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Press, politicians face war tensions

By CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Once again Kabul is hit with a bombing raid. But just how much effect such raids are having is hard for the outside world to tell.

It is the most difficult war to report on in living memory because few people are where the action is, and the authorities on both sides -- the Taliban and the anti-terrorist coalition -- are handing out little information.

In the open societies of the West, it makes for tension. U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair say TV and newspaper reporting is not assisting in calming public fears and could be helping the terrorist enemy. Reporters feel they are not being told the whole truth.

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"In times of war it is wise to be extremely sceptical about governments, and I think if you read history books, even comparatively modern history books, you realise that governments really believe that it is acceptable to lie in times of war," says Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, a UK national daily broadsheet.

"So I think it is wise to be extremely cynical about what you are being told, even from your own government."

The Taliban parades alleged civilian casualties of coalition bombing raids. Be sceptical, Western governments urge reporters.

But reporters have not forgotten the so-called "smart bombs" in the Gulf War that turned out to be not quite so smart. They remember how NATO forces involved in the Kosovo bombing at first would not admit that a convoy they hit near Djakovica turned out to be fleeing refugees and not the Serbian army.

Media scepticism is double-edged. What is different this time is that a propaganda war is being fought on the airwaves while the military war is fought on the ground.

A clip from one of Osama bin Laden's senior lieutenants, shown first like other al Qaeda releases on the Al Jazeera station in Qatar, advised Muslims in the West not to travel by plane or live in high-rise buildings and towers. Western governments have urged broadcasters to restrict use of such videos, arguing they could contain coded messages to activate terrorist cells.

The British Broadcasting Corporation has its doubts about that.

"We simply don't know. Our government as in the U.S. have simply said that it is a possibility," says Richard Sambroook, director of news at the BBC.

"It would be a pretty inefficient way of sending out a message because the original 25-minute message from bin Laden was cut down to about a minute by the Al Jazeera network and then cut down more by broadcasters like ourselves and then voiced over in English, so it's pretty difficult to see how it could get through intact."

After a row about some advance disclosures by the BBC of Blair's Middle East shuttle diplomacy destinations, British media have agreed not to report them in advance. They acknowledge he is a high-profile potential target. But how far should such cooperation between media and governments go?

"Clearly you shouldn't do things that are going to endanger people who are putting their lives on the line for your country -- I think that is a reasonable demand," says Rusbridger.

"Beyond that I think there is great ambivalence amongst the British population about what is going on in their name at the moment. It is absolutely right for the media to turn to all shades of opinion, including what you might call enemy opinion.

"You have to understand the nature of the forces you are up against, and that is something that requires more information, not less."

With news organisations themselves targeted by senders of anthrax spores, the military and the media are becoming more entangled than ever in the current campaign -- creating dilemmas for both sides.

Western governments would like their media to be morale builders and help lessen public fears. The media largely see that as a task for the politicians. The reporter's role, say most journalists, is to give the public as many facts as they can confirm and to present them in the most informative context they can.

Inevitably, through the war's progress, there will be tensions.