IWPR'S MEDIA FOCUS 10

Monitoring Period February 25 -March 10, 1999

Welcome to Media Focus 10 - IWPR's bi-weekly electronic service analysing the media in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Produced by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting in London, Media Focus is published in both English and Serbian in e-mail and hard-copy. Issues of Media Focus and all of our other e-mail bulletins are also available on our new Web site in text and document form at <www.iwpr.net>.

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MEDIA FOCUS 10

• The State Media is "The Voice of The People"
• Albanian-Language Media - Turning Against Demaqi
• Miscellany
• On Events In Republika SrpskaIs
• There Still A Federation?

SERBIAN-LANGUAGE MEDIA

Vox-pop polls have become the staple diet of Yugoslavia's state-media in recent weeks - in tune with official policy that it is the people who decide all issues in Serbia and the FRY. The polls demonstrate general support for official policy and highlight in particular, opposition to the imposition of NATO troops to implement the Rambouillet peace deal.
Opinion polls prove the will of the peopleEach evening during this monitoring period, the Dnevnik 2 prime time news programme of the state-controlled RTS station carried the opinions of "ordinary people" as well as writers, actors and film directors among others. For example, the poet Dobrica Eric, asked "Why do we need... Americans who will cut up your sons and daughters? It must be that they have heard our people have golden hearts and are stealing them so as to transplant them into their own chests in the hope of making themselves human" (Dnevnik 2, Mar. 4).

Such a show of unity between the people and their government had farm workers, students, manual workers, engineers and housewives all airing their opinions on screen: "I am a mother of two and I think that I really do not deserve this. Kosovo always was and always will be ours." (Feb. 26); "They always hated us, always..." (Mar. 2); "I see the NATO threats as the pinnacle of international Satanism and evil" (Mar. 9); "They are the idiots who want to rule the whole world" (Mar. 9). Each day, the interviews which were conducted across the country, were introduced in the following way: "Citizens, political parties and associations... today pay tribute to our state delegation that showed strength and determination to defend and protect national and state interests".

BK Televizija has given up its advertising slogan "Open-eyed television". The TV BK prime-time news programme BK Telefakt 2 resembles a watered-down version of RTS Dnevnik 2. The campaign "Citizens of Serbia fully support our delegation" which runs daily on RTS, is broadcast weekly by BK Telefakt 2 (three "polls" in 21 days). A polling of the citizens of Pozarevac (Feb. 26) expressed unanimity in support of Belgrade's position in the Kosovo talks. All nine people interviewed gave full support to "the stands of our delegation". As well as interviewing passers-by, BK Televizija also solicited the opinion of well-known personalities who were filmed predominantly in the setting of their own homes.
Independent PollingRadio B92's special correspondent in Kosovo Antonela Riha, reporting for Dnevnik and Nocnik on February 24, also went in for some polling of residents in Pristina. Members of the public were asked what they expected the talks at Rambouillet to deliver. Contrary to the journalistic efforts of some other broadcast media, this poll sought comment from both Serbian and ethnic Albanian citizens. They expressed both their apprehensions and desire for the situation to be resolved peacefully.

But B92's Nocnik poll (March 1) from Podgorica on the anniversary of the 1992 Montenegrin referendum (when citizens voted in favour of remaining in what was left of Yugoslavia) which posed the question: "Is the country we live in today the same as the one we placed our trust in?" resulted in a confused response from those asked and so wasted an opportunity to record ordinary citizens' opinions of current Belgrade-Podgorican relations.

State media - support for official policy

In the run-up to the March 15 resumption of talks on resolving the Kosovo crisis, RTS Dnevnik 2 continued to glorify state policy and broacast opinions which offered the authorities "unreserved support" for its policies. Demonstrations of such support included party statements and reports from party meetings, ranked according to the hierarchy of the coalition parties in power.On the day when one policeman was killed and another seriously wounded in an attack on a police patrol near the village of Krivovo, (Feb. 27), this news was ignored, while a full 13 minutes of the broadcast was devoted to rallies of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in provincial towns. This was followed by a report from a rally of coalition partners, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), whose leader Vojislav Seselj said: "If there are NATO air-raids, if it comes to American aggression, we Serbs will suffer greatly, but there will be no Albanians left in Kosovo".Even the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), which RTS has not mentioned in months, was given time in Dnevnik 2 on Feb. 28. That said, only one sentence was broadcast from its communiqu?, and this underlined the position of Belgrade, stating that "the goal of the American administration is to impose American values in resolving the Kosovo crisis". DSS criticism of the government and its policy were not reported.Dnevnik 2 broadcasts news on world reactions on a daily basis. On the day when the German Bundestag passed a decision to send 5,000 soldiers to Kosovo (Feb. 24), Dnevnik 2 reported only that "a number of deputies of the Party of Democratic Socialism in the Bundestag criticised the proposals to send NATO troops to Kosmet, in particular the participation of German troops in the force".

Toned-down news for ethnic Hungarians

While part of the RTS network, Dnevnik TV Novi Sad exercises a degree of restraint. Inflammatory language judged proper for Serbian consumption is toned down when it is translated into Hungarian. Thus, the extensive SRS statement on Mar. 6 in which the party "condemns the criminal activities of Albanian extremists" and the "highly arrogant behaviour of the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM)" is reduced to a single sentence: "The SRS requested from the state authorities the liquidation of the perpetrator of the recent murder of Kosovo Serbs."But like the main Belgrade-based RTS station, Novi Sad viewers were likewise denied news of the German parliamentary decision to send troops to Kosovo as part of the NATO peace force (Feb. 25); of the movement of British and French troops through Greece to Macedonia, or of Clinton's foreign policy message and the State Department's report on the human rights situation in the world which made special mention of the FRY. Nor was there any mention (Feb. 28) of the killing of the chief of police in Kacanik, of the movement of ethnic Albanian refugees from the Orahovac region towards the Macedonian border; nor that three persons were found dead that day in different parts of Kosovo. Neither was there any mention (Mar. 1) on the visit to and talks in Pristina by ambassadors Christopher Hill and Wolfgang Petritch.

Nationalism of the late 1980s revisited

Radio Beograd's news reports continue to weigh heavy with commentary. The introduction to the programme Nedeljom u 10 (Feb. 28) reviewed the Rambouillet talks in this way: "...a great people bravely and resolutely resisted the dictates of power in the name of freedom, democracy and progress, at the same time protecting its territorial integrity and state sovereignty. This is what Rambouillet wants to deprive Serbia and Yugoslavia of, using pressure and threats, blackmail and cunning... the authors of such an insolent scenario did not even stop at deceit... Our delegation and Serbian President Milan Milutinovic remained consistently true to the official policy of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, which enjoys the general support of the people."

The choice and treatment of events in Radio Beograd's prime time news programme Novosti dana is identical to RTS's Dnevnik 2. The programme contains an abundance of rallies and panel discussions of support. Its coverage strongly echos the late 1980s when President Milosevic came to power on a wave of Serbian nationalism.

Like Dnevnik 2, the editors of Novosti dana appear to be very selective with the news they broadcast. Thus on March 2, the programme failed to report that Adem Demaqi resigned as the KLA's political representative because of disagreements with those who wished to sign the Kosovo agreement; that US envoy Hill held a press conference following talks with Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, federal vice-premiers Vuk Draskovic and Nikola Sainovic and representatives of the opposition, at which Hill said that there were still differences in the stands of the international community and the Serbian, i.e. Yugoslav sides, and that the "mechanism for implementing the Kosovo agreement is not possible without NATO control" (Mar. 2). The programme also failed to report the statement of KVM spokesman Sandy Blythe that the inhabitants of the border village of Prcevo were abandoning their homes. On Mar. 3, however, it did carry a statement from the Serbian Ministry of Information which was in effect, a direct response to the previously unreported statement by Blythe.

NATO under attack

Pro-government media seized the chance to ridicule the capability of the NATO force in waiting which is presently garrisoned across the border in Macedonia. On March 9, Novosti dana announced: "Tanjug reports from Skoplje an interesting news item: the first fight of NATO forces stationed in Macedonia ended dishonourably for them. Five waiters in a caf? in Skoplje beat 22 British NCO - commandos. The incident occurred three days ago in the caf? "Dva jelena" when the waiters refused to serve the slightly drunk British NCOs. After arguing with the waiters, the revolted Brits began smashing up the caf? until the staff hit back, sending two of the commandos to hospital. The NATO soldiers would have fared even worse had not the Skoplje police intervened to protect them."The same barroom incident was covered by Vecernje novosti (Mar. 11) under the headline "The first NATO 'strike' repelled in Skoplje's caf? 'Dva jelena'. The sub-headline read: "After dinner, overbearing commandos of a British regiment abused the hospitality of a respectable restaurant in Skoplje on the slopes of Vodno, maltreating guests. NATO curses directed at Balkan mothers forced the insulted waiters and restaurant owners to give this cannon fodder a lesson to remember."

Politika on the official line

The daily Politika was unstinting in its praise for Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and his negotiating team at the Rambouillet talks. Party communiqu?s and stands taken were headlined: "Our delegation's stand that political agreement is paramount prevails", "Our delegation's interceding for peace wins at Rambouillet" (Feb. 25, p. 14), "Rambouillet divides Washington" (Feb. 25, p. 3), "Fiasco of Western diplomacy" (Feb. 26, p. 2), "State delegation is the diplomatic, political and moral victor at Rambouillet", "American policy bared at Rambouillet" (Feb. 26, p. 14).There was a malicious tone detected in Politika's daily monitoring of the "rift among Albanian terrorists", which gave more space to Adem Demaqi and the "hardliners" than to Rugova and his "softer line". In a commentary (Feb. 27, p. 14) headlined "The reaches of Rambouillet", Radivoje Petrovic sought to convince Politika readers that the Serbian delegation triumphed at the talks by interpreting the results of the Rambouillet negotiations in a manner favourable to the Belgrade authorities. Serbian representatives, it stated "are returning as moral winners, while the confirmed prot?g?s of major powers...endangered not only the fabricated picture of themselves but also of those who are protecting their backs... the Serbian and Yugoslav sides ... made best use of this international political event beyond any doubt... and the impression is that after Rambouillet the media picture of Serbia is gradually improving..."In the same article, the ethnic Albanians are blamed for the failure of the Rambouillet talks ("...confirms that the Albanians from Kosmet greatly undermined the full success of the conference..."), while the Serbian side is presented as being more than cooperative ("... The greatest contribution of our delegation and President Milutinovic is in the fact that with their constructive proposals they saved on the one side the final epilogue of the talks and on the other the organisers and mediators from even greater political disgrace...")

One of Politika's most frequent messages in the monitoring period is that the imposition of NATO troops to police any peace agreement "is out of the question". On February 5 alone, three variations on this topic were published on three pages. On p. 15 "There is no question of the deployment of foreign troops" (statement by SRS leader Vojislav Seselj); on p. 16 "Military forces not needed to implement a good agreement on Kosmet" (report from a panel discussion of the Socialist National Party of Montenegro whose leader is Federal Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic), and on p. 17 "Foreign troops not necessary to implement agreement" (statement by SPS spokesman Ivica Dacic).Politika uses various methods to stress Belgrade's stand that foreign troops in Kosovo are out of the question, including carrying untruths from official sources as absolute and unquestioning truths. On a principal spot (Mar. 9, p. 1) Politika carried the official statement from the cabinet of FRY President Slobodan Milosevic following his meeting with German Foreign Minister Joszko Fischer and EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Hans van den Broek. The article's four-row headline is an excerpt from the official statement "Political agreement excludes any forcing of will, as well as any foreign troops for its implementation".The official statement suppresses the fact that the military part of the agreement on Kosovo envisages foreign troops to implement it. Politika (Mar. 9) did not mention the fact that following a meeting Hill had with the KLA, the group accepted the Rambouillet agreement in principle. Instead, on page 2 Politika ran an old news item that there was not progress in talks between Hill and the KLA, although the information that the KLA's general staff had indeed agreed, was released early enough to be published by Politika's Belgrade issue.

And Borba too

The Sunday issue of Borba (Feb. 27-28, p. 5) devoted a full page to comments on Rambouillet: Vladimir Stambuk, member of the Serbian delegation, complained of poor treatment by their international hosts:"All [our] requests were answered with the words that the delegations were there to work and should use this privilege 24 hours a day. They went so far in that respect that, when the meeting at Rambouillet was drawing to a close, the temperature was lowered in the rooms of the delegation of the Serbian government. They said the heating had to be reduced because overheating in rooms can have a negative effect on the working ability of the delegation members."Right next to this is an article by Dragoslav Markovic: "Seventeen days that changed the set picture on Serbia; A chateau full of traps". Presented as a review of events at Rambouillet, a headline quipped, "Serbia leads 1:0, with very good chances of an ultimate victory in the finals." An accompanying commentary accused Christopher Hill of being "the main American hammer". It went on: "Clearly irritated with the fact that Serbia will not accept virtually everything that springs to their mind, he again made threats of air-strikes...against Serbia and the FRY." The third article on the same page was written by Ivan Pajdic: "Simply speaking, except for the representatives of the state of Serbia and FRY, all the others present in the French chateau again played their roles clumsily, one played a general without an army, another a buffoon and jester in imposing a new empire without borders."

Melange in the newspapers

Like both Politika and Borba, Vecernje novosti devoted careful attention to Rambouillet. While the daily published articles that reported on all details in a professional manner, its editorials which sought to analyse American policy regarding Kosovo were emotive and frequently resorted to base language. An editorial headlined "Directors of lies" (Mar. 5) is devoted to "the behaviour of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission". The author B. Komad wrote: "Employing what is perhaps the basest vice - the abuse of new-born children... representatives of the verification commmission, positioning their cameras on the bridge at Kacanik, put in the arms of one of their interpreters - Albanian of course - somebody's crying new-born who was 'scared to death' of Serbian bandits". He went on, "having arrived in Kosovo and Metohija to verify the truth, the so-called monitors have been reclassified by order of the supreme sheriff into - verifiers of lies!".The pages of Glas javnosti during the monitoring period abundantly cited anonymous sources for its reports on and about Kosovo. The front page (Feb. 25) published the striking headline "Self rule without NATO troops?" with a note that the article is carried on the third page. No such article appeared on the cited page.

The further from the regime - the more professional

Radio B92 continues to report professionally, regularly drawing on several different sources of information for each report. A summary of its main news bulletin Dnevnik for March 5 is indicative of the approach it takes. The first five news reports are devoted to the topic that has been dominating the station's reporting for days - the Kosovo crisis. This station regularly presents information concisely. In the first minutes of the programme Nocnik (Feb. 29) the station included a report by the FoNet correspondent in Washington on a speech given by Bill Clinton. The reporter told listeners "Clinton indicated that the Kosovar Albanians have accepted in principle the plan while Serbia agreed to many but not all conditions for autonomy, refusing to recognise the necessity for NATO-led international forces to maintain peace in Kosovo".

Radio Beograd's Novosti dana programme broadcast this event as a short Tanjug news item: "Citing key foreign policy points of national interest to America, Clinton, among others, mentioned Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo is not a minor problem, said Clinton, and reiterated the known phrase on the danger of the conflict spreading. Speaking of NATO, he stressed the significant co-operation between NATO and Russia, and informed European allies that they must leave their doors open for democracy to be fortified in Eastern and Central Europe."

B92 however, continues to excessively cite statements which appear to be of no political relevance and seem only to be included for the sake of ridiculing the speakers: "There is talk of implementing an agreement, and [yet] there is no political agreement. Simply speaking, everything has been turned inside out. Everybody is counting chickens that have not been hatched. Let us first see the chickens hatch, and then we will see what we will do with them". (FRY Vice Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic, Nocnik, Mar 2). "The root has remained in Kosovo, and we want our plants to continue bearing fruit, our fields to yield, our pigsties and barns to be full, andthat is why we will not withdraw if they dare touch our sacred land" said Dragoljub Jankovic who was introduced as being an "agricultural record-holder" at an SPS rally in Leskovac, Feb. 27).

Nocnik (Mar. 4) included a comment from Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, referring to the arrival of US envoy Richard Holbrooke to Belgrade: "He has still not called me, and as far as I am concerned, he need not come".

The daily Danas carries mostly agency news and editorials that criticise the regime in Serbia. On March 3, page 4 carried the following claim: "The current regime is directing the people's aggression towards America by abusing the media, thereby protecting itself, because citizens are not perceiving domestic problems." The article by A. Matic is a critical assessment of numerous rallies of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and SPS throughout Serbia. It has a bracket item headlined "Children in defence of air-raids" which quotes a Dr Aleksandar Taskovic claiming: "I have heard that schools from all over Serbia are organising excursions to Mt. Kopaonik at this time of year, at ridiculously low prices, for example for 40 dinars ($4). One should not forget that there are important military targets on Mt. Kopaonik. The line being taken is that the Americans will not bomb that area because of the children, and if they do throw a bomb or two, we will accuse them of killing children that we sent there on purpose. It is amazing that Slobodan Milosevic permits this".

Montenegrin propaganda

Montenegrin state media comprehensively covered the closing of the Rambouillet talks by using several sources (Sense, Beta, FoNet, Reuters, AP). At the forefront are relations between the two republics and the growing conflict of authority vis-?-vis the federation. Once again, the monitored media do not attempt to analyse Belgrade's position, but provide instead repeated positive assesments of Montenegro's own position with regard to relations within the federation.The only exception to Podgorica's blanket ignorance of Belgrade was seen when Televizija Crne Gore and Pobjeda reported on presidents' Milosevic and Milutinovic repeated rejections of the proposed NATO troop deployment.These media organisations are drawing closer to the criteria of the state media in Serbia in terms of interpretation of what makes the news and what does not. For instance: RTV Crne Gore (in Dnevnik on Feb. 25) and Pobjeda (Feb. 26) both carried the statement of SPS spokesman Ivica Dacic who claimed that the Montenegrin leadership has "dropped to the lowest moral level" and that it is now "on the dump of this people's glorious history and tradition". Two days later Pobjeda reported the comments of the President of the Democratic Party of Socialists' Executive Board, Miodrag Vukovic, who maintained "that the little Dacic should have his ears pulled".

ALBANIAN-LANGUAGE MEDIA

A campaign in favour of signing the Rambouillet agreement has been evident in much of the ethnic Albanian media over the monitoring period which has also been marked by an absence of serious analysis of the deal on the table. These last weeks have also seen serious attention given to radical personnel changes, at the top of the KLA.

Demaqi is to blame for it all

Koha ditore has marked out Adem Demaqi, the KLA's former political representative, as the main culprit for its failure to sign the Rambouillet agreement. In its February 25 issue, two thirds of the front page are filled with a photograph of Demaqi caught looking ridiculous because of an absent look in his eyes. It is accompanied by the following text: "...This time he has decided to be against everyone. Against the international community, America, the European community, the regime in Albania and the decisions of the Kosovo delegation at Rambouillet." The paper (Feb. 26, p. 7) also carries a cartoon whose subject comments upon the stories he is reading in a newspaper. "KLA: Not a single decision with Demaqi's approval". The protagonist asks rhetorically: "What were 16 of them were doing in Rambouillet then? I really don't know."

Another Pristina daily Kosova sot used the opportunity of a statement by Demaqi to attack its main rival. In a statement published on the front page on Feb. 27, he is reported as saying "...these are the darkest pages of Koha ditore and its darkest period since its appeared, because it has tried to convince Albanians to accept capitulation, by launching illusions and empty promises."The following day, both papers comments given by special US envoy Bob Dole to Voice of America. The paper Kosova sot ran them under the headline: "Albanians made a great mistake by not signing", while Koha ditore, in its headlines accentuates Demaqi's role: "Dole: Telephone Conversation with Demaqi - a waste of time". Koha ditore published Demaqi's resignation as KLA political representative on its first page under the headline: "Demaqi: I am no longer the KLA political representative". Kosova sot also published a photograph with the headlines: "Mr Adem Demaqi: Good-bye or until we meet again."In the days that followed, the Albanian-language press in Pristina - including Kosovo sot - provided a very positive spin on the offered agreement. On March 6, Kosova sot ran the headlines "Agreement can be signed before March 15" (Ibrahim Rugova); "If the agreement was good I would not be here" (Bob Dole); "KLA positively assesses the Rambouillet document" (Sulejman Selimi, KLA chief of general staff); "Serbian obstruction will be prevented by signing the agreement" (Mustafa Agani).

Koha ditore did not give any room to those groups who remained steadfast against the agreement, whereas, Kosovo sot, (Mar. 9, p. 9) published a statement from the National Movement of Kosovo - an overseas Kosovan movement which argued "the agreement should not be signed". The paper also carried another article which stated baldly "Flirting with Serbia started before Rambouillet". Both articles appeared in the column marked "Opinions" and not in the news sections.

The first anniversary of the outbreak of the fighting in Kosovo was marked by the Albanian-language media. On March 1, Kosova sot divided its front page in two. The left side carried a picture of the meeting held between Brian Donnelley, British ambassador to Yugoslavia, with representatives from the KLA and the headline: "Jakup Krasniqi: Agreement prevents a Serbian offensive", while on the right, a photograph of KLA soldiers marking the anniversary of the armed conflict was headlined "We will continue our war until we attain freedom". Both the headlines and those articles devoted to the anniversary brim with pathos: "Freedom alone can heal the wounds of the motherland" (Kosova sot, Mar. 7, pp. 4-5).

The letter from the Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo to the Contact Group, seeking additional pressure on Belgrade to accept Rambouillet, was carried by Kosova sot (Mar. 8) on the front page, with the headlines in red ink. Meantime, a letter from Serbian President Milutinovic sent a day earlier to the Contact Group, was excerpted in five lines on March 7 and carried on the back page beside an advert.

News about the war itself was relegated into second place by the print media. The day after two Serbian policemen were killed and one wounded in Pristina on March 7, Kosova sot ran a brief news item and a statement by the verifiers. Two days later, it carried a longer report on an alleged reprisal attack mounted against ethnic Albanians in the same neighbourhood. Pictures of bloodied Albanians were headlined "Signs of Serbian barbarianism". Radio 21 carried information on the same event collected from both Serb and Albanian sources. Radio Koha in turn carried news from Serbian sources, claiming that the Serbian policemen were killed while the security forces were attempting to arrest a family wanted for robbery.Surprisngly, the Albanian-language Dnevnik TV Pristina station which is part of the RTS network and in which neighbourhood the killings took place, only reported the killings in the 15th minute of its evening broadcast and below demonstrations mounted by Serbs in Holland in favour of official Belgrade policy.

UPHEAVALS IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

In this case too, government media in the service of official policy

The unwritten rule of the pro-government media which sees news from Belgrade reported first regardless -even when it is simply official reaction to an international event, meant that viewers of Dnevnik 2 on RTS March 5, had to wait until the 29th minute to learn what had actually happened across the River Drina in Bosnia. Thus, viewers were given an official statement from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), protesting the international community's decisions regarding Brcko and Bosnian High representative, Carlos Westendorp's dismissal of RS President Nikola Poplasen, before being presented with the news itself. The audience had to wait almost half an hour before a report from Banja Luka on what happened and when.Likewise, Politika (Mar. 6) did not publish the primary news on the dismissal of Poplasen, nor did it carry an explanation of the decision, but the front page item was the FRY Government's reaction to the decision. The front page also carried a statement by Poplasen rejecting Westendorp's decision. Readers learnt of the decision of the RS Government and its prime minister, Milorad Dodik, to resign over Brcko on page 19. However, the following day, March 7, the criterion applied by editors to Dodik, appeared to have changed. On its front page the paper carried the decision of Zivko Radisic to "freeze" his function as a member of the collective Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina because of the decision on Brcko. Radisic is leader of the Socialist Party of RS (SP), close to Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).In an article headlined: "Accents from the last session of the RS Parliament", (Mar. 9), the journal carried only the statements of Dragutin Ilic, head of the SP RS floor group, and Radisic. The article seeks to link events in RS with the situation in Kosovo: "Ilic assessed that the decision of the American lawyer Roberts Owen, as the main arbitrator for Brcko, was passed under coercion from the American Administration, disregarding opposition by European partners, and all because of America's present interest to install NATO forces in Kosovo at any price".The theory on the connection between the events in RS and Kosovo is also promoted by Borba. In a commentary (Mar 9) Dragoslav Markovic wrote: "Rambouillet is happening everywhere these days - in Washington, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, London and even Brcko and Banja Luka. It is no coincidence that the forced dismissal of a legitimately elected RS president happened at this very moment. This is all part of a carefully directed game of the greatest sheriff of today,-the US, devised as part of the least imaginable and most impossible form of pressure on Serbia and the FRY". The author points out Serbian virtues that evoked such behaviour on the part of the US: "...because we bother them and do not fit into their dictates and projected concept of the new world order. And we keep failing to bend our back."

Glas javnosti too contributes to the anti-American mood (Mar. 8) in an article headlined "Damn the Americans" and the introductory sentence which reads: "Once again the Americans have killed in RS". The article is devoted to the shooting of a certain Krsto Micic, a Serbian Radical Party member, and "a war hero of this region". The shooting occurred on Friday (Mar. 5) in Ugljevik, near Bijeljina when Micic entered a local pizza parlour with friends. Inside, the paper says, "foreign soldiers were making crude jokes in a loud voice at the expense of Serb girls". An argument broke out and "angry Serbs kicked the Americans out". Three SFOR soldiers climbed into their jeep, "the fourth turned around and killed Krsto with three bullets in cold blood", the paper claims. "Like in a Western. A bully arrives in town, kills a man, gets on his horse and is gone... And that's that", Glas cites an eyewitness saying. The journalist reports how the dead man's father called out at his funeral: "Run from here, children, they (Americans) will kill you all

Independent media - from all available sources

Coverage of RS events in the non-governmental media was more comprehensive. B92's Nocnik began introducing its audience to the full complexity of the problem and divisions in RS immediately following the crisis caused by the dismissal of Poplasen and the decision on the status of Brcko. It gave both sides' views - that of the international community and of RS officials (Mar. 4).As well as providing a professional coverage of events in its reports and news from all available sources, Danas also published a commentary entitled "Brcko in Kosovo" (Mar. 9). The article ends with the following words: "It is difficult to suppose that Owen's move regarding Brcko can, in the otherwise heated political situation in the region, be regarded as appropriate, with all due respect to the right of the arbitration tribunal to decide on a controversial part of the inter-ethnic border line in the Brcko region. Brcko found itself in the crisis spot of the Kosovo problem. No American military bases and French chateaux can bring peace to the Balkans if the international community does not draw balanced, well conceived, timely and synchronised moves. The Brcko decision, made only ten days before the continuation of the Kosovo talks, is not such a move".

The others - one way or the other

The Albanian-language media took a different view of the events in RS. Rilindja did not publish a single word. Kosova sot meantime only published a short item on March 8 headlined: "Cooke and Albright support Westendorp and the [Brcko] arbitration decision". The following day they reprinted a piece of analysis from Die Suddeutsche Zeitung with the distinctive headline "Foreign influences - necessary in Kosovo and Bosnia".Koha Ditore devoted almost half a page on March 6 to Poplasen's dismissal. The same page carried a Reuters photograph of the former president taken during ther Bosnian war and dressed in the Chetnik Uniform, with long hair and beard and sporting a knife in his belt and the cockade on his hat. The following day, the paper devoted an entire page to events in RS under the common headline: "Security and political situation in Bosnia increasingly tense".

RELATIONS WITHIN THE FEDERATION:

From Montenegro in favour of SerbiaAfter a marked absence, reports from Montenegro have once against started reappearing on RTS programmes and in the pro-government press (Mar. 4, 5, 6, and 7). All focused upon discussions held by the Socialist People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro, the pro-Milosevic wing of the divided Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). A typical sentence in the reports carried was: "Unreserved support [was given] to the leadership of Serbia and Yugoslavia in defence of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, support to the Yugoslav Army and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic". Key sentences refer to criticism by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and his distancing from current Serbian policy: "The SNP loathes the regime that humiliated the personal honour, dignity and integrity of every Montenegrin and humiliated the dignity of the nation and state. This humiliation came with the decisions of the Montenegrin Government to surrender part of the territory to NATO forces".Politika (Mar. 8, p. 20) carries the assessment of Srdja Bozovic, president of the Chamber of Republics (the upper house of Yugoslav Parliament) and SNP official, that Montenegro's position should be qualified as the 'Slovenian syndrome', and that the current regime is implementing the so-called Slovenian scenario regarding FRY -an allusion to the secession of the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia. In RTS Dnevnik 2 (Mar. 8), Zoran Zizic, vice-president of Montenegro's SNP, describes the Montenegran government as being "criminal and monstrous".Telefakt BK TV, which also as a rule suppresses news from Montenegro, has been seeking as to cast a shadow on the leadership of the republic in recent weeks. Two reports were aired on Montenegro during the monitoring period: a report from the rally of the opposition SNP in Herceg-Novi at which the leaders of Montenegro were accused of "pursuing a policy against the interests of Yugoslavia" (Mar. 6), and the statement of Srdja Bozovic, "that an unnatural and unprincipled coalition is in power in Montenegro which is exhibiting clear signs of the 'Slovenian syndrome'" (Mar. 7).

CHRONOLOGY Of Media Related Events

Period: February 25 to March 10, 1999

Thursday, February 25- Magyar Szo, the only Hungarian-language daily in the FRY, reappears at kiosks after a two-day token strike over a five-month pay delay. - The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) says the company Poslovni prostor of Belgrade's downtown municipality Stari grad rejected the request to extend the lease of NUNS business premises in Knez Mihajlova Street and started the official procedure for the Association to be moved out. NUNS claims it still wants to lease the premises, without asking for any privileges, adding that the negative decision of Poslovni prostor is "purely political in nature". The director of Poslovni prostor is Aleksandar Milutinovic, a member of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). Representatives of Zoran Djindjic's Democratic Party (DS) are in the Board of Directors of Poslovni prostor too.

Friday, February 26- DS reveals that Aleksandar Milutinovic himself decided to terminate the lease of business premises and start proceedings for evicting NUNS, without consulting the Poslovni prostor Board of Directors. DS adds that its members of the board have nothing to do with the decision. - A magistrate in Belgrade fines Vecernje novosti 260,000 dinars ($26,000) for violating the Public Information Law. The charges were brought by Darinka Dugic, director of the Belgrade company "Elektrotehna", and the company lawyer Mirjana Stojiljkovic. They accused the daily of publishing a series of biased and insulting articles on them - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) calls the Constitutional Court of Serbia to declare the Public Information Law unconstitutional as soon as possible.

Sunday, February 28- DS announces that the Third Municipal Court in Belgrade ruled in favour of Srdja Popovic, spokesman of this party's Belgrade board. Popovic brought an action against Ekspres politika for publishing the false information that "while arresting [Popovic] the police found cocaine for personal use in his car". The court ordered the daily to publish Popovic's full denial on the same pages where it published the original information.

Monday, March 1- The fifth hearing starts in Belgrade on action brought by 30 former employees of the state-owned Radio Televizija Srbije (RTS) who were sent on compulsory paid leave at the beginning of January 1993 and are still not allowed to go back to work. Judge Ana Popovic scheduled the main process for May 5, explaining that the minutes from the previous hearings have not been signed. The First Municipal Court in Belgrade ruled four times in favour of the RTS employees, but the Superior Court annulled them all over formalities.

Wednesday, March 3-The Federal Secretariat for Information announces that the new draft of the federal Law on Information has been sent for review to the permanent boards of federal government. The statement says the draft Law guarantees full freedom of information and bans censorship and monopoly of any kind, protecting at the same time the dignity and privacy of every citizen. It "discredits hatred, libel and untruth". - The Third Municipal Court is holding the principal hearing on chargesbrought by eight former journalists of TV Studio B who are demanding the annulment of the December 1997 decision to dismiss them from work. They claim the decision was unlawful and politically motivated. The court ruling is to be forwarded to the parties in writing at a later date.

Thursday, March 4- The principal hearing ends in the Third Municipal Court in Belgrade on action brought by Srdja Popovic against Dejan Milenkovic, editor-in-chief of BK TV. Popovic brought action against BK TV for broadcasting false news that at the time of his arrest the police "found cocaine for personal use" in his car. The ruling in writing will be sent to the parties.

Friday, March 5- Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian information minister, says "the creators of the new federal law [on information] are mistaken if they think it (the new law) will overrule the Serbian Public Information Law". He says statements on the adoption of the new federal Law on Information are "absurdities whose goal is to mislead the public". - Bozidar Jaredic, Montenegrin information secretary, says the announced adoption of the federal Law on Information represents "yet another attempt by the unlawful federal administration to centralise the public information sphere". He says Montenegro will not take part in drafting the new federal Law, nor enforce it "if it is adopted by the unlawful Chamber of Republics".

Monday, March 8- The First Municipal Court in Belgrade sentences Slavko Curuvija, owner of the Podgorica daily Dnevni telegraf, and journalists Srdjan Jankovic and Zoran Lukovic each to a five months prison sentence. They are charged with slander. The action was brought by Milovan Bojic, Serbian vice-premier and high-ranking official of the Yugoslav Left (JUL), over an article headlined "The killed man criticised Bojic". The article, published at the beginning of December 1998, linked the murder of heart surgeon Aleksandar Popovic with malpractice at the Dedinje Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases in Belgrade, headed by Bojic. The fourth defendant in this lawsuit, the daily's editor Dragan Novakovic, is acquitted on the grounds that Curuvija as the editor of the issue holds greater responsibility for publishing the article. Curuvija, Jankovic and Lukovic have the right to appeal within eight days. - After the ruling was announced, Curuvija said: "From this day on, I consider myself a political prisoner. I think that I will decide to be a political prisoner and, by going to prison and launching an open battle, I will give the regime a chance to show its true face of repression." - US State Department spokesman James Rubin, the organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres, the International Federation of Journalists, ANEM and NUNS condemn the court rulings against Curuvija and the two journalists of Dnevni telegraf.

Tuesday, March 9- Rajko Danilovic, the lawyer acting for Curuvija and the two journalists of Dnevni telegraf, says he will appeal within eight days against the ruling of the First Municipal Court. Speaking at a press conference, Curuvija called on citizens and the parliaments of Serbia and the FRY to "remove the pathological rule of Slobodan Milosevic". - The opposition coalition "Alliance for Changes" and DS organised a series of panel discussions under the common title "March 9 - a symbol of the fight for free media". This event marks the eighth anniversary of the anti-government demonstrations in Belgrade on March 9, 1991 that were inspired primarily by RTS reporting. The participants in the event assessed the present media situation to be worse than in 1991.

MEDIA FOCUS 10

Media Focus is a biweekly bulletin of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, produced in association with IWPR's research team in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.The project is supported by the European Commission and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). This work continues IWPR's media monitoring and analysis activities, which were initiated in 1996 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in 1997 in Albania. IWPR also operates media development and information projects in the Southern Caucasus and at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Institutional support for IWPR is provided by the European Commission, Ford Foundation and the Winston Foundation for World Peace.Media Focus is published every two weeks in English, and Serbian. It is available via email, Internet and, to selected recipients, in fax or hardcopy editions. For details on receiving the bulletin, or to request information on other IWPR activities, contact London via email: info@iwpr.org.uk or visit our Website www.iwpr.net .Please address comments to Alan Davis: alan@iwpr.org.uk .

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