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Medienhilfe Ex-JugoslawienProfessionelle
Solidarität gegen Nationalismus und Chauvinismus
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ANEM STATEMENT ON THE FORCEFUL RAID OF THE STUDIO AND THE CLOSURE OF TV PIROTThe Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) informs that its affiliate TV Pirot in Pirot was banned on Tuesday, April 21st 1998. TV Pirot's studio was forcefully raided and its equipment seized. ANEM airs its stern protest at this move by the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry, whose inspector ordered the ban of the station's operation and seizure of its equipment. ANEM demands that the authorities restore the station's equipment and enable continuation of its broadcasts immediately. TV Pirot is one of the ANEM affiliates who have participated in the recent public frequency tender. As TV Pirot fulfilled all requirements of the tender, its operation should be legalised after May 15th, the legal deadline for the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry to publish the results of the tender. Although he had been informed that TV Pirot had tendered for a frequency, the Yugoslav Inspector for Radio Connections banned the station and seized its equipment. ANEM can interpret this move only as the state's definitive refusal to liberalise the electronic media domain and launch of an action of ruthless closures of those radio and television stations whose editorial policy is out of line with what the state would find appropriate. ANEM will inform the international public and relevant international institutions about this radical breach of the freedom of expression which coincides with the launch of ANEM TV Network. This will include the Council of Europe, whose membership cannot be won by seizing station's transmitters and links but by democratic management of the spectrum of radio frequencies. ANEM will also take all legal and other measures to rectify this hasty and reckless move at the hands of the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry. It is peculiar that the ban note TV Pirot received was written on a last year's form: the 1997 date was changed by hand into a 1998 one. This clearly indicates that this is a continuation of the closures action that started in July 1997, when 76 radio and television stations were shut down. The state seems to have decided to close down all stations before the deadline for the frequency tender results has expired and seize all their equipment, hoping it will solve what it sees as a problem: the obligation to grant frequency licences to all stations that meet the formal requirements and thus legalise them. ANEM stresses that such a move will not be let pass. At least, It will not be let pass without a resolute struggle. ANEM therefore urges the general public to demonstrate its resistance to the information darkness that is being prepared for the period of the pending sanctions, and join up in the defense of the independent media in a peaceful and dignified manner. Finally, ANEM reiterates its demand to the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry to restore TV Pirot's seized equipment and allow the continuation of its broadcast. ANEM will continue to inform the public on its further actions. On behalf of ANEM, Veran Matic, Chairman Veran Matic, Editor in Chief Radio B92, Belgrade, Yugoslavia To Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Information Ministry of the Republic of Serbia April 23rd, 1998Dear Mr Vucic, I wish to thank you once again for having attended the ANEM Assembly. Also, I would like to inform you that in the meanwhile, the inspectors from the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry have banned TV Pirot, an ANEM affiliate. The ban on this television station came only a couple of days after the launch of the ANEM Television Network, which networks 16 television stations in Serbia and Montenegro though one and a half hours of premium entertainment programming. The ban also came only some 20 days before the deadline for the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry to publicise the results of the frequency tender in which TV Pirot, as all other ANEM affiliates, participated with an application that met the ministry's requirements. TV Pirot's legal status does not differ from that of most television stations currently broadcasting in Yugoslavia. Its legal status might even be better than the rest, as the station's signal does not jam any other and as the station has tendered for a television channel license. TV Pirot's tender application included proper technical documentation showing that its broadcasts do not jam any other station. What happened to TV Pirot on April 21st seems to be the continuation of the federal agencies' action which started in the summer of 1997, when the federal inspectors for radio connections seized equipment and banned operation of most radio and television stations in Serbia. That action was suspended, as it was concluded that such drastic action was unjust at the least: the broadcast media-related regulation were, and still are, such that it is impossible to operate legally without a frequency tender, while for its part, the state taciturnly had allowed operation of broadcast media which were formally illegal, provided they do not jam one another. With that justification, stations were taciturnly allowed to resume their broadcasts and their equipment was restored. After such flow of events, ANEM expected the broadcast media-related legislature would be changed so as to enable their legalisation. However, all that the authorities did was to announce a public frequency tender by the federal agencies. TV Pirot and other ANEM affiliates which had operated without a license decided not to boycott the tender, although there had been plenty of reasons to. ANEM affiliates decided to demonstrate willingness to help the state in this way bring order in the ether temporarily, until new legislature has been passed. That is why ANEM decided to participate in the tender and invest considerable resources into assembling legal and technical documentation. The federal state, however, reacted in banning one of the ANEM affiliates, only 20 days before it should have been legalised. ANEM is aware that resolution of this problem is not in the immediate competence of the Serbian Information Minister. Nevertheless, we urge you to announce your position on the case of TV Pirot and support our efforts to bring some order and legal security into the radio diffusion domain in our country until the new, consistent regulations have been passed. Knowing the positions you have taken so far (including your appearance as a guest at the ANEM Assembly), we expect you will support our demand that TV Pirot be restored its equipment and enabled to resume its operation, which would be a clear gesture of affirmation of the freedom of the media in our republic. Looking forward to your reply, Veran Matic ANEM Chairman Letter of protest by Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic, President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zurich, April 29, 1998 Your Excellency, Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien is writing to strongly protest against the forceful raid of the studio and the closure of TV Pirot in Pirot, the affiliate of the Association of Independent Electronic Media - ANEM. TV Pirot was banned on Tuesday, April 21, according to the decision of Federal Ministry of Telecommunication. TV Pirot's studio was forcefully raided and its equipment was seized, with the explanation that the station did not have regular licence for operation. TV Pirot is among ANEM affiliates who have participated in the recent public frequency tender of Federal Ministry of Telecommunication. We have been carefully following the information on the tender, have analysed its criteria, and were presented data on ANEM's affiliates' fulfilment of them. There is no doubt that TV Pirot fulfilled all requirements of the tender, and submitted its application within proper time. Accordingly, the station should be granted frequency licence and its operation should be legalised after May 15th, the legal deadline for the Ministry to publish the results of the tender. This violent act against TV Pirot took place just after start of ANEM's TV broadcast, and only three weeks before the legal deadline for the Ministry to publish the results of the tender. We remind you on the fact that many independent electronic media presently operate without legally granted licence, and that authorities allowed their broadcasting till the decision on the tender's results would be made. Therefore we see this act as blatant prevention of media's and journalists' rights on free and professional reporting. We interpret this move as a clear sign of the state's prompt act against liberalisation of the electronic media domain, which has been announced in several occasions by the Yugoslavia's and Serbia's officials in charge. We see ANEM's fears that this move might be a start of "an action of ruthless closures of those radio and television stations whose editorial policy is out of line with what the state would find appropriate" as fully justified. The fact that the ban note TV Pirot received was written on a last year's form - in which the 1997 date was changed by hand into a 1998 one - reminds on such closures action that started in July 1997, when 76 radio and television stations were shut down. As a non-governmental organisation devoted to protection of freedom of media and support to independent media in former Yugoslavia area, Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien condemns this blatant crackdown on TV Pirot and calls for immediate restoration of its seized equipment and allowance of continuation of its broadcast. We express our expectation that Yugoslav authorities will terminate the ongoing tender in accordance to legal regulations and values of democracy and will grant frequencies to all electronic media that fulfil requirements. Everything else would be just continuation of oppression of freedom of media and freedom of expression in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On behalf of Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien, Roland Brunner, Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien The faxes of the same content were also sent to:
The fax could not be sent to Mr Dojcilo Radojevic, Yugoslav Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Fax: + 381 11 324 44 14 as each time while trying to do so, the automatic information saying, the number you dialled is not distributed to user" was switching on. Dear Mr Brunner, I hereby wish to express my profound gratitude to you in person as well as to your organization, regarding to your letter sent to President Milosevic. With help of all the men of good will and increasing the pressure on the bureaucratic apparatus in Yugoslavia, I am sure we will re-gain what we had got so hard: one of the fundamental human rights nowadays - the one to be properly and freely informed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you one more time for your assistance in this matter. Momcilo Djurdjic, RTV Pirot Editor-in-chief RTV Pirot Editor-in-chief charged for legal offence, May 7, 1998Dear colleagues, I would like to inform you about certain unfortunate events taking place on Tuesday, 21 April 1998 when the inspector of the Yugoslav Ministry of Telecommunications had banned our broadcaster (RTV Pirot) from its TV broadcasting. On that same day our equipment was confiscated and the TV studio was closed; according to inspector's claims, we had not had regular license for operation. We have participated in the recent public frequency tender of the above Ministry. We have fulfilled all the announced criteria as to equipment and technical possibilities for TV broadcasting and submitted our application within the proper time and therefore we have expected to be granted the licence. TV Pirot is the affiliate of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and had begun the co-ordinated ANEM's TV broadcast just few days before the closure, where most likely lies the real reason for this forceful and blatant act against the media's right on up-to-date and professional reporting. From the day of closure on, we have made several actions, within our limits, together with the ANEM. The legal charge vs. the State was pressed and the discussion on the subject was announced for Thursday, 7 April 1998 at the First Municipality Court of Law in Belgrade; we have warned Yugoslav and international organizations for human and rights of journalists, the Internet presentation of our broadcaster is under construction as another way to breakthrough the informative blockade. However, this morning the report of legal offence made by the Federal Inspector of Telecommunication, Mr Jovan Jovanovic, was delivered to the office of Mr Momcilo Djurdjic (the RTV Pirot Editor-in-chief). The discussion on the subject is announced for Tuesday, 19 April 1998 at the Pirot Municipality Court of Offence. On account of that, Mr Djurdjic has said: "Even though we do not look for the political background of all the events as regard to TV Pirot, the report is not legally valid, consisting of a certain material inaccuracies. However, we shall discuss the matter at the Court. What we could conclude at this moment is that the pressure against the independent media is still increasing and that there are not many reasons to be optimistic as to the legalization we had expected. I think that this assault is not only pointed to the RTV Pirot and ANEM, but as well to the large number of radio and television broadcasters in Serbia. In any case, the time has come for all of us, working in the media bussiness in Serbia, to fight fierily against the neocommunistic regime ". We fear that this latest demonstration of State's power is to prevent further development of independent media in Serbia and ask for your help and assistance in this matter. Any move from your side would be mostly appreciated; If you will have any comments and/or questions, feel free to contact us at any time. I would like to thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have to help defending our rights. Dragan Yonich, RTV Pirot contact person voice phone: ++381 10 332 236 facsimile: ++381 10 26 699
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