Portraying American Public Opinion toward the Bosnia Crisis

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Abstract
The public's beliefs about controversial subjects like U.S. intervention in Bosnia become known to citizens and decision makers partly through polls reported in the media. This article explores the disparity between the comparatively supportive public attitudes on humanitarian and multilateral intervention in polls about Bosnia and the limited reporting of those opinions in U.S. media and political discussions. It hypothesizes that the press did not fully portray evidence of support because of the post-Vietnam syndrome, the intensity of the opposition, the media's tendency to “frame” stories in simplified ways, and indexing to political positions against intervention. Though a majority of the polls showed support for humanitarian aid and multilateral intervention, most stories reported in the media stressed opposition. ABC's Nightline and Newsweek provide examples of incomplete portrayals. These patterns raise important questions about how fully the media and political debates represent the opinions of the American public on pressing issues in foreign affairs.

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