It's a basic strategy of war: Destroy the enemy's crucial services, like communications.
The enemy in this case is the international media, and the Serbians made sure that as the bombs began falling on Belgrade Wednesday the world won't be able to watch. Several soldiers entered temporary broadcast offices in a Belgrade hotel and shut down a satellite service that feeds live video to broadcasters around the world.
"They didn't identify themselves, but there is no reason to doubt they're part of the Serbian security apparatus," said Tony Naets, head of Eurovision news service.
"They took 90 percent of the equipment.... When [Eurovision staff] asked who they were they were essentially shoved aside." The equipment included computers and satellite transmission gear.
"I think you're going to see far less [live video]," Naets said. "You won't see what you saw in Baghdad.
What viewers see could depend on how the one available feed from the local Serbian TV station is allocated. "It could be Chinese TV that has live video," said Naets.
Eurovision is a "backhaul" satellite service authorized by the Yugoslav federal ministry of telecommunications to service live video transmissions for the world's broadcasters and their correspondents. It operates out of several rooms at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Belgrade.
Companies who have been using the satellite include US broadcasters CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, as well as both private and public broadcasters from Japan, Australia, and Europe, Naets said. The company obtained approval to operate the transmission service in February, following a lengthy appeal to Yugoslav authorities.
A CNN spokesman confirmed that the Yugoslav government is not allowing any international TV companies to feed video from the country.
"CNN is taking every opportunity to reestablish capabilities to get video out ... at the moment doing phone interviews with our correspondents. Every international TV broadcaster is in the same position," the spokesman said.
