In the United States a dozen corporations own 80% of all the news papers. There is only limited access to international news on the television.

Many people in Yugoslavia have access to CNN, BBC and SkyNet television news services. They know our side of the story, do we know theirs?

Recently Helene and I were watching BBC in Yugoslavia. There was a report on an Australian aid worker who had been put in jail for 12 years for having "improper" papers. No further explanation was offered. The story went on to present his pregnant wife pleading for her husbands release. The report concluded that no one in Yugoslavia would every hear the appeal though, because of "state controlled media". Who were they kidding? Not the people in Yugoslavia.

I asked a German aid worker in Novi Sad about this. He told me the Australian had been caught during the Kosovo war with highly detailed topographic maps. The authorities found this inappropriate and deported him as persona non grata. He later illegally reintered the country without a visa. When he was caught a second time he was put in jail.

I can only assume the producers at BBC knew this.