The Kosovo war and the Washington Post: Bombings and alignments

Abstract

This article explores the alignments on the Kosovo war during the spring of 1999 in the Washington Post newspaper. How did the Washington Post represent the events during Operation Allied Force, NATO’s war against Yugoslavia? How did reporters align themselves with the narrated events? What linguistic and other means signal alignments in the Washington Post discourse on the war? The examined linguistic structures (evaluative vocabulary and agent inclusion/exclusion), the identified themes (in particular, demonization of the Serbs), and the lack of critical voices suggest an alignment with NATO and US government official discourse. The article concludes that the Washington Post did not challenge the dominant national discourse during the Kosovo war.