Search

When Norwegian soldiers were sent to Afghanistan in 2001 one could expect that Norway and Norwegians had conflict of loyalty since they wanted both to support USA and at the same time keep up the image of Norway as a force for peace on the international arena. In this situation it's of great interest to take a look at Norwegian media coverage of the event in general, and in particular the image of Norway's own position in the conflict. In Rune Ottosen's study: «The Media Image of the Warfare in Afghanistan: 'Worthy' or 'Unworthy Victims'?» the start of the attack on Afghanistan is analysed in the two newspapers VG and Aftenposten. Both these main-stream newspapers had focus on «the Norwegian angle» in their coverage. From the very beginning, the focus is rather on the «worthy» than the «unworthy» victims. Of the two papers, VG was the one most supportive towards the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]