When driving 70 tons of Challenger tank you would think the road would be yours to command. Not so if you were heading from the Macedonian border northwards into Kosovo last Saturday.

"Bloody press" was the phrase to be heard among the roar of Nato's armoured column.

As the tanks and guns and trucks and armoured personnel carriers were poised to begin a complicated pattern of entry up the main road to Kosovo's capital Pristina, a distinctly unmilitary mob was also assembling.

Kate Adie reports on the exodus of Serbs from Kosovo

The world's press - a variegated vehicle snake - armoured Land Rovers painted white, or yellow, blue or the BBC's rather fetching cherry red. And impressive four-wheeled drive machines with the letters TV taped on door and roof. And a string of assorted battered cars full of camera-toting hacks.

The press outnumbers the troops

Nato was mustering over 15,000 troops. The press mob of accredited journalists ran to about 2,000.

Aboard a helicopter as it lands in Kacanik

Army commanders watched as their orderly column was punctured and harried by the press who wove their way niftily and dangerously between huge armoured beasts. 'Good game' one might say at the end of the day seeing that no-one actually got squashed under 70 tons of British tank.

However, the actual progress of the military column was delayed by the media. Scandalous if you're a traditional military person - a sign of the times to others like myself.

I was crouched in a helicopter overhead with the men of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.

As the Nato push into Kosovo got under way, there was no doubt that the presence of the media now has more effect than ever on how some events unfold. Of course there have always been messengers running hot foot from the scene of battle since warfare began.

Alongside the military

But today the media are lined up alongside the military, sporting equipment which enables us to deliver reports instantaneously to the world.

The arrival of British paratroops in Pristina is hampered by the press

We landed with the paras at the village of Kacanik, they fanned out to secure the main road. Cameras lurked behind them.

Hardened troopers crouched, rifles in hand, below bridge parapets and behind wrecked petrol stations. Hardened hacks crouched scribbling next to them or poked frustratedly at their mobile phones.

As we made our way northwards, speeding mobile TV satellite dish vans vied with trucks of ammunition and tracked armoured personnel carriers for pole position on the straight stretches of the road. Only to have to play chicken on meeting a hoard of press coming south, those based with Serb permission in Pristina.

Once upon a time, military commanders gave stirring speeches astride their chargers, now they wrestle with microphones at press conferences. And spectacularly so in Kosovo.

In a thunderstorm of apocalyptic dimensions the sodden press corps waved their dripping cameras at approaching helicopters.

We were stood on the airport runway, west of Pristina, late on Saturday night, a sploshing, confused lot, waiting for the Nato Force Commander to appear. Surrounded by soldiers, press officers, stray dogs and, rather oddly, large numbers of the Serb army.

The Russian presence

However, it was only when we got charged at by a large and unfamiliar armoured vehicle, hurtling down the runway, that we realised the Russians were also present.

Used as skittles by the Russians

They apparently so resented the idea of a press jamboree having just grabbed possession of half the airport, that a game of tenpin bowls using the press as skittles was on the cards. So it's a good thing that the Russians are not in charge of the capital itself.

A satellite dish on every van, a TV crew on every corner. The electronic circus has hit town. And it brings more than a whiff of showbiz with it.

The media compete with the military these days for prominence in an operation because of commercial pressures and the importance of image to governments. What armies do is not enough. They have to be seen to be doing it.

And with 19 Nato countries, each with their attendant battalion of journalists it's not surprising that soldiers find themselves facing a lot of frustrated and aggressive people - not the warring factions but the reporters.

The media industry has grown huge and it is now an active player on the battlefront. Soldiers can only hope that the journalists do not acquire 70 ton tanks.