ANEM WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA

DECEMBER 9 - DECEMBER 15, 2000

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE

BELGRADE, December 9, 2000 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media, in collaboration with the Council of Europe, will hold an international conference on the transformation of electronic media after the democratic changes in Yugoslavia.  

The conference, entitled Media for a Democratic Europe, will be held from December 10 to 12 in Belgrade's Hotel Intercontinental and will gather domestic and foreign experts as well as representatives of the Council of Europe and the Pact for Stability in South-east Europe.

The conference will be formally opened by Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and will be addressed by government representatives for telecommunications and media. (Beta)

STATE MEDIA SOLELY PROMOTING DOS SAYS MONITORING COMMITTEE

BELGRADE, December 9, 2000 - The Monitoring Committee for public information on parties and candidates during the election campaign has claimed that Radio Television Serbia is solely promoting the Democratic Opposition of Serbia.  

In its statement, the Committee reports that only one member, Sasa Vukadinovic, did not agree.

Describing the state media presentation of parties as unequal, it recommends that all media not publish election survey results on the coming Serbian elections.

Elena Bozic Talijan has been elected president of the Committee.

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR PROGRESS IN MEDIA FREEDOM

NEW YORK, December 9, 2000 - The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, an international organisations for free media, has called on Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to establish a state body to investigate and redress all repressive measures against independent media in Serbia under the Milosevic regime.  

The New York based Committee has asked Kostunica to use his influence for the repeal of Serbia's Public Information Act, to expedite the investigation into the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija and to ensure the Kraljevo journalist Miroslav Filipovic is entirely cleared of accusations of espionage and disseminating false information.  

Noting that the Public Information Act was still in force, the Committee proposes that Kostunica urge the Serbian government after this month's elections to repeal it.

The Committee also expressed concern at what it describes as attempts by the government to appoint its officials to the management of some media, citing the appointment of Federal Telecommunications Minister and DOS officials Boris Tadic to the board of management of Politika.  

"The Milosevic regime used the same to technique to influence the editorial policy of media but we hope that your government, by abolishing all institutional ties with private media organisations, will give a clear signal that it has broken with the repression of the past," said the Committee in its letter to Kostunica. (Beta)  

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION CHARGES AGAINST OTPOR AND MEDIA

SUBOTICA, December 11, 2000 - The deputy president of the Yugoslav Football Association, Tomislav Karadzic, has announced the laying of charges against Otpor member Branimir Nikolic and several newspapers and journalists who published reports of business machinations within his privately-owned company Subotica Gloria.  

Karadzic's lawyer said today that the charges of publishing false information would be laid against dailies Blic, Vojvodina and Dnevnik and journalists Milenko Popadic and Zivojin Inic. The charges relate to accusations by Otpor member Branko Nikolic of Karadzic being involved in machinations over "the sale of attractive premises in the Subotica business centre" and the description of him as "a war profiteer who bought raw oil at privileged prices from the Pancevo Refinery and Serbian Oil Industries during the NATO bombing and sold it at higher prices".    

Nikolic claimed that Otpor was in possession of police records of illegal activities connected with fuel trading and that evidence collected by Otpor associates had been given to the Public Prosecutor and the chief of police. He told Beta that the charges against Karadzic would remain despite the accusation of libel.  

TV MONTENEGRO STAFF COMPLAIN

PODGORICA, December 11, 2000 - The director of TV Montenegro, Goran Rakocevic, said today that media was still under political pressure to abuse the social status of some employees. He added that Montenegro would not allow the destabilisation of such an important lever of the system. Rakocevic was speaking to Podgorica daily Vijesti which had published reports on the dissatisfaction of a group of TV Montenegro staff who had also alleged that the Montenegrin Information Ministry and the state television's board of management were responsible for the difficult situation and financial losses of the broadcaster.    

According to the report the employees had complained on Friday because of the problems of divisions within the company, because of unpaid salaries and because of financial losses of between seven and ten million Deutschmarks. After attempting to hold a meeting on the television's premises and finding the building locked, the employees demanded that their trade union and the company's board of management meet to discuss the matter this week.   

Vijesti published claims by the employees that nobody knew the total number of people working for the company and that more than two million Deutschmarks had been paid out in fees to associates. The dissatisfied workers accused the television management of nepotism, bad business practices and the failure to develop its own programming, and that more than eighty per cent of the vehicles owned by the company as being "irregular", so that no more than two or three vehicles could leave Montenegro. The employees also claimed that the cost of stepping up coverage of the state's foreign policies activities had cost more than 203,000 Deutschmarks which had been taken from special funds.     

Commenting on the allegations, Rakocevic claimed that the accumulated problems of recent years had led to a difficult situation for the broadcaster. He said that the time of party management and obstructions of work and technology had passed. "A serious state such as Montenegro will not allow destabilisation of an important lever of the system, and we will not allow the internal destruction of the institution," he added. He described the dissatisfaction of the workers as the continuation of political pressures through a different channel - by abusing and manipulating the social status of some of the employees.     

Rakocevic also claimed that the financial problems of the state television would be overcome by rigid cost-cutting, the shedding of surplus equipment, marketing subscriptions and assistance from the state.  

CALM ELECTION CAMPAIGN, SAYS MEDIA COMMENTATOR

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - Political parties and coalitions in Serbia are conducting a much more calm and tolerant election campaign than has been seen in previous elections, Jovanka Matic of the Belgrade Social Sciences Institute's Centre for Political Studies and Public Opinion said today.  

Matic also said that Radio Television Serbia had gone through a greater positive change than other television stations, particularly in its current affairs programs. This, she said, was because party political presentations had been separated from the main current affairs programming. "There is no longer inequality of quantity or quality in party presentations on Radio Television Serbia," said Matic, adding that under the Milosevic regime the ruling coalition had dominated the state media's presentations both in terms of quantity and quality. She emphasised that the state broadcaster did not deal with social topics, while the opposite was true of Belgrade Television B92, which focused on the subjects, problems and controversies of social life. Matic criticised Belgrade television broadcasters Studio B and Politika, saying that their style of reporting had not changed, and that the only change apparent was that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia was now given twice as much airtime as the other parties combined.        

POLICE RENEW INVESTIGATION OF FORMER TANJUG DIRECTOR

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - The Serbian police ministry has renewed investigation of Zoran Jevdjevic the former director of the state news agency Tanjug, and several other senior personnel of the agency, Radio Belgrade reported today. Jevdjevic and the other defendants are charged with damages worth several million dollars to Tanjug.  

The new management of the agency claim that federal foreign currency auditors have revealed that during the period under investigation, Tanjug had acquired almost two million dollars from the National Bank of Yugoslavia for payments to correspondents abroad but that only about 700,000 Deutschmarks was spent for that purpose while the remainder was transferred into banks in Bulgaria, Switzerland, Britain and Cyprus. Recent reports in the Belgrade media claim that part of the money was also transferred to Jevdjovic's credit card account. The prosecution has been asked to broaden the investigation to include several editors with whom Jevdjovic was closely associated, a driver in the state agency, the head of security and several consultants.     

TV MONTENEGRO EMPLOYEES ASK DIRECTOR TO EXPLAIN CASH SHORTAGE

PODGORICA, December 12, 2000 - The Trade Union of Montenegro's state television broadcaster has demanded that director Goran Rakocevic reveal the company's current financial situation to employees and has asked the Monitoring Committee to investigate how a loss of about ten million Deutschmarks had occurred. The president of the union, Mirsad Rastoder, said today that the employees demands had been formulated at a meeting during the day and that the company's board of management would be informed of them at its meeting scheduled for Tuesday.    

MEDIA FOR A DEMOCRATIC EUROPE

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - The international conference "Media for a Democratic Europe: the transformation of electronic media in Yugoslavia" continued on Monday in Belgrade's Hotel Intercontinental. The morning was devoted to the functioning of media in a democratic society and the use of European standards in Yugoslavia while during the afternoon, separate panels were held on frequency distribution, legislation and standards in the electronic media sphere. The future of Radio Television Serbia was a recurring theme during the day's discussions. "The destiny of the country's media changes will be decided by the way the state media are reformed," the director of the Centre for Media Studies, Snjezana Milivojevic, told B92. She went on to say that the things done by the state media over the past ten years were a terrible burden for further changes in the media scene and the society must find a way to face those. Secondly, she added, the state media had been privileged in many ways and now before entering into new democratic circumstances, it was time for all to have equal conditions as far as possible in order for the authorities to give the clear message that they were prepared to permit media autonomy. Asked whether she believed that the government was interested in that, Milivojevic replied that she thought that the government might be conscience of how important the media were but had not yet given any signal that media changes were important to them. "It seems to me that this situation suits them, because they do not have to intervene and that will not be bad if there are any indications that something has been done or that the entire project has been prepared," she said. "I believe that the government is above all interested in personnel changes and solutions rather than structural changes which would prevent the kind of abuse of the media which has happened in the past," said Milivojevic.

INDEPENDENT MEDIA DEMAND EQUALITY IN BROADCAST SECTOR

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - Representatives of local independent electronic media yesterday demand that the authorities prevent the establishment of new radio stations in Serbia until the planned distribution of radio and television frequencies had been completed and the current broadcast situation had been resolved.

ANEM coordinator Milorad Tadic noted that there were about four hundred radio and one hundred television stations in Serbia. The editor-in-chief of TV Soko in Sokobanja said that about seventy radio stations could be heard on the same radio frequency when travelling by road from Belgrade to the south of Serbia. Tadic also noted that his radio station, Boom 93 in Pozarevac, had been off the air for 25 months during the past four years and opposed the proposal of some government representatives to begin from zero position for independent media but not for the former servants of the regime. "I want to understand zero position as meaning that, from June 1, 2001, licences granted by the former ministry will expire along with all the privileges of those media close to the regime," said Tadic. He also called on participants in the conference, especially the representatives of the Council of Europe, "not to allow the new Yugoslav authorities to have too much time and empty space". This, he said, would enable them to behave in the same way as the former ruling parties with regard to the media sector.        

ANEM WANTS TO DESTROY US, SAYS RADIO INDEKS DIRECTOR

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - The director of Belgrade's Radio Index yesterday accused the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) of monopolising the electronic media sector and setting out to "destroy" his station.  

Nenad Cekic criticised ANEM in particular for failing to invite Radio Indeks to this week's conference on the transformation of electronic media. "Nobody in their right mind could squander money in the Hotel Intercontinental and not invite Radio Indeks, the only electronic media in Belgrade brave enough to broadcast on September 24 and 25," he said.

ANEM chairman Veran Matic dismissed Cekic's accusations, saying that the concept of the conference had been to invite a series of experts, rather than all media. Of ANEM's fifty or so members, only five had been invited, he added.  

Matic denied that ANEM was in a monopolistic position, saying that it had neither asked for nor been granted any privileges by the new authorities.

"We are holding this conference because we want to help both the state ministry and the state media realise the scale of the changes necessary in the electronic media sector," he said.

PUBLISHERS AGREE TO PRICE HIKE FOR NEWSPRINT

BELGRADE, December 12, 2000 - Representatives of publishers in Belgrade and Novi Sad at yesterday's meeting of the Serbian Government agreed with representatives of Sremska Mitrovica paper manufacturer Matroz, Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic and Information Minister Biserka Matic to the price of 33 diners per kilogram for newsprint. The publishers had initially demanded that the price be held at 30 dinars but agreed to the new price because of increased overheads at Matroz, particularly a 130 per cent rise in the price of gas.

Covic pledged regular gas deliveries for Matroz, the only domestic paper manufacturer.

KIDNAPPED MEDIA BOSS ESCAPES

KRAGUJEVAC, December 13, 2000 - Media boss Milija Milosavljevic was shot in the leg today as he fled the kidnappers who abducted him yesterday.

He is in a Belgrade hospital where his life is not in any danger. His kidnappers are thought to be very well known to the police. (Beta)

MEDIA CONFERENCE DRAWS TO A CLOSE

BELGRADE, December 13, 2000 - The international conference on Media for a Democratic Europe closed today with a discussion on a series of conclusions to be sent to the relevant Government bodies.

Delegates at the Belgrade conference, organised jointly by the association of Independent Electronic Media and the Council for Europe, agreed that the authorities should draft a new blueprint for the redistribution of frequencies as a matter of urgency.  

They also proposed that an independent body comprised of experts and lay members should be set up to issue licences for electronic media.

During the closing session, the debate focused on how to transform state television into both a service answerable to the public and also an independent company with editorial freedom.

Commenting on the significance of the conference, ANEM chairman Veran Matic said that everybody had learnt a great deal about the ways in which reforms should be carried out.

"We will send these conclusions to the relevant ministries and the president's office," said Matic. "This conference is not over - it is merely one part of the ongoing efforts by trade associations and the media to draw up a package of laws to reform Yugoslavia's entire media system."  

Telecommunications Ministry officials who attended the conference said they had heard a lot of ideas which would help them put the broadcasting system to rights and draft new media legislation.

LITTLE MEDIA FOCUS ON ELECTION

BELGRADE, December 13, 2000 -- The coming parliamentary elections in Serbia are on the ninth place regarding the broadcast time dedicated in electronic media news programme, while printed media reported of the elections mostly through political parties' statements, says the media monitoring analysis conducted by Strategic Marketing Agency and Belgrade Media Centre, presented in the Centre. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has been much broadcast and published by all media during a longer period of time, and his recent visit to Mount Athos has been followed by a "tactless delight" and exaggerated publicity in the recently "liberated" media. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia has been dominating all media, while the Socialist Party of Serbia, the Serbian Radical Party, the Serbian Renewal Movement and the Yugoslav Left have been marginalised. A chiefly neutral tone regarding all parties and leading politicians is still dominating the reports, while both of the governments have received moderately positive critiques. Strategic Marketing and Media Centre Media Monitoring has shown that state-owned and para-state media have been "thoroughly packing cover pages in order to give off positive messages - about the cheaper fuel, about the electricity price that is not going to go up, about the OSCE precious aid". Since last week, non-governmental organisations have slowly started to enter media reports and they are mainly positively reported. (Beta)           

MARKO MILOSEVIC SUES BELGRADE DAILIES TO DEFEND HIS HONOUR

BEOGRAD, December 13, 2000 - Marko Milosevic, son of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, brought charges against founders of three Belgrade dailies, accusing them of causing damages to his honour and reputation.  

Milosevic's son filed charges against Belgrade dailies Blic, Vecernje Novosti and Glas Javnosti with the First and the Second Belgrade municipal courts, Glas Javnosti reported.

He has asked for asking for one million dollars compensation from each daily.

Milosevic has also filed charges against a number of other Belgrade papers, Beta reported.

MY CONSCIENCE IS CLEAR, SAYS MILOSEVIC

BELGRADE, December 13, 2000 - In his first interview since his downfall, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said his conscience was clear and remarked he was defending his activities during the past decade. The two-hour interview was broadcast by TV Palma on Tuesday night.  

DISPUTE OVER ANTIC UNION MEMBERSHIP

BELGRADE, December 13, 2000 - Lawyer Dragoljub Todorovic, representing the former director of Politika, Hadzi Dragan Antic, told a disciplinary committee at the company that Antic had never been a ember of either the Association of Serbian Journalists or the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists. According to Branislav Canak, nor had the former director been a member of the Independence United Branch Unions.

However written evidence was produced that Antic had been one of 34 journalists and editors who had signed a statement under the title "We refuse to sign a fabricated report" which was published in a double issue of Borba in mid-June, 1999. The signatories to the statement later became the founding members of the Politika Independent Union.

AKSENTIJEVIC NOMINATED TO HEAD KRAGUJEVAC TELEVISION

KRAGUJEVAC, December 13, 2000 - The new president of the Kragujevac Radio Television Executive Committee is expected to be retired Yugoslav Army general Milan Aksentijevic. Aksentijevic is also a long standing member of the local branch of New Democracy, which has nominated him for the position.  

Party officials yesterday told media that members of the local City Assembly would confirm the nomination, as well as those for members of the executive boards of foundations and public companies controlled by the city at a meeting on Friday.

CHANGES AT THE TOP FOR BETA AGENCY

BELGRADE, December 14, 2000 - The executive committee of Beta News Agency has appointed former editor-in-chief Ljubica Markovic as director. Former deputy editor-in-chief Dragan Janjic will replace Markovic. The new president of the executive board is one of the agency's founders, Djordje Zorkic. Former director Radomir Diklic has been appointed ambassador to France, in a non-party posting.   

FILM DISTRIBUTOR SUES POLITIKA

BELGRADE, December 14, 2000 - Film distributor Tuck announced yesterday that it had brought charges against TV Politika because of unauthorised broadcasting of films.

Tuck director Dejan Petricevic alleged that Politika had broadcast without authorisation more than eighty films to which Tuck had rights. The company alleges losses of 800,000 dollars from the broadcasts. He added that the company would also bring criminal charges against former senior management of Politika, including Hadzi Dragan Antic, Goran Kozic and Slavenko Bojovic. (FoNet)

COMPOSER SUES RADICALS FOR PLAGIARISM

BELGRADE, December 14, 2000 - Composer Zoran Simjanovic is suing the Serbian Radical Party over its use in an election campaign commercial of the idea and music of a popular Serbian television series. Simjanovic told a press conference that he was also suing Radio Television Serbia, TV Pink and TV Palma which had broadcast the commercial in recent days. "This is a copyright infringement. As a legal stopgap I have asked the court to order the channels to stop broadcasting the Serbian Radical Party commercial," said Simjanovic.

The director and co-writer of the series, Srdjan Karanovic, filed a protest. He said that, unlike Simjanovic, he had not brought charges because he did not believe in the Yugoslav judiciary.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPOINTS DIRECTORS

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000 - At its meeting on Thursday the Federal government appointed directors to a number of public institution. These included Prvoslav Plavsic to head the Media, Research and PR Agency and Zoran Predic as the director of Radio Television Yugoslavia.

PINK MOST POPULAR TELEVISION

NOVI SAD, December 15, 2000 - A survey conducted on a sample of 2,205 respondents from throughout survey by Novi Sad's Scan Agency during December showed that local radio stations had the greatest audience (45.8 per cent), that TV Pink was the most popular television channel (21.7 per cent) and that the highest circulation daily was Blic (20.1 per cent). Agency director Milka Puzigaca told media that 61 per cent of those surveyed regard Yugoslavia as having good public information.

STOUDMANN SATISFIED WITH ELECTION CONDITIONS

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000 - The directory of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Gerard Stoudmann, told Radio B92 today that various political parties had better access to media than during previous periods but noted certain irregularities. He announced the establishment of a special OSCE team which would inquire into allegations and include them in a report on media behaviour during the election campaign.

SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY ELECTION PROMO VIOLATES COPYRIGHTS

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000 - The District Court in Belgrade banned all television stations from broadcasting the Serbian Radical Party election campaign promotional video with music taken from a well-known Serbian TV series in the background.

The director of the TV series, Srdjan Karanovic, and the composer of this music piece, Zoran Simjanovic, sued the Serbian Radical Party for violating their copyrights.

The District Court has passed stop-gap measures to ban the broadcasting of this promotional video.

MEDIA ACT "TO BE SCRAPPED"

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000 - The notorious Public Information Act - used to control the independent media - will be declared unconstitutional by the end of the week, a Belgrade paper reports today.

Glas Javnosti reports that the Federal Constitutional Court is poised to annul the law on the grounds that it contravenes not only Yugoslavia's constitution but also several international laws.

The daily also learnt unofficially that the court is likely to declare several clauses in the Criminal Justice Act unconstitutional next week. The clause concerning arrests for public disturbance is almost certain to be scrapped. Likewise that giving police the power of detention will go, on the grounds that only a court has the constitutional right to make such a decision.

Also destined for the scrap heap is the right of the police to enter private homes without search warrants.

KOJADINOVIC SACKED FROM STUDIO B

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000- The Director of the Radio Television Studio B was sacked today for having violated his contractual work obligation, Beta learnt.

Dragan Kojadinovic has not worked since May 17, when police seized Studio B and turned it over to Milosevic regime officials in the Serbian government.

In the beginning of October, the Belgrade City Assembly resumed control of Studio B, but Kojadinovic's backers in the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement were out of power.

Apart from Kojadinovic, several other employees were fired for a similar violation of their contractual work obligations.

The Serbian Renewal Movement protested against Kojadinovic's loss of the position.

Kojadinovic lashed out last night at corruption and bias in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia.

"It's obvious that DOS has its own Milena Arezina," he said, in a reference to the allegedly corrupt Belgrade judge who oversaw the attempt to overturn September's federal election results.

Kojadinovic claimed that a Commercial Court ruling that all staff dismissed from Studio B should be reinstated had been ignored.

The Belgrade City broadcaster's new director, Radmila Hrustovic, has not reappointed staff sacked when the Serbian government seized control of the station in a police raid on May 17 this year.

Kojadinovic has not worked since that date.

The Belgrade City Assembly resumed control of Studio B in October, but by then his backers in the Serbian Renewal Movement were out of power.

The former director and a number of other employees were dismissed on the grounds that they had failed to report to duty since May 17.

"As a man who worked for Studio B for 24 years and was director and editor-in-chief during the most difficult years, I expected the new director to grant me an interview. I think I deserve that after 24 years," he told media.  

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REFUSES TO APPEAR BEFORE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

BELGRADE, December 15, 2000 - The former editor-in-chief of daily Politika ekspres, Djordje Martic, told the Association of Serbian Journalists that he would not attend a meeting of its disciplinary committee called to discuss his responsibility for the violation of professional regulations. In an open letter to the Association, Martic said he did not recognise the body and was not a member of it. He accused the new management of the Association of Serbian Journalists of lying by saying they had conducted "an informal survey of his colleagues at Politika ekspres". In argument, he claimed that the "real" editorial staff consisted of personnel he had appointed.     

VOYEURISM IN SREMSKA MITROVICA

SREMSKA MITROVICA, December 15, 2000 - An employee at TV M in Sremska Mitrovic has accidentally discovered a hidden file containing photographs taken in a women's rest room at the company. The voyeur was immediately identified and a former employee is alleged to be an accomplice. One of the women depicted in the photographs has announced that she will lay criminal charges over the unauthorised photography.   

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