Covering Kosovo

Posted on March 2, 1999

It has become, in many ways, the first internet war, a sad if appropriate way to end the 20^th century. We are witnessing in the crisis in Kosovo the first time and surely not the last -- the web has been so instrumental to the real war.

From the beginning, we saw attempts by pro-Yugoslav forces to crash the NATO web site. More recently, international relief agencies now are using the web to re-unite refugee families. And the propaganda war over any peace deal will be as intense as the war of words over the actual fighting.

There are thousands of web pages from all perspectives, where you can watch and listen to the top generals and politicians or at the other end of the scale, see what ordinary people are saying to each other, beyond the borders and the bombs.

OFFICIAL PROPAGANDA:

Of course, both sides are flooding the net with official propaganda NATO and the various defense ministries have full texts of their briefings, photos and other material (see www.nato.int ; the Pentagon at www.defenselink.mil/briefings/; Canada's site at and the UK site at

What's surprising is how despite the heavy bombing -- the various branches of the Yugoslav government maintained very active web pages with plenty of updates, photos and news. (See, for example, the official government site at www.gov.yu/ and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at www.smip.sv.gov.yu/Latestnews/index_e.html)

On a more local level, even small towns like Nis have their own own official page denouncing what it called "NATO aggression" (www.nis.org.yu/gradnis/aktuelno/aggression.html) where they boast that since the beginning of the war, there have been 456 newborn babies in town.

DISSENT ON THE WEB:

But the web's real strength is to give voice to people who often don't get heard in official channels.

In Belgrade, radio station B92 is best example. As the only independent radio station in Belgrade, B02 faced harassment and repression, so it turned to the web to broadcast around the world.

Its web site was shut down and has since been taken over by the Yugoslav government as a propaganda site. 

B92 and its supporters around the world retaliated by setting up a new web site FreeB92 they call it (www.freeb92.net) and they continue to publish independent news, even holding an internet support rally.

Another example is a group of anti-war Serb students from the movement "Otpor" (Resistance) at www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/e-index.html. Under the rain of bombs and repression, they are brave enough to pose some difficult questions: why are we against NATO intervention? why don't we overthrow milosevic now? why do we think that criticizing the government at this particular moment does not constitute a betrayal of the state?

In the west, too, dissenters have turned to the web. Noam Chomsky and other leading American dissidents, who have been critical of the bombing, have extensive articles and comments at Zmag (www.zmag.org/zmag/kosovo.htm). The International Action Center at www.iacenter.org/ coordinates many anti-NATO activities.

ORDINARY PEOPLE SPEAK OUT

Most refreshing of all, though, is the voice of ordinary people heard through various web pages.

The Network of East-West Women, for example, brings you passionate news from Serbia and Kosovo, by and for women (at www.neww.org/kosova/default.htm.)

You can read their prayers (at www.neww.org/kosova/prayers.htm) and read messages from around the world an Italian family looking for relatives, Austrian Greens trying to organize support, a Canadian who urges them 'to stand proud' (See www.insidetheweb.com/mbs.cgi/mb139332)

This is what the web is all about bringing ordinary people together and helping journalists reach them. Whatever kind of peace comes to Kosovo and the refugees, this aspect of the web will remain as the most important tool for journalists.

Of course, all the major news media have special Kosovo sections. The best include the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo/, the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/balkans.htm, the CBC at www.cbcnews.cbc.ca/news/indepth/kosovo.

For a sample of independent journalism check out Independent Balkan writers at www.aimpress.ch and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting at www.iwpr.net