ANEM WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA

DECEMBER 2 ­ DECEMBER 8, 2000.

DOS APPOINTS HEADS OF STATE MEDIA

BELGRADE, December 2, 2000 ­ The Democratic Opposition of Serbia yesterday named heads of media organisations under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Svetlana Stojanovic is to be president of the Tanjug’s board of management and the editor in chief of the state news agency will be Dusan Dakovic.  Zoran Predic has been appointed as director of YU Info Channel, and Zelidrag Nikcevic as editor-in-chief.  Former Vecernje novosti editor Manojlo Vukotic has been appointed director of Borba with acclaimed journalist Aleksandar Nenadovic president of the board of management.

DOS Election Headquarters chief Cedomir Jovanovic said that the new appointments reflected the right of DOS to use its federal powers to make appropriate appointments.  He claimed that the appointments reflected not only the need to place key people in senior positions but the needs of employees in the state media companies.

Aleksandar Nenadovic told media that he had no knowledge of his appointment to head the Borba board of management.  “Nobody has called or consulted me on the matter.  I am sorry to say that I am unpleasantly surprised both by the news and the procedure,” he said.

The vice-president of the Civil Alliance of Serbia, Dragor Hiber, told Beta that a number of solutions had been proposed at the DOS meeting but that no definite decisions had been made because representatives of the media companies and journalists’ associations were yet to be consulted.

TV PALMA AND THE SERBIAN PROGRESS PARTY

BELGRADE, December 2, 2000 ­ The Party of Serbian Unity, the Serbian Progress Party, the Rural Party of Serbia and the United Pensioners Party have formed a new coalition.

The president of the Serbian Progress Party and proprietor of TV Palma, Miodrag Vujovic, asked today whether the new coalition would benefit from presentation on that station, said that the only thing in common between TV Palma and the Serbian Progress Party was himself.

MARJANOVIC ALLEGES LIBEL

BELGRADE, December 4, 2000 ­ Former Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic has written to Vecernje novosti explaining his decision to press charges for libel against the paper and other parties.

The libel complaints, which were made last month against the Belgrade daily, along with G17 Plus, and DOS leaders Vladan Batic and Nada Kolundzija, allege “false, insulting and malicious information aimed at discrimination.

In his letter to Vecernje novosti, Marjanovic says that he had attempted to respond to the publication of this information with denials, but that these were either not published or published in an inappropriate manner.

“In this situation, especially in cases where my personal, private life has been attacked, with the publication of lies about me having a credit arrangement with the Progres company for the purchase of apartments, as well as about the conditions in which my family and I live, I have decided to establish the truth before the appropriate court,” said Marjanovic.

ARREST STATE MEDIA CHIEFS, SAY BEREAVED FAMILIES

BELGRADE, December 5, 2000 ­ The families of the sixteen Radio Television Serbia employees killed in the NATO bombing of the state television headquarters on April 23 have appealed to senior state officials to order an investigation into the circumstances.  They have also demanded the arrest of former Radio Television Management management members against whom charges have been laid.

In an open letter to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, the Serbian justice ministers, the public prosecutor and the president of the Supreme Court, the families warned that if they received no answer to their appeal they would consider the recipients of the letter to be equally responsible for protecting those responsible for the deaths of the employees.

YUGOSLAV LEFT COMPLAINS TO OSCE

BELGRADE, December 5, 2000 ­ The Yugoslav Left yesterday warned the public about media discrimination against parties during the election campaign, saying it would inform a broader public, including the OSCE about the matter.

In its statement, the party described this discrimination as directed mostly against itself.

“Although the Yugoslav Left is a party represented in both the Federal and the previous Serbian Parliament, its statements and activities have been systematically hidden.  These have not been published or reported, especially in the state-owned media which, by the nature of their role, should pay adequate attention to the activities of political parties represented in the parliament, “ said the statement.

The party gave as an example of what it described as the state television’s ignorant and discriminatory attitude, the failure of Radio Television Serbia to invite Yugoslav Left representatives to the signing of regulations on the presentation of political parties in the run-up to the December 23 Serbian elections.

MONTENEGRO ADOPTS TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT

PODGORICA, December 5, 2000 ­ The Montenegrin Government yesterday adopted new draft telecommunications legislation, taking over areas previously ceded to the federal authorities, including the distribution of frequency licences.

Energy Minister Vojin Djukanovic told media that the Telecommunications Bill proposed a telecommunications agency which would take over all federal powers within the sector.

The bill will be tabled in the parliament during the second half of December.

The Minister added that the new legislation would also solve the issue of YU Info Channel, as well as the People’s Parliamentary Television which presently broadcast in Montenegro without permission from the republic’s authorities.

BREAK AND ENTRY AT PUBLISHING HOUSE

BELGRADE, December 5, 2000 ­ Representatives of Knjizevne novine report that the magazine’s premises in central Belgrade were broken into between December 2 and 4.

They were unable to establish whether anything had been stolen.

MINISTER MEETS OSCE DELEGATION

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister Boris Tadic yesterday met a delegation from the OSCE to discuss cooperation in the telecommunications and media sectors.

A statement from the Federal Information Ministry said that Tadic had told OSCE Ambassador Alexandar Ivanko and press representative Melissa Flemming that his ministry was at the moment working on ensuring that all applicants for broadcast licences were given equal opportunities.

He emphasised that, under the present legal conditions, there was no possibility of foreign investors buying radio frequencies.

RENEWAL MOVEMENT CLAIMS STATE MEDIA BIAS

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ A senior official of the Serbian Renewal Movement yesterday alleged that the editorial policy of Radio Television Serbia lacked objectivity.

Vlajko Senic claimed that the state broadcaster was breaking the agreement on party political presentations every day.

He emphasised that several aphorisms of Serbian Renewal Movement presidency member Aleksandar Cotric were dropped from a story on the party in the Election Chronicles program on Monday.

FAMILIES OF STATE MEDIA BOMB VICTIMS DEMAND INVESTIGATION

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ The mother of one of the Radio Television Serbia employees killed by NATO bombs on April 23 last year told Radio B92 today that she expected the new state authorities, and above all Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, to expedite the beginning of investigations against former senior management of the state media against whom charges had been laid.

“We have lost our patience and it is finally time that somebody did something,” said Zanka Stojanovic, adding that she was surprised that the new management of Radio Television Serbia had still not responded adequately.

Stojanovic, whose son was killed in the bombing of the media headquarters in central Belgrade, announced that the families of the sixteen employees killed would join the Association of Families Bereaved in War Actions from 1991 to 1999.

The families on Monday demanded the detention of former management members from state television and called on senior state officials to see that the investigation was begun.

“My position is that I have to appear personally, with the other mothers, before the public prosecutor in order to find out what has been done so far.  This is really shameful.  If my son had stolen a telephone or even a piece of wire from Radio Television Serbia he would have been convicted and had to take responsibility, but nobody has been called on to take responsibility for the deaths of sixteen people,” Stojanovic told Radio B92.

Justice Minister Dragan Subasic and Sead Spahovic said that they were unable to comment because they had not received the letters sent to them.  Spahovic added that he had learnt of the matter only from the press but that he supported the demands of the parents.

Police Minister Bozo Prelevic told Radio B92 that it was unclear to him why there had been no victims of any bombing in the city, except at Radio Television Serbia, particularly as the ensuing campaign indicated that that political capital was being made out of the deaths.

“The parents of the Radio Television Serbia bomb victims should send us what information they have which indicates any guilt on the part of Komrakov and Milanovic and then, within our authority, we would be able to investigate the accusations and pass these to the Prosecutor’s Office,” said Prelevic.

JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION EXPELS FORMER STATE MEDIA EDITOR

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ The Association of Serbia Journalists has expelled the former editor-in-chief of Radio Television Serbia’s current affairs division.

The Association’s disciplinary committee cited “several years of misinforming and deceiving the public, in contravention of journalists’ ethics,” in making the decision to expel Milorad Komrakov.

After a public debate which Komrakov did not attend, despite having been invited, the committee ruled that the former head or state media news had been guilty of subordinating professional journalism practice to the narrow interest of the country’s former party and political management.

Committee member Bozidar Dikic told media that Komrakov was a good journalist who knew exactly what news was important.  However, he added, in such a position Komrakov had carried greater responsibility.  “It is not difficult to say that the public was deceived by this way of presenting information on television,” he said, adding that Komrakov and former director Dragoljub Milanovic were not the only state media officials responsible for misinformation.

Another committee member, Dragan Milenkovic, announced that there would be further hearings, adding that Komrakov had been the first because he was the president of the Association.

A third member of the committee, Miroslav Turudic, described the planned hearings of accusations against directors, editors and journalists who had served the former regime as the a moral purge of the Association of Serbian Journalists which would enable a new generation of journalists to join a professional association which did not carry the burden of the past.

OSCE MEDIA OFFICE IN BELGRADE SOON

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ Serbian Information Minister Biserka Matic Spasojevic met an OSCE delegation in Belgrade on Tuesday.

The delegation was led by Germany’s ambassador to the OSCE and included the organisation’s envoy for media matters, Aleksandar Ivanko and press representative Melissa Flemming.

A statement from the Information Ministry described the delegation as being particularly interested in how the Ministry saw the further development of the independent media, the transition to free journalism and political attitudes to the media.

The OSCE representatives expressed their willingness to assist in the democratisation of the media and to contribute to the transition process.

The delegation also announced that an OSCE office would be opened soon in Belgrade to deal with assistance to the media and other issues.

STAY AWAY FROM PINK AND PALMA, SAYS ORLIC

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ A leading Democratic Opposition of Serbia official on Tuesday criticised a number of his coalition colleagues for agreeing to appear on the privately owned television stations Pink and Palma.

Slobodan Orlic told media that such appearances ignored the fact that professional organisations such as the Association of Independent Electronic Media and the Association of Serbian Journalists were demanding investigation into the operation and business dealings of these broadcasters.

“We all have the right to decide for ourselves when and where to get media exposure, but responsible politicians should be careful not to lend credibility to people who think that superficial change can absolve them of responsibility for promoting the Milosevic regime,” said Orlic.

He described appearances by politicians on Palma and Pink as extremely irritating for all citizens who on September 24 and October 5 fought for and won a different, modern Serbia.

COURT APPOINTS ACTING DIRECTOR FOR STATE MEDIA

BELGRADE, December 6, 2000 ­ The Belgrade Commercial Court ruled today that Nenad Ristic be appointed acting director of Radio Television Serbia.

Ristic was previously one of several directors in the state broadcaster’s interim management.

The Commercial Court has ruled on appointments to several companies which have been managed by crisis committees since October 5.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL IN PREPARATION

BELGRADE, December 7, 2000 ­ The Federal Telecommunications Ministry has begun drafting new legislation to regulate the sector.

Senior Ministry consultant Gordana Petrovic told media today that the bill will be based on legislative principles of the European Union.

She remarked that the Ministry was prepared to cooperate with media representatives and associations, as well as with experts in the field of broadcasting and public information in general.  The bill, she added, would provide an objective, fair and transparent approach by the state to the field of telecommunications and the allocation of radio frequencies and television channels.

SERBIAN JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION TO HEAR ALLEGATIONS AGAINST JOURNALISTS

BELGRADE, December 7, 2000 ­ The Association of Serbian Journalists announced today that it had scheduled the first of a series of public debates before its disciplinary committee.

The committee has called on former state television director-general Dragoljub Milanovic, former acting director of daily Vecernje novosti, Dusan Cukic, former director of daily Borba, Zivorad Djordjevic and former Federal Information Minister Goran Matic to appear at the public sessions.

They will be called on to “establish their professional responsibility for manipulation of the media with the aim of misinforming the public”.

Each of the accused will be given an hour to defend their position.

Future debates will address allegations against the former director-general of Politika, Dragan Antic, the former acting director of Tanjug news agency, Zoran Jevdjovic, and the former editor-in-chief of Politika ekspres, Djordje Martic.

MARKO MILOSEVIC ALLEGES LIBEL

BELGRADE, December 7, 2000 ­ The son of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has laid charges against several media organisations, alleging the publication of personal attacks and untruths about him, Belgrade daily 24 Hours, writes today.

The daily, which is close to the former regime, does not specify which companies Marko Milosevic is suing.

According to the report, the allegations have been filed with the First and Second Belgrade Municipal Courts.

ROUND TABLE ON STATE TELEVISION

BELGRADE, December 7, 2000 ­ Representatives of the Serbian Government, media and non-government organisations today met in a round table at the Belgrade Media Centre to discuss Radio Television Serbia and public broadcast systems.

Participants in the discussion agreed that the main task facing media in the republic was the depoliticisation and reorganisation of the state broadcaster’s television service.

Speakers also agreed that the state television service had still failed to produce an unbiased news program.

“There is no precedent anywhere in the world for a television station with more than eight thousand employees to be unable to form a team to produce news,” Information Minister Biserka Matic said.  “They are behaving as thought they had spent a long time in prison and are now unable to cope with freedom,” said Matic, adding that it was important for Serbian journalists to help one another.

Matic also warned that TV Pink, a private station close to the Milosevic regime, had begun news broadcasts, that there was a Belgrade daily called 24 Hours, also close to the Milosevic regime, and eight television channels across Serbia owned by senior Socialist Party official Zoran Andjelkovic.

“I think that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia and journalists should not underestimate these,” said Matic.

The acting director of Radio Television Serbia, Nenad Ristic, told the conference that the company’s major problem was impoverishment and debt.

“In order to have the company operate normally we must establish a commission which will represent the public and evaluate the work of the television and which the company will be responsible to,” he said.

The chairman of the Association of Independent Electronic Media, Veran Matic, said that the new regime also wanted to control the media, which was demonstrated by the appointment of Boris Tadic to the management board of Politika.

“The reconstruction of the state television depends on the reconstruction of the entire broadcasting system,” he said, adding that there were independent radio stations which were a public service in the former period and state television, which was a propaganda service, as well as private stations which played the same role for the ruling parties.

Matic said that the independent media sector, which touched on the commercial sphere, could be used as a model for reconstruction.

“This is massive decentralisation, getting rid of all the orchestras, getting rid of everything which is not media.  When it comes to culture and education, anything worthwhile which was done well by Radio Television Serbia can be done in the way independent production houses work,” said Matic.

The round table was an introduction to the Media for a Democratic Europe international conference which will begin in Belgrade on Sunday under the auspices of the Council of Europe and the Association of Independent Electronic Media.

STATE TELEVISION CORRESPONDENTS DEMAND NEW EDITOR

ZAJECAR, December 12, 2000 ­ State television correspondents in the town of Zajecar stopped work for an hour yesterday, demanding the dismissal of editor Cedomir Nikolic.

In a letter to Radio Television Serbia management, the correspondents accused Nikolic of creating “unbearable interpersonal relations,” and say that the Yugoslav Left spokesman had had a negative impact on the quality and objectivity of programming with his party bias.

The letter also claims that the branch office is unable to operate properly, with only a long-outmoded semi-professional camera and other technical equipment of similar quality.

It their demands are not met, say the journalists, they will form a strike committee and consider a longer strike.

RADIO KIM DENIES ALLEGATIONS

GRACANICA, BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 ­ Editorial staff of Radio Kosovo and Metohija have denied information that Father Sava Janjic has resigned as spokesman for the Serbian National Council because of conflict over the appointment of a new director to the station.

The statement is signed by the station’s new director, claiming that Father Save had nominated the RFI correspondent from Pristina for the position.

The Radio KiM statement accuses Radio B92 of publishing inappropriate and unconfirmed information “in the manner of Radio Television Serbia”.

A spokesman for Radio B92 said today that the station had broadcast the information exactly as carried in a report from the Beta news agency.

NEW FEDERAL APPOINTMENTS

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ The Yugoslav Government yesterday appointed a number of new federal ministers.

These included Slobodan Orlic as Federal Minister for Information.

KOSTUNICA MEETS FAMILIES OF STATE TELEVISION BOMB VICTIMS

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica today met representatives of the families of Radio Television Serbia employees who died in last year’s NATO bombing.

FoNet reports that the meeting discussed the options available to establish the truth about the deaths as soon as possible.

Kostunica undertook to ensure that legal procedures were expedited to “clear the case up as soon as possible”.

MINSTER TO BE A JOURNALIST, SAYS HIBER

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ The vice-president of the Civil Alliance of Serbia said yesterday that the minister for information will be a journalist, if the ministry remained arranged in the way it was at present.

“We do not want political control over information,” said Dragor Hiber, adding that there were at present no politicians managing the media.

He also said that there would be no need for an information ministry if “upright” legislation were passed.

BOOKS RETURNED TO SATIRIST

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ Satirist Boban Miletic has been returned copies of his books which had been confiscated because of content allegedly insulting to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The Knjazevac writer was summoned yesterday to the Zajecar District Court and told his book “Cry, Mother Serbia” would be returned to him.

Court officials returned 25 copies of the book which had been delivered to the court although police had confiscated 31 copies.

“I will relinquish the remaining six books to the police for the sake of their education,” said Miletic.

FORMER BORBA DIRECTOR DISMISSED

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ The federal government publishing house Borba has dismissed its former director, Zivorad Djordjevic.

A statement from Borba today said that the dismissal will not release Djordjevic from criminal responsibility for the management of the company.

Djordjevic resigned his position after beginning to receive a salary as a member of the Federal Parliament.

Beta agency quotes a source within Borba as saying that the former editor in chief of daily Vecernje novosti, Dusan Cukic, and his deputy, Ivan Pajdic, have also been dismissed.

Disciplinary proceedings have begun against Vecernje novosti editor-in-chief Ilija Zurovac and several other senior officials within Borba.

STOP SENSATIONAL REPORTING, SAYS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION

BELGRADE, December 8, 2000 ­ The president of the Serbian Writers Association has called on journalists to report objectively on the Association’s affairs.

In a response to a call from the Cultural Editors’ Forum to ban reporting of what it describes as “the disgusting and futile words of the Serbian Writers’ Association management,” Slobodan Rakitic called for media editors to report the Association’s arguments instead of sensational headlines.

“The proposed moratorium means choosing sides in the conflict which is only prolonging it artificially,” said Rakitic, adding that the fact that the proposal referred only to statements from the Serbian Writers Association demonstrated the biased attitude of certain media.

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