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 Some interviewees, often public figures, may try to intimidate programme-makers before or after making a contribution. Programme-makers who have been fair are justified in giving a tough response – and they will be supported by the BBC. Milosevic's trial: being fair and impartial - by Geraldine Coughlan, The Hague Correspondent for the BBC Anyone who watched the horrors of the Balkan wars on television won't easily forget them. Refugees fleeing Kosovo; the massacre at Srebrenica; and the shelling of Dubrovnik. For a journalist faced with the task of fair reporting on the conflicts, to distance oneself emotionally from these images isn't easy. The trial Slobodan Milosevic is the first former head of state to be accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. He is charged with spearheading a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs in order to create a Greater Serbian state. The trial began in February 2002 and is expected to last until 2004. The prosecution has wrapped up its case on Kosovo and is now dealing with the Bosnia and Croatia indictments. This trial is the most important war crimes trial since World War Two and it is being seen as a crucial test for international justice. Its unique nature and sheer scale are daunting prospects for any journalist intent on providing fair and balanced coverage for a world audience. Assessing Milosevic's argument Inside the courtroom, one observes the daily exchanges between the prosecution witnesses and Mr Milosevic, who is acting as his own defence. He adopts a belligerent line of questioning during cross-examination, which doesn't make it easy to assess his argument. As the court hears horror stories of civilians being burned alive, women raped, villages plundered and summary executions at the hands of Serb forces, Mr Milosevic does his best to discredit the witnesses. At times he launches into political speeches and he neglects to focus on his actual defence. Reporting in a balanced way He gives journalists little substance to back him up in a balanced report, except to repeat his claim that it was Nato - not the Serbs - who were responsible for war crimes. Slobodan Milosevic has often accused the Western media of anti-Serb bias. When the BBC's Jackie Rowland took the stand, she defended the BBC's reputation for fair and unbiased coverage. Being inside the Tribunal, though, is a lot different from being out in the field. Not only does the journalist have to get to grips with the dry, legalistic implications of courtroom proceedings, he or she has to take care not to give too much weight to what may seem, at times, to be overwhelming evidence from a prosecution witness. When the former President begins his defence in 2003, the task of giving balanced coverage to the Milosevic trial is likely to become easier. Then the impartial reporter will have more of a chance to present the Milosevic side of the story - about how he had no control over atrocities in three conflicts that spanned a decade. |
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