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Jamie Shea, NATO’s head of press and information, told the Society ofEditors conference in Cardiff that he had refused to let truth become acasualty of the Kosovan war.

On one occasion he had torn up the script he was about to deliver tojournalists because he doubted its veracity. Later he had learned that thestory he had been given about how bombing had destroyed a Serb tank convoyhad not been true.

He believed that spokesmen would be trusted only if they told what theythought was the truth even when it embarrassed the organisation theyrepresented.

“I was prepared to take the heat for NATO failures so that we would belikely to be believed when we claimed successes,” he said.

Spokesmen had three duties to journalists: fast and reliable information,correction when they got it wrong and willingness to substantiate theirstories. But journalists had duties too: not to rely on a single source andnot to rush to judgment in fluid situations.

Nicholas Jones, the BBC’s political correspondent, asked why it was thatBritain believed the NATO mission in Kosovo had succeeded when somethingquite different was believed in the rest of Europe.

He added that political propagandists told the truth, but only that bit of the truth theywanted others to know.

But recent political stories had killed spin. The public knew now not totrust what politicians said. Prime Minister Tony Blair had said petrolsupplies would be back to normal in 24 hours and they weren’t. Shadow HomeSecretary Anne Widdecombe had said the Tories would have zero tolerance oncannabis smoking, then half the cabinet said they had used it themselves.

It was necessary now to have Government briefings on the record, as JamieShea’s had been and as President Clinton’s were.

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