Editors press NATO p.9

By: Joe Strupp Left unsatisfied after Pentagon meeting

Two weeks after President Clinton promised newspaper editors more information about the NATO military attacks in Yugoslavia, Washington D.C. bureau chiefs say things have eased up slightly, but not enough to allow for proper coverage.
"This military operation started out with the most-closed and least-forthcoming information policy of any U.S. military operation I have covered in 24 years as a reporter," says Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times' D.C. bureau chief. "They are telling us that NATO is winning this war, and Yugoslavia is losing, but they are not giving us the evidence in the form of concrete fact."
Several editors and correspondents met April 29 with Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon and say they have started receiving more details about the military campaign in Kosovo and Serbia but contend that not enough specific information about individual air strikes is being released.
"I'm not terribly hopeful because they said weeks ago that this is a policy decision," says Sandy Johnson, Washington D.C. bureau chief for The Associated Press and one of six D.C. journalists who participated in the hour-long meeting with Bacon. "There are a lot of other things they are not telling us."
Johnson joined McManus and other journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC during the meeting, in which most participants say they were given assurances that their concerns would be considered, but in which no promises for more access were given.
"Ken Bacon was responsive to our concerns and said they would be considered," says Jackson Diehl, Washington Post assistant managing editor for news who organized the meeting. "I will wait and see what happens, but I am cautiously optimistic."
The journalists provided Bacon with a list of specific kinds of information they are seeking as the military campaign continues, including daily data on targets attacked, bombing damage, and the types of munitions, weapons, and planes used in each mission. Diehl also says they need more access to U.S. forces in the area, especially commanders, and the names of servicemen.
"During Desert Fox and Desert Storm, we were given regular updates on targets and flights and other information," says Diehl. "That kind of information has only been given out twice during this air campaign."
Bacon says the Pentagon has made available "much of what [the journalists] have wanted," but insists that certain information cannot be released if it will jeopardize the military mission.
"The press always wants more information than it is getting," Bacon says. "We have learned more about the enemy and how they work and what information can and cannot be released."
But Bacon declined to specify what kinds of data is considered too sensitive. The demands for more information began last month when Diehl sent a letter signed by the six news agencies that attended the Bacon meeting to Defense Secretary William Cohen. The letter, dated April 9, stated that the co-signers had "grave concerns about [the defense] department's apparent decision to withhold significant information."
During the recent conference of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in San Francisco, Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie raised the issue with President Clinton after Clinton addressed the conference about the military campaign. Clinton said, at that time, that he did not believe there was any reason for information to be withheld unless it was key to U.S. security and promised to seek an easing of restrictions on press access.
Since then, however, Washington-based journalists say they continue to get only limited military briefings.
Diehl says the journalists are willing to wait and see if more information is made available in coming weeks, but remained firm that, if roadblocks continue, they will seek a meeting with Cohen and take their case to Clinton again if necessary. "If we are still at an impasse, we will insist on taking it to a higher level," Diehl says.
McManus says that the Pentagon needs to provide a free flow of information if it wants public support for the military campaign. "If there is no improvement, there will be a corrosive effect on the credibility of the defense department and that is something Secretary Cohen won't want to let happen," he says.
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