Post-Soviet Media Law & Policy Newsletter

AID TO INDEPENDENT BROADCASTERS
I. Zajedno demands free media, elections dialogue at rally.

    Speaking at a rally at Belgrade’s central Republic Square on Sunday, March 9th, Zajedno (together) coalition leaders Vuk Draskovic, Zoran Djindjic and Vesna Pesic reiterated their demands for unblocking the state media and holding a round table between authorities and the opposition on the conditions for fair elections.
    Pesic said that the coalition wanted free media, and primarily television, and that its goal was also to make Serbia capable of keeping up with Europe.
    Djindjic said that Serbia was at crossroads now, like it had been six years ago, and that it should decide whether it will “go forward, along the way of Serbia’s tradition, development and getting closer to Europe, or to isolation and further deterioration.” According to Djindjic, authorities have to agree to the democratization, primarily of media, and to a “responsible debate” about economic reforms and the country’s return into the international community. Djindjic threatened that unless such agreement were reached, the opposition would start new strikes, demonstrations and conflicts.
    Draskovic stressed the need for a clear-cut stand on the Dayton accords, Russia and NATO as well as on Serbia’s internal issues—its southern province of Kosovo and relations between Serbia and Montenegro. The issue of Kosovo and Metohija is not to be treated just by one party or coalition, but “some kind of consensus within the state” must be reached, Draskovic said. He said that the Zajedno coalition favoured a dialogue with authorities, which should start right after 20th March.
    Draskovic also criticized the agreement on special parallel relations between Yugoslavia and the Republika Srpska [Bosnian Serb Republic], saying that “it contains nothing.”
    The rally, attended by some 50,000 people, ended with a stroll along Belgrade streets.

Tanjug news agency, March 9, 1997

II. Politika views growth of illegal broadcasting stations in Serbia.

    Even though at first glance it may seem strange, the media sector in Serbia is being quickly and increasingly taken over by private individuals. Of course, here we are talking only about a growing number of public media whose founders are private companies or individuals, which does not at all mean that these newly registered public media are automatically predominant because of their number or that they are more influential [than the state-owned media] in the creation of public opinion. However, it is a fact beyond dispute that during the last couple of years, the media sector has been more and more attractive to private investors. . . .
    According to the explanations given primarily by the Serbian Ministry of Information, since 1991 the legal preconditions have existed for virtually all legal and physical persons to be able to register their own publications, either specialized or entertainment publications, without going through a complicated procedure. The procedure is a bit more complicated if you want to set up a legal private radio or TV station, but private “founders” are not discouraged by that. Sheds, basements and other available rooms are often turned into “studios,” so that with persistence, strong will and some equipment, one can broadcast radio and TV signals illegally and without having all the necessary permission. . . .
Pirate stations are suffocating legal ones
    There is a huge disproportion between the official statistics and what is going out on the air. In Serbia, for instance, there are 87 officially registered radio stations, while those who are well informed claim that the actual number of stations is about 180. Apart from the 14 legal TV stations, according to some assessments there are far more illegal TV stations—as many as about 70.
    As Vukoje Lukic, secretary of the Ministry of Information, explained to us, if a radio or TV station wants to operate legally, it must obtain permission to use a frequency, and to get that permission it has to apply to the republican government. Moreover, an operating license is also required from the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications (former Ministry of Traffic and Communications). The republican government, as Lukic tells us, last allocated frequencies to interested parties in 1994, and the register reflects the situation from that period.
    According to our correspondent from Zajecar, there are some 50 illegal radio stations in Timok [region], and the RTS [Radio-Television Serbia] monitoring center recently found that the audibility of Radio Belgrade has just about been eliminated in the Kladovo region.

Politika, April 29, 1997

III. Rebroadcasters of VOA confer at US embassy.

    A conference of users of Voice of America programs in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended at the US embassy in Belgrade on June 4th.
    The conference was opened by US charge d’affaires Ambassador Richard Miles.
    It was attended by representatives of the Voice of America and by directors and editors in chief of so-called “independent” and private radio and television stations in Serbia and Montenegro that use Voice of America programs.
    Via the Voice of America in Washington, they could question Catherine Fitzpatrick, coordinator of the US nongovernmental Committee for the Protection of Journalists [CPJ] in central Europe, the former Soviet Union and ex-Yugoslavia, about media freedom in Serbia.
    Answering their questions, which she described as “a cry for help,” Fitzpatrick said that her organization could give none but verbal support to the development and free range of the “independent, free and private media” in Serbia.
    She said there was no legal framework whereby the government of a state could be forced to allot broadcasting frequencies.
    The editors of the Serbian media present promised their colleagues on the Voice of America to provide more up to date news from Serbia and about Serbia for the recently started “America Calling Serbia” program.

Tanjug news agency, June 4, 1997

IV. Foreign assistance for media in Serbia.

    US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s announcement of an additional five-million dollar assistance aimed at backing the “development of democracy and the freedom of the press” in Serbia has been interpreted by the editors of self-proclaimed “independent and free” media as the continuation of assistance which they have received from the West so far.
    In a statement to Dnevni Telegraf, Vreme editor in chief Dragoljub Zarkovic said that the weekly had “so far had no experience with US assistance,” but that it was receiving EU assistance that had amounted to DM 57,000 in 1996.
    According to Dnevni Telegraf, Monitor acting director Milka Tadic said a State Department agency had told her that assistance would be directed to both Serbia and Montenegro, that it would be distributed through offices to be opened in Belgrade and possibly Podgorica and that most of the funds would go to electronic media.
    Due to much work during Albright’s visit, the US embassy still has no systematized information about the recipients of the assistance and criteria according to which it would be granted.
    About 1,200 new media have been launched in Yugoslavia since 1992, all of them private, mixed or in some other kind of ownership.
    According to available information, in 1994 the Soros Fund assisted 12 weeklies and biweeklies, 8 monthly newspapers, 2 dailies, youth and children’s press and radio and TV stations.
    The International Federation of Journalists started financing these media later on and in 1996 a Greek newspaper published a list of Yugoslav media which had received EU assistance through the Commissioner Hans Van den Broek’s bureau since 1994.
    According to these information, Vreme and the Beta news agency received 80,000 ECUs each, Studio B 150,000 ECUs, Nin 75,000 ECUs, Zeri 25,000 ECUs and Borske Novine 10,000 ECUs [one ECU is worth approximately 1.15 US dollars.]

Tanjug news agency, June 4, 1997

V. Croatian State TV criticizes award to independent papers.

[Reporter]     The prize which the International Association of Press Publishers recently awarded to Feral Tribune for, “exceptional achievements in the struggle for press freedom,” would not warrant too much attention if it did not indirectly reveal the mechanism behind the political pressures used against Croatia, Andrej Rora claims in his commentary.
[Rora]     The [satirical] weekly Feral Tribune, the Sarajevo [daily] Oslobodjenje and the [independent] Belgrade [daily] Nasa Borba shared the prize. All three papers have leftist leanings, are nostalgic about the former Yugoslavia and dependent on [New York-based financier and philanthropist George] Soros’s financial aid.
    The three-pronged scheme through which some international centers are attempting to artificially revive a common spirit in the area covered by the former state is not new. Several months ago three joint candidates from Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. All three maintained that it was the national leaders who set one nation against the other.
    The Feral Tribune tries to present libel as objective journalism. The freedom of the media is not the same as the right to slander, insult and threaten other people.
    Behind the Feral declarations of democracy and human rights are well-devised strategies for destruction and chaos. Every time the Croatian leadership is about to a reach a strategic decision, stories about Croats as fascists are revived.
    The overreactions to individual incidents, which are presented as a new genocide, the calls for civil disobedience, etc., are just the usual psychological and propaganda meant to destabilize Croatia.
    Without doubting the sincere patriotic feelings of opposition leaders, it is surprising that they agree to give interviews to such papers. It is one thing to criticize in order to make Croatia better and it is a completely different thing to criticize in order to make sure that Croatia ceases to exist.

Croatian TV satellite service, June 5, 1997

EFFORTS TO CURB “ILLEGAL” BROADCASTERS
I. Milentijevic threatens to “abolish” Radio-TV Kragujevac.

    The Democratic Party [DS] today said that the statement by Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic that the state-run television [Radio-TV Serbia] should abolish Radio-TV Kragujevac [RTK] “is the silliest thing ever said by a minister in Mirko Marjanovic’s cabinet.”
    “Milentijevic ought to know that the citizens of Kragujevac invested DM1m in the construction of RTK, and for that reason there is no way anyone should even consider taking away this institution from its owners. We would also like to remind her of the fact that there was an attempt recently to alienate RTK [as received], but this attempt failed, and the people responsible for it have been handed over to a court,” reads the statement.
    The Democratic Party has also observed that it did not take long for Radmila Milentijevic to renounce her democratic ideas that she brought from the United States.

Beta news agency, June 12, 1997

II. Radio stations in Pozega closed by authorities.

    Federal Information Secretary [minister] Goran Matic has announced [plans for] the establishment of a Yugoslav radio-TV, adding that the federal government believes it is necessary for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to have its own channel as a condition for joining the international program exchange.
    That was part of a statement being broadcast since early this morning, when inspectors of the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry, accompanied by policemen, visited and closed the premises of Radio Pozega, the local station in this town [in western Serbia]. The reason for the ban on this and two private radio stations is the lack of documents allowing them to operate. The inspectors did not ban the work of the local television stations, but according to its employees they have said that they will return soon.

Radio B92, May 29, 1997

III. Bajina Basta local TV station closed.

    The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) announced today that the FRY Communications Ministry has banned the Bajina Basta television station from operating “in response to the interview given by Vuk Draskovic [SPO leader and Serbian opposition figure] to that station.”
    According to the SPO statement, the Bajina Basta television station today received an official ban notice signed by FRY Communications Minister Dojcilo Radojevic. The SPO statement expresses fear that the authorities will continue making such moves in the coming days, since most of the opposition parties have given up on the roundtable talks on election conditions.

Beta news agency, June 3, 1997

IV. Serbia’s “illegal” broadcasters will be closed, asked to register.

    Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic said today that the closing down of some radio and television stations in Serbia did not represent a clamp-down on the media and announced that applications for frequencies could be made at the end of this year or the beginning of 1998.
    “Since the beginning of March this year, there has been complete chaos as far as the appearance of unregistered radio and television stations in Serbia is concerned. There are now around 300 unregistered radio stations and some 100 unregistered television stations around. It is a jungle out there. The Yugoslav government has decided to close down some of these stations, specifically the ones that did not exist and broadcast before 3rd March,” Milentijevic told Radio B92.
    The Serbian Information Ministry is planning to invite all the illegal stations to register, which will enable them to get temporary working permits, Milentijevic said.

Beta news agency, June 3, 1997

THE STORY OF BK TV
I. BK TV, suffering censorship, turns to the web.

    BK TV is operated by BK Telekom, which is part of the Brace Karic [trans. “Karic Brothers”] group of media companies in Serbia. It is a private commercial TV station which covers 60% of the urban population in Serbia and the channel says that a recent poll shows that it is Serbia’s most watched TV station.
    BK TV has recently suffered cuts to its transmission lines which feed the TV signal to cities to the south of the capital, Belgrade. These cuts were imposed by a Belgrade court but were later overturned, also by court order.
    This is the second time a Belgrade-based media company has turned to the internet; in December 1996 the Belgrade-based independent radio station B92 used the world wide computer network for the dissemination of news when its broadcasts were threatened.
    BK TV’s site is at http://www.bktv.com.

BBC Monitoring research, April 8, 1997

II. Independent BK TV cut off in most parts of Serbia.

    As of May 9th, BK TV is, to all intents and purposes, banned in Serbia. Since the night of May 8, audiences in Nis, Kragujevac, Jagodina and other places south of Avala [mountain near Belgrade] have not been able to watch its programs. Following a breakdown on the radio relay installations on the Avala tower, teams of engineers from BK Telecom tried to repair the fault. But workers of Radio-TV Serbia [RTS] manning the tower banned them from entering the premises.
    Dragoljub Milanovic, RTS director-general, Milan Topalovic, technical director of the state television, and Slobodan Radovanovic, aide to the director-general of the Yugoslav Post and Telecommunications (PTT) company, who have the authority to grant permission for this, will not allow the fault to be repaired.
    Taking into account the fact that broadcasts of BK TV in Pec [Kosovo] have been banned, the BK TV council believes this is yet another attack on our television and an attempt to reduce its broadcasting coverage to Belgrade and Novi Sad. It is also a violation of the Serbian citizens’ right to be informed.
    Such a move by senior officials of public companies is difficult to understand, especially after the Belgrade court ruling which ordered RTS and the PTT to allow BK TV’s operations throughout Serbia, and after the assurances of the prime minister of Serbia, Mirko Marjanovic, that all contracts relating to BK TV would be honored.

Report on BK TV, May 9, 1997

III. Kosovo police arrest BK TV director.

    Nebojsa Radunovic, [independent Belgrade-based] BK TV’s director in Pec, was arrested May 16, BK TV reported.
    The governor of Pec Municipality recently banned the broadcasting of BK TV’s programs in the town. Citizens today responded by trying to organize demonstrations but were prevented from doing so by the police. The police confiscated the BK TV crew’s camera and broke up the rally.

Beta news agency, May 16, 1997

IV. New management of independent BK Radio-TV named.

    The management board of BK Telecom Radio-TV today appointed a new management team of BK Television. Dr. Edita Delic was appointed director-general; Vera Potparic her assistant and editor in chief; and Velimir Kolundzija deputy director-general. Voja Zanetic will be the new director of marketing, Mira Jelisavac the director of finances and Velimir Zugic the technical director.

BK TV, June 5, 1997

V. Censorship in BK TV editorial policy?

By Bad Vilbel

    When Bogoljub Karic [head of independent Belgrade-based Brace Karic (trans. Karic Brothers) TV] gave up his candidacy for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and started to re-establish close relations with Slobodan Milosevic, the news programs of BK TV (headed by him) started to undergo certain censorship.
    As well-informed sources claim, it was specifically on his orders that the audio report on refugees from Istok, which used to be carried regularly in the “Telefakt” program, was dropped a few days ago. At the same time, BK TV carried a story about the head of Pec District [in Kosovo]. Although people employed at BK TV claim that they have not received any official order about an editorial policy change, examples like the one on the Kosovo refugees seem to indicate it.

Vesti, June 16, 1997

EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN YUGOSLAV MEDIA LAW
I. Milentijevic on the Information Law.

    Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic said in a talk with Radio Belgrade journalists on April 7 that all proposals and objections heard in a panel discussion on the first working draft of the information law had been taken into account in preparing the second working draft.
    Milentijevic regretted that not all opposition parliamentary parties had taken part in the panel discussion held in the Serbian parliament. She said they had missed the opportunity of presenting their “constructive objections” to entire Serbia, which she said was to their disadvantage as well as the disadvantage of all citizens.
    She said the final version of the draft law was to be completed in about two weeks. Once reviewed by the Serbian government, the draft will be submitted to the Serbian parliament, that is to adopt it by the end of its spring session, she said. She also said issues concerning Serbian radio and TV [Radio-TV Serbia, RTS] and the distribution of frequencies were to be regulated by the end of the year, saying as many as 186 radio stations and 72 television stations in Serbia operated at this point without necessary permits.
    Asked to comment on RTS programs and criticism directed at them, Milentijevic said the criticism was for the largest part groundless. She said as a state television that should be in the service of the public and in the interest of citizens, RTS was successful in all its aspects. Asked how the Serbian Information Ministry and the government could protect journalists from political arbitrariness in towns where the opposition coalition Zajedno [Together] had won local polls, Milentijevic said that this was a big problem and that organizations in that line of business should inform the world about Zajedno’s nondemocratic attitude. She said by treating journalists that way, Zajedno had done itself irreparable harm because she said such an attitude was contrary to its efforts to present itself as a democratic political organization in the world. The responsibility was stressed of both state and opposition media for all public statements they made. The journalists backed the freedom of the press, urging that the principle of professional, timely and integral reporting be adopted and that the profession soon adopt a code of conduct.

Tanjug news agency, April 7, 1997

II. Bidding for Serbian frequencies to start soon.

    Radmila Milentijevic, minister for information in the government of Serbia, has stated that in 10 days or so bids will be invited for the allocation of frequencies.
    “This is a very complicated problem, and the government is not evading it. We have to find a solution,” Milentijevic told reporters after last night’s assembly panel discussion.
    Asked whether the new Law on Radio-TV Serbia [RTS] would be changed before the republican and presidential elections, she said that she did not know “whether that will be done this year at all.”
    “As soon as we finish the Law on Information and begin the allocation of frequencies, we shall start working on the revision of the Law on RTS,” Radmila Milentijevic said.

Beta news agency, April 9, 1997

III. Matic on broadcast of foreign programs and the Information Law.

    Speaking in an interview to Tanjug, Yugoslav Information Secretary Goran Matic has announced the adoption of a new federal information law.
Aim of new federal information law
    Together with the republican information laws, the federal law, which is in preparation, should ensure a full implementation of the latest democratic achievements in the sphere of information.
    The federal law is aimed at regulating the main principles for the exercise of citizens freedoms and rights in the field of information, which ensures the dominant role of the rule of law as one of the main principles of the legal state, Matic said.
    The strengthening of the legal state and stronger protection of people’s freedoms and rights have imposed a need for a new and comprehensive approach to the organization of informing [as received] as an important segment of each democratic state, Matic said.
    The existing laws and regulations in this field are incomplete, which shows that there is a need for a law that would take into consideration the achieved level of democracy in the society and technical and technological development of the media, Matic said. . . .
Recent proliferation of media
    Speaking about the situation in the Yugoslav information system, Matic said that despite the sanctions against and very unfavorable economic conditions in the country, there had been a boom in the development of media in the past two or three years.
    Yugoslavia has more than 2,000 registered media now, he said.
    “About 1,200 media were set up in the past few years and the best indicator of this `boom’ is the development of daily newspapers, some periodicals and electronic media,” which deal with political developments, Matic said.
    He said that this development was not accompanied by adequate regulations because there existed a problem with some electronic media, which had been formed and operated in the so-called “gray zone.”
    Matic said that the dailies close to the opposition had nearly the same and at times even bigger circulation than the pro-government ones.
    Matic said that Yugoslavia had about 80 newspapers printed in the languages of national minorities and ethnic groups and a large number of specialized newspapers printed by different branch organizations, students, firms, religious communities and cultural institutions.
    He went on to say that Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo and Metohija alone had 37 Albanian-language newspapers, including several dailies and two pornographic magazines, which showed that Kosovo Albanians had a completely developed information system.
    “I don’t know how this fits into the picture about the `media darkness’ in our country, because facts speak much louder than words,” Matic said.
Yugoslav media are “too polarized”
    As for the quality of information in Yugoslavia, the federal secretary said that there were no independent media and that all of them depended to a certain degree on the founder and owner in the creation of their editing policy.
    Matic said that the media should focus on truth and objectivity instead of dependence and independence.
    I believe that Yugoslav media, at least those covering political developments, are too polarized and that some media serve partial political interests, Matic said, and added that this was how media contributed to a vulgar politicization of the Yugoslav society in some periods of political conflicts.
    He said he believed that this was a question of ethics and that there was a need to regulate this aspect of informing through certain codes and regulations, primarily in journalists’ organizations.
Relaying foreign broadcasters
    Speaking about the practice of media in the municipalities where the Zajedno (Together) coalition took power to carry the programs of foreign radios, such as Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, Matic said that Yugoslavia is committed to a free flow of information and observation of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Man.
    “These media are in fact noncommercial short-wave propaganda radio stations, directly controlled by the German and US state organs. It is their role to carry or reflect, to a smaller or bigger degree, the stands of their governments, i.e. to advocate the interests of their own states or regional organizations,” Matic said.
    “I believe that the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will soon show their real attitude towards the attempts of the Zajedno coalition to be together, even on radio, with the foreign factors to whom unified and strong Yugoslavia represents a thorn in their side.
    Matic said that, from their tragic experience, the Yugoslav citizens knew well enough where foreign factors illegal interference in internal affairs of sovereign and independent states led to. He said this problem was not only characteristic of Yugoslavia, saying Romania and Bulgaria were also faced with it.
    He said it should be established whether Germany or the United States would allow Yugoslavia on the principle of reciprocity to run a radio station that would comment on political developments in these two countries in their respective official languages.
    He said he doubted that German and US regulations allowed this, saying this proved that our system was liberal.
Accreditation of foreign media
    He said at this point 25 journalists from 3 news agencies, 10 newspapers and 4 radio and television stations from the states emerging from the former Yugoslavia were accredited in Yugoslavia, stressing that the country’s attitude to all foreign correspondents was based on professionalism, goodwill, traditional Yugoslav hospitality as well as on the principle of reciprocity.
    Matic said the fact that Yugoslavia covered 28 news agencies, 76 newspapers and 54 radio and television stations spoke of the level of its openness. He said more than 300 correspondents from 37 countries from all continents but Africa were accredited in the country.
The role of Tanjug
    Commenting on Tanjug’s activity, Matic said he believed that the news agency was a true asset to the country. He said Tanjug had its historical and practical significance and represented a major institution in the sphere of information in this part of Europe.
    He said Tanjug was in an inferior position compared to other news agencies operating in the region, saying the Yugoslav government, the Yugoslav Information Secretariat and Tanjug’s managers would soon define top priorities, the use of new communication channels and Tanjug’s position in the entire system. . . .

Tanjug news agency, April 20, 1997

IV. Government to set up radio and TV at federal level.

    Federal Information Secretary [minister] Goran Matic has announced [plans for] the establishment of a Yugoslav radio-TV, adding that the federal government believes it is necessary for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to have its own channel as a condition for joining the international program exchange.
    Announcing a new federal law on information in an interview for Dnevnik of Novi Sad, to be carried tomorrow [4th May], Matic said that it [the law] would accurately reflect democratic trends, rights and liberties, as well as responsibilities of the Yugoslav media.

Radio B92, Belgrade, May 3, 1997

V. YRT to be established, federal media law to be passed in 1997.

    The federal [Yugoslav] secretary of information, Goran Matic, announced at a news conference today that the federal government was planning to set up Yugoslav radio-TV.
    “We believe there is a need for Yugoslav radio-TV to cover the whole of Yugoslavia and provide all the citizens with information at the federal level,” Matic said. The television will, Matic added, represent Yugoslavia abroad. It is wrong for Yugoslavia to be the only federal country in Europe without its own television.
    Matic confirmed that the federal government would pass the new federal media law by the end of this year, as had been previously announced. . . . “The aim of the law is to ensure the exchange of information throughout Yugoslavia and the rule of law, in the sense that all citizens have an equal right to be informed,” Matic said in conclusion.

Tanjug news agency, May 20, 1997

VI. Matic at Serbian Journalists Association: all media is dependent.

[Reporter]     When asked how the state plans to strengthen the Yugoslav media, Federal Information Minister Goran Matic announced that the federal government was going to be more open towards the media in general:
[Matic]     You must have noticed changes in the media introduced by the federal government. One of the main changes concerns equality of access to the media and equal treatment for all the media. We have drafted some papers in which we decided to eliminate the division between independent and dependent media. All media are dependent, it is just a question of whom they are dependent uponÉAll journalists accredited with the federal government are equal, and we will try to make that equality a reality, providing they are fair.

Serbian Radio, Belgrade, June 14, 1997

VII. Milentijevic at the Serbian Journalist’s Association.

    Serbian Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic has said that the government will take steps against more than 480 illegal radio and TV stations. She said that the Serbian authorities intend to introduce broadcasting discipline regardless of foreign pressure. The following is the text of the interview she gave to Momcilo Boskovic on Mt Zlatibor on 14th June, as broadcast by Serbian radio:
M.B.:     During the debate, you presented new data on piracy in Serbia that you had not previously disclosed. The number of so-called wild radio and television stations has increased.
R.M.:     Yes, there has been an explosion of these media in the past three months, so we are now faced with an immense problem. Three months ago, we had 186 unregistered radio stations. Today the number has risen to over 340. Three months ago, we had 72 unregistered television stations; today the number is 140. These illegal stations are mushrooming and have created a gray economy in the field. The people who own these illegal stations are making piles of money, but they have no obligation towards the state; specifically, they do not pay taxes or fulfill any other obligations that are part of the television and radio business, such as their own programs. They simply take programs from other stations, which is unheard-of piracy in the domain.
M.B.:     Is there hope of restraining them by the end of the year?
R.M.:     I believe that the situation will be resolved on a temporary basis until the end of January, when I hope that we shall be in a position to organize a public competition. Until then, the federal authorities responsible for frequencies are processing them—a laborious and time-consuming task. For our part, we, the Traffic and Communications Ministry, will review the situation in Serbia and will decide on a standard that will be equal for all. This standard will be applied during the competition for the distribution of frequencies at the end of January and the beginning of February next year.

Serbian Radio, Belgrade, June 14, 1997

VIII. RTS plans satellite service to America.

By Bad Vilbel

    Radmila Milentijevic, information minister in the Serbian government, stated in her lecture entitled “Law on Information and Serbia’s Media Picture in the World” that the Draft Law on Information, which is a “result of the Serbian citizens’ collective opinion and understanding,” provided protection to the citizens from misinformation and untruths, and to individuals from unfounded assaults.
    She pointed out that, in order to improve Serbia’s media picture in the world, the Information Ministry had already gone on Internet, and that it had been planning to start a satellite program of Radio-Television Serbia, which will be covering the US and Canada, and which will be worked out with the help of professional marketing agencies in the United States.

Vesti, June 22, 1997

MEDIA ISSUES IN MONTENEGRO
I. Montenegrin journalists express dissatisfaction: Tanjug is a “mouthpiece.”

    Radio-TV Montenegro journalists are signing today a petition which is to be sent to the Republic of Montenegro Assembly Speaker Svetozar Marovic and Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. In their petition the journalists express dissatisfaction at the contents of the information citizens receive through the Montenegrin state media.
    Montena-fax has learned that the petition says, “the time ahead will not allow any right to make mistakes” and adds, “bearing in mind the reporting of the state electronic media,” it is evident that urgent changes must be made to the current state of affairs.
    “The Tanjug state agency, as the exclusive ‘supplier’ of information to Radio-TV Montenegro, is becoming more and more a narrow party mouthpiece of the ruling party of the other deferral unit and its leader [Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic]. That is the reason why Tanjug, instead of disseminating information, most often disseminates disinformation about major events in the country and abroad. That is why it is essential for our establishment to be allowed access to other agencies in Yugoslavia and the world,” the petition prepared by the radio-TV journalists says. It adds that “journalism whose aim is to cover issues in a professional manner, and which is directed towards the demands of modern society and the social challenges of a society in transition has difficulty being heard—for this and other reasons.”
    “We stress that these are the two main reasons for our appeal. We believe that the citizens have a right to full, timely and true information—especially in the current situation,” the petition by the Radio-TV Montenegro journalists concludes. After all the signatures are collected, the petition will be sent to Svetozar Marovic and Milo Djukanovic.

Montenegrin news agency Montena-fax, March 28, 1997

II. Serbia monopolizing Montenegrin media.

By Rajko Cerovic

    Soon television viewers in Montenegro and Serbia will be “the richer,” so to speak, for another television program. Federal [Yugoslav] Information Minister Goran Matic said: “We believe that we need to define Radio-Television Yugoslavia at the level of the federal state, so that its transmissions cover the entire Yugoslav area and thus provide equal information for all citizens.”
    Informed sources have lately been announcing that the head of the “new” Radio-Television Yugoslavia will be none other than the tried and tested Milorad Vucelic [deputy chairman of President Slobodan Milosevic’s ruling Socialist Party of Serbia], back in the game as the prominent man in Milosevic’s closest strategic—that is to say propaganda—operational headquarters. Therefore, in addition to the powerful system of Radio-Television Serbia, with its main centers in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Pristina, whose programs, broadcast on two channels, are received in 70% of the “minor eye in the head” [reference to Milosevic’s statement that Serbia and Montenegro are two eyes in one head], another powerful media broadcasting umbrella, as the proponent of propaganda, will be directed primarily at Montenegro.
    What does Serbia want with yet another state television channel in addition to the three existing ones, additionally fortified by a series of allegedly independent, that is, private —in fact, parastatal—television stations? What sort of program could be of interest to the federal state yet would not be broadcast Montenegro? What other source of information at the level of the “federal” state is used by Montenegrin Television other than Tanjug, an agency which will undoubtedly be the backbone of the future “Radio-Television Yugoslavia”?
    There can be no doubt that the new television center will cover Montenegro flawlessly as far as technology is concerned, in fact, even better than the local republican television stations. Milosevic has enlisted Vucelic’s help because he is obviously in a hurry to cover Montenegro with yet another superior brainwashing machine before the elections, which he might be able to arrange in such a way as to enable the direct election of the federal president in the immediate future. It does not take much to guess that the main propaganda of the Radio-Television Yugoslavia station will primarily be directed at those political forces and individuals in Montenegro who, either within the framework of the existing authorities or those of the opposition, attempt to express Montenegro’s interest within the federal state or even—God forbid—outside it.
    Vucelic’s powerful propaganda umbrella will particularly stress Montenegro’s “separatist” tendencies, even when it comes to issues such as laws for the use of marine resources and the sea itself, which Serbia, at least nominally, still does not have.
    It is known that the future “federal” television will include a handful of “trustworthy” people tried and tested during the antibureaucratic revolution and the Yugoslav war, employed by the television station of the minor “eye in the head” who will perhaps be allowed to use the Jekavian [Montenegrin] dialect to “bad-mouth” their republic. To use the terminology of weather reports, a black cloud is gathering over Montenegro, although, knowing Vucelic’s ability to falsify reality, it would perhaps be more appropriate to call it a media pollutant.
    In today’s pseudo federation, Montenegrin TV programs have literally been banned in Serbia. Montenegrin TV’s news bulletins are not carried on the second channel, and neither is the entertainment and nonpolitical program “Sunday Afternoon.” At the same time, Montenegrin TV broadcasts “Serbia Today,” “Belgrade Education Program” and numerous other programs of a local nature. However, Milosevic’s headquarters have assessed that Montenegro needs yet another powerful medium from Serbia, which sees itself as equal to the federation, at the same time behaving in a sovereign and separatist way even in matters of customs policy. At one time equal to all other republican television centers, Montenegrin TV, like the Montenegrin state after the loss of [former] Yugoslavia—to which event it contributed the lion’s share—has been relegated to the position of a provincial outpost, that is, a state and television region of Serbia. . . .
    One more forecast: Radio-Television Yugoslavia’s transmitters and programs will undoubtedly include the [Bosnian] Serb Republic, thus rounding off the media sector of greater Serbia, a project which irrevocably destroyed an entire country and for which entire nations paid in blood. The saddest thing is that Montenegro, because of the decision of its authorities of “Yugoslav orientation,” will contribute financially to the work of Vucelic’s television, undoubtedly to their disadvantage.

Monitor, Podgorica, May 30, 1997

III. Montenegrin TV and print criticized in Parliament.

    The state media were again the focus of a parliamentary discussion [at a session of the Montenegrin Assembly] today. Almost all participants in the discussion spoke in critical terms about the editorial policy of Pobjeda [the primary Montenegrin daily] and Radio-TV Montenegro. The spectrum of critical remarks ranged between mild criticism of Pobjeda to bitter criticism of Montenegrin TV’s editorial policy, which was said to have permanently violated the Montenegrin constitution.
    The Montenegrin information secretary, Bozidar Jaredic, said that the government had positively assessed the editorial policy of the Pobjeda daily, because of its attempts to provide more comprehensive information to its readership, which was best corroborated by the rise in its circulation, making it again the most widely read newspaper in Montenegro.
    Speaking about Montenegrin TV’s editorial policy, Jaredic said that the media organization did not fulfill its program goals because “it lacked fine editorial management,” that of all the news sources it used mainly Tanjug, and that impermissible editorial omissions were made, particularly very recently, as its editors sided with one political option. Therefore, Jaredic said, the government’s proposal to the Montenegrin Assembly is to task the management committee [of Montenegrin TV] to establish concrete responsibility for the omissions made by Montenegrin TV editors.

Montena-fax, June 10, 1997