Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : The Kosovo conflict 1999
War Propaganda in Serbia by Anon 
War Propaganda in Serbia By a writer for the Global Beat Syndicate* April 13, 1999 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- War censorship effectively arrived in Serbia five hours after the first NATO air strikes, when the government shut down the country's most influential alternative radio station, B92. The official reason given for closing the station was a "finding" by the Ministry of Information that it was exceeding its authorized transmitting power. Compared to the official ban on "spreading fear, panic and defeatism" issued by the Serbian government last October, there have been no official decrees this time concerning public communication. But since the bombs started falling, information concerning the most dramatic events in recent Serbian history has been more restricted than ever. It is no surprise that most of the news on Belgrade's 11 television channels looks just the same. Eight of them broadcast the same, government-produced news programs. Only the government-owned television channels and news agency are allowed to film the results of NATO'S bombing campaign. News programs are designed to show the illegitimacy of NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, the unity of the Serbian people in resisting the enemy and Serbian invincibility. The news media here have numerous ways to describe most Western nations: killers; death-disseminators; fascists; dictators; criminals; villains; bandits; vandals; barbarians; gangsters; vampires; cowards; perverts; lunatics; scum; and trash. The West wants to destroy the small but honorable, dignified and freedom-loving Serbian nation. This unprecedented barrage of hateful speech is directed against all NATO nations but especially against the United States. ("Only a dead American is a good American"). It is also combined with an almost mystical elevation of the Serbian people: They have hate, we have love; they have rockets, we have heart; there are no computers in the world which can calculate the depth of the soul and the width of the heart of the Serbian people fighting for their homeland. The newscasts offer plenty of hate and patriotism but few facts concerning the current crisis. Instead, there are long interpretations of events by reporters, politicians, public figures and common people. They all come to the same conclusion: Despite the enemy's cruelty, we will succeed in defending our country. All this has the effect of making the average news program two, three and even four times longer than usual. All news programs are basically the same. They downplay NATO official announcements concerning further actions and threats amd report NATO actions only very selectively. There is an almost euphoric stress on successes of the Yugoslav defense system while completly ignoring the Albanian refugee crisis. There is detailed coverage of worldwild protests against NATO, and prominent reports of Russia's political and military actions against NATO. Statements by NATO officials and foreign politicians from the enemy are never directly reported. Instead, their comments are presented selectively, either by reporters or through Serbian officials, whose usual response is that these new new criminal actions or accusations by NATO will not frighten the Serbian people. The rarest type of news is that providing details about NATO's bombing. Reports are usually vague ("Several missiles thrown by the barbarian and criminal NATO aggressors fell down today on Novi Sad..."), and emphasize the damage to civilian facilities. Yugoslav Army successes are reported regularly. The news often reports that the air defense system has caused "considerable losses to the enemy side" although enemy losses are hardly ever seen. Reports by military leaders of the number of downed enemy aircraft and missiles are given prominence. The downing of a U.S. F-117 jet, "the pride of Western death-disseminating technology," was covered euphorically for days. NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia have pushed developments in Kosovo into the background. Events in Kosovo seldom make the headlines. What coverage there is stresses the numerous NATO strikes on the province and the effects on both Serbs and Albanian there. NATO is regularly reported to coordinate its attacks with military actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army. All Serbian television networks downplay the issue of Albanian refugees.There have been no pictures of the thousands of Albanian refugees fleeing Kosovo. The "Kosovo humanitarian catastrophe" is referred to as an issue either made up or overemphasized by Western propaganda. Any coverage of the Kosovo refugee situation shows both Serbs and Albanians fleeing to Belgrade and being helped by the authorities here. Reports from Kosovo are designed to directly refute the Western claims about the Serbian policy of ethnic cleansing. According to television here, the Serbs remain united in their patriotic resistance to NATO attacks, within one state and under one flag. Serbian television promotes patriotism as the supreme social value. The sudden purge of all Western entertainment (except for "All The President's Men and "Wag The Dog"-type films) encourages xenophobia. Meanwhile, live coverage of the mass concerts in the center of Belgrade during the air attacks carefully shows a message of nationalism and "resistance to world dictators." * This article was written by a media expert in Belgrade whose name is witheld to protext against the extreme penalties threatened against independent writers by the Yugoslav government. |