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Radio Netherlands - February 21, 2004
[DOWNLOAD AN MP3 OF THE EXCESSIVELY EDITED BROADCAST HERE] OPEN PROTEST LETTER TO RADIO NETHERLANDS: REGARDING THE UNACCEPTABLE
EDITING (OR SHOULD I SAY CENSORSHIP) OF SATURDAY'S "AMSTERDAM FORUM"
PROGRAM www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 21, 2004 TO: Andy Clark, Radio Netherlands Dear Mr. Clark, I am writing to inform you that I am most distressed at the way this Saturday's (21 February 2004) "Amsterdam Forum" was edited. I understand that you had to shorten the tape by ten minutes to make it fit your 30 minute time slot. However, the editing had the effect of strengthening widespread misinformation and it omitted points that would have corrected key areas of misinformation. Here are some examples: 1) At one point Ms. McDonald claimed the ICTY was legal because the UN Security Council has the authority to establish subsidiary organs. I had previously noted that the SC does not have judicial powers AND THEREFORE CANNOT CONFER SUCH POWERS ON ITS SUBSIDIARY BODIES. This exchange was of tremendous significance because if I am right - and anybody who reads the UN Charter will see that I am right - then the tribunal was illegal from day one. My point about the council conferring powers that it never had in the first place on its subsidiary organ (the tribunal) was edited out. 2) My opponent noted that the Tribunal had ruled that it (the Tribunal) was legal during the Tadic case, arguing that this was evidence of its legality. I noted that it was absurd for any body to rule on its own legality. That entire discussion was edited out of the broadcast. 3) My point that Drazen Erdemovic (the only proven perpetrator of executions at Srebrenica) was arrested by Serbia was edited out of the final broadcast. I had noted this to demonstrate that the charge against Milosevic, that Serbia failed to prevent and punish war crimes, was untrue. 4) My discussion with Ms. McDonald concerning whether JNA or VJ troops were present in Srebrenica in July of 1995 was edited out. Since many in the West have the false impression that Yugoslav government forces were fighting in Bosnia - and specifically, that they were involved in the retaking of Srebrenica in 1995 - this discussion could have set the record straight with your listeners. 5) I pointed out that a large portion of the (dramatically less than 8,000) bodies exhumed in the environs of Srebrenica were of people killed by shrapnel and blast injuries. I said this demonstrated that they had died in battle. Unfortunately the listeners didn't hear this because it was edited out. My understanding is that your mission should be to get out the truth - not to reinforce officially sanctioned misinformation. Editing out the above points - and leaving in, for example, Ms. McDonald's attack on Ariel Sharon, which I had not been told would be on the agenda (i.e., the Milosevic case) and which I did not come prepared to debate - is a grave disservice to the people of The Netherlands, whom your station serves. I therefore most urgently request that you do two things. First, send me an unedited recording of the interview by the fastest courier service available; second, and most important, post an unedited transcript of the interview on your website immediately - that is, on receipt of this email, and certainly no later than Monday. Only by speedily posting an unedited version in the most prominent place can you mitigate the harm to your public trust inflicted by this unfortunate editing. Sincerely yours, Andy Wilcoxson Editor, Emperor's Clothes Yugoslav Reports, www.tenc.net |
