KK-Forum,
her er mer om det famøse intervjuet med Kostunica. Merk at "genocide" er
helt ute av bildet (unntatt for NTB og NRK).
Knut Rognes
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Kostunica Disputes CBS Broadcast By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000; 5:02 p.m. EDT BELGRADE, Yugoslavia
–– Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's office on Thursday disputed a
CBS News broadcast that quoted him as acknowledging atrocities committed in
Kosovo under the government of his predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic.
The statement released by Kostunica's office, addressed to the president of
CBS News, said the segment aired Tuesday on "60 Minutes II" was
"unprofessional and unethical."
Kostunica was quoted in the broadcast as saying: "I am ready to ... accept
the guilt for all those people who have been killed. ... For what Milosevic
had done, and as a Serb, I will take responsibility for many of these,
these crimes."
The interview, which was reported by The Associated Press, was considered
the first time a Yugoslav leader publicly acknowledged that Yugoslav forces
committed widespread killings in Kosovo last year. Milosevic, who was
forced from office this month, never admitted wrongdoing in Kosovo or
former Yugoslav republics where he helped instigate armed conflicts.
Kostunica's office, in a statement translated by the AP, said the
journalists conducting the interview taped about 100 minutes of
conversation with him, but broadcast "only a few minutes" of his answer to
a single question, "and even that was taken completely out of context."
The president's office specifically protested excerpts of the interview
released on the CBS Web site a day before the broadcast.
That contained "a series of untruths and words which President Kostunica
did not use," his office said. Given the huge amount of publicity the CBS
broadcast received in other media, it "could have inflicted much political
damage to the president and the forces leading the democratization in
Yugoslavia," the statement said.
Government officials refused to elaborate Thursday about the "untrue
words." Cabinet Chief Ljiljana Nedeljkovic, who released the statement, was
unavailable for comment Thursday. Her office said she was in a meeting with
Kostunica.
Kostunica, considered a nationalist in his own right, came to power
accusing Milosevic of ruinous policies that harmed many nations in the
region, including Serbs.
CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley, who conducted the interview, said the
story was edited to concentrate on the two subjects of most interest to
international viewers: whether Kostunica would move against Milosevic and
whether he acknowledged war crimes.
"He was very evasive, particularly on the Milosevic question," Pelley said.
"We had to go back to him again and again and again to get a straight answer."
CBS had quoted Kostunica as saying that "those are the crimes and the
people that have been killed are victims," and "there are a lot of crimes
on the other side, and the Serbs have been killed."
Pelley said he believed the interview, as aired, was "absolutely fair." And
he said he wasn't surprised by Kostunica's statement criticizing CBS.
"He is trying to stabilize a government with enemies conspiring all around
him," he said. "When he took the courageous steps to be frank in our
interview, I think he knew that telling the truth was going to cause
trouble for him."
Kostunica's office said Thursday it felt "compelled to demand an
explanation regarding the unprofessional and unethical behavior of your
company in connection with the interview."
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
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