THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 25, 1995 TAG: 9512230071
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
IT WAS BOSNIA CALLING. Christiane Amanpour of CNN was on the phone from Tuzla to talk about a five-part documentary she narrates starting Tuesday at 10 p.m. on The Discovery Channel.
For 3 1/2 years, Amanpour has covered the fighting in the Balkans from the besieged city of Sarajevo to the Serbian strongholds to the Muslin areas. Some say that because she has reported for so long and so well on the tragedies unfolding in the former Yugoslavia, the world couldn't help but take note and, finally, do something to stop it.
CNN is watched in more than 160 million households in 210 countries. It uses 15 satellites to cover six continents.
When you think of the TV coverage in Bosnia, you think of the image of Amanpour - cool, sexy, detached but also involved - being beamed out on the Insat 2-B satellite. This week, she is on loan to Discovery for ``Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation.''
It is better now than it used to be, Amanpour was saying from Tuzla, where U.S. troops are settling in for 12 months of peacekeeping. It is cold and snowy, to be sure, but the electricity is on.
And there is gas and water, she said. For the moment, the guns are quiet.
No need for a flak jacket now, said Amanpour, who never wore one anyway. It cramped her style, she said.
``The Discovery series is bloody and brutal but always fascinating,'' she said. ``American viewers now have the opportunity to hear all sides of the story in the words of the people deeply involved in it.
``It is a documentary, a historical record and an important retrospective. This shows how great television can be covering one story if the people involved dig hard enough.''
Be advised that the five-part series is overwhelming. There are stark images. Much of ``Yugoslavia: Death of Nation'' is unedited, raw footage of events that have unfolded there in the last four years, bringing on the ethnic violence.
Americans will see for the first time on TV how much the children have suffered, said Amanpour. And the cameras in the hands of the BBC, Yugoslav and other crews put a face on the misery in the Balkans - you look into the eyes of the men and women who almost casually made decisions that cost thousands of lives, the eyes of the refugee who have been run out of their neighborhoods.
``You will see that the displaced, turfed-out people look just like us,'' said Amanpour. ``They are the same in costume and culture. That could be your aunt being shelled out of her home. The kids who were being killed and wounded here look like your kids.''
Amanpour cannot help feeling for the helpless victims, and because of her emotions, has come close to shaming heads of states for allowing the fighting to go on. She had a few harsh words with President Clinton, who holds no grudges.
``She has done a great service to the whole world on reporting the horrors of this war,'' said Clinton when Amanpour was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award by the International Women's Media Foundation. She has also won the Emmy, Peabody, George Polk and Alfred I. doPont awards for international reporting.
Where hasn't this woman been with microphone in hand, her lucky parka on her back, a breeze stirring her black bangs? She's reported from Rwanda, Somalia, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf.
``As a reporter, you strive not to become emotionally involved in the stories you cover,'' said Amanpour. ``You try not to be moved when you see the effects of war on innocent civilians.''
But she is not made of stone.
On one of her awards, Amanpour is praised for ``balanced but poignant coverage.'' That sums it up nicely. by CNB