Humanitarian Situation in Kosovo Reported in Lidove noviny and Pravo (1998-1999)

This paper deals with the issue of media bias in the Czech Republic during the Kosovo crisis (1998-1999). Specifically, the paper attempts to answer the question on what kind of attitude the Czech media held towards the interest of the Kosovo Albanians, Serbs, or if they presented a neutral view on the subject. The paper analysis the contents of 231 newspaper articles published in the Lidové noviny and Právo daily newspaper in three selected periods (October-December 1998, May 1999 and July-September 1999). The paper concludes that there were differences between the standpoints in between the two media, and describes the individual nuances. The overall result of the analysis suggests that none of the papers adopted a continuous neutral standpoint and that the positions have evolved correspondingly in the course of the crisis. The paper also presents academic research dealing with the media bias during war reporting and, in conclusion, matches these theories against the results of the contents analysis. To illustrate the overall context, this paper also describes three periods concerned and analyzes the situation in Kosovo from the humanitarian perspective