the construction of perceptions and cultural memories of the conflicts in which they are wielded. The article argues that the narrative themes emerging from this coverage produced uncritical calls for military intervention that are limited and ubiquitous, narrowly delineated the options for response and understanding, relied heavily on press briefings of those that advocate military intervention (ignoring alternative voices), failed to provide deep-level analysis of the conflicts, and remained constant across all three media outlets and across both the Račak and Ghouta events. The article then examines the implications, arguing that the coverage can be understood as the deployment of weaponized media on a battlefield of public opinion and wielded in a way necessitating Western military action.

Keywords

Grounded theory Kosovo military intervention NATO news management propaganda Serbia Syria

There is nothing humane about humanitarian intervention that arrives on the wings of bombers and cruise missiles. Former State Department Yugoslavia officer George Kenney pointed out the hypocrisy, saying,

I think it’s very clear by now that the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia is immoral and completely unconnected to the crisis of the Kosovar Albanians. Dropping cluster bombs on highly populated urban areas doesn’t result in accidental fatalities. It’s purposeful terror bombing. (Pickman, 1999)

In Yugoslavia, we used humanitarian intervention as the catch phrase for military strikes on a sovereign power, ostensibly to end the suffering of civilians and not to support regime change. Decades later, we are now on the brink of waging war on Syria with the same catch phrase, but with the purpose of changing the balance of power in the region, using very similar explanations. Both conflicts, in all their inhumanity, are rooted in decades of policies and ideological contests that are as nuanced and individual as the people involved. Yet, despite this, what we are given to make sense of these military interventions is a homogeneous media narrative that is striking in its similarity and predictability. The script for humanitarian intervention seems to play out in the same way, no matter where and who we are bombing or what the realities are on the ground.

Two events have been central to heralding the call for military strikes in the name of humanitarian intervention in both Serbia and Syria. The events that took place at Račak, in Kosovo, involved allegations of a firefight that took place between police forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighters becoming a massacre of purportedly unarmed men in the village. The events that took place at Ghouta, in Syria, involved a suspected deployment of chemical weapons against Western-allied insurgents which indiscriminately killed all those in the area. Media narratives play a pivotal role in the construction of perceptions and the cultural understanding of the Račak and Ghouta events, providing a basis from which the conflicts of which they are a part can be defined and engaged. Military intervention must be justified through these narrative themes and they have far-reaching ramifications. Beyond their role as being the first draft of history, these media chronicles exercise a lingering influence on long-term conceptualizations of conflict and have the capacity to shape the course of future public policy.

This study examines the narratives produced in media reports surrounding these two events and the construction of perceptions and cultural memories of the conflicts in which they are wielded. The central ideas that materialize from this research are that the narrative themes produce a relationship with military conflict. When those themes are limited and ubiquitous, they narrowly delineate the options for response and understanding. The narratives that emerged in this study showcase a very narrow scope of description. They rely heavily on press briefings of those who advocate military intervention and ignore alternative voices. This is not to say that the homogeneous nature of coverage is wholly intentional. The professional practices of parachute journalism, over-reliance on statements from officials, and pressures to publish quickly in a 24-hour news environment provide important weaknesses impacting how these events are covered accurately. Intentionality cannot be dismissed, however. As Vukasovich (2012) notes, inherent weaknesses in Western journalistic systems and practices are manipulated in order to weaponize the media in support of military agendas.

Background: Račak

One of the many firefights between Yugoslav security forces and KLA rebels proved a turning point for the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Kosovo in January 1999. Allegations of a Serbian massacre of 45 civilians in a small village named Račak was described by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as the event that galvanized NATO military action (Bissett, 2003) and was used by NATO to justify bombing. The KLA and US diplomat William Walker allege that the Serbian police unit entered the village unopposed and indiscriminately massacred unarmed civilians. This version of events contrasted with images from an Associated Press (AP) crew that was covering the Serbian police engaged in a firefight with KLA rebels (Bissett, 2003; Cook, 1999). The story of the massacre, stoking outrage throughout the United States, was immediately challenged by Le Monde and Le Figaro. That France’s two largest and most respected newspapers publicly challenged Walker’s report was completely ignored in the mainstream US press. German reporters working for Zeitung wrote that the autopsy reports showed no evidence of execution and that the victims appeared to have been killed in combat. Finnish and Belarusian forensic experts were unable to verify that a massacre took place at all in Račak. Retired German Brigadier General Heinz Loquai (2000) accuses the German Defense Ministry with manufacturing the evidence to support the war effort. Wolfgram (2008) lays down a very convincing argument raising doubts as to the legitimacy of evidence linking the massacre to an alleged planned Serbian offensive, pointing out the fabricated nature of ‘authentic’ maps used as proof that Račak was part of a planned Serbian policy of ethnic cleansing, the total lack of any evidence related to Operation Horseshoe being admitted for Milosevic’s trial despite the use of it as a basis for intervention, and a British House of Commons report (House of Commons, Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, 2000) stating explicitly that no such plan existed before the NATO offensive (debunking NATO claims to be acting in reaction to ethnic cleansing). The challenges and revelations were irrelevant. The headline is what matters. NATO had a justification and war was inevitable.

Background: Ghouta chemical attack

The chemical weapons rocket attack on the Ghouta suburb of Damascus on the night of 21 August 2013 proved a pivotal event in the Syrian conflict. The United States and its Western allies had been preparing for more direct intervention in the conflict for months, and the allegations that the Syrian government had unleashed chemical weapons on its own people seemed a tipping point, with military intervention inevitably to follow. Survivors reported symptoms associated with the use of a nerve agent and the United Nations (UN) investigation yielded ‘clear and convincing evidence’ that rockets had delivered the Sarin nerve agent to the Ghouta area (BBC, 2013). That a horrific attack had occurred was not long doubted.

As early as December 2012, the United States claimed that allied intelligence had detected the movement of chemical weapons components, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had reiterated that the use of chemical weapons would represent a ‘red line’ that the United States would not ignore, and the Syrian Minister of Public Affairs had asserted that Syria would not use chemical weapons against its own people (Belfast Telegraph, 2012). By then, the al-Nusra Front had emerged as a major opposition group, complicating US interests in supporting the rebel forces in the area (Ditz, 2012b). Secretary of State John Kerry announced US plans to provide rebel forces with ‘non-lethal support’ in the form of body armour, combat training and armoured personnel carriers (as well as continuing to assist Saudi Arabia with delivering weaponry to the opposition. Der Spiegel was reporting that ‘deliberately hazy’ arms embargo rules were enabling the United States, Britain and France to train rebels in Jordan in how to respond to and handle chemical weapons in the light of Israeli intelligence claims that Syria was readying chemical weapons for use (Ditz, 2012a; Reuters, 2013; UPI, 2013). Russian Times (2012) and The Financial Times (Khalaf and Fielding Smith, 2013) had identified Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain as players in the proxy war; The Guardian had confirmed British Special Forces in Jordan (Borger and Hopkins, 2013); and John Kerry had announced that the United States was giving US$60 million in equipment and technical support to what Der Spiegel had reported as up to 10,000 Free Syrian Army fighters in Jordan (Gordon, 2013). The situation was rapidly becoming a hornet’s nest of international involvement in a conflict that was increasingly becoming a major humanitarian concern.

By the time of the attack on Ghouta, Damascus had become a battleground between Western-trained fighters, Mujahedeen extremists, pro-government militias, and Syrian government forces. Allegations of a Syrian government responsibility in the chemical attack on Ghouta was heralded by the United States as a case for military intervention against the Assad regime despite the lack of evidence published to support the case (Peterson, 2013) or the fact that Carla Del Ponte, the UN investigative committee member on Syria, stated a ‘strong suspicion’ that Syrian rebels, not Assad, may have been the perpetrators of the attack (Follath, 2013). Unlike Račak, however, the media narratives were not united in coverage. There was uncertainty about the facts on the ground, significant opposition to military involvement, and it would take more than confident American media narratives to build public opinion for the previously inevitable military intervention.

Methodology

This study examines the news coverage regarding the 1999 NATO military intervention in the former Yugoslavia and the threat of NATO intervention in Syria through a grounded theory analysis which provides multiple approaches to understanding media discourses and allows for elasticity in formulating an adequate understanding of the themes and relationships influencing those discourses. To understand the power of a weaponized media, it is important to ascertain the endurance of official frames of understanding presented through the mainstream press. With this goal in mind, it is important to note official and contradictory discourses within mainstream media texts leading to, and during the period of 24 March–10 June 1999, NATO military intervention and a proposed intervention in Syria (2013), thus establishing the relationship between mainstream media and officialdom in co-presenting the intervention scenario. The analysis examines how two newspapers (The New York Times (NYT) and The Times (of London)) and one wire service (AP) covered the NATO military intervention in the former Yugoslavia and compares that coverage to their reports on the conflict in Syria.

Media has been attributed as producing the ‘first draft’ of history, and as we have seen in many of the studies noted earlier in the literature review, this has been an issue noted by a number of media researchers in our field. However, the recurring nature of these narratives is the central focus of this study. Two newspapers and one news agency have been selected for analysis in the media portion of this research. The newspapers – NYT and The Times – are used due to their similarities in prominence and respective reputations in the US and UK newspaper markets. AP is also used due to the extensive and increasing influence of agencies in the global wholesale news market at a time of increasing media concentration. News agencies set the agenda, filtering which international news stories many news outlets have to choose from (Boyd-Barrett, 1980; Boyd-Barrett and Rantanen, 1998; Boyd-Barrett and Thussu, 1992; Paterson, 2006). Global news agencies have become crucial to the dissemination of international news due to their agenda-setting influence on other media, but also because they dominate for aggregate services online as well as local dailies across the United States. This study focuses on newspaper coverage (as opposed to the ubiquitous cable television news format) because daily print news media enables a wider and more rigorous examination into how the story of NATO intervention in Kosovo and the potential NATO intervention in Syria are presented to the public and because many policy-makers and media commentators have utilized newspapers for understanding international events at a time when television coverage was limited by largely repetitive ‘parachute journalism’ – well-briefed by policy-makers – that made up the majority of 24-hour television news reports. While scholars have asserted that the rise of 24-hour cable television news, multinational media conglomerates and the so-called ‘CNN effect’ have had a significant influence on upsetting the traditional media-to-power relationship (Annis, 1991; Brown, 2003; Herrera, 2002; Nye, 1999; Rothkopf, 1999; Shapiro, 1999; Volkmer, 1999), the broadcast media has proven just as dependent (or more so) on press briefings to fill the constant deadline hunger for updates and provide policy-makers near verbatim and highly repetitive reproductions of the official line (Carruthers, 2000; Robinson, 2002, 2004; Thussu, 2000, 2003). In the media marketplace, news print media continues to be the dominant force in influencing the public, as a 2009 PEW study showcases in findings that the public considers newspapers a primary source for national and international news. With this in mind, this study focuses on newspaper and news agency reports when examining media reports related to the subject of this study. As Iyengar (1991) asserts, media has the power to establish judgements of guilt or innocence in the eyes of the public, which makes the analysis of media discourse a study in the power of words to define destiny.

The emerging concepts, themes, and relationships observed in the news coverage analysis ground the understanding of the discourse within the relationships present between the initial news reports in Syria and Kosovo and the political economy of the conflict, mapping any relationships between structures, sources and production in the holistic analysis. The intra-source comparisons made in this analysis are aimed at accessing what is not being included in the various narratives produced in the texts. While framing studies fail to adequately consider which frames are suppressed and absent from the media, this grounded theory analysis allows for a more comprehensive examination of this absence.

The following is a multi-level analysis of the resilience of media narratives supporting NATO’s intervention, examining news coverage surrounding key events in NATO’s military action in Yugoslavia and NATO’s proposed intervention in Syria. The first part of this analysis examines the media themes emerging in the news coverage by the AP, NYT and The Times of the 1999 NATO military intervention in former Yugoslavia. Using a grounded theory approach, this article describes themes and relationships emerging within those discourses. Emerging themes and their categorizations are also represented in word cloud tables, which assign each theme a font size in accordance with its frequency and a colour coding based on the thematic category to which it belongs in order to facilitate the visualization of abstract information in a manner that conveys the narrative themes as they emerge in the grounded theory analysis.

Results

Račak

The incident that took place in the village of Račak in January 1999 provided a major turning point in NATO’s approach to Yugoslavia. Coverage of the event returned again and again to certain themes throughout media reports. These themes are discussed in the following analysis with regard to each individual source, followed by a summary of analysis that examines similarities and differences between themes, sources and perspectives.

The AP

AP distributed 53 articles covering Račak between 14 and 22 January 1999. The initial open coding discovered a number of emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include three central thematic categories recurring in AP narratives of the Račak event: humanitarian crisis, political crisis and military conflict.

Humanitarian crisis

There are a number of emerging themes relating to the news coverage of Račak that can be combined under the categorization of humanitarian crisis. Early on in the AP coverage, themes include the following: (1) Refugees and their humanitarian concerns as they encountered difficult living situations in the mountains without adequate shelter or supplies and at borders between Kosovo and its neighbouring republics where they feared bandits, rebels, and/or police. (2) Ceasefire violations, which also emerged regularly as a reminder of the humanitarian crisis under way in Kosovo. These themes would attribute the violations to both Serb police and KLA rebels, but it is noteworthy that much of the mention of KLA actions was buried towards the end of the articles, while reports of Serb actions were mentioned earlier and were more likely to be accompanied by quotes from US and UK officials condemning these acts than reports of Kosovo Albanian violations. (3) Repression by the Serbian government was also a major theme throughout the coverage, although there was very little in the way of depth and background. In fact, the repression was often attributed to (4) ethnic violence linked poignantly to the disturbing events surrounding the alleged massacre at Račak and the spectre of (5) war crimes in general (which composed the bulk of the narrative themes). These war crime themes were sometimes linked to instances of violence and atrocities in the (6) Bosnian and Croatian conflicts, though with little in the way of background or direct comparison.

Political crisis

The events taking place at Račak occurred during a time of rapidly evolving political turmoil in both Kosovo and within the NATO alliance. A number of themes emerged in the reports that reflected these new situations, showing an effort to ground what happened at Račak politically as the coverage developed. From the beginning of the coverage, the theme of (1) Albanian independence in Kosovo emerged with frequency in the reports. Independence had been a movement that emerged from initial agitations for more autonomy, thus it is not surprising that the reports repeatedly mentioned this. However, there was no mention made of why autonomy was initially revoked for Kosovo, nor was there any clear mention of the disagreement between the Albanian separatists and NATO on the ultimate status of Kosovo. ‘Autonomy’ and ‘independence’ were often interchanged in AP reports at this time. (2) Security was also mentioned in these reports, but with much less regularity. Security themes emerge with regard to the regional spread of violence (with specific mention of the tense situation between Albanians in Macedonia, but no mention of similar tense situations with Albanian populations in Greece and Montenegro). AP reports on Račak mentioned political crisis within NATO as well, most notably (3) NATO disunity and Russian opposition to NATO strikes/peacekeepers. It is interesting to note that (4) NATO credibility, a significant theme in later Kosovo coverage pushing for the bombing of Yugoslavia, appears in AP coverage as early as Račak.

Military conflict

Military conflict would seem a natural theme to emerge from coverage of the conflict in Kosovo, and it occurred with frequency in AP coverage during the time of Račak. Themes of military conflict emerging in AP reports during this time period most often occur in relation to a deal being brokered by NATO to implement a prisoner exchange between the KLA and Yugoslav authorities. Reports frequently mentioned (1) Serb offensives and mobilization connected to the ceasefire violations by both sides of the conflict as well as Serb troop deployment and police operations with accompanying responses from NATO officials. Far less frequently, and usually much later in the article, the reports mentioned these operations as a response to (2) KLA ambushes and kidnappings of Yugoslav soldiers, police, and Serbian civilians. These military themes frequently accompanied humanitarian crisis themes of refugees and Račak, often with detailed descriptions of burning or shelled houses and checkpoints, but with few quotations from those not affiliated with the KLA (i.e. anti-secession Albanian and Serb civilians directly impacted by the military actions). Another major theme emerging in AP reports is that of (3) NATO mobilization in connection to the region. This is an interesting theme due to its timing; it pre-dates the Rambouillet peace talks and shows the United States and the United Kingdom moving aircraft and support into the region long before any agreement had been reached by NATO member-states or attempts at diplomatic resolution had been formally made between Yugoslav and Kosovo Albanian representatives.

Predictably, the events surrounding Račak spawned the largest number of themes in relation to war crimes and the Račak massacre (emerging 62 different times in the 53 reports examined), followed closely by NATO airstrikes (38), Serb/Milosevic defiance (35), ceasefire violations (34), humanitarian concerns (26), Serb repression of Albanians (20), and the Serbian expulsion of US ceasefire observer William Walker (18). The majority of articles identified authors in the bylines, with more articles by Melissa Eddy (14 articles) than any other correspondent. It is noteworthy that some of the quotes used in Eddy’s articles on Račak resurface verbatim in other AP articles as well as in NYT, all of which were attributed to the same source (a KLA fighter named Raim who alleged to have witnessed the massacre from his hiding place in the hills) describing what transpired at Račak. The single quotation gained significant coverage and helped define the event in the narratives of both the AP and NYT. We also noted an additional trend in the AP reports associated with bylines: those articles from the AP with authors tended to contain more themes and nuances than those with no attributed author.

The NYT

NYT published 19 articles covering Račak between 14 and 22 January 1999. The initial open coding discovered a number of emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include three categories emerging from the NYT narratives of the Račak event: Serbian aggression, NATO credibility and Albanian secessionists.

Serbian aggression

The majority of themes emerging in the NYT Račak report narratives can be categorized under Serbian aggression. Themes of (1) Serb war crimes and the massacre at Račak frequently emerge in reports during this time, quickly eclipsing breaking news about prisoner exchanges that had dominated the headlines. NYT reports repeatedly included the opinion of William Walker, head of the Kosovo Verification Mission (formerly in charge of repatriating Serb-majority areas of Slovenia into Croatia in the 1990s and former US ambassador to El Salvador during 1988–1992), that Serbs committed war crimes in the village of Račak, despite the incomplete investigation and counter-reports from French journalists who observed fierce firefights between the KLA and the Serb police. Reports on Račak also often prominently featured verbatim quotes from the same KLA fighter used in the AP articles during the same period (detailed in the AP analysis previously). Accompanying these themes are narratives related to (2) Serb ceasefire violations, (3) the repression of Albanians in the province, (4) threats of revenge attacks from the Serbian police and (5) Serb troop deployments. Ceasefire themes primarily attribute the violations to the Serb police, but at times also referred to KLA rebel actions towards the end of articles. Serb repression emerged in the use of verbs such as ‘crackdown’, ‘repression’ and ‘unleashed’, in contrast to descriptions of KLA forces who were ‘fighting back’ and ‘organized’. Serb troop deployments were also frequently cited as threats to the failing ceasefire in the region. Narratives of Račak, as well as themes of troop deployments and war crimes, were linked to (6) Serbian/Milosevic defiance, although with a notable dearth of background relating these events to both the conflict and diplomatic nuances at large or in direct comparison with reported KLA attacks on pro-Yugoslavia Albanian and Serb civilians. Additionally, comparisons between Serbs and Nazis were introduced on multiple occasions.

NATO credibility

At the time of the Račak events, the threat of NATO action was mentioned through official channels as well as unofficial editorial pieces and interviews with former policy-makers and analysts. A number of themes emerged in the reports that reflected doubts about (1) the credibility of NATO’s threats and ability to see such action through. Within the category of NATO credibility, themes of threatened (2) NATO airstrikes emerged most often as the dominant narrative of conflict resolution. NYT also focused on the status and opinions of (3) William Walker, with references to his work negotiating a prisoner exchange between Serb police and KLA rebels, assertions that there can be no doubt of a criminal massacre at Račak, and his being labelled persona non grata by Belgrade authorities and his expulsion from Kosovo ordered. NATO credibility also emerged in a more negative light in relation to doubts held by French authorities and reports that there were (4) concerns regarding the representation of the massacre at Račak by Walker and the KLA, the (5) shooting of peace monitors by unconfirmed assailants, as well as (6) Russian objections to NATO involvement and disunity among NATO members. While reporting on the Kosovo conflict, themes touching upon NATO’s credibility seem to be taking on both a prodding and frustrated tone.

Albanian secessionists

It makes sense that in establishing the identity of one side of a conflict, the opposing side is consubstantially identified as well. A number of emergent themes from NYT’s coverage fit this category. Themes relating to the role and identity of Albanian secessionists were most often articulated using narratives of (1) KLA separatism and the KLA’s role in events surrounding the conflict. These representations were not as positive as I initially assumed they would be, with the willingness of the KLA to exchange prisoners highlighted in early articles and Yugoslav forces being negatively portrayed as being uncooperative. Indeed, with few exceptions, the KLA was also portrayed negatively. As mentioned earlier, these themes tend to appear towards the middle and end of the articles, but they paint the picture of a group contributing to its own problems and increasingly relying on the hope of NATO airstrikes to give the KLA an advantage. Reports discussed the KLA’s role in ceasefire violations, but the most frequent themes emerging are related to the (2) killing of Serbian police and ethnic Albanian loyalists. Additionally, themes of (3) kidnapping, (4) arms smuggling, and (5) Albanian disunity also coalesce in this category. It is notable that narratives describing the KLA and Albanian secessionist movement are still not clearly defined in the themes emerging from the NYT coverage at this stage in the Kosovo conflict, and this lack of clarity changes dramatically in reports from the newspaper surrounding future events and with the addition of more reporters covering the conflict.

Overall, NYT introduced the largest number of themes in relation to war crimes and the Račak massacre (emerging 29 different times in the 19 reports examined), followed closely by ceasefire violations (14), NATO airstrikes (13), Serb/Milosevic defiance (10), US ceasefire observer William Walker (12), as well as KLA separatist killings of Serb police and loyalist Albanians. Just under half (8) of the articles had no identifiable authors in the bylines, and the vast majority of author-identified articles were written by Jane Perlez (7 separate articles). It is noteworthy that some of the quotes used in AP journalist Melissa Eddy’s articles on Račak resurface verbatim in some of the NYT reports. During this analysis, I also noted that NYT reports without author bylines frequently reflected press briefing style rather than more analytical or nuanced reporting.

The Times

The Times (Times) (of London) published 22 articles covering issues about Račak between 14 and 22 January 1999. The initial open coding discovered emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include three categories emerging from Times narratives of the Račak event: humanitarian crisis, Serb–NATO stand-off, and KLA problems.

Humanitarian crisis

There are a number of emerging themes in the Times reports that can be combined under the categorization of humanitarian crisis. Throughout the period studied, themes of (1) war crimes and the alleged massacre at Račak surfaced as a point of perspective for making sense of what was happening with the Kosovo crisis at that time. This is the most frequent theme emerging from the Times reports. Other themes present that can be included in the category of humanitarian crisis are (2) ceasefire violations, emerging regularly as a reminder of the volatile situation in Kosovo, as well as (3) refugees and related humanitarian concerns, and comparisons to previous humanitarian crises in (4) Bosnia. The Times was fairly consistent in portraying ceasefire violations as a responsibility of both the Serb authorities and the KLA rebels, differentiating itself in this way from AP and NYT coverage. Both the refugee crisis and the incident at Račak served more generally in The Times’ reports as a backdrop for the clash of wills between Milosevic and NATO leaders. Narratives citing Bosnia used it as historical reinforcement for not easing up on Belgrade.

Serb–NATO stand-off

The majority of themes emerging in The Times’ Račak report narratives can be combined under the categorization of the Serb–NATO stand-off. Themes of (1) Serbian and Milosevic’s defiance frequently emerge in reports during this time, becoming the common thread throughout much of the coverage. The Times reports repeatedly mentioned Serbian refusal to accommodate negotiations, and an independent investigation into the allegation of war crimes in the village of Račak surfaced frequently, condemning the decision by Yugoslav authorities to conduct autopsies on the bodies of the dead and the refusal of the Serbian forensic investigator to enter Račak without an armed police escort. These themes also emerge in relation to Milosevic’s refusal to capitulate to foreign soldiers on sovereign Yugoslav territory. Accompanying these themes are narratives related to (2) NATO airstrikes, (3) the credibility of NATO’s will regarding the Kosovo crisis, and Belgrade’s decision to expel (4) William Walker from the country. Narratives connecting (5) Serbs to Nazis and (6) Milosevic to Saddam Hussein also emerge in Times articles about this event.

KLA problems

The KLA did not garner much coverage in reports from The Times about Račak, which raises some questions as to how the publication intended to frame the events in Kosovo. A small number of emergent themes from The Times’ coverage fit this category. These themes tended towards a more negative view, using narratives of (1) KLA separatism and their role in ceasefire violations. Reports also mentioned KLA’s role in the (2) ambushing and killing of Serbian police and (3) the kidnapping of Yugoslav soldiers. It is notable that narratives describing the KLA and Albanian secessionist movement suffer from the same lack of deep analysis and nuanced description that marked newspapers’ narratives of Serbs.

Overall, The Times introduced the largest number of themes in relation to war crimes and the Račak massacre (emerging 23 different times in the 22 reports examined), followed closely by Serb/Milosevic defiance (20), NATO airstrikes (14), ceasefire violations (9), NATO credibility (8), as well as the refugee situation (6). Of the 22 articles appearing about the events at Račak, The Times differs from NYT and AP by having only 1 article that failed to identify an author in the byline, with the majority of author-identified articles written by Tom Walker (7) and Michael Evans (5). Between the two most prolific authors, Tom Walker contributed stories that focused on the humanitarian crisis, investigation and justice, while Michael Evans contributed stories about NATO airstrikes and questioned NATO’s credibility for not responding more forcefully.

Across all three media outlets, specific themes seemed largely homogeneous despite differences in how those themes were categorized and packaged. Certain narratives were largely absent from the reports, such as Serbian and pro-Yugoslav Albanian perspectives on the events being reported. The notable exceptions to the lack of Serb voices are the diplomatic responses to US/UK pressures that are part of emerging themes of Serbian/Milosevic’s defiance. Another theme that is largely ignored in most reports is that of national sovereignty. Chinese and Russian objections within the UN Security Council were predicated upon this concern as well as the right of a nation to defend the integrity of its borders against both external forces and internal rebellions. The legality of NATO intervention, another issue hotly debated in subsequent scholarship and diplomatic exchanges, also went without any mention or analysis from the AP, NYT and The Times. The use of stories without author citations in the bylines raises interesting questions. These stories may have originated with outside parties as either press briefings/releases or wire stories, but the lack of any notation indicating the source makes attempts to identify the source speculative. Likewise, the use of verbatim quotations from the KLA source at Račak in both AP and NYT could be related to either a press event specifically featuring the source or an NYT reprint of an AP wire story, but in either case, the narrative received considerable attention. The same holds true for a high profile editorial by Roger Cohen (1999) titled ‘NATO warning to Yugoslav: Another hollow threat?’, which was featured in both The Times and NYT.

Ghouta

The incident that took place in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus on 21 August 2013 garnered the attention of Western journalists and news agencies. Coverage of the event returned again and again to certain themes throughout media reports. These themes are discussed in the following analysis with regard to each individual source, followed by a summary of analysis that examines similarities and differences between themes, sources and perspectives.

The AP

The AP released 89 articles covering the chemical weapons attack between 21 and 27 August 2013. The initial open coding discovered a number of emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include four central thematic categories recurring in AP narratives of the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta: chemical weapons investigation, military intervention, crimes against humanity, and market response.

Chemical weapons investigation

There are a number of emerging themes relating to the news coverage of the events in Ghouta that can be combined under the categorization of chemical weapons investigation. Dominant themes include (1) Syrian government use of chemical weapons. It is notable that the AP only uses the term ‘alleged’ 19 times compared to a more emphatic statement made 30 times that Syria did indeed use chemical weapons. (2) United States accuses Assad (rather than Syria or the Syrian government) has appeared 28 times. This theme can be compared to those of Britain, Israel, France, and Turkey blaming Assad for the events only occurring 9 times altogether, and the Syrian rebels blaming Assad 16 times. Also, reports of (3) Assad denying the allegations appeared 19 times and counter-allegations of (4) Assad blaming the rebels appeared 11 times, with no mention of suspicions to that effect being voiced by the international community. These themes were sometimes linked to reports on Syria’s cooperation with (5) United States and Western allies warning Syria to cooperate appearing 14 times, although with only one report suggesting that (6) Syria is blocking UN inspectors, (7) Syria cooperates with UN inspectors appearing 5 times, and the fact that UN inspectors were collecting samples mentioned 17 times. (8) Civilian casualties was the second most prominent theme emerging in reports on the event, with dead civilians appearing 46 times, the overall figure of 100k dead since the beginning of the conflict appearing 15 times, and casualty figures related to the attack appearing only twice.

Military intervention

The events taking place at Ghouta coincided with a strong push by the US and British leadership for direct military intervention in the conflict. A number of themes emerged in the reports that reflected the framework for thinking about the events, connecting what happened at Ghouta with an inevitable use of force. From the beginning of the coverage, the theme of (1) Obama considering options in Syria emerged 47 times and (2) the United States being ready to act emerged 18 times. The (3) divisions in the US government on how to respond appeared 23 times, and (4) US outlining of justifications for bombing appeared 11 times. Given this dominant narrative, it is not surprising that other themes emerged to support this: (5) Red line crossed was mentioned in these reports (9 times), the (6) West threatening and/or discussing military response emerged 9 times, (7) Syria threatening chaos if attacked appeared 9 times, and (8) Assad’s will to fight back emerged 9 times. Intervention themes emerge with regard to the international support of military strikes, with AP reports mentioning the support of key allies (which crumbled within days of this coverage period), most notably France threatening to respond (7 times), France supporting the United States (4 times), Turkey’s willingness to act (2 times), Germany will respond (2 times), Britain considering response (2 times), Israel demanding US response (once), and Israel’s threat to respond (once). It is interesting to note that (9) Russia’s opposition to force, a significant theme in other sources’ coverage, appears in AP coverage only 7 times and Venezuela’s opposition to force appears once. No mention was made of the lack of support for the idea of military intervention from other countries during this period of analysis.

Crimes against humanity

The theme of crimes perpetrated against humanity is one that was very common in media coverage of other conflicts using ‘humanitarian intervention’ as a justification, but it did not occur frequently in AP coverage during the time of Ghouta. Themes of crimes against humanity emerging in AP reports during this time period most often occur in relation to parallels being drawn between (1) Bosnia and Kosovo (3 times), and (2) rebel threats to attack villages (3 times). The difficulty of arguing for humanitarian intervention on behalf of a group that has frequently been in the news for carrying out atrocities on civilians likely made this narrative a difficult one to apply to the situation in Syria. Reports did mention (3) massacres twice and war crimes once, but this narrative theme seemed to be discarded rather quickly.

Market response

The impact of the events in Syria on markets and commodities emerged as a minor, yet notable theme in AP coverage of the Ghouta chemical weapons attack. While the business aspects of war are generally mentioned in more business-niche publications, AP mentioned (1) stock market downturns twice as being directly related to the crisis, and it carried one article devoted to (2) the price of oil going up and (3) the price of gold going up in relation to the events in Syria.

Overall, AP introduced the largest number of themes in relation to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in the Ghouta attack (emerging 49 different times in the 89 reports examined), followed closely by Obama considering strike options (47), dead civilian victims of the attack (46), US accusations that Assad is behind the attacks (28), divisions within Western governments on how to respond to the event (23), as well as the readiness of American forces to strike (18). A significant number (30) of the articles had no identifiable authors in the bylines, and the vast majority of author-identified articles were written by Julie Pace, Bradley Klapper and Robert Burns (each with 4 separate articles), as well as Edith Lederer (3 articles). Pace’s articles all seemed to repeat the official line from the White House regarding intervention in Syria, while Klapper’s articles did much of the same with a notable criticism of inaction included. Burns’ articles simply repeat statements from US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel without elaboration or analysis, which is similar to Lederer’s reports, which almost exclusively included quotes from UN briefings, officials and diplomats. Out of 30 articles with authors identified in their bylines, these reporters contributed 15 articles with virtually no deep-level analysis. The 30 articles without bylines attributed to authors mostly appear to represent press release–type material or official statement releases. The remaining articles were non-bylined news and market briefs.

The NYT

NYT published 21 articles covering Ghouta between 21 and 27 August 2013. The initial open coding discovered a number of emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include three categories emerging from NYT narratives of the Ghouta event: war crimes, assigning blame, and international response.

War crimes

The majority of themes emerging in the NYT Ghouta report narratives can be categorized under the category of war crimes. Themes of (1) the use of chemical weapons (37 times) frequently emerge in reports during this time. This was notable in the light of only two reports indicating that there had been medical confirmation of the use of chemical weapons. NYT reports repeatedly visited themes that provided rich description of the horrors associated with warfare, particularly accounts of doctors who reported having treated victims of the chemical weapons attack. Accompanying these themes are narratives related to (2) thousands sick and dying as a result of the attack (17 times), (3) civilian casualties describing women and children among the victims (16 times), (4) convulsing bodies with mouths foaming (10 times), and (5) overwhelmed doctors treating victims (9 times). Early reports tended to feature rich descriptions in the absence of solid information on the attack, with particularly graphic (6) depictions of the horror featured in seven articles. Narratives of Ghouta were linked to (7) a refugee crisis (4 times), although with a notable absence of background relating to the greater conflict or nuanced analysis of who those refugees were fleeing from.

Assigning blame

At the time of the Ghouta events, the blame had been attributed by each side to the other. A number of themes emerged in the reports that reflected the idea that (1) Assad is to blame for the chemical weapons attack (13 times). Within the category of assigning blame, themes of (2) Russia blaming the rebels emerged (9 times), as well as (3) Assad denying responsibility (8 times) and (4) Assad blaming the rebels (5 times). NYT also drew comparisons between (5) Assad and Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic, with the Syrian government blocking UN inspectors and Assad terrorizing his people.

International response

In light of the vivid descriptions of horror and the apportioning of responsibility made in the reports, it is not surprising that the prospect of more direct military intervention emerges as a significant theme in the NYT coverage. Narrative themes of (1) Obama weighing military strikes provided a primary perspective from which to view the event, emerging 14 times in conjunction with (2) an increase in US military presence (4 times) and (3) the crossing of a red line (5 times). These assumptions were grounded in the likelihood of China (3) or Russia (3) vetoing any UN sanctioned intervention and with any (4) lack of US response (2) explained by a confident Obama (3), trying to avoid war (2) with a careful consideration of options (3). Indeed, with a few exceptions regarding the need for the building of an international coalition (2), the prospect of military strikes was treated almost as a given.

Overall, NYT introduced the largest number of themes in relation to the deployment of chemical weapons in Ghouta (emerging 37 different times in the 21 reports examined), followed by reports of thousands sick and dying as a result of the attacks (17), descriptions of the civilian casualties (16), Obama weighing military strikes (16), and Assad’s responsibility for the chemical weapons attack (13). Unlike The Times and the AP, as well as in contrast to earlier Račak coverage, there was only one article published within this period of analysis that had no identifiable author in the byline; it was attributed instead to ‘The Editorial Board’. The vast majority of author-identified articles were written by Mark Mazzetti and Mark Lander (both with 4 articles each). It is noteworthy that some of the articles were reprinted in late editions and were counted only once in this analysis.

The Times

The Times (Times) (of London) published 56 articles covering issues related to Ghouta between 21 and 27 August 2013. The initial open coding discovered emerging themes that were categorized during axial coding to include two categories emerging from the Times narratives of the event: contextualizing the conflict and the legitimacy of military intervention. Of the initial 56 articles, many were repeated in the national, Ireland and Scotland editions, as well as the early and late editions of the paper. At times, articles were also retitled and otherwise reprinted verbatim on later dates. Themes from repeated stories were counted only once for the original run, except in cases where the article was retitled and run on a subsequent date (as that provided a thematic reinforcement more so than a reprint in a regional edition or late run).

Contextualizing the conflict

There are a number of emerging themes in the Times reports that can be combined under the categorization of contextualizing the conflict for readers. Throughout the period studied, themes of imminent (1) military strike on the Assad regime surfaced as a point of perspective for making sense of what was happening with the Syria crisis at that time. This is the most frequent theme emerging from the Times reports. Other themes present that can be included in the category of contextualizing the conflict are the number of (2) civilian casualties, emerging regularly as a reminder of the tragedy of the situation, as well as the overall (3) death toll of the conflict so far. The Times only touched specifically on acts of barbarism (aside from the use of chemical weapons itself) twice in relation to Syrian government actions and once regarding the rebels, differentiating itself in this way from the AP and NYT coverage. The Times used previous conflicts in order to make sense of the events, particularly references to Kosovo/Yugoslavia/Milosevic, the events in Iraq, and the Cold War narrative of superpowers opposing one another on a proxy battlefield. However, the narrative of Syria being a breeding ground for extremism also served as a theme in The Times’ reports as a backdrop for the disagreement within the government on how to respond.

Legitimacy of military intervention

The majority of themes emerging in The Times’ Ghouta report narratives can be combined under the categorization of the legitimacy of military intervention. Themes of (1) regime responsibility emerged most frequently in reports during this time, with a third of those narratives claiming that the Syrian government can be blamed for the attacks with certainty. Accompanying these themes are narratives related to (2) chemical weapons use in Syria, (3) Western failure and/or reluctance to act, the (4) investigation under way by weapons inspectors from the UN, and the (5) UN mandate limitations for chemical weapons investigators. Narratives connecting (6) British and French support for US action and (7) Russian opposition to military strikes also emerge in The Times’ articles about this event.

Overall, The Times introduced the largest number of themes in relation to the Assad regime’s responsibility for the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta (emerging 24 different times in the reports examined, with 8 of those reports claiming certainty of blame), followed closely by the imminent nature of Western airstrikes (23), the deployment of chemical weapons (20), the failure and/or reluctance of Western officials to act (15), as well as the investigation under way by UN inspectors (14). Of the 56 articles appearing about the events at Ghouta, The Times differs from NYT and AP by carrying articles that explicitly made mention of rebel atrocities and the possibility of the rebels being behind the use of chemical weapons. The Times published two straight news articles on the events with no author attribution, as well as three unattributed editorials on the subject focusing on the cruelty of chemical weapons, the duty of Western nations to protect the Syrians from their own regime, and Assad’s penchant for committing atrocities. The majority of author-identified articles were written by Alexandra Frean (4) and Anthony Loyd (4), with two articles by Michael Evans having been reprinted the most. Roger Boynes had written an article that made mention of the possibility of rebel forces being behind the chemical weapons attack, which was removed from the second edition before being added back into the late edition run of the story. Boynes also reported on The Hague being without a doubt that Assad was behind the event, despite public statements by Carla Del Ponte indicating that it was highly probable that a rebel unit may have been responsible. Between the two most prolific authors, Alexandra Frean contributed stories that focused on the need for and impending status of military intervention, while Anthony Loyd contributed stories about the need to act quickly in order to analyse evidence.

As with previous coverage of the Račak event, specific themes seemed largely homogeneous across all three media outlets despite differences in how those themes were categorized and packaged. Certain narratives were largely absent from the reports, such as pro-government and Assad regime perspectives on the events being reported. The notable exceptions to the lack of official government voices are the diplomatic responses to Western pressures that are part of emerging themes of Assad’s denials. Also, as with the aforementioned Račak coverage, the theme of national sovereignty is largely ignored. As was the case previously, Chinese and Russian objections within the UN Security Council were predicated upon this concern as well as the right of a nation to defend itself against both external forces and internal rebellions. What differed in the coverage of the Ghouta event is how the legality of the NATO intervention was treated. Although the concept of sovereignty was not addressed, the lack of UN approval was touted as a reason for Western government division on intervention. With British support in question and dissent on the US political scene, legality became an acceptable excuse to delay or forego military intervention in the press. Lance Bennett’s indexing theory comes to mind as an explanatory framework for this difference of coverage.

Homogeneous media narratives

The construction of perceptions and cultural understanding of the Račak and Ghouta events rely on media narratives to provide a basis from which the conflicts they are a part of can be defined and engaged. Military intervention is justified through these narrative themes, and they have far-reaching ramifications. Beyond their role as being the first draft of history, these media chronicles exercise a lingering influence on long-term conceptualizations of conflict and have the capacity to shape the course of foreign policy in future wars.

This study found that the narrative themes produced in media narratives shared a remarkable similarity between those emerging from the Račak incident in Serbia and those of the Ghouta incident in Syria. The narratives fail to examine deep-level issues of the conflict and are limited to relying almost exclusively on statements from political elites without questioning their agendas. In both events, the narratives largely fail to examine dissenting narratives originating from extra-governmental organizations such as the statements of team members in the international Račak investigation group and the comments of Carla Del Ponte on the UN’s Ghouta investigation team. They also failed to report on issues of international law that ran counter to endorsement of military intervention, with the exception of Russia’s and China’s likelihood of vetoing a UN Security Council vote. The narratives that did arise were ubiquitous; they narrowly delineated the options for response and understanding and remained constant across all three major Western media outlets and across both the Račak and Ghouta events. This uniformity of coverage in the Western press was broken only by the introduction of Syrian narrative themes that suggested divisions within the Western political elites on intervention. This may be an example of the index of acceptable narratives widening to accommodate disagreement between Western elites, as per Lance Bennett’s indexing theory.

This superficial and homogeneous coverage for both events works as an echo chamber for official statements on policy and suggests a systematic repetition of key messages and preferred narratives for public understanding. As Vukasovich (2012) notes, this hyper-dominant set of media narratives is suggestive of a concerted effort for media and informational dominance that can be understood as the deployment of weaponized media on a battlefield of public opinion, perspective, and memory. The narratives we see emerging from the coverage of the events at Ghouta rely upon stale themes developed to present the events at Račak. Because of their similarities, the narratives are wielded in a way that serves to construct perceptions and cultural memories that link the conflicts with the necessity for Western military action. That intervention has not yet come about has little to do with the failure of the media outlets examined to toe the administration’s line. It has more to do with a lack of political will among Western allies and the willingness of Russia to commit militarily and diplomatically to the Syrian government.

The predictability of the humanitarian intervention narrative was successful in composing a reliable framework for public understanding, but a failure in its inability to account for developments that varied from the course set by the previous Kosovo narratives. The superficiality of coverage served to simplify the narrative, but the lack of deep-level context may make a nuanced shift in foreign policy difficult to articulate using the existing narratives. It will be interesting to see whether the Cold War narratives that were in limited use in the initial Syria coverage will find new ground if and when Western allies decide to push again for military intervention in Syria.

Footnotes

Appendix

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author biographies

Christian Vukasovich is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Oregon Institute of Technology conducting research in international media, political economy of media, propaganda, as well as issues of identity in inter- and cross-cultural contexts.

Tamara Dejanovic-Vukasovich is an independent researcher conducting research in Balkan and diasporic identity, propaganda studies, gender representations in war, and political economy.

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