Does The Media Have A Bias

A Look At The Kosovo Crisis Essay, Research Paper

In major media organizations in American such as USA Today, New York Times, NBC, and ABC, there is a media monopoly. These major organizations all practice pack journalism. They all use the same basic resource and method for gathering their material and then they write or report the same general information. Because of this, it is highly unlikely to receive diverse views on an issue from these sources. On the other hand, there are many independent or unique resources that represent diverse views on an issue. These sources include editorials, and international newspapers. It is necessary to examine a

variety of sources in order to receive a balanced and diverse view on an issue. My research on the crisis in Kosovo proves this point.

On April 21 and 22, USA TODAY had three sections about Kosovo. These

sections were on pages 1,8, and 18. On the front page, the article talks about sending in ground troops. It had small sized headline that said U.S. to take new look at troops. The story didn t really go into depth regarding the issue of sending in troops. All it really contained was a few quotes by high ranking officials that said things along the lines of we are just reassessing. This doesn t mean it is a definite. This story didn t have a bias. This is probably because the story was deep or complicated enough for there to be a controversy to it. Page eight and eighteen were dominated with Kosovo stories. The most

interesting thing about it was that on each page, there were two stories. The first story would be about the refugees. The headlines and body of these articles really sensationalize the refugees plight (i.e. …it s becoming increasingly difficult to provide enough food, shelter and medical care for the mounting refugee population.. ) They create sympathy for the refugees and their predicament. Coupled with these stories are stories about the war. These articles are about ways that NATO is escalating or considering to escalate the war. These stories are on the same page as the refugees because it will make the reader think; Hey, the Serbs are really mean. They deserve to be

punished. Oh look. NATO is considering a blockade to dry Milosevic of oil. That would be a good way to stop Milosevic and the Serbs. I totally support that idea. This strategic placement of the two articles together shows that there is a bias against Milosevic. If there wasn t a bias, then these two articles wouldn t be put together. The fact that the same thing happened more than one day confirms the fact of a media bias that is pro-war, and against the Serbs. These articles seemed to target audiences in a way that is emotional

and influential. This way, there will be a lot of support for the war effort.

I reviewed The New York Times on April 21 and 22 as well. Generally, it

contained the same stories as USA Today. The funny thing is that not only did both papers talk about the Apaches and refugees, but they both put them in the same location in the paper. This shows that not only is there a media monopoly in these major newspapers, but they both have the same bias. This is not a good thing if one wants to receive unbiased, objective, and diverse views on an issue.

A smaller newspaper, The Valley News, ran an article about refugees on April 22 entitled Refugees Flood Out of Kosovo . This article told how immense amounts of refugees left their homes because of Milosevic s atrocities and how many young and middle-age men had possibly been abducted by the Serbs while fleeing. This article made you feel sorry for the refugees and angry at the situation that caused them. It made you want to support NATO efforts to bomb the region.

On April 25, I viewed a program on ABC. It was the 6:00 news. The first story was the Columbine high school shooting. The second story was about Kosovo. In this story, there were many pictures. They showed the decimated Serb TV station that NATO bombed. There were about 20 casualties. ABC showed pictures of the wounded civilians. Both sides of the story were portrayed well. The pictures showed how the bombing of Kosovo is detrimental to the people, while the commentary by the correspondent showed how the TV station was a major propaganda tool and a legitimate military target. This report seemed to target an educated audience who was well informed about the Kosovo

issue.

On April 25, I also saw a program on NBC. Like ABC, the Littleton Shooting came first and then Kosovo. This program was very biased. It was about 10 minutes long and was about the refugees and the Apache helicopters. The pictures of the refugees were very disturbing. They showed little skinny kids sitting in the mud and crying. They also displayed thousands of people engulfing a soup kitchen trying to get food. Like USA TODAY, NBC combined the pictures with a solution to this refugee problem. In this program, the remedy was the Apache helicopters. It gave a lot of information about how effective the Apaches were as fighters and scouts. It also tried to justify the fact that the Apaches were being sent in. If someone who knew little to nothing about this issue watched this program, they would think that sending the Apaches in to Yugoslavia was areally good decision and would help alleviate the refugee problem.

Besides these American media article