Daniela,

Had I known that agreeing with you would cause such consternation among the natives on this board, I'd have joined your wagon train a long time ago. Whooooopee! Geddy-up! Let's give the ignorant bastards the ride of their life!

:O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O)

tommygunns

To: L'menexe

i can find anti-american shwa all over the place, nothin' new about that.
Is it all lies, dear L'menexe?

To: Emina

There all the same and like every present don't give a damn about the country there supposed to rule and the people there supposed to guide.
And Serbs! And the Balkans! Let's charge at Chief Red Nose, Miss Piggy, et. al.!! Banzai!!
Luv You, hate Kansas,
Kissie

To: PhilTR

A good article, man, but it does not fall under showing the efforts being made by the Serbian news media to come to terms with their role during the bombing. phil On the contrary,
it shows, that "independent media" raving and craving of the "West" is just another phony piece of cr.., fitting the moment.
P.S. What's independent media creature anyways? Is it on the Endangered Species list or already a roadkill on the Highway of Democracy courtesy Corrupt News Networks?

Daniela,

Pardon me if I'm being obvious, but I'm sure you've noticed how "they" never seem to critique the content of whatever you post or write. Rather, they shift the subject to something else, or go off on a rant about something totally unrelated. Remember Phil's rant about Tanjung?

Now it's some nonesense about the Serb media's collective guilt (Emina should get in on that one, since voodoo is her thing). And, of course, neither of us EVER write anything original. We only "parrot" other peoples words according to one from the gallery!! And now our own Ms Bosnia once again forwards those "man-on-the-street" reports direct from Beograd. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE EVIL MILOSEVIC AND HIS SERB DUPES (roll the drums, enter trumpets here)

tommygunns

Phil,

From your posted NYT article:

THE NEW YORK TIMES
October 6, 1999

Independent Serb Journalists Defend Their Work

By STEVEN ERLANGER

[...] a Western-sponsored conference [...].

[...] Dragoljub Zarkovic, editor of the independent weekly Vreme [...] "To accuse the Serb people and the independent media of the worst crime in history, and to draw an outrageous and defamatory line of equality between a regime, a nation and a media that has been waging a bloody battle against the authorities for 10 years," Zarkovic said, "then I felt I had no option but to walk out [of the western sponsored conference]."

The conference, sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [...]

Did the independent media fail to challenge war censorship sufficiently?

(Huh? Is this question being directed at CNN? NYT? who? - TG)

Should they have suspended publication instead? Did they support the government of President Slobodan Milosevic [WJ Klinton] of
Yugoslavia [the USA] or somehow collaborate with it?

Did they print enough [?????] about Kosovo and the atrocities committed by Serbian forces there, and are they printing enough now? [Enough??? How much is enough? According to whom?]

During the war the Serbian news media operated under strict censorship, and access to Kosovo was very restricted. In the patriotic atmosphere, fueled by the media, Serbs nearly universally
opposed the bombing, even if they also opposed Milosevic or denounced the expulsion of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

The meeting, at a resort in Montenegro -- the only remaining Yugoslav republic beside Serbia -- created enormous acrimony , with Serbian journalists complaining of moral arrogance, sloppiness and hypocrisy.

[Repeat that - MORAL ARROGANCE, [...] HYPOCRISY.]

"The organizers wanted to waken our consciences and force us to question ourselves about our conduct and morality," said Veselin Simonovic, the editor of Blic, an independent tabloid, who returned to the discussion after his walkout.

At the same time, he said, "and this was put to us pretty directly, they made it clear we should be proclaimed as accomplices in crime, with ready-made slogans and cliches, and they tried to
force us to justify ourselves and say that we weren't quite as criminal as they said."

"Well," he said, "I wouldn't play along, and I felt sorry for my colleagues who did." The organizers had made a completely inadequate study of the coverage, he said, making few distinctions
between state and independent news media or among them.

[The above paragraphs speak volumes]

Gerard Stoudmann, chief organizer of the onference, said the "aim was to raise concerns about their role and responsibility in
civic society." [What an asinine jerk this Stoudmann is - probably moonlights as Ms. E's man-in-the-street from Beograd]

"There was enormous defensiveness, which shows to what extent Serbian society has become autistic and paranoid," he said. MORAL ARROGANCE AND HYPOCRISY, INDEED!!

[In the brave new NAZI/NATO world, objecting to being vilified or falsely accussed is evidence of ones guilt and "shows to what extent [one] has become autistic and paranoid". This guy must have studied at Ms. E's psychiatric institute]

But Simonovic, whose paper takes no money from international donors or governments, said the discussion had the character of a "trial" by Western sponsors. One of the organizers, Natasa
Kandic, was explicit. At one point she said, "They pay you and have the right to question your conduct during the war."

[Good dog, Ms. Kandic, good doggie. Here's a biscuit]

Ms. Kandic, the director of Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Center [undoubtedly an important organization, it has the word humanitarian in it], which gets Western aid [but, of course], traveled to Kosovo on her own during the war to investigate Serbian abuses.

In an interview, she said the Serbian news media had failed in their professional responsibilities during the war and were failing now to open the question of collective Serbian responsibility for
crimes in Kosovo.

[Enough, already!! This whole article is typical of NYT fillers. Just stuff to fill the space between Macy's adverts. They bank on nobody actually trying to read them]

tommygunns