Regulars
FOREWORD
THE POLITICS OF KIDNAPPING

May 2005

Poor quality footage of kidnapped hostages cowering at gunpoint in Iraq have become all too familiar news items in the last eighteen months. In broadcasting them, news editors are merely feeding modern society’s obsession with sex and violence. To what extent is the mood of a nation swayed by footage that shows its own people at the doorstep of death? And do governments listen?

There is no doubt that coverage of this type strongly influences public opinion. Take the sad case of Kenneth Bigley, the 62-year-old British construction contractor who was kidnapped in Iraq last year with two American colleagues. Their captors demanded the release of all women prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison, and the first of the two Americans was executed immediately after the deadline expired, the second 24 hours later. Bigley however was kept alive for a further two weeks, a fortnight during which rarely a day passed when his plight was not major headline news.

The British media made it the most reported issue of the period, and film of Bigley pleading to Tony Blair from his chicken wire cage haunted the British government. Its decision to commit British troops to Iraq and its support of the American-led occupation has never been more questioned.

Some analysts critcised the full coverage Bigley had received, saying it was only playing into the captors’ hands. It was feared that such high profile coverage could lead to more kidnappings. As it may well have done in the case of Margaret Hassan, an Irish charity worker who had lived in Britain most of her life, who was kidnapped in Iraq soon after Bigley. The same high profile news coverage of her situation was notably absent. Low coverage ensured that her abduction and murder did not play on the consciousness of British people in the same way Bigley’s had weeks earlier.

Government leaders are put under terrible pressure when the citizens they represent are taken hostage and demands made for their release under the threat of death. The leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia have steadfastly refused to negotiate with hostages when one of their own people are taken, but in the case of the three kidnapped Romanian journalists, at least this country’s leadership has shown more flexibility by sending envoys to negotiate on its behalf. Not that it can do any good. No kind of pressure situation is likely to persuade a government to withdraw its armed forces from Iraq, no matter the extent to which public opinion says it should. We can only hope and pray that the three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq in March are released unharmed, as we do all innocent people taken as hostages by Iraqi militants.

In this months Media column Alex Ulmanu touches on a certain maturing of Romania’s media; the decision to send journalists into Iraq rather than rely on newswire services does indicate a kind of pioneering spirit hitherto unseen. Yet it is highly unlikely that the journalists were given a proper briefing as to how to conduct themselves in a hostile environment. Such precautions include trying to remain inconspicuous, learning basic phrases of the local language, and booking accommodation in secured hotels. It seems that none of these precautions were adhered to.

Their kidnapping has thrown into relief Romania’s involvement in Iraq, but still the big questions remain unanswered. There was very little public explanation from the Nastase government as to why Romanian troops were committed to go there in the first place, and there has been very little discourse on why they remain there since the Tariceanu government took office. Protests were organised in Piata Universitatii recently demanding the return of the hostages, but why were there not protests at the decision to commit troops there, so that the situation in which the journalists now find themselves never could have arisen? Romania’s neighbour, Bulgaria, has experienced a number of military deaths in Iraq and is pulling out. We believe that Romania should not be there either, but let’s hope that such a decision is reached after proper debate rather than as a result of bullying and ultimatums.