April 23, 1999
His Excellency
Javier Solana
NATO Secretary General
Via FAX: 011-322-724-3422
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by NATO’s missile attack against state-run Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) in downtown Belgrade early this morning. The attack destroyed RTS’s main newsroom and studios, knocking it off the air for several hours, and reportedly killed at least nine people and injured 18 others.
The attack follows the April 21 bombing of a Belgrade office building that housed three private television stations, TV Pink, BK TV and TV Kosova, the latter a station owned by Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic’s daughter, Marija. All three channels were knocked off the air, although no injuries were reported. Since last week, NATO has targeted more than a dozen television transmitters throughout Yugoslavia.
NATO’s decision to target civilian broadcast facilities not only increases the danger for reporters now working in Yugoslavia but permanently jeopardizes all journalists as noncombatants in international conflicts as provided for in the Geneva Conventions. It represents an apparent change in NATO policy only days after your spokesman Jamie Shea offered assurances in a letter to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that civilian targets would be avoided:
“The Alliance shares your concern for freedom of the media and the treatment of journalists. Allied air missions are planned to avoid civilian casualties, including of course journalists, and have been frequently aborted when it has proven impossible to distinguish between military and civilian targets.”
As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ condemns NATO’s air attack against RTS and other broadcast outlets in Yugoslavia. We are troubled by the NATO members’ decision to place military objectives over their stated commitment to freedom of expression. While CPJ understands the alliance’s concerns about the role of RTS in Milosevic’s propaganda campaign, we believe hate speech and propaganda is best countered with increased objective reporting, not with violence.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Yugoslavia
Send a letter to:
His Excellency
Javier Solana
NATO Secretary General
Via FAX: 011-322-724-3422