ANEM WEEKLY MEDIA UPDATE

JULY 28 - JULY 31, 2001

• CANDIDATES PROTEST CLOSING OF RTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF COMPETITON

BELGRADE, July 28, 2001 - "A few minutes ago, Dejan Mijac, the President of the Board of Directors of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), informed me that the competition for the position of editor-in-chief of that media organisation had been closed. I do not give up my candidacy for that position; my rights and the rights of my colleagues who applied for that position were violated. I will bring a charge against Radio Television of Serbia," Gordana Susa, the President of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, and one of the candidates competing for the position of RTS editor-in-chief, told the daily Danas. Susa pointed out that the pre-election promises regarding the future of the state-run Television had been broken. "Aleksandar Crkvenjakov was trying to dissuade me from my intention to apply for that position until the last moment, saying that I did not have the support of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which was analogous to the fact that he had the support of the Democratic Party. The emphasising the story that the key positions in Radio Television of Serbia had been secured by a prior arrangement for the members of the Democratic Party, and for the Democratic Party of Serbia means that the idea of Radio Television of Serbia becoming a public service that would serve the interests of the citizens were abandoned," Gordana Susa said. She pointed out that the competition had been closed as a part of the plan, during the time when almost all the members of the Board of Directors were in their vacations, and she announced that she would organize a press conference Monday, in which she would make public all the details regarding the competition. "I do not want to carry out a public dispute with Gordana Susa in the newspapers, because she is my colleague, and I will tell her personally what I have to say to her. The competition was closed because we did not have the agreement of all the members of the Board of Directors," Aleksandar Crkvenjakov, general director of Radio Television of Serbia told the daily Danas. He pointed out that the reason for the closing of the competition had not been "the absence of support of one political party". "It is about the disagreement of several factors that are relevant for Radio Television of Serbia, whose founder let me remind you, is the Serbian Parliament," Crkvenjakov concluded. Gordana Susa, Milorad Petrovic, Zoran Petrovic Pirocanac, and Sanda Petrusic applied for the position of editor-in-chief of the News Programmes of Radio Television of Serbia. However, Milorad Petrovic, the editor of the Second Edition of the News Programme Dnevnik of Radio Television of Serbia, resigned form that position of July 25, as well as from all the other mandates in that media organisation, and he at the same time resigned from the competition for the position of editor-in-chief in Radio Television of Serbia. "I am not a victim, and my decision is not a consequence of some kind of self-sacrifice, and I don't want to be depicted in that manner in the media," Milorad Petrovic said. While explaining his move for the daily Blic, he said that that had been the only way to turn the public attention on the fact that the same things had been going on in Radio Television of Serbia, which should never happen again. Petrovic said that he had resigned from the competition and that he had resigned from his position because pressure had been exerted during ten months from various political parties that were members of Democratic Opposition of Serbia, in order to establish a certain control over RTS Television. "There is no important difference there, both in their approach to those things, and in general, between the era of Milosevic and this now. The television is a powerful medium, and in spite of their proclamations, the authorities want to take the job of the journalists, that is, to do the editorial job," Petrovic said. Milorad Petrovic asserted that the pressure on Radio Television of Serbia had not been exerted by only one political party, or by only one man. "It is about their methodology," he explained. "Each political party has tried through their man, who has been in some way in connection with Radio Television of Serbia, immediately after October 5, to edit the news, events, or to present the public figures in relation to other political parties, or to the leaders within the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. After the changes that took place on October 5, Goran Svilanovic was in charge of dealing with Radio Television of Serbia, and after him the eminence grise became Nebojsa Covic, who, let's say, in passing, in a conversation in a corridor appointed Nenad Ristic the acting director of RTS. After that, Zarko Korac did that job in front of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. I cannot say that somebody in particular called me on the phone and ordered me to do something in particular. Those pressures were exerted, as I call that, in a sideways manner, but they have always been made with the same point. For example, the questions such as, 'Why weren't my political party or its leader mentioned during the first five minutes of the news programme Dnevnik, while the other political leader was mentioned?' Or, you hear the rumour, 'The President is dissatisfied because the information about him was broadcast in the eighteenth minute of Dnevnik,' or 'The chief thinks that that report should have been broadcast in full version of seven minutes,' and so on. And after that, you should conclude yourself what that was supposed to mean. And that - the meaning of those remarks - we knew very well, being the experienced journalists. Thus, somebody assessed even in which minute of the news programme Dnevnik certain information was broadcast. The long and short of it is that their signal was always clear enough, and that it was only the question of the level of the personal integrity of certain editor, that would produce different reactions from them. And that all is very far away from the kind of television that is a public service for the citizens. It is especially so if you have at your disposal a journalists' cadre that is, on the basis of their experience during the previous decade, prone to feeling fear, that is to acting subserviently in relation to their chiefs. You know, the state, as the owner of that television, can ask of them that a certain topic is dealt with, but it cannot and it must not set the guidelines for dealing with that topic, and it mustn't promote those theses as the truth. The whole system of Radio Television of Serbia cannot, must not, and has no right to repeat the mistake of being an underling of one policy, just because their experience of the past decade, and because of the stigma they earned then. You see, we all know that the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia have been struggling for domination, but why are they doing that using the media, that is, using the Radio Television 

• MAGYAR SZO STRIKE CONTINUES

NOVI SAD, July 28, 2001 - Vojvodina Secretary of Information Rafail Ruskovski met with the Magyar Szo editors' strike committee Thursday, but since he did not fulfil their demand of doubled salaries, the strike continued, meaning Vojvodina's only Hungarian language newspaper will not publish again until Sunday, editors announced in the online edition. Ruskovski made it plain that the planned subsidies to the paper were being regularly paid, editors said. Regarding editors' proposal to make Magyar Szo financially independent and the need for its separation from the publishing organisation Forum, Ruskovski agreed that separation was the only solution for Magyar Szo. However, the Executive Council of Vojvodina Parliament has not yet adopted the proposal, he said, explaining that that would have to be done according to the procedure that had been prescribed by law. Furthermore, he pointed out, the Association of Vojvodina Hungarians had demanded that the adoption of the proposal was postponed The strikers' committee announced that they had asked Nenad Canak, the President of the Parliament of Vojvodina, to receive their delegation.

• STATE PRINTING HOUSE MANDATE CONTESTED

BELGRADE, July 28, 2001 - The Democratic Party demanded the federal administration examine the contested allotment of the state printing house mandate to Podgorica-based newspaper Dan and take appropriate action. In the Democratic Party's official statement, officials wrote that the Federal Directorate for Commodity Reserves had assigned the Solna printing-works to Dan during the time when the Momir Bulatovic administration had been in power, and that the newspaper company had been getting the paper for printing the newspaper free of charge during that period from the factory Matroz, while the allotment of the printing-works had been executed by Milija Scepanovic. Democratic Party officials claimed Dan had never paid a dime for renting the printing-works, and that they also had a debt of about 800,000 German marks for the printing paper they had used. "To make the scandal even worse, the newspaper Dan is being published by the company Dan graf from Podgorica, which is owned by three persons, of whom two are the members of the newly established political party of Momir Bulatovic. Thus, it appears that the federal administration, that is, the citizens of Serbia, are providing funds for publishing a private newspaper from Podgorica," they wrote in the statement. The Democratic Party maintained that the new government should annul the resolutions brought by the Momir Bulatovic administration, and to enable private entrepreneurs from Podgorica, who were up to now living on the funds of the federal administration, and thus on the money of the citizens of Serbia, to try their luck in the market-orientated economic conditions. (SRNA)

• BOJANA LEKIC CONSIDERED FOR RTS POST

BELGRADE, July 28, 2001 - Bojana Lekic, the former editor-in-chief of B92 Television, appeared as a new candidate in the competition for the position of editor-in-chief of the News Programmes of Radio Television of Serbia, daily Vecernje Novosti learnt from sources close to the leadership of the state-run television. The Board of Directors annulled the competition on Saturday, in which Zoran Petrovic Pirocanac, Gordana Susa, and Milorad Petrovic had applied as candidates. Petrovic later withdrew his candidacy. (SRNA)

• VOJVODINA TO ASK FOR TWO TV AND THREE RADIO STATIONS

NOVI SAD, July 28, 2001 - The Executive Council of Vojvodina has prepared a draft request to demand the Serbian government allocate two channels to Television of Novi Sad and three channels for Radio Novi Sad, Vojvodina Information Secretary Rafail Ruskovski told Magyar Szo that regarding the draft of the Broadcasting Act. Public service in Vojvodina can't function without those preconditions, he explained, because in the case of television, one channel will broadcast programmes in Serbian, and the other would broadcast programmes in other languages of ethnic minorities. "In the case of the radio programme, we provided for a twenty-four broadcasting in Serbian and in Hungarian in their respective channels, while in the third channel the programmes in the languages of other national communities should be broadcast. Some people maintain that the news programmes in the languages of ethnic minorities should be left over to the local radio and television stations, but we disagree with that opinion, because obtaining information in the languages of ethnic minorities cannot be dependent on the financial circumstances of the local self-governments," Ruskovski said. (ANEM)

• RTS TO BEGIN NEW SEARCH FOR NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BELGRADE, July 30, 2001 - The Radio Television of Serbia general director Aleksandar Crkvenjakov told daily Blic that the competition for a certain number of positions in Radio Television of Serbia, for which some satisfying solution had not been found, would be repeated. The competitions for the positions of the editor of the Second Programme of Radio Beograd, and for the editor-in-chief of the News Programmes will be repeated. He also announced that the competitions would be repeated for all the positions in Radio Television Novi Sad. Crkvenjakov answered the question regarding the information that Bojana Lekic applied for the position of the editor-in-chief of the News Programmes by saying that Lekic had not been among the proposed candidates. "The new competition will be announced soon," Crkvenjakov said. (FoNet)

• JOKSIMOVIC: "I WILL SUE DANAS AND FONET!"

BELGRADE, July 31, 2001 - Serbian Health Minister Obren Joksimovic told daily Vecernje novosti that he would bring criminal charges against daily Danas and the FoNet news agency, on grounds that the Danas editors wrote Saturday beneath a 1998 FoNet archive photograph that he was one of the people who had queued to get a signature from Mira Markovic at the Belgrade Book Fair. "All that, from the text below the picture, up to the little song printed beside the picture, was meant to harm my reputation," Joksimovic said. "The last strike at me, as the Minister of Health, this time came from the editing committee of the daily Danas, but I assume that the order for such an act had come from the headquarters in Vracar, which have been campaigning against the Democratic Party of Serbia and against me for half a year now," assessed Joksimovic. "I don't want to make excuses for myself, and I will bring criminal charges against both the daily Danas and the news agency FoNet, and I will ask for such a high amount of compensation that both will be forced to shut down." The Danas editing committee said Monday that the man in the photo was not Joksimovic, but the director of the printing house Prosveta in Novi Sad, Veselin Rovcevic, and at the same time expressing their apologies to Joksimovic. Zoran Sami, the vice president of the Democratic Party of Serbia, confirmed the same statement. FoNet news agency issued a statement saying that the published photograph was authentic, and that there was no editing done on it. FoNet published the photograph only once, on October 22, 1998, with the e subtitle reading: "Yugoslav Left president Mirjana Markovic signing copies of 'Decathlon', her latest book, at the Prosveta stand during the forty-third International Book Fair." (FoNet)

• GORDANA SUSA CRITICISES KOSTUNICA AND DJINDJIC'S PARTIES

BELGRADE, July 31, 2001 - Gordana Susa applied, among other candidates, to compete for the position of editor-in-chief of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) News Programmes, but the Board of Directors informed her that the competition had been cancelled. One of the members of the RTS Board of Directors, Branka Prpa, resigned her position on the board after the cancellation of the competition was announced. "Judging by everything that has happened, Radio Television of Serbia director Aleksandar Crkvenjakov is a representative of the Democratic Party, and so the editor-in-chief ought to be supported by the Democratic Party of Serbia. What right have the Democratic Party of Serbia and Vojislav Kostunica to meddle with the choice of the candidate for the position of editor-in-chief, even if it is understandable that Crkvenjakov goes on consultation meetings with the members of the Government, because they appointed him?" Gordana Susa, the president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, asked at a Monday press conference. In her application for the competition for the position of editor-in-chief of the Television Beograd News Programmes, published in daily Politika on June 28, Gordana Susa mentioned that Crkvenjakov advised her not to apply for the competition without obtaining the support from the Democratic Party of Serbia, because that political party had been counting on getting that position for their supporter in casting TV roles. Susa stated in her application that that incident had surprised her, and concluded that the competition had been a farce, while the autonomous Board of Directors whose members were not members of any political party was only a pretence for the decisions that had been reached by some previous agreements. In this article Susa pointed out her curriculum vitae, including the resignation that she submitted in 1991 because of her disagreement with the editorial policy and the thirteen years that she had spent working in the independent media, as well as the editorial job that she had performed from October 5, until the elections in December, give her the right to apply for the competition even without the lobbying and currying favour with any political party, including the Democratic Party of Serbia. Besides that, Susa argued, she is a member of the team of experts of the Stability Pact, which deals with the transition of the media in Serbia. "The Democratic Party of Serbia is against me, but the Democratic Party is also not very much supportive of me. I would like to know whether this decision makes a case of political discrimination, and what were the arguments in favour of declaring me morally and politically unfit for the position," Susa said, adding that she hadn't received any official document on the cancellation of the competition. Susa told that she had talked with Crkvenjakov, and that he had told her that he would propose her as a candidate notwithstanding, and after that she met the Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, his adviser Beba Popovic, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Zarko Korac. "The Rules of Procedure of Radio Television of Serbia has been kept as a secret from the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, although the editors are being appointed and dismissed by the Board of Directors. As soon as we get official information about that, we shall start to fight against this disregard of procedure and we will also bring a private charge on the grounds of injury to her honour," Dusan Ignjatovic from the Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for the Human Rights, Susa's legal representatives, announced. Susa also said at the press conference that it had been unofficially announced that the only candidate that had met all the demands was Zoran Petrovic Pirocanac, because he also submitted his proposal for the operation of the programmes of Radio Television of Serbia. The Democratic Party denied Susa's statement Tuesday, saying they had not participated in the annulment of the competition for the position of the editor-in-chief of the RTS News Programmes. "The statement of Gordana Susa, in which she mentioned the Democratic Party as one of the guilty parties for her failure in the competition is completely false and arbitrary. The Democratic Party did not participated in a single phase of the procedure for choosing any of the editors of Radio Television of Serbia, and what's more, not a single member of Democratic Party is a member of the Board of Directors of this media organization," the Democratic Party statement said. "If Gordana Susa thinks that somebody is accountable for that, this somebody has their name and surname, and Gordana Susa ought to tell it," the statement concluded. (FoNet)

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