Croatian journalists’ narratives on Croatian war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

The former Yugoslav wars of 1990s have proven to be one of the most violent and aggressive military conflicts after the 2nd World War in Europe. One of the wars in the former Yugoslav region took place between Croats and Bosnian Muslims (1992-1994). The causes for war and war itself are still being denied by the majority of Croats despite evidence from Croatian historians and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Because the media have played a crucial role in the construction of the ethnic “Other” (the enemy), we’ve interviewed Croatian journalists to understand how they understand, explain and justify the war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The study shows that Croatian journalists appropriated “war on terrorism”, “Iraqi war”, “European” and “neo-liberal” discourses according to their own socio-historical framework to justify a particular ideology (in this case, the nationalistic ideology of a “Greater Croatia”) and a particular practice (the war crimes against the Bosnian Muslims).