BETAWEEK (E) April 27

News Media in Serbia

CONSTANT STIFLING

Following the poor results of last month's campaign against localelectronic news media in opposition-run cities, the authorities inBelgrade have again taken to pronouncing drastic fines toprivately-owned and independent news media for violating Serbianinformation laws. The Belgrade television station Studio B was fined450,000 dinars (DM19,600) on April 10 for airing a statement byBelgrade lawyer Ivana Primovic. She accused Police Gen. Branko Djuricof being connected with the Oct. 3, 1999, traffic accident whichkilled four Serbian Renewal Movement officials and left its leader VukDraskovic slightly injured.

The Nis-based Narodne Novine, the only daily not controlled by thegovernment that is being printed outside Belgrade, was penalized with400,000 dinars (DM17,400) on April 6, for quoting a local official assaying that the Yugoslav army was mobilizing reserve troops in the Nisarea.

For the first time since the adoption of the Serbian Information Law anews agency was also fined. At a request of the Yugoslav informationminister, Goran Matic, who is also a high-ranking official of theYugoslav Left party, the BETA news agency was fined 310,000 dinars(DM14,000) on April 18, for publishing a report on an event organizedby the Otpor student movement in Sremska Mitrovica. The evententitled "Matic, Who Killed Curuvija?" was held on April 11, on thefirst anniversary of the still unresolved and brutal murder of SlavkoCuruvija, the founder of the papers Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin.

BETA was fined for having reported that Matic is the owner of M Radioin Sremska Mitrovica, outside which the students, convinced that itwas indeed a station owned by him, staged their protest. The courtcleared the Belgrade daily Blic, which carried BETA's report, of thecharges filed by Goran Matic. The fining of BETA for publishing anarticle which normally might have warranted a mere denial, hasdemonstrated once again that the purpose of the information law is notto protect the freedom of the press, but rather to financially exhaustnews media and get them to resort to self-censorship in fear ofrepressive measures.

Misdemeanor charges under the information law are being filed forreasons that are becoming increasingly senseless. Thus the Vremeweekly was fined 350,000 dinars after quoting a statement by theformer manager of the Belgrade-based National Theater, Nebojsa Bradic,that he was sacked from the post by Culture Minister Zeljko Simic. Theminister himself had filed charges against the weekly saying that itdamaged his reputation by reporting that it was him and not thegovernment who sacked Bradic. At the same time, the local newspaperKikindske Novine was penalized for the sixth consecutive time underthe information law with 200,000 dinars (DM8,700), for publishing astatement by the Independent Association of Vojvodina Journalists. Thestatement described the editor in chief of the Komuna newspaper, RajkoPopovic, who filed charges against the Kikindske on eight occasionsaltogether, as "the biggest tattle-tale and pain in everyone's neckbecause of hiswriting and love for pressing charges."

Money

News media in Serbia not controlled by the government operate underdifferent conditions and can generally be classified into two groups-- those that are owned by local authorities in opposition-run cities,and those that are privately-owned and without the backing of apolitical organization or local authorities. In line with that, localnews media are protected by municipal authorities and the opposition,while privately-owned media organizations do not enjoy this kind ofprotection.

Hence the local news media's tough campaign against the government andtheir refusal to pay the fines. Studio B and the Nis-based NarodneNovine newspaper said they will not pay the total of 850,000 dinars inApril 6 and April 10 fines. The Kraljevo local television refused topay half-a-million dinars in frequency fees, required by thegovernment in a case that from the legal point of view is not at allclear.

The authorities, which control all the domestic financialtransactions, blocked the accounts of Studio B and the other newsmedia that refused to pay the fines. Owing to their owners' backingand support, these media outlets are still operating. The Studio Bgeneral manager and editor in chief, Dragan Kojadinovic, wasthreatened with confiscation of his property for refusing to pay thefine. The local news media are counting on the opposition to stageprotests and physically protect them if the authorities attempt toconfiscate their office equipment.

Privately-owned media such as BETA, Blic, Danas and Vreme are notcertain they will get any kind of protection and are forced to go outof their way to secure the funds and pay the fines, which couldeventually lead to their closure. The law envisages collection ofpayments by force and confiscation of property, if fines are not paid24 hours after the verdict is pronounced.

Pressure

Despite the fact that electronic news media in Kraljevo, Nis andBelgrade had refused to obey their demands, the Serbian and Yugoslavauthorities have every intention of shutting them down. YugoslavMinister of Telecommunications Ivan Markovic, who spearheaded theMarch campaign against them, said on April 19 that "even God will notbe able to save a single transmitter" of the news media that fail topay frequency fees and obtain regular work permits. He calledindependent news media, "an evil which assists the great powers'fascism," and added that his ministry had enough inspectors to "shutdown news media in three Serbias and three Montenegros."

Additional pressure on electronic media outlets can be expected inJune, when most of the television stations' two-year broadcastinglicenses granted by the Serbian Ministry of Information are due toexpire. Annual licenses for radio stations have already expired lastyear. The terms for receiving a broadcasting license of the SerbianMinistry of Information include possessing a federaltelecommunications ministry license. In Montenegro, these permits aregranted by republican institutions that do not recognize the federalgovernment's authority.

Minister Markovic had, earlier on, set March 31 as the final deadlinefor paying broadcasting frequency fees, and it is clear that thosenews media can do nothing to meet such ministry's requirements.Obviously the ultimate goal is to ruthlessly stifle news media underlegal pretexts. Markovic indeed has numerous inspectors at hisdisposal, but it is still uncertain whether the authorities are readyfor a more direct confrontation with the opposition, or whether theywill be forced to back off, like they were in March, following massdemonstrations in Kraljevo, Nis and other cities provoked by theiranti-media campaign.

Penalized Media

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