October 1, 1997

His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: +381-11-656-862

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to strongly protest the dismissal yesterday of Zoran Ostojic and Lila Radonjic, the director and editor-in-chief respectively, of Studio B TV, the popular municipal television station in Belgrade. Their dismissal and the re-appointment of the station's former director, Dragan Kojadinovic, has in effect silenced the capital city's only alternative, pro-democratic voice on television.

After ousting the opposition city Mayor Zoran Djindjic from office, the combined forces of the Serbian Socialists, Radicals and the Renewal Movement moved to sack the top management at Studio B TV and replace them with their own supporters. Since last year's mass demonstrations that brought the opposition to power in Belgrade and other cities, Ostojic and Radonjic helped make Studio B TV more diverse and professional. Yesterday, they were quickly replaced by Kojadinovic, the station's former manager, whose program policies favoring the Serbian war lobby prompted over 100 employees to quit the station in 1993. Before losing control of the station, the staff of Studio B TV broadcast live footage of the unfolding events, as well as calls to citizens to attend an evening opposition rally.

The station's entire board of directors was also fired and replaced by members of the Serbian Renewal Movement, the Radical and Socialist parties. Aleksander Cotric, a member of Vuk Draskovic's Renewal Movement, was appointed to head the new board.

Several thousand Belgrade residents demonstrated last night in the city center against the removal of Djindjic and the managers of Studio B TV. Scores of police wielding batons beat and detained protesters. The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) in Serbia has protested the hasty, politically-motivated overthrow of Studio B TV's managers, whom they regarded as impartial and professional. ANEM leaders complained that the television officials were dismissed without public knowledge and expressed fear that the new managers would place party interests before the public interest.

As a non-partisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ objects to such blatant interference by political forces in the personnel and editorial policies of any media outlet, be it public or privately-owned. The Committee condemns the removal of the managers of Studio B TV as a politically-motivated attempt to silence the only alternative television station in the capital city. The dismissal violates all international norms on press freedoms and Your Excellency's personal pledge to CPJ to guarantee the rights of journalists and media organizations to work freely, without political interference, and to ensure a diversity of views in the media.

Thank you for your attention. We await your comments.

Sincerely,

William A. Orme, Jr. Executive Director

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