An Anchor in Harm’s Way for ABC : Television: Peter Jennings went to war-torn Sarajevo for ‘The Land of the Demons,’ a documentary designed to ‘try to explain what’s going on’ in the former Yugoslavia.

When Peter Jennings told ABC News executives several months ago that he wanted to cover the war in the former Yugoslavia, they were reluctant to let their high-profile anchor go. Nine journalists were killed there last year, according to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists--including ABC’s own David Kaplan, a producer.

“Obviously, we are concerned about the safety of all of our journalists, but Peter has a particular role at the network,” said Paul Friedman, executive vice president of ABC News. “But Peter desperately wanted to go. Finally, we didn’t see any sense in throwing ourselves in front of this train that was coming at us. So we suggested that he just go over there, without any big announcement that he was going or coming back.”

Traveling in two armored vehicles that were borrowed from the British Broadcasting Corp., Jennings, his producer and crew were stopped one day by Bosnian government soldiers in the countryside.

“We jumped out of the truck,” Jennings recalled. “These soldiers were waving guns at us, saying, ‘Get out of here, BBC.’ But we said, ‘No, excuse me, we’re ABC.’ Thankfully, they remembered ABC from the (1984 Winter) Olympics.

“I was scared to death, with the snipers and the shelling, as we traveled through Bosnia, Herzegovina and other countries,” Jennings said. “But you know, everybody in Sarajevo is in danger all the time.”

During his 12-day trip in January, Jennings filed a number of reports on the war and daily living conditions for “World News Tonight.” At 8 tonight on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, he anchors a one-hour documentary, “The Land of the Demons,” that he says is designed to “try to explain what’s going on there, why it’s going on and what might be the consequences if the United States got involved.”

The program explores the history and reasons for the hatred between the Serbians, Muslims and others, with reporting and interviews by Jennings, national security correspondent John McWethy and diplomatic correspondent Barrie Dunsmore. In a set similar to one that was built for ABC’s coverage of the Persian Gulf war, Jennings will walk around a huge map of the region to discuss the war and its roots.

In an era of cutbacks in foreign-news bureaus among the broadcast networks and what seems at times to be foreign policy dictated by the pictures seen on American TV, from Somalia to the Persian Gulf War, the network anchors are well aware that their presence adds importance to a story.

“I went to Sarajevo--and ABC has had reporters there--because people are being killed there, and the United States may or may not be able to do something about it,” Jennings said. “I don’t think the word Holocaust should be used loosely, but there is a massacre going on there. I don’t believe that the press should look back on this war and say that we as journalists did not give it enough attention.”

Yet Jennings, a former foreign correspondent who has reported from both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, did not join CBS’ Dan Rather and NBC’s Tom Brokaw in anchoring their nightly newscasts from Somalia when the United States landed troops there in a humanitarian mission.

Asked to explain why he went to the former Yugoslavia but not to Somalia, Jennings said wryly, “I hate crowds.” He added, “Seriously, we had five good reporters on the scene in Somalia--what was I going to add?”

Jennings said he doesn’t agree with the notion that television is dictating U.S. foreign policy: “The United States government, for example, has had a policy in the Sudan, although the government in Sudan has not allowed TV crews there. But if the presence of the anchor does lend some attention to a story, why not go someplace where there hasn’t been as much attention?”

Although all three broadcast networks have covered the war in Bosnia, especially since the Clinton Administration decided to air-drop relief supplies there, ABC has promoted its foreign coverage and paid particular attention to the war in the former Yugoslavia.

“CBS and NBC have emphasized their domestic coverage, while ABC emphasizes its foreign coverage,” said Andrew Tyndall, editor of the Tyndall Report, a monitor of the stories carried on each of the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts. According to Tyndall, “World News Tonight” gave more minutes to the war in Bosnia last year than its rivals, with more foreign-based reporting.

The closing of some foreign bureaus has made that job more difficult, Jennings acknowledged. “It hurt us recently that we didn’t have someone available to rush in immediately to Bombay (during recent riots in India),” he said. “Any time you have an anchor ‘voicing’ a story rather than a reporter on the scene, it makes some difference.”

Nonetheless, Jennings said he believes ABC has the resources to cover the news. “We’ve just sent a reporter to Tajikistan (in Central Asia) and another to the former Soviet Armenia because we think there are going to be important stories from there,” he said.

“The networks have never been able to cover every spot on the globe. You have to make editorial decisions to cover those places, events and issues that you think are most important to Americans’ lives and American interests. I think people in this country care more about foreign news and their place in the world than they’re given credit for.”