International Journalists Protest NATO Attack
BRUSSELS: (South News) April 23 - The International Federation of Journali=
sts today condemned the
NATO bombing of Serbian state television as "a broken promise that threate=
ns the lives of all journalists
and media staffs."
``This bomb attack seems to make a very clear statement that civilian and =
particularly media targets are
legitimate,'' IFJ General-Secretary Aidan White told a news conference. ``=
We need more solidarity with
these journalists, not actions which mean they will be put more in the fir=
ing line,'' White said.
"Killing journalists and media staff never wins wars or builds democracy, =
it only reinforces ignorance,
censorship and fear," said Aidan White.The Brussels-based IFJ is a federat=
ion of journalism unions
representing about 450,000 journalists around the world.
The IFJ condemned NATO=92s action in particular as a "broken promise" foll=
owing a written commitment
from NATO spokesman Jamie Shea ten days ago to avoid civilian casualties, =
including journalists. NATO
told the IFJ there was no policy to strike television and radio transmitte=
rs as such. The IFJ further wrote
to Javier Solana two days ago calling on NATO to stick to its promise not =
to target media after attacks on
media close to the Milosevic family. This appeal was supported by more tha=
n 20 freedom of expression
groups world-wide.
The Serbian state television building in Belgrade was bombed by NATO Thurs=
day night, killing 10 people
and causing 18 injuries, according to Yugoslav sources several journalists=
, a make-up artist and an
electrician were among the dead.
NATO'S missile strike on RTS television has claimed more civilian lives th=
an any other hit on Belgrade
since the conflict began. Shocked staff wept and held each other on the fo=
otpath outside the station,
waiting for rescue workers to dig bodies and survivors out of the rubble.
NATO argues Serbian television is a legitimate military target because it =
spreads ``propaganda'' about the
Western air campaign. but drew protests from journalists around the world.=
.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "deeply di=
sturbed" by the bombing of
the Belgrade facility, which killed 10 people and injured at least 20.
``NATO's decision to target civilian broadcast facilities puts all the jou=
rnalists working in Yugoslavia at
risk,'' said the group's director for Eastern Europe, Chrystyna Lapychak. =
``While we understand NATO's
concern for propaganda, bombing the station is not the way to counter prop=
aganda.''
"This could permanently jeopardize journalists covering conflicts all over=
the world," Lapychak said in an
interview. "Under the Geneva Convention, journalists are supposed to be no=
ncombatants." Lapychak also
called the bombing "frightening to us as journalists."
Alexandre Levy, a spokesman for Paris-based Reporters without Borders, sai=
d the bombing ``creates a
very dangerous precedent for press freedom'' and might put foreign journal=
ists' lives in danger in
Yugoslavia.
The television center in Belgrade had been used to transmit news reports b=
y international as well as local
media, and many independent transmissions from foreign news crews had been=
sent from the building.
An organization of European national broadcasters that had used those tran=
smission facilities expressed
concern about the attack.
``We do not see how the suppression of news sources can serve any useful p=
urpose,'' said Albert Scharf,
president of the European Broadcasting Union. "Over and beyond the deaths =
involved, the EBU is
concerned about any attempt to limit the rights of audiences to full news =
services, whether through
censorship, distortion of news or destruction of the means of exchange new=
s".
The EBU links 68 public broadcasting services in 49 countries. It supervis=
es news programmes
transmitted via the Eurovision and Euroradio networks. Mr Scharf says Belg=
rade television had
transmitted reports by international media as well as local news coverage.=
In Rome, the Italian journalists' union condemned the act as "useless brut=
ality," and Italian TV staff based
in Belgrade expressed solidarity with their Yugoslav colleagues.
Defence expert Paul Beaver from Jane's Group in London said he found the a=
ttack "shocking" and
difficult to understand. "What if western journalists were feeding informa=
tion through tapes there at the
time? We could have had western casualties," Mr Beaver said. "I think this=
will be difficult for NATO to
justify."
Some of the harshest criticism of the attack, outside of Yugoslavia, came =
from Russia, which strongly
opposes the entire NATO campaign. Igor Yakovenko, secretary-general of the=
Union of Russian
Journalists, called the raid ``an act of vandalism'' aimed directly at civ=
ilian journalists.
``Today's act means the war has spread to another level, when attempts are=
being made to crush freedom
of speech,'' Yakovenko told the ITAR-Tass news agency. .
CNN and the U.S. broadcast networks, which had been feeding videotape from=
the building, abandoned it
after receiving private warnings from senior White House and Pentagon offi=
cials that NATO would soon
hit the facility.
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