The Netherlands in Kosovo: The Dutch Media and their Influence on the Government

Abstract

This research studies the relations between press and government in the Netherlands. This is examined on the basis of the war in Kosovo and the NATO-operation of bombing Yugoslavia in 1999. Leading up to this war, images were spread quickly, and this could have influenced the decisions made by governments to intervene. This research provides an understanding on how the media was of influence in the nineties, the era of real-time media. Afterwards, the context of this decade and the region is specified. The principle of humanitarian intervention emerged in the nineties and sparked a debate about sovereignty and the interaction between human rights and territorial integrity are explored. Furthermore, this decade meant the end of communism and the breakup of Yugoslavia. A complicated process with wars in which the international community was already involved. The role of the Netherlands in Srebrenica is especially examined. In 1999, the Netherlands participated in the air-strikes of NATO against Milošević. To determine the possible influence of the media, three Dutch newspapers are looked into. The fluctuation in the number of articles is explored to establish the media attention per week. These peaks in attention are linked with actual events in Kosovo and connected to decisions made by the government in the Netherlands. The proportionality and tone of the articles is further examined to decide whether the newspapers challenged the official policy. This research finds three peaks in articles in these three newspapers. The newspapers mostly use an Albanian perspective and have an increasingly pro-interventionist tone. The policies of the Dutch government, however, do not seem to change significantly after these three peaks. They can be accused once of making a hasty decision once, but overall other factors seem to have played a bigger role in decisions about Kosovo, like the involvement of bigger states. The legacy Srebrenica and the desire to restore its reputation could also have been a contributing factor. The political influence of the Netherlands was itself marginal in Kosovo. Therefore, this research finds more prove for that the Dutch government made wellinformed decisions that were led by others, than for a successful push from the media to intervene in Kosovo.