KHOU-TV's Milosevic interview raises ethicists' eyebrows

The Associated Press

04.23.99

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NEW YORK — The first American interview given by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic since the NATO bombing began went to a local TV station in Houston, not a big network. But it came with some ethical baggage attached.

The KHOU-TV analyst who interviewed the Serbian leader had his trip paid for by a businessman of Serbian and Croatian descent who has called reports of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo "a lie."

KHOU News Director Mike Devlin said the Yugoslavs placed no restrictions on what interviewer Ron Hatchett could ask during Monday's interview.

"This guy nagged the hell out of the Yugoslavs and he got in," Devlin said. "He asked all the appropriate questions."

Hatchett is director of the Center for International Studies at Houston's University of Saint Thomas and is a paid military analyst for KHOU. The trip was paid for by Bob Koprivica of Butte, Mont., a retired beer and wine wholesaler who heads an organization called Peace Without Violence and has close ties to Yugoslavia.

Koprivica's group was invited to Yugoslavia by the Serbian Orthodox Church and the interview with Milosevic was brokered by peace groups, said Mary Paich, secretary of Peace Without Violence.

KHOU might not have accepted the interview if Hatchett's questions had been censored, Devlin said. During the interview, Milosevic pledged that the three captured American soldiers would be well treated and that the Red Cross could visit them.

KHOU paid for its own news crew to accompany Hatchett but it was denied admittance to Belgrade. Hatchett's interview was filmed by a crew attached to the Serbian government.

An expert in media ethics called the arrangement "deeply troubling."

"The role of a journalist is to pursue the truth and report it as best as possible," said Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute. "He should not be beholden to any organization or special interest group who, even though they may be good people, have intentions that may be counter to the intentions of journalism."

Ed Turner, a former CNN executive who now heads The Freedom Forum's Forum Network, called the situation acceptable if it was explained to viewers. KHOU did say on the air who paid for the trip and has repeatedly said that Hatchett was invited to Yugoslavia by pro-Serb forces.

Devlin suggested that people were criticizing KHOU's interview because they couldn't understand how a local TV station could outmaneuver the networks.

"It's like, 'You guys cover your car wrecks and your chemical leaks and let the big boys do this,' " he said. "When somebody comes out of the blue and gets this tape, it's like, 'How dare you do that?' "

CBS News used portions of the interview on the "CBS Evening News" on April 21 and on "This Morning" yesterday. The network had reviewed the transcript and found that the interview was "pretty straightforward," spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said.

CBS had sent anchor Dan Rather to Belgrade last week, hoping he would interview Milosevic. Paich said Rather had asked for her organization's help in trying to arrange the interview and said if the network anchorman had been able to stay a few days longer, he might have gotten it.

Koprivica told the Associated Press that he hoped for a diplomatic end to the crisis and the safe return of the three captured Americans. But he called reports of ethnic cleansing "a lie."

"From what I know about the Serbs, they have never attacked anybody," he said. "They only fight in defense."