The Media Orgy in Bosnia that Deceived the World.
Welcome to the ‘Brave New’ Journalism.
In the summer of 1992, in response to media interest roused by rumors about atrocities being committed by Bosnian Serb forces in ad hoc prison camps, ...the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić invited journalists including Roy Gutman, a British film crew from ITN, and the Guardian’s Ed Vulliamy to visit the camps.
Local Serb officials tried to block their access to the camps but eventually took Penny Marshall, Ian Williams and Ed Vulliamy to Omarska, where they were allowed to speak to prisoners in the canteen under very constrained circumstances. They were stopped at gunpoint by the camp commander from visiting the areas of the camp where most of the prisoners were being held.
After leaving Omarska they drove past another camp, Trnopolje, where they found their golden opportunity to manipulate international reporting. The journalists, accompanied by camp guards and a Serbian television crew, interviewed staff and inmates. Fikret Alić was among a group of very recently arrived prisoners from the Keraterm camp being held in a corner of the camp, which was also a transit camp for the removal of the non-Serb population from the local Kozarac and Prijedor area.
The footage from Trnopolje was broadcast by ITN on 6 August 1992. The image of Fikret Alić, his emaciated condition highlighted by his gaunt face and protruding ribs resulted in a total worldwide media orgy of disinformation. Retractions were never issued nor were any apologies to the Serbs for this effort to portray them with collective guilt, a process the media uses to this very day against Serbia.
Look closely at the images you will note that the barbed wire is attached to the outside of the posts on the alleged “prisoner side,” unlikely if you are trying to hold prisoners in a confined area. At one corner of the Trnopolje area was a shed with farming tools and equipment that was surrounded by barbed wire to prevent looting. Penny Marshall and her film crew climbed inside the barbed wire area and encouraged Fikret Alic to come close to the barbed wire so she could take his picture…deliberately giving the impression that he and the other Bosnian Muslims were being held against their will. The pictures from their files were used around the world to claim the Serbs had created a Hitler-style concentration camp.
In Peter Brock’s Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting Thomas Deichmann who visited the camp and testified at The Hague wrote on page 245: “There was no barbed wire fence around the Trnopoije camp area, which also included a school, a community center, and a large open area with a sports field. This was verified by international institutions such as the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague and the International Red Cross in Geneva. The fact that it was the reporters that were surrounded by barbed wire can be seen in the other film material that was not edited or broadcast.”
Headlines like these followed:
“BELSEN “92”
“The PROOF BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE”
“THE BRUTAL TRUTH ABOUT THE SUFFERING IN BOSNIA”
“EVIDENCE MOUNTS OF EXECUTIONS AND BEATINGS IN SERB-RUN CAMPS”
“HORROR OF THE NEW HOLOCAUST”
“THE PICTURE THAT SHAMES THE WORLD”
Welcome to the ‘Brave New’ Journalism.
In the summer of 1992, in response to media interest roused by rumors about atrocities being committed by Bosnian Serb forces in ad hoc prison camps, ...the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić invited journalists including Roy Gutman, a British film crew from ITN, and the Guardian’s Ed Vulliamy to visit the camps.
Local Serb officials tried to block their access to the camps but eventually took Penny Marshall, Ian Williams and Ed Vulliamy to Omarska, where they were allowed to speak to prisoners in the canteen under very constrained circumstances. They were stopped at gunpoint by the camp commander from visiting the areas of the camp where most of the prisoners were being held.
After leaving Omarska they drove past another camp, Trnopolje, where they found their golden opportunity to manipulate international reporting. The journalists, accompanied by camp guards and a Serbian television crew, interviewed staff and inmates. Fikret Alić was among a group of very recently arrived prisoners from the Keraterm camp being held in a corner of the camp, which was also a transit camp for the removal of the non-Serb population from the local Kozarac and Prijedor area.
The footage from Trnopolje was broadcast by ITN on 6 August 1992. The image of Fikret Alić, his emaciated condition highlighted by his gaunt face and protruding ribs resulted in a total worldwide media orgy of disinformation. Retractions were never issued nor were any apologies to the Serbs for this effort to portray them with collective guilt, a process the media uses to this very day against Serbia.
Look closely at the images you will note that the barbed wire is attached to the outside of the posts on the alleged “prisoner side,” unlikely if you are trying to hold prisoners in a confined area. At one corner of the Trnopolje area was a shed with farming tools and equipment that was surrounded by barbed wire to prevent looting. Penny Marshall and her film crew climbed inside the barbed wire area and encouraged Fikret Alic to come close to the barbed wire so she could take his picture…deliberately giving the impression that he and the other Bosnian Muslims were being held against their will. The pictures from their files were used around the world to claim the Serbs had created a Hitler-style concentration camp.
In Peter Brock’s Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting Thomas Deichmann who visited the camp and testified at The Hague wrote on page 245: “There was no barbed wire fence around the Trnopoije camp area, which also included a school, a community center, and a large open area with a sports field. This was verified by international institutions such as the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague and the International Red Cross in Geneva. The fact that it was the reporters that were surrounded by barbed wire can be seen in the other film material that was not edited or broadcast.”
Headlines like these followed:
“BELSEN “92”
“The PROOF BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE”
“THE BRUTAL TRUTH ABOUT THE SUFFERING IN BOSNIA”
“EVIDENCE MOUNTS OF EXECUTIONS AND BEATINGS IN SERB-RUN CAMPS”
“HORROR OF THE NEW HOLOCAUST”
“THE PICTURE THAT SHAMES THE WORLD”
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