Journalism of attachment and objectivity: Dutch journalists and the Bosnian War

Abstract

The civil war in Bosnia has been one of the most brutal periods in European post-war history. Dutch media played an important role in creating a rather stereotypical, simplified picture of the Bosnian conflict, and, as a consequence, also of what the Dutch government could do within an international context to solve it. The reasons the media created this simplified and stereotypical picture can be found in the phenomenon of `journalism of attachment'. This form of journalism regards reporters as participants in the conflicts they report, taking part in the public debate about the conflict. Using a content analysis of the news coverage about the Bosnian war we found that journalists covering the Bosnian war show attachment in the news coverage whether openly in the straight news articles or in a more subtle way, through the use of opportune witnesses.