> forwarded by Michael Hoover > > > > FAIR Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting 130 W. 25th Street New > > York, NY 10001 Slanted Sources in NewsHour and Nightline Kosovo Coverage > > > > May 5, 1999 > > > > A FAIR analysis of sources on ABC's Nightline and PBS's NewsHour during > > the first two weeks of the bombing of Yugoslavia found an abundance of > > representatives of the U.S. government and NATO, along with many other > > supporters of the NATO bombing. Opponents of the airstrikes received > > scant attention, however; in almost all stories, debate focused on > > whether or not NATO should supplement bombing with ground troops, while > > questions about the basic ethics and rationales of the bombing went > > largely unasked. > > > > FAIR's survey was based on a search of the Nexis database for stories on > > the war between March 25 and April 8, identifying both guests who were > > interviewed live and sources who spoke on taped segments. Sources were > > classified according to the institutions or groups they represented, and > > by the opinions they voiced on NATO's military involvement in > > Yugoslavia. > > > > Of 291 sources that appeared on the two shows during the study period, > > only 24--or 8 percent--were critics of the NATO airstrikes. Critics were > > 10 percent of sources on the NewsHour, and only 5 percent on Nightline. > > Only four critics appeared live as interview guests on the shows, 6 > > percent of all discussion guests. Just one critic appeared as a guest on > > Nightline during > > the entire two-week time period. > > > > The largest single source group, 45 percent, was composed of current or > > former U.S. government and military officials, NATO representatives and > > NATO troops. > > > > On Nightline, this group accounted for a majority of sources (55 > > percent), while providing a substantial 39 percent on the NewsHour. It > > also provided the largest percentage of live interviewees: 50 percent on > > Nightline (six of 12) and 42 percent on the NewsHour (24 of 57). > > (Numerous U.S. aviators who appeared on Nightline's 3/29/99 edition were > > left out of the study, because their identities could not be > > distinguished.) > > > > Overall, the most commonly cited individuals from this group were > > President Bill Clinton (14 cites), State Department spokesperson James > > Rubin (11) and NATO spokesperson David Wilby (10). Of course, these > > sources were uniformly supportive of NATO's actions. A quote from the > > NewsHour's Margaret Warner (3/31/99) reveals the homogeneity of a > > typical source pool: "We get four perspectives now on NATO's mission and > > options from four retired military leaders." > > > > Former government officials were seldom more critical of NATO's > > involvement in Yugoslavia. Cited less than one-third as often as current > > politicians, former government officials mainly confined their > > skepticism to NATO's reluctance to use ground troops. Bob Dole > > (Nightline, 3/31/99) voiced the prevailing attitude when he said, "I > > just want President Clinton=85not to get wobbly." > > > > Albanian refugees and KLA spokespeople made up 18 percent of sources (17 > > percent on the NewsHour, 19 percent on Nightline), while relief workers > > and members of the U.N. Commission for Refugees accounted for another 4 > > percent on NewsHour and 2 percent on Nightline. Sources from these > > groups also provided 4 percent of live interviewees on the NewsHour and > > 25 percent on Nightline. > > > > These sources stressed the Kosovar refugees' desperation, and expressed > > gratitude for NATO's airstrikes. Said one KLA member (Nightline, > > 4/1/99), "The NATO bombing has [helped and] has been accepted by the > > Albanian people." Although one refugee (Nightline, 4/1/99) suggested > > otherwise--"We run away because of NATO bombing, not because of Serbs" > > --all other sources in this group either defended or did not comment on > > NATO's military > > involvement in the conflict. > > > > Those most likely to criticize NATO--Yugoslavian government officials, > > Serbians and > > Serbian-Americans--accounted for only 6 percent of sources on the > > NewsHour and 9 percent on Nightline. Overall, only two of these sources > > appeared as live interviewees: Yugoslav Foreign Ministry spokesperson > > Nebojsa Vujovic (Nightline, 4/6/99) and Yugoslav Ambassador to the > > United Nations Vladislav Jovanovic (NewsHour, 4/1/99). This group's > > comments contrasted radically with statements made by members of other > > source groups, e.g., calling NATO's bombing "unjustified aggression" > > (Nightline, 4/6/99), and charging that NATO is "killing Serbian kids." > > (NewsHour, 4/2/99) > > > > On Nightline, no American sources other than Serbian-Americans > > criticized NATO's airstrikes. On the NewsHour, there were seven > > non-Serbian American critics (4 percent of all sources); these included > > schoolchildren, teachers and college newspaper editors, in addition to a > > few journalists. Three out of the seven American sources who criticized > > the NATO bombing appeared as live interviewees, while the rest spoke on > > taped segments. > > Officials from non-NATO national governments other than Yugoslavia, such > > as Russia's and Macedonia's, accounted for only 2 percent of total > > sources (3 percent on the NewsHour, 0 percent on Nightline) and added > > only four more critical voices overall. Only twice did a government > > official from these countries appear as a live interviewee (NewsHour, > > 3/30/99, 4/7/99). > > > > Eleven percent of sources came from American and European journalists: 7 > > percent on Nightline, 13 percent on the NewsHour. This group also > > claimed 17 percent of all live interviews on Nightline and 40 percent on > > the NewsHour. In discussions with these sources, which tended to focus > > on the U.S. government's success in justifying its mission to the > > public, independent political analysis was often replaced by suggestions > > for how the U.S. government could cultivate more public support for the > > bombing. > > > > Three independent Serbian journalists also appeared--two on the NewsHour > > and one on Nightline--but they did not add any voices to the > > anti-bombing camp. Instead, they spoke about the Serbian government's > > censorship of the independent media. Of a total of 34 journalists used > > as sources on both shows, only four opposed the NATO airstrikes. Three > > of these four appeared as live interviewees, and all four appeared on > > the NewsHour. > > > > Academic experts--mainly think tank scholars and professors--made up > > only 2 percent of sources on the NewsHour and 5 percent on Nightline. > > (Experts who are former government or military officials were counted in > > the former government or military categories; these accounted for five > > sources.) On the NewsHour, the only think tank spokesperson who appeared > > was from the military-oriented Rand Corporation, while Nightline's two > > were both from the centrist Brookings Institution. Just two experts > > appeared in live interviews on the NewsHour, and no expert source was > > interviewed live on Nightline. While these percentages reflect a dearth > > of scholarly opinion in > > both shows, even the experts who were consulted didn't add much > > diversity to the discussion; none spoke critically of NATO's actions. > > > > On a Nightline episode in early April that criticized Serbian media > > (4/1/99), Ted Koppel declared: "The truth is more easily suppressed in > > an authoritarian country and more likely to emerge in a free country > > like ours." But given the obvious under-representation of NATO critics > > on elite American news shows, independent reporting seems to also be a > > foreign concept to U.S. media. > > > > This report was researched and written by Margaret Farrand, a history > > student at Columbia University. >
