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<A HREF="http://www.free-market.net/features/spotlight/media/balkans.html">FMN: Media
Spotlight,
May-June 1999, War in the Balkans</A>
Media Spotlight
by J.D. Tuccille
War Coverage to Die For
April 15, 1999
As the Balkan War was heating up, the BBC,
that eminence grise of British talking-head-ism,
ran an article called "US press backs strikes."
The premise of the piece was that American news
outlets were cheerleading NATO's aerial tour of
Yugoslavia and pushing for blood and iron in a
way not seen since a newspaper circulation war
in 1898 turned a mysterious accident aboard a
battleship into the demise of the Spanish empire.
In particular, the Beeb singled out The New York
Times, The Washington Post, and the Miami Herald
for their hawkish drumbeating.
Although its point is well taken, the BBC's
choice of news outlets is probably a sign of
an old-fashioned fixation with musty newsprint.
The real drumbeater among American news
organizations is CNN, which made its name
with the Gulf War and seems dead-set on
holding that reputation -- while dodging
any repeat of the charges of insufficient
patriotism with which it was hit during
the Iraqi fireworks.
In fact, CNN's coverage was singled out
for criticism in an opinion piece published
in the Australian Financial Review. That
column referred to the cable operation's
coverage as "emotionalism now masquerading
as news" and focused on the widespread
failure to look at the underdog KLA's
rather spotty qualifications for anointment
as the democratic world's chosen champion
in the spat between "bad" Serbs and "good"
Kosovar Albanians.
A look at CNN's Web site bears out that
assessment. The lead story is usually the
latest atrocity committed by the minions
of the Butcher of Belgrade, there's a
prominent link to a gee-whiz "military
databank" info sheet on all the cool
things-that-go-bang involved in the war
(sorted by country), as well as a Strike
at a Glance breakdown of what those cool
weapons have been blowing up.
Of course, this could be characterized as
nothing more than thorough coverage, but
there's an unseemly video-game air to the
whole presentation.
The Washington Post, on the other hand,
though singled out by the BBC for its
hawkish stance, has done a comparatively
good job of keeping its cheerleading to
the editorial page. The paper does give
significant coverage to Serb atrocities,
but that's only fair, since the Serb
government is competing flat-out for
the "Huns and Vandals of the 1990s"
award. The Post was also the scene of
the already infamous "U.S. Miscalculations
Traced to Albright" headline that seemed
to give the commander-in-chief a pass
on any booboos.
Beyond that, though, the Post has refrained
from treating NATO strikes as if they were
bloodless surgical procedures against Yugoslav
President Milosevic and his military; the
death of 11 innocent civilians and destruction
of homes and businesses in one bombing raid
gone awry made headlines (even if on page A16).
That story quoted a woman whose home was
destroyed as calling Clinton "worse than
the Nazis."
The New York Times has also done a credible
job of balancing discussion of the horrors
visited upon the Kosovars by Serbs with a
look at the long-standing ethnic and religious
minefield that NATO is strolling across.
That's in pleasant contrast to the more-bombs-now
stance favored by the editors.
To its credit, The Washington Post was relatively
early to ask what would happen if the bombing didn't
work and to report that President Clinton appeared
unprepared for such an eventuality. That was a timely
question to ask, since the Post also reported that
Milosevic's political opponents seemed to be rallying
around the dictator in response to the hail of
explosives rained on their heads by foreign forces.
But what of political opposition in the NATO countries?
Reports of protests and opposition are hard to
come by in U.S. news outlets -- which has made
the news itself. MSNBC went so far as to say
that the anti-war movement is "missing in action"
and that "[f]ormer doves have defected to become
hawks" -- at least on the traditionally pacifistic
political left. The New York Times, in its familiar
gray-lady way, said that most American college
students had their heads too far up their butts
to know what to do about the war.
Fox News covered the opposition of some conservatives
to the Balkan War, but in the context of disarray
in Republican ranks over how to address the issue
in the lead-up to the next election. Hmmmm.
How does flattening cities play in Iowa?
Such coverage might lead observers to believe
that there's no significant U.S. opposition to
NATO's adventure in the Balkans, which would be
curious since Agence France Presse reported that
American public support for the bombings was
holding at a whopping 51 percent, a figure
confirmed by Reuters. Given Americans' usual
tendency to rally 'round the flag, that's
roughly the approval rating you would expect
if the Air Force rained napalm on Disneyland.
But there is opposition, if you dig deeply
enough. A good piece in the Minneapolis
Star-Tribune detailed the treatment -- and
occasional mistreatment -- of Serbian-Americans,
some of whom have demonstrated against the war.
By and large, the story said, Serbian-Americans
have reported "little hostility" and even
friendly inquiries about their relatives
in Yugoslavia. Well, that's certainly
better than internment camps.
The Boston Herald has also run stories about
opposition to the war, including an interesting
story on how skepticism of NATO's tactics and
actions has created "an unlikely coalition
spanning the political spectrum." That Herald
story prominently featured the Cato Institute's
Ted Galen Carpenter, who has been one of the
most consistently quoted critics of the
Yugoslav adventure.
Perhaps, if you believe the Philadelphia Inquirer,
the dearth of coverage of antiwar demonstrations
has something to do with where they're being held:
the Internet. According to the Inquirer, anti-war
activists have taken their efforts to an electronic
forum that they believe to be "a quieter but far
more effective stage than the streets." Judging
from the headlines they're drawing, today's
plugged-in protesters might want to rethink
that strategy and get away from the computer
from time to time. Just look at their cousins
to the North; ticked-off activists in Toronto
won lots of notice by torching the U.S. consulate.
Of course, that may not be the most productive
kind of headline.
But opponents of the Balkan War better act fast.
Despite tepid support, the momentum in D.C. is
to jettison earlier vows that NATO -- read "the
U.S." -- would never send ground troops to Yugoslavia.
According to CNN, but also the AP, Congress, pushed
by hawks like Sen McCain, seems to be drifting
towards a "gotta be in it to win it" stance.
The administration claims to be completely
opposed to such an escalation, and has
emphasized the point by dispatching more
warplanes and preparing to activate military
reservists. The UK upped its own ante with
an aircraft carrier (dubbed a "[f]loating
fortress" by the BBC).
When the Marines hit the ground, I wonder
if CNN will give us a neat-o interactive
display of body bags.
The Media Spotlight is written by J.D. Tuccille,
as a supplement to the Policy Spotlight. Tuccille
is also the editor of the Mining Company's
Civil Liberties site.
If you have comments on this article, write to
Tuccille at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or join us
in the discussion forum.
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