Theme/topic as an effective media frame in western mass media-negative stereotyping of Serbs in North Kosovo and Metohia

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the phenomenon and effects of news framing, outlining theme/topic as an extremely powerful media frame (the public agenda setter). In the main focus were the negative images of Serbs in North Kosovo from 1999 to 2011 in Western media. In the first part of this paper we have accentuated some theoretical aspects of framing as an extremely powerful and specific tool of influence and manipulation of public. The second part includes the theme/topic frames analysis as an excerpt from the many-year empirical research on the dominant negative images of North Kosovo Serbs in Western media. The content analyses was comprised of 224 news articles and reports available in the GOOGLE web browser under the topic: North Kosovo/Mitrovica and North Kosovo/Mitrovica Serbs, from five western media - BBC, Independent, Guardian, New York Times and CNN, during the period of mid 1999 to mid 2010. The findings in 2011 which are also included in this work are still preliminary. As the entire work was comprised of a far larger research, this paper highlights only one variable - theme/ topic as one of the media frames. The paper aims to draw the readers' attention to the significance of topic/theme as a media frame, but also media in general in public agenda setting. The content analysis has reaffirmed our hypothesis that North Kosovo Serbs were/are dominantly portrayed by Western media in a negative way. The images are about a small but violent, radical, past-oriented community - trouble makers and criminal individuals from the only hostile part of Kosovo.