by Aleksandar DAMOVSKI
Surprisingly easy and irresponsibly, a part of journalistic stars of big media companies stuck with the Kosovo story about good and bad guys from the crisis in 1999. After that everything went and still goes very easily. Simply, they copied the Kosovo pattern onto their reports about the recent events in Macedonia. The pattern is the same, only this time the events have moved somewhat to the south, but the participants are the same: Eastern Orthodox, always militant Slavs and poor, discriminated and oppressed Albanians.
Thus, the distinguished British daily The Independent published the following observations of its reporter Justin Huggler: "The Macedonian attack started at 4pm, only a few hours after the offer of the rebels for peace talks. The guerrillas warned that their attacks would continue unless the Macedonian Government responded to their offer. The Government's response were huge blazes on the top of the peak Baltepe and deafening explosions that were echoing against roofs of Tetovo."
Therefore, without any further ado, the reporter sends a clear message. It is obvious who is a peacemaker in this case. The rebels, of course. They offered peace, but the Macedonian state rejected it and started shooting "indiscriminately". The facts are as follows: several hours after the expiration of the Macedonian government's deadline for the offer to lay down arms, five civilians in the settlement Kotluk were injured by a mortar grenade fired from the Tetovo fort.
The same author contributed the following pathetic description: "In the city below the mountain, several residents who still haven't escaped are speeding in their cars through the city. Several soldiers are firing grenades from an abandoned playground at a nearby hill while blue-white swings are twisting in the wind above them. Terrified soldiers are patrolling the city, probably in case one of the rebels had managed to climb down to the city. There are no signs of civic disturbances in the city."
The golden journalistic rule that "both sides" should be heard did not prevent this daily from publishing the following sentence, without even minimal effort to present the truthful situation: "Rebels say they are fighting for improvement of minority rights of Albanians, who are at least one quarter of population in Macedonia. There are no signs of illegal persecution but there is a lot of dissatisfaction among the Albanians because, as they say, general discrimination against them in Macedonia."
Huggler's colleague, working for the same daily, John Sweeney, continues in harmony with the clear editorial policy of the paper. His report begins like this: "This week Tetovo is a city shaking with fear. Heads are turning too quickly at the sound of slamming car doors, people look as if in trance at columns of dirty gray smoke raising towards the blue sky from burning Albanian houses."
How does the author know that the burning house belongs to an Albanian? The buildings at the peak near the Tetovo fort are mostly vacation homes owned by ethnic Macedonians. This reporter, just as many others, terrifies with the manner in which he attempts to simplify the situation, obviously deliberately forgetting about the most important facts. That armed individuals entered and attacked a country. No one here is even thinking about debating their political views, but the distortion of facts and the way in which that is done is anything but truthful reporting. Paul Wood, a famous BBC reporter, started his first report from the village of Tanusevci with the death of a 22-years-old man, who was brutally murdered [by Macedonian policemen] while planting potatoes. I would like to hear at least one place, anywhere in the world, where at the height of 1,500 meters above sea level, in February, under snow cover, someone plants potatoes.
Besides folklore, tradition and music, the reporters are wowed by the fact that it is possible to buy even "Coca Cola" and "Fanta" in Tetovo, and if needed it is even possible to place a phone call to anywhere in the world from a mobile phone. It seems that it is that much more horrible that Tetovo, more a large village than a city, if fully integrated in the modern Europe. It is possible to watch cricket on "BBC World" at a hotel. It is possible to place a phone call via your mobile wherever you like. It is possible to enter a fully stocked supermarket, full of "Snickers" bars, "Coca Cola", "Fanta" and all other goods desired by a European consumer.
Another terrifying fact is that, so far, in this conflict there were less victims than in an average American high school shootout...
Reporter Sweeney knows everything, but only assumes that the first victim below the Tetovo fort was killed by a bullet fired by the Macedonian Army: "...To date, one Albanian civilian has been drilled in the forehead - presumably by the Macedonian military - and one ethnic Albanian policeman killed in a shoot-out with the UCK. That's two dead Albanians. Plus one Macedonian soldier, killed when one of the country's four military helicopters crashed into a hillside. There are whispers of 10, 15 dead, and of children killed - but where are the corpses?" ["Waiting for war: The Agony of Tetovo," by John Sweeney, the Independent, March 21, 2001]
Without an effort to check who really killed the Albanian civilian with a sniper bullet. The Police Chief in Tetovo, an ethnic Albanian, stated for Newsweek that the victim was killed by a sniper shooting from the Tetovo fort, which was the base of the extremists.
Another mistake. According to Sweeney, the population under the mountain, "downstairs", in Tetovo is "80% Albanian, but ruled by the Macedonians, kith and kin of their fellow Orthodox, the Serbs. Downstairs, the Macedonian Army is much better equipped but much less motivated than the rebels upstairs". ["Waiting for war: The Agony of Tetovo," by John Sweeney, the Independent, March 21, 2001]
The local authorities in Tetovo are fully controlled by the DPA [a political party representing ethnic Albanians in the Macedonian government]. The second statement implies that the rebels are far more motivated for fighting as they are fighting for justice, while the other side is not!!!
The reporter even tries to enter as deeply as possible into the problem and goes as far back as 1999 when... "with extremely bad grace the Macedonians eventually (of course we finally let them in, author's remark) allowed in Albanian refugees from Kosovo, but not before many of the old and the very young had died waiting in the disgusting pit of the Blace containment camp on the border. I remember vividly the despair of one man, who had escaped from the killing fields on a train with his family, only to be turned back by the Macedonian border guards. He made second attempt by car and succeeded in getting his family out... The callousness of the Macedonian border guards in 1999 will stick in my mind for the rest of my life. So, I share some of the Albanians' amazement at what is happening now. It feels as though a horribly contagious virus is eating into the people of Tetovo." ["Waiting for war: The Agony of Tetovo," by John Sweeney, the Independent, March 21, 2001] The man is writing about the Kosovo refugee crisis, when Macedonia received more than 300,000 refugees, Albanians, while his own country, Great Britain, took less than a few thousands. And he finds a justification for everything that is today happening in Macedonia exactly in that. Of course! Deep and analytical!
Consequently, the same author wonders "...For those who have followed events in the former Yugoslavia it's like watching a film in the negative: you can't believe what you're seeing. Suddenly white is black, up is down. And NATO has also switched sides. How could it be that the innocent victims of Orthodox hate in 1999 are now, just two years on, extremist terrorist to be denounced by Lord Robertson? How did the powers that be change their minds so quickly?... Why isn't Lord Robertson, who is a thoroughly decent man, scolding the Macedonians for yesterday afternoon's indiscriminate shelling of Albanian villages? Never mind the UCK; women and children were living there yesterday, and random blasting of civilians is against the rules of war." ["Waiting for war: The Agony of Tetovo," by John Sweeney, the Independent, March 21, 2001]
Finally, again the BBC, this time BBC radio.
"The Macedonian state TV is broadcasting pictures of Macedonian women carrying boxes of ammunition..."
"Experts", exactly from these countries, have for the last ten years instructed us, journalists from the former Communist countries, about how to report from military hot spots, about how to report about conflict situations, about strict rules of our profession in those cases, about hate speech, ethnic prejudice... And again, a few days ago we got another invitation, exactly from the BBC about the organization of a seminar about the reporting from military hot spots. I suggest that we pay for the seminar, that it be held in Tanusevci, and that participants be recruited among the western European journalists. Perhaps we should schedule it for May. So that we can plant a few potatoes.
(A part of the speech delivered at the conference "The role of media in conflict situations", held on March 29 in Skopje)