[PEN-L:4666] (Fwd) BIAS REPLACING BALANCE IN MEDIA BATTLE - National Post

[phillp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (ts99u-2.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.225]) by]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent:      	Tue, 30 Mar 1999 11:00:02 -0800
To:             	ccpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From:           	Sid Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>
Subject:        	BIAS REPLACING BALANCE IN MEDIA BATTLE - National Post

The National Post                      Tuesday, March 30, 1999

Analysis:

BIAS REPLACING BALANCE IN MEDIA BATTLE

	B92 radio an exception: Rumours become facts in the
	scramble for quick sound bites

	By Isabel Vincent

	In the wake of the expulsion of foreign journalists from Kosovo
last week by the Serbian government, it is hardly surprising that
most of the information coming out of the region is largely biased
and generally not to be trusted. Perhaps what is surprising is the
ridiculous lengths to which Western media outlets have gone to
provide their consumers with "news."
	Networks, in particular the Atlanta-based Cable News
Network, are resorting to some pretty desperate measures to obtain
information, and in the process any semblance of professional
journalism seems to have gone by the wayside. Conjecture and
rumour have replaced reporting in a region fraught with ethnic
tensions, where the truth is often a murky concept at the best of
times.
	On Sunday, CNN interviewed Hashim Thaqui, one of the
leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, for an update on the
situation within the troubled Yugoslav province.
	Speaking through a translator, Mr. Thaqui gave a detailed
account of 20 teachers being rounded up in an unnamed part of the
province and executed by Serb forces in front of their students.
	Perhaps this horrific event did indeed take place, but Mr.
Thaqui, who is a member of what is technically a terrorist
organization whose mission is to fight the Serbs in Kosovo, hardly
seems a credible source. Besides, since when are journalists in the
practice of quoting terrorist groups for information on the activities
of their enemies?
	It's a bit like relying on a member of the Shining Path for
accurate information about the situation in Peru, or asking a Basque
terrorist to describe contemporary Spain.
	A few hours after CNN had interviewed Mr. Thaqui, NATO
officials and the U.S. State Department were also quoting his
version of events, which were in turn quoted by most Western
media outlets, including most Canadian ones, showing how
unsubstantiated rumours quickly become "facts" in the scramble for
quick sound bites.
	In addition to their poor choice of sources, CNN's coverage of
events in the Balkans has at times bordered on the ridiculous.
	Chris Burns, a CNN correspondent reporting yesterday from a
northern Albanian border town where thousands of ethnic Albanian
refugees were arriving, interviewed a young ethnic Albanian woman
who had just made a difficult journey from Kosovo.
	At the end of the interview, Mr. Burns turned to the young
woman and said, "We wish you courage." It was not immediately
clear upon whose behalf Mr. Burns was speaking ? CNN? The
American people?
	The comment, however innocent, was highly unprofessional in a
televised interview setting and destroyed Mr. Burns' journalistic
objectivity.
	Serbs watching the exchange, which was replayed throughout
the day, could perhaps be excused for thinking that CNN had
turned into a propaganda tool for both the NATO alliance and the
ethnic Albanians, who are currently fighting the Serbs. In Atlanta,
where CNN is based, Serb protesters carried signs urging CNN to
"Tell the Truth."
	In press briefing after press briefing, U.S. and NATO officials
have cautioned against the "misinformation" being spread by
Serbian government-controlled media, but viewers should also be
on guard for the "information" that comes from U.S. and NATO
sources. It is well to keep in mind that in the absence of foreign
journalists, there is almost no way to check the veracity of
information that is coming out of Kosovo. What we do have is a
propaganda war in which images from state-controlled Serbian TV
compete with testimony from KLA terrorists and ethnic Albanian
refugees, many of whom support NATO bombing and the KLA.
	These days, one of the only trustworthy sources of news from
Kosovo is Radio B92. Although this independent, Belgrade-based
radio station has had its signal intercepted by Serbian government
forces recently, their reports are available on the Internet
(www.b92.net). Their Web site, which features reports in Serbian,
English, and several other languages, provides straightforward
news reports from Belgrade, parts of Kosovo, and Montenegro, in
addition to interviews with European and U.S. government
officials.
	Because B92 is just about the only professional news
organization to have reporters on the ground, they are possibly the
only credible source of information on Kosovo, for the time being
anyway.