NEW YORK (AP) -- With NATO bombardment looming, Yugoslav authorities confiscated Western television transmission equipment Wednesday, and reporters fled the troubled province of Kosovo for safer ground after being threatened.
A TV transmission facility at a Belgrade hotel was shut down by government officials who ordered personnel to stand facing a wall as they took equipment that enabled networks to file reports, said Eason Jordan, president of CNN International.The facility was operated by the European Broadcasting Union and used by CNN and other U.S. television networks, including ABC, CBS and NBC.
Networks turned to Yugoslavian state-run television to transmit taped and live reports. However, CNN's Christiane Amanpour noted that she would be subject to censorship, and the ability to transmit reports as often as CNN wanted would be curtailed.
The shutdown also affected Associated Press Television News, but it was able to transmit reports through the state-run television, said Sandy MacIntyre, managing editor of APTN's field operations.
Some reporters were leaving Kosovo as the situation deteriorated there, said CBS spokeswoman Sandra Genelius. CBS was waiting to decide whether its reporter, Allen Pizzey, would stay, she said.
CNN's Brent Sadler reported being threatened by officials when he and some colleagues transmitted a report Wednesday from the Kosovo capital of Pristina. One of the gun-toting men held two bullets in his hand, pointed at CNN personnel and said, "these bullets are for you," Jordan said.
Sadler finished his report anyway and when he emerged from the facility, all four tires on his vehicle had been slashed. Sadler was staying in Kosovo, Jordan said.