Alternative iews of American historyrnwere abundant. A group of men callingrnthemselves Moroccan Moors claimed tornbe the Founding Fathers of America. Arnmember of the group stated, “Our flag,rnthe Moroccan flag, was cut down in 1776rnb- General George Washington on SixrnChestnut Street in Philadelphia Thisrnis the Moroccan empire of the West. . . .rnWc helped frame the Constitution ofrnthe United States. Thomas Jefferson wasrnMoorish, Alexander Hamilton wasrnMoorish.”rnSeveral marchers seemed to expressrnanger regarding the historical prominencernof the holocaust. One marcherrnobserved, “Jews can sav never forget thernHolocaust, but we’re supposed to forgetrnthe past. How come one holocaust isrnmore important than another?” Anotherrnman added, “How could I possibly let sixrnmillion deaths outweigh 400 million ofrnm people who died coming here?”rnThe messages of the Million ManrnMarch are contradictorv. One messagernwas about unitv, pride, and self-reliance.rnThe other message was racial divisionrnand government dependence. Somernparticipants irtuall- begged for governmentrnassistance. One man stated,rn”Please give us money and let us dornsomething.”rnDid the news media report any of thisrndivision and controversy surrounding thernmarch? Sadiv, the national news mediarnchose to ignore these significant issues.rnThe Million Man March provided thernlatest example of how the mainstreamrnmedia cannot be trusted to tell the publicrnthe whole story.rnThe media coverage of this event wasrnfar from unique. As a freelance journalist,rnI have worked for a variety of newsrnoutlets, including the major networkrnnews organizations and alternative newsrnoutlets such as National EmpowermentrnTelevision. I have witnessed firsthandrnthe media selectivity at event after event.rnFrom abortion rights marches, gay rightsrnrallies, to environmental marches, thernmedia filter the proceedings in favor ofrnshallow feel-good coverage.rnThe mainstream press has lulled thernleft in Washington into expecting rubber-rnstamp press coverage of every event.rnLiberal elected officials and advocacyrngroups have always been able to look atrnthe media as an extension of their publicrnrelation efforts. Conservatives view thernmedia as adversarial, out to trip them uprnat ever- turn.rnAn- reporter who bucks this systemrnpays the price. In 1993, I became thernfirst reporter in history to have my camerarnseized at the White House, solely becausernI was working for Rush Limbaugh.rnLast November, I was assigned to cover arnDemocratic fund-raiser at a hotel inrnWashington, D.C. Upon learning I wasrnworking with Mr. Limbaugh’s televisionrnprogram, Democratic party officials hadrnsecurity officers escort me out of the hotelrnlobby. The Washington Times commentedrnthat, “Democratic senators andrnparty officials reacted as if they had spottedrnCount Dracula” when I revealed Irnwas working for Rush Limbaugh. Imaginernthe outcrv if conservatives seizedrnequipment and forcibly removed reportersrnthey considered to be adversarial.rnWhat would the reaction have been if arnRichard Nixon or a Newt Gingrich hadrntreated a reporter in this manner?rnAs a result of this media selectivitvrnand bias, there has been a rise of alternativernnews and information sources.rnTalk radio, led bv Rush Limbaugh,rnhas emerged as a powerful alternativernto the established media. Other new andrnemerging information outlets includernPaul Weyrieh’s National EmpowermentrnTelevision and the coming ConservativernTelevision Network. In addition, the explosioiirnof the information superhighwayrnhas helped make the established mediarnincreasingly irrelevant. Let us liope thesernfledgling news and information sourcesrnforce the mainstream media’s coveragernof events like the Million Man Marchrninto proper balance.rnMarc Morano, a reporter for RushrnLimbaugh, The Television Show,rnwrites from McLean, Virginia.rnOREIGN AFFAIRSrnJudging the Serbsrnby Dimitri MagganasrnOn May 25, 1993, the U.N. SecurityrnCouncil unanimously adoptedrnResolution 827, which established thernInternational Tribunal for the Prosecutionrnof Persons Responsible for SeriousrnViolations of International HumanitarianrnLaw Committed in the Territory ofrnthe Former Yugoslavia since 1991. Ofrncourse, by ignoring the atrocities that occurredrnin the Balkans during 1941-1945rnand by limiting its scope to events sincern1991, the Tribunal will be deeontextualizingrnthe issues at stake in the currentrnwar. This is just one of several mattersrnthat call into question the credibility ofrnthe Tribunal.rnIn composition, it does not includerneven one member from an Eastern Orthodoxrncountry, despite the fact that thisrncivil war is fought among the Catholic,rnMuslim, and Orthodox communities.rnAccording to U.N. document A/49/3rn42S/1994/1007, which lists the 11 judges’rncountries of origin, four are Islamic, fourrnare Roman Catholic, and three are fromrnstates with a secular legal tradition—rnnone, in other words, is OrthodoxrnChristian.rnMore alarming still is that the Commissionrnof Experts, appointed to collectrndata for the Tribunal, is headed by anrnardent Muslim, Mammoud Cherif Basiouni.rnNo less disturbing, the databasernfor the collection of war crimes is housedrnat the Roman Catholic De Paul Universityrnin Chicago. Moreover, the same L’.N.rndocument shows that (excluding thernpledges of several Western countries) 93rnpercent of the financial contributions tornthe Tribunal have come from two Muslimrncountries, Malaysia and Pakistan.rnUnder such circumstances, the Serbsrndoubt that their case will be treatedrnwithout prejudice. It is not puzzlingrnthat, to date, the Tribunal has not indictedrnMuslim or Croat perpetrators ofrncrimes committed against Serbs, despiternthe fact that several nongovernmentalrnSerbian organizations have submitted tornthe Commission of Experts, in Chicagornand in the Hague, documented warrncrimes committed in Western Slavonia,rnKrajina, and Bosnia-Herzegovina byrnCroat, Muslim, and Mujahedin units.rnWill the atrocities committed by thernforces of the governments of Croatia andrnBosnia be conveniently blamed on thern”unidentifiable” Mujahedins and soldiersrnof “international” brigades whorncame to help kill the Serb “aggressors”?rnWho will be charged for the war crimesrnof these “volunteers”? In this context,rnSerbs have reason to be skeptical and tornquestion the ability of the Tribunal tornrender justice.rnDimitri Magganas is president of thernByzantine-American AUiance in Finale,rnCahfornia.rnFEBRUARY 1996/47rnrnrn