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‘Infosuasion’ in European Newspapers: A Case Study on the War in Kosovo 217

In British newspapers the narrative scheme usually presents itself as the
following. NATO is the dispatcher, with the help of Blair and Clinton, and the
mission is that of humanitarian help to the people of Kosovo, entrusted to pilots
from different allied nations, who are the heroes against Milosevic, who, ignoring
the threats, continues with ethnic cleansing.
Persuasive techniques and rhetoric are found in this group and the main type
of figure of speech used in the headlines is the metaphor.

Die Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau, La Repubblica,
Le Monde and Le Figaro

The factor common to all these dailies is a very clear, though very simple narra-
tive scheme, in which the heroes tend to be the political figures of the country in
which the newspaper was published. The weight of the hero in the determina-
tion of the group is almost 10 percent. The politicians from countries that belong
to the Atlantic pact are sometimes seen as helpers or friends, and sometimes as
hinderers or enemies. Seldom does NATO assume the role of anti-hero, but
Milosevic was generally assigned that role. The hero’s principal value is that of
political and cultural freedom, which contributes around 20 percent in influenc-
ing the structure of the axes. Peace follows some way behind, while the anti-
hero’s object is tradition. The weakest weight of the modality was that of
the mission, only one could be found: the defence of Serbian territory. Among the
persuasive techniques that characterize this group is ‘name calling’ (6.9 percent).
The most used figures of speech are alliteration (weight of the modality 6 percent)
and quotation (5 percent). The most common type of article in these newspapers
is the news report with in-depth explanation (3.7 percent).
Moreover, this group is not characterized by journalists’ opinions on the
mission; though there is a certain agreement over the fact that it is indispens-
able (a weight of the modality of 2.7 percent) and effective (2.5 percent). In con-
clusion, these newspapers are less explicit when taking a position for or against
intervention and in the communication of this position to others. It is clear that
a lot of attention is given to politicians.

Conclusions

The empirical evidence seems to confirm the working hypotheses: in the case of
both ‘infosuasion’ and media logic. The inevitable differences among the dailies
do not detract from the overall trends.
As far as media logic is concerned, the coverage of the event was similar in all
the newspapers examined: only a few articles during the first week, followed by
a shower of articles starting 24 March. This is in line with the curve of growing
attention found during the Persian Gulf crisis. During this phase, defined as a
‘downpour’, the articles were accompanied by photographs and/or cartoons,
with large photographs on the front pages.