The Law on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these rights. Although journalists complain about lack of freedom of the press, they are free to write, uncensored and unverified, virtually anything they wish. There was a period of a month and a half under the state of emergency when no newspapers except the Democratic Party paper were published and another period before the elections in June when, especially in the south, the democrats had difficulties distributing their newspaper. Each party during the time it has been in opposition complained about their lack of exposure on the state-run electronic media, but there was no censorship of content.
In September Parliament passed a well-received law that provided for broad press freedom. However, the law is extremely vague and had not yet been implemented by year’s end.
During the unrest and the June election campaign, journalists complained of the difficulties in reporting stories (such as having cameras and equipment stolen and being attacked by criminal gangs), and political parties raised the problems and dangers of campaigning and distributing respective party newspapers in different parts of the country.
Little sense of journalistic responsibility or professional integrity exists. Sensationalism is frequently the norm in the print media. Many criticisms, accusations, and fabrications are still printed in the party-oriented newspapers without substantiation, but also without reprisal.
The press remains willing and able to criticize whichever government is in power and continued to do so during the three governments in 1997. The notable exception was in the first 6 weeks of the state of emergency when the government imposed censorship. No newspapers appeared for a month and a half except the Democratic Party paper Rilindja Demokratike. Access to newspapers in different parts of the country was limited, even after the immediate crisis, as carriers were threatened and the national roads blocked by well-armed groups.
Political parties, independent trade unions, and various societies and groups publish their own newspapers, some of which have only limited appeal and distribution. Dependence on outside sources for revenues may lead to pressures which limit the independence of reporting. Taxes on publications, in addition to rising printing costs, make it difficult for independent media to be economically viable without subsidies or loans from their patrons, e.g., political parties, social organizations, or private businesses. Journalists accused former President Berisha and the Meksi government of using excessive taxation as a deliberate means to cripple the independent and opposition press. The Nano Government had by September also refused to lower taxes, and journalists are concerned that taxes will go up even more as the new administration continues to pursue all potential revenue sources to offset the government’s deficit. In November newspapers went on strike for lower taxes and other government subsidies ,and the Government promised to meet many of their demands.
However, at any one time an estimated 200 different publications are available, including daily and weekly papers, magazines, newsletters, and pamphlets. Three Greek minority newspapers are published in southern Albania.
Koha Jone, a mildly sensationalist, independent daily newspaper with the largest circulation, took a strong anti-Berisha/Democratic Party line early in the year. Koha Jone and other then-opposition papers accused the Meksi government and Berisha of systematic harassment. The Koha Jone office was ransacked and burned by unknown persons in the early morning of March 3, the first night of the state of emergency. Pro-Democratic Party forces were widely assumed to be responsible, but Koha Jone never produced any evidence to support this theory. Koha Jone’s editor left the paper in May and started his own new newspaper, The Indipendent, continuing his previous editorial approach. The Indipendent has since ceased publication, and its former editor is now the Prime Minister’s press spokesperson.
Journalists seem uncertain about their relations with the Nano Government, but some reporters think the Government is exercising indirect pressure on the press by appointing a number of journalists to government jobs. Owner and director of Koha Jone, Nikoll Lesi, an independent Member of Parliament and a member of the Media Commission, complained in September about the higher taxes and higher costs of running a newspaper in a Koha Jone article.
Reporters regularly claim harassment from police and threats from unknown individuals, and particularly during the first half of the year, a number of beating and harassment incidents occurred involving journalists from both sides of the political spectrum.
State-run radio and television provide the bulk of domestic programming, and the Nano Government has increased the number of members of the State Executive Committee of Radio and Television. The stated intention of this expansion is to help redress imbalance and political bias as well as access to the media. The Democratic Party, now in opposition, complained about a lack of equal access, just as the Socialists had previously complained when the Democratic Party was in power. In August former parliamentary speaker PJETER Arbnori started a hunger strike to emphasize the need for equal access. His hunger strike lasted 20 days until a compromise between the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party was reached on the media law providing for equitable access for all the parties.
Most municipalities offer international programs received via satellite. Home satellite dishes abound and most citizens, even in remote villages, have access to international broadcasts. In May Parliament passed a law authorizing private commercial broadcasting licenses that is expected to take effect in 1998. The law is liberal as far as ease in obtaining a license, but apparently is unsatisfactory to some because it may limit the number of licenses available. The Government plans to control the procedures through the establishment of a National Committee.
There are 12 unlicensed private television stations and 10 private radio stations. The number keeps increasing. These stations are currently unregulated. There is no official state foreign language broadcasting. Widely received and listened to are stations from Italy, Greece, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC are also popular. As of September, the VOA is broadcast on the FM band from a private radio station in Vlora. University professors continue to complain about the lack of academic freedom. Their complaints include firings and hirings for political reasons and the admission of unqualified students as political favors. Universities were closed during the state of emergency and students were able to finish only part of their spring term. A new fall semester started on October 15. The Government apparently does not plan to extend the Meksi government’s decision in 1996 to prohibit foreigners who were not the part of a university-to-university agreement from teaching in the country’s universities. During the fall semester, a number of professors and department heads, as well as all university rectors were removed from their posts. The Nano Government stated that these employment changes were designed to remove unqualified and incompetent professors, but those dismissed insist that the firings were undertaken for political reasons.
The Constitution provides for freedom of the press, and the Government generally respects this right in practice, although stringent slander laws tend to discourage reports of police brutality. Publications may be removed from circulation if they violate legal provisions concerning morality or public security, but such cases are extremely rare.
The government monopoly in television and national radio is gradually being dismantled. A law passed in 1993 permitted licensing of regional private radio stations, but implementation of the law was delayed due to legal challenges by unsuccessful applicants for licenses. A private radio station, however, has now opened in Styria and another in Salzburg. Rewritten radio frequency rules are scheduled to go into effect in October. Similar steps are expected for television in coming years.
Academic freedom is respected.
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. In 1996 the National Assembly passed, over President Zhelev’s veto, legislation that was publicly criticized by Council of Europe experts and Bulgarian journalists for the inhibitions it would impose on freedom of the broadcast media. Critics of the media law were concerned, for example, that the makeup of the National Council for Radio and Television would subject the media to political influence by the party in power. Asked by 74 opposition Members of Parliament to rule on the law, the Constitutional Court in November 1996 declared this and numerous other provisions unconstitutional. Until a revised bill is enacted, the broadcast media are left in a legislative void but operate freely. Meanwhile the Government appointed a new National Council.
A variety of newspapers are published freely by political parties and other organizations representing the full spectrum of political opinion, although journalists frequently color their reports to conform with the views of the political parties or economic groups that own their respective newspapers.
Some human rights observers charge that prosecutors use their authority to issue arrest warrants to intimidate reporters who criticize their work. However, only one case apparently occurred during the year, when journalist Yovka Atanassova was convicted in March of allegedly libeling prominent business and political figures whom she reported had worked as State Security Organization informants. Another journalist was released from prison after serving the full term of a 6-month sentence begun in 1996; he was convicted of libel for accusing a prosecutor of corruption.
Pending enactment of the new media legislation, national television and radio broadcasting both remained under parliamentary supervision. Some media observers expressed concern that such parliamentary supervision fosters censorship and a lack of balance in the state-controlled media. After confidential records of his government were made public in January 1998, it emerged that Socialist Prime Minister Zhan Videnov restricted the national television network’s coverage of antigovernment demonstrations in January 1997.
There are two state-owned national television channels that broadcast in Bulgarian. Until the end of August, there was also a national channel that broadcast Russian programming and another that carried a mixture of Cable News Network International and French-language programming. All foreign broadcasts ended in the autumn when previously-granted broadcast licenses expired. Bulgarian National Television has been planning Turkish-language programming for at least 4 years, but broadcasts have not yet begun (there are, however, two daily half-hour radio broadcasts in Turkish). There is no private national broadcast station, but a number of privately owned regional stations operate. After initial government approval in the fall of 1994 of an application to create a privately owned national broadcast television station, no further steps have been taken by either the current or previous governments to license such a station.
Foreign government radio programs such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, Deutsche Welle, and the Voice of America had good access to commercial radio frequencies. Television and radio news programs on the state-owned media present opposition views, but opposition members claim that their activities and views are given less air time and exposure than the those of the ruling party. There are no formal restrictions on programming. Both television and radio provide a variety of news and public interest programming, including talk and public opinion shows.
More than 30 independent radio stations are licensed. Some private stations complained that their licenses unduly restricted the strength of their transmissions in comparison with state-owned stations. Radio transmitter facilities are owned by the Government.
Private book publishing remained unhindered by political considerations, but publishers suffered heavy losses as a result of the economic crisis. Additionally, many publishing houses are small and operate on slender profit margins.
The Government respects academic freedom.
The law provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the Government respects this right in practice. Individuals can and do speak out on political issues and freely criticize the Government and public figures.
In September the President signed into law a measure revoking a 36-year-old statue on the “defamation” of the President, effective in January 1998. Such action had been punishable by prison terms of up to 2 years. In practice, the few persons convicted received suspended sentences. President Havel routinely pardoned those convicted under the law when they requested it or when his office learned of their cases. A separate law on the defamation of the republic remains in effect, and three people were convicted of this charge in 1996 (the last year for which statistics are available).
A wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and journals publish without government interference. The capital, Prague, is home to at least a dozen daily newspapers with national distribution, as well as a variety of entertainment and special interest newspapers and magazines. These publications are owned by a variety of Czech and foreign investors.
The electronic media are independent. There are 4 television stations, 2 public and 2 private, and more than 60 private radio stations in addition to Czech Public Radio. The leading television channel, Nova, is privately owned, partially by foreign investors. In addition, many viewers have access to foreign broadcasts via satellite and cable.
A parliamentary commission has broad oversight and power to approve or reject candidates for the Television and Radio Council. The Council has limited regulatory responsibility for policymaking and answers to the parliamentary media committee. The Council can issue and revoke radio and television licenses and monitors programming. By year’s end, Parliament had not yet voted on two long-delayed media laws: one for print and one for broadcast media. The Communist-era print law does not affirm the right of journalists to protect their sources nor ensure the freedom of information, and the 1991 broadcast law did not envision private media.
In April an accredited journalist and advocate of Tibetan independence was denied access to a press conference given by the Chinese Deputy Premier and hosted at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In response the Czech Helsinki Committee called for reform of the 1966 press law to ensure journalists’ unhindered access to information. There is no evidence of a pattern of such exclusions by authorities.
The law provides for academic freedom but also forbids activities by established political parties at universities.
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the Government respects this right in practice. All the major print media—national and regional newspapers, magazines, and tabloids—are in private hands, some as part of foreign media companies. The print media enjoy considerable freedom; however, journalists and opposition politicians are concerned that the expression of different views in the press may be circumscribed by the small number of owners who control most of the print media.
Parliament passed a media law in 1995 creating institutions designed to foster a free and independent electronic media. The law provided for the creation of nationwide commercial television and radio, and insulated the remaining public service media from government control. In June the Government awarded licenses for the new privatized television channels that began broadcasting in October; licenses for commercial radio were awarded in November, and the stations are expected to begin broadcasting in early 1998.
The regulatory body created by the 1995 law, the National Television and Radio Board (ORTT), was accused during its first year and a half of operation of political bias in awarding television licenses. Others have criticized ORTT for its attempts to acquire a share of the National Broadcasting Company, thereby becoming an owner in the industry it regulates. Two lawsuits have been filed against the Board, in both cases raising the question of whether the Board is truly insulated from politics and conflicts of interest as intended by the law.
Academic freedom is generally respected.
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the Government generally respects this right. The press is lively and independent. However, there are some marginal restrictions in law and practice.
The print media are uncensored and independent, although they may be subject to prosecution under the provisions of the Penal Code.
The Penal Code states that acts that “publicly insult, ridicule, and deride the Polish nation, the Polish Republic, its political system, or its principal organs are punishable by between 6 months and 8 years of imprisonment.” The code calls for a prison term of up to 10 years for a person who commits any of the prohibited acts in print or through the mass media. In 1995 presidential candidate Leszek Bubel was charged with violating this law, and his case remains before a judge. Bubel claimed on a radio program that when he served as deputy prosecutor general, a former head of the presidential Chancellery protected a group of criminals. The Gdansk prosecutor announced an investigation into 1996 remarks by talk show host Wojciech Cejrowski, who is alleged to have publicly insulted president Kwasniewski. The case is still pending before a judge. In September President Kwasniewski filed a private lawsuit against the Zycie and Dziennik Baltycki newspapers, which accused him of contacts with Russian spy Vladimir Alganov during his 1994 vacations. Although Kwasniewski withdrew the suit against Dziennik Baltycki when its editor-in-chief retracted the newspaper’s charges, the suit against Zycie is still pending. Kwasniewski claims that Zycie’s articles violated his good name and demands that the newspaper apologize to him and pay approximately $76,000 (2.5 million PLN) for flood victims. Zycie denies that the law has been violated and maintains that its journalists acted in the public interest.
In November the Torun regional prosecutor issued an order for controversial Catholic radio priest Father Tadeusz Rydzyk to be brought to the office by force. Rydzyk, the prosecutor charged, ignored five sets of summonses to appear for questioning for offending supreme state bodies. The prosecutor’s office carried out an investigation of Rydzyk at the request of a group of Parliamentarians who voted for the liberalization of the abortion law. The parliamentarians were offended when they were compared on the air to criminals who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. Father Rydzyk eventually presented himself at the prosecutor’s office on his own initiative. An investigation of Rydzyk, who currently faces the lesser charge of insulting public functionaries, was ongoing at year’s end.
The Penal Code provides for punishment of anyone who uses print or other mass media to “advocate discord” on national, ethnic, racial, or religious grounds. The Investigation continues in the case of Mikolaj Siwicki, a Warsaw pensioner. In 1996 the Warsaw prosecutor’s office brought charges against Siwicki for publication of a hate-mongering book, which, the prosecutor charged, “could seriously damage the interests of the Polish Republic in international affairs.” The book allegedly condones crimes committed by Poles during the World War II, makes historically dubious claims about Polish crimes against the Ukrainian nation, and calls for lands in southeastern Poland to be given to Ukraine.
The Penal Code also stipulates that offending religious sentiment through public speech is punishable by a fine or a 2-year prison term. In 1995 a provincial court charged presidential candidate Leszek Bubel with violating this article by publishing a pamphlet containing anti-Semitic humor. A verdict was pending at year’s end. In July Ryszard Bender filed a complaint against Jerzy Urban, editor-in-chief of the leftist tabloid Nie, for insulting the Pope during his visit. The complaint stemmed from a Nie article entitled “We welcome Brezhnev of the Holy See.” Bender claimed that associating the Pope with Leonid Brezhnev was offensive. The prosecutor eventually decided not to pursue the case. Catholic organizations also have used the provision. In December Tadeusz Rydzyk and All-Polish Youth director Roman Giertych, both acting on behalf of the Council for the Coordination of the Defense of the Dignity of Poland and Poles, filed charges against the leftist daily Trybuna for insulting the Pope in one of its November articles. Rydzyk and Giertych were particularly offended by the characterization of the Pope as a “boorish vicar,” by the reference to one of his statements as “dirty and mumbling,” and by the suggestion that he used his position to make slanderous statements. According to one press report, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief already apologized for the article twice. The Ministry of Justice is conducting an investigation.
The State Secrets Act allows for prosecution of private citizens who have published or otherwise betrayed state secrets. Human rights groups have criticized this law, since it restricts the right of free speech of private citizens who have not sworn freely to uphold state secrets.
In 1995 the Supreme Court ruled that a prosecutor or a judge, in the context of a criminal trial, may order a journalist to divulge the name of a source. The penalty for noncompliance is a fine of approximately $2,000 (5,000 PLN) and 1 month in jail. In January a case was brought against Gazeta Wyborcza journalist Jerzy Jachowicz for refusing to reveal a source who had given him secret court information regarding the Oleksy affair. Similar charges were brought against Aleksander Checko and Karol Malcuzynski—then editors of the Zycie Warszawy—in March. Their case has since been dismissed. A new Criminal Code scheduled to take effect on September 1, 1998, however, regulates the protection of journalistic sources. The new code grants news sources absolute protection, except in cases involving national security, murder, and terrorist acts. Pursuant to the law, statutory provisions are applied retroactively if their terms are beneficial to the accused. Journalists who refused to divulge sources prior to the new code’s enactment can avoid sanctions by invoking “journalistic privilege” after the new code’s entry into force.
There is no restriction on the establishment of private newspapers or distribution of journals; private newspapers and magazines flourish. While RUCH, the national network of newspaper kiosks, remains in state hands, there is no evidence that the Government has used its control over distribution to suppress any publications. Progress on government plans to privatize the company in 1996 slowed when the bidding process was reopened after having reached near completion. A civil suit initiated by the original winner of the bidding process was pending at year’s end.
The National Radio and Television Broadcasting Council (KRRiTV) has broad interpretive powers in monitoring and regulating programming on public radio and television, allocating broadcasting frequencies and licenses, and apportioning subscription revenues. In order to encourage the KRRiTV’S apolitical character, the nine KRRiTV members are legally obliged to suspend any membership in political parties or public associations. They are, however, chosen for their political allegiances and nominated by the Sejm, the Senate, and the President following political bargaining, raising serious questions about the independence of broadcasting oversight from political influence. In April, for example, SLD party member Adam Halber was elected to the council. Five of the KRRiTV’S nine members now have political ties to either the SLD or the PSL.
The broadcasting law stipulates that programs should not promote activities that are illegal or against state policy, morality, or the common good. The law also requires that all broadcasts “respect the religious feelings of the audiences and in particular respect the Christian system of values.” The law, however, does not fully define the term “Christian values.” The Constitutional Tribunal has confirmed the constitutionality of this provision. Since the KRRiTV has the ultimate responsibility for supervising the content of programs, these restrictions could be used as a means of censorship if enforced, but they were not in 1997. The penalty for violating this provision of the law is a fine of up to 50 percent of the annual fee for the transmission frequency or suspension of the broadcaster’s license.
Private television broadcasters operate on frequencies selected by the Ministry of Communications and auctioned by the KRRiTV. The first auction in 1994 gave Polsat Corporation and some smaller local and religious stations licenses to broadcast. In February additional licenses were granted to TVN and Nasza Telewizja. TVN began broadcasting in October while Nasza Telewizja is expected to begin transmissions in January 1998. Private radio flourishes on the local, regional, and national levels alongside public radio. A new radio station, Radio Trefl, began broadcasting in September.
The Government owns the two largest television channels and many local stations, as well as five national radio networks. PAP, the national wire service, was partially privatized in December. Former Reuters journalist Robert Bogdanski heads a five-member supervisory board that has 2 years in which to prepare the service for full privatization. Although public television remains the largest source of news and information, satellite television and private cable services (domestic and foreign) are widely available. Cable services carry the main public channels, Polsat, local and regional stations, and a variety of foreign stations.
The law on radio and television requires public television to provide direct media access to the main state organs, including the presidency, “to make presentations or explanations of public policy.” The Government sometimes complains of a lack of attention to its point of view, particularly that of the President and Prime Minister, but there is a history of charge and counter-charge. Both public and private radio and television provide coverage of all ranges of political opinion. Nevertheless, political patronage in filling key positions continues to threaten the professional credibility of public television, still the most influential broadcast media.
Government or partisan efforts to exert influence in public television were generally more indirect: it is unclear what the effect, if any, has been on programming. In March, for example, Jacek Bochenek, then Television Information Agency (TAI) programming chair, transferred under pressure to a correspondent position in Brussels. The head of the main television news program also acquiesced to a lateral move, although his replacement is regarded as a neutral professional. The KRRiTV’S August 7 election of new supervisory boards for public radio (PR) and public television (TVP), intermediary bodies between the KRRiTV and the respective managing boards, was clearly political. Seven of the nine positions on both boards are now occupied by persons from either the SLD or the PSL. The remaining two members of the TVP supervisory board, Marek Zdrojewski of the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) and Wojciech Marczewski of the Freedom Union (UW), resigned their positions in protest. They were replaced in November by Lech Jaworski, supported by the right, and Marcin Krzyzanowski, supported by the Freedom Union (UW). The final composition of the new boards led KRRiTV chairman Boleslaw Sulik to declare August 7 a “black day” for the public media in Poland.
Evidence of overt political tampering in public broadcasting remains scarce, and watchdog organizations are alert to expose quickly any such tampering. There was one incident in which the Government sought to influence media reporting. In March government press spokeswoman Aleksandra Jakubowska accused public television’s news desk of manipulating its coverage of a protest by Solidarity members that had occurred at the Treasury Ministry building days before. The incident was filmed by the police, but public television cameramen were not allowed to enter the building. The day after the event, the government press office supplied a 6-minute videocassette with police footage to both public television and a private station. Public television broadcast the tape, but edited out several minutes from its broadcast. Jakubowska complained of “deliberate misinformation of the public by showing a distorted picture of the developments.” Jacek Snopkiewicz, the recently appointed head of TVP news, countered that the 6-minute tape itself presented a distorted view of the events and accused Jakubowska of attempting to exert pressure on public media.
Books expressing a wide range of political and social viewpoints are widely available, as are foreign periodicals and other publications from abroad.
In August billboards that carried the message “Stay cool. It’s O.K. Condoms prevent AIDS” were taken down in several towns and small cities throughout the country under public pressure. The billboards, which were intended as a public service campaign against AIDS, pictured a black and white drawing of a man’s hand in the “thumbs up” position. The man’s up-stretched thumb sported a bright pink condom. Those objecting to the advertisements purported to do so on scientific grounds, claiming that the advertisement suggested that condoms were a sure way to prevent AIDS when studies have shown that they are not 100 percent reliable. In March complaints were filed with both the Warsaw prosecutor’s and the Krakow prosecutor’s offices in connection with a billboard advertising the American film “The People vs. Larry Flynt.” The complaints argued that the billboards offended religious sentiment. The advertisement pictured a drawing of a man, his arms and legs outstretched in a crucifixion position, superimposed on a larger drawing of a woman’s lower half. The Krakow prosecutor is pursuing an investigation.
Academic freedom is respected.
Although the Constitution provides for freedom of expression and prohibits censorship, it limits the bounds of free expression by prohibiting “defamation of the country.” The Government respected the constitutional provisions in practice. An updated Penal Code passed by Parliament in 1996 rectified many of the shortcomings of the former Communist-era code. However, the new version has been criticized by human rights organizations and professional journalists for retaining jail terms for those convicted of libel or slander, including journalists.
In March an appeals court overturned a lower court’s conviction of journalists Tana Ardeleanu and Sorin Rosca Stanescu for seditious libel. The two were convicted in 1996 for alleging in the daily Ziua that former President Ion Iliescu had ties to the Soviet KGB intelligence service. Several lesser-known cases involving journalists and penal code provisions for libel were also tried.
The independent media continued to grow. Several hundred daily and weekly newspapers are published. Several private television stations broadcast nationwide, with the largest reaching approximately 20 percent of the rural and 80 percent of the urban market. As of September, 59 private television stations and 140 private radio stations were broadcasting. A sizable number of households are wired for cable, giving significant portions of the population access to both private and foreign broadcasts. While Romanian State Television (RTV) and Radio Romania remained the only national broadcasters capable of reaching the bulk of the rural population, independent stations continued to enlarge their coverage throughout the country by over-the-air transmission, cable, and satellite.
The 1994 law establishing a parliamentary-appointed board of directors for RTV had not been implemented by year’s end, and RTV continued to be run by an interim director. Opposition politicians charged that the Government has illegally appointed senior RTV officials sympathetic to government views, ignoring regulations that did not permit such nominations to take place without parliamentary consent.
Foreign news publications may be imported and distributed freely, but high costs limit their circulation.
Academic freedom is respected.
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. However, the law and a climate of increasing intimidation leads some journalists to practice self-censorship.
Although the largest press distribution company is mainly state owned, private distribution companies exist. The print media are free and uncensored, although some journalists and media outlets report that they exercise self-censorship out of fear for personal safety or economic repercussions. Newspapers and magazines regularly publish a wide range of opinions and news articles. The politicization of state-owned broadcast media, however, remains a significant problem.
Individuals continued to report attempts at intimidation that make them reluctant to criticize the Government openly without fear of some form of reprisal. Several cases highlight this trend. On March 15 during an HZDS (ruling party) rally in Bratislava the crowd attacked several journalists and damaged their equipment. The attacks included pushes and shoves, verbal abuse, and destruction of equipment.
In April the offices of the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ), a private foundation that supports the growth of independent media, were burglarized. In a room full of computers, only one was taken. That one contained a sensitive list of affiliated journalists and a year’s worth of e-mail communications between the CIJ and its New York headquarters. The stolen server was valued at $1,000 to $1,300 (Sk 30,000 to 40,000) while other, more expensive equipment was left untouched. Police investigated, but had made no arrests by year’s end.
On June 7, the offices of the private press agency SITA were burglarized. The items taken included 29 of 32 personal computers and 3 notebook computers. SITA was scheduled to begin official operations on June 15. While the agency’s director refused to speculate on a motive for the robbery, some observers suspected a political motive. Investigators officially shelved the case for lack of evidence.
A series of threatened and actual defamation suits by politicians against journalists continued. Since losing a case could cause financial difficulties for most newspapers, the threat of a lawsuit is one method to intimidate journalists. On October 22 the progovernment daily Slovenska Republika reported that a district court judge had ordered the opposition daily SME to cease publishing articles linking SIS members with criminal acts unless they were found guilty in court. The SIS had filed suit seeking protection against alleged libel by SME resulting from a car bomb incident in which the SME reported that an SIS employee was killed while handling a bomb at his home. The SME concedes that it misreported the individual’s first name and age.
On September 19, SME assistant editor Peter Toth’s car was torched in Bratislava within 50 feet of his ground floor apartment where his family was sleeping. Toth was traveling outside Slovakia at the time. A week later, a fire was set in a dumpster outside Toth’s apartment. Toth has aggressively pursued and uncovered information on the case of the 1995 kidnaping of President Kovac’s son and the related 1996 car bomb murder of source Robert Remias. On September 22, the SME offices received a bomb threat, one of many such warnings. The building was evacuated but police did not find an explosive device. On November 14, the police informed Toth that the investigation of the arson attack was closed for lack of evidence.
October 13 the government-owned telecommunications company ST shut down for 25 hours the leased Bratislava transmitter of private opposition-oriented Radio Twist, ostensibly for nonpayment of bills for the use of the transmitter in Bratislava. The station owns its other transmitters elsewhere in the country. Twist director Andrej Hryc acknowledged that his most recent payment of $5,000 was 13 days late but said that it had been paid before the shutdown, which came with no warning. Two other private radio stations also were shut down. The two largest debtors are state-controlled Slovak TV and Radio with debts of $7.6 million and $7 million respectively. In an October press conference, a radio and television broadcasting council representative reported that a transmitter of Slovak Radio was once temporarily shut down for late payment of debt. On November 27, the ST cut power to Twist’s central Slovakia transmitter, forcing the station to use a gasoline generator for 1 week. After Twist director Andrej Hryc persuaded the electric company to switch his station’s power back on, ST staff members physically cut the cable that crossed ST property to the transmitter, forcing Twist to use the generator again. On December 4, Hryc confirmed that the electric company had succeeded in rerouting the power cable so that ST no longer had access to it, and full power was restored.
Investigative weekly Plus 7 Dni journalist Dasa Matejcikova reported harassment since her decision to write an article about a wealthy HZDS member with alleged underworld ties. Matejcikova’s mother, living in the village of Orava, received a telephone death threat. Shortly after she tried to interview the subject of her article, Matejcikova said that his associates told her that if she went ahead with the article they would start a media campaign against her, accusing her of attempting to bribe person by asking him for $3,000 (Sk 100,000) to prevent publication of the article. When she persisted, she said that she was offered a bribe not to continue, but declined it. VTV Television (partly owned by the subject) called her editors and claimed she had asked them for $3,000 (Sk 100,000). Her editors said that they do not believe the charges and fully support Matejcikova. When trying to get police protection, she said that she was told that she could not receive protection unless she were actually attacked and that protection would require Ministry of Interior approval, which would take a month. On September 25 the article was published. On the same day Matejcikova was sued by the subject of her story for bribery. The photographer who accompanied her throughout her investigation reportedly told authorities he remembers nothing about their meetings with the man’s associates.
Citing low journalistic standards, Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar decided in December to abolish weekly government press conferences. The decision was made in reaction to press questions regarding Meciar’s new unofficial advisor Blazena Martinkova and an alleged secret trip to Moscow. In a letter addressed to cabinet members and other public officials, Meciar prohibited them from giving information to certain media outlets. Hew rote that “Radio Twist, Markiza Television, and dailies Novy Cas, SME, and PRACA have continuously published lies about the Slovak Government and its members.” The cabinet press office announced that it would provide information only to government media, not the independent media.
A Radio Free Europe (RFE) manager reported government efforts to intimidate and interfere with the station. SIS director Ivan Lexa, in his annual report to Parliament, called RFE an enemy of the Slovak state. RFE states that access to government information and officials is difficult for its representatives. During the year, RFE detected three attempted break-ins of its premises, most recently in August. Police were not called because regulations require that police may be called only after “successful break-ins.” RFE journalists reporting on politically sensitive cases, such as the Gaulieder case, allege that their phones are tapped and that they are followed.
The 1995 state language law bans the use of foreign languages in the media and requires the use of Slovak in all official government business. Broadcasting in minority languages continues, but several radio stations canceled English-language programming in order to comply with the law in 1996. The law remains unchanged.
Radio and television broadcasting are supervised by three boards appointed by majority vote of Parliament. The Slovak Television Council and the Slovak Radio Council establish broadcasting policy for state-owned television and radio. The Slovak Radio and Television Council issues broadcast licenses and administers advertising laws and some other regulations. The Radio and Television Council has made significant progress in fostering the spread of private broadcasting, for which it has issued 26 radio and 98 television and cable television licenses. A private company, Markiza Television, with a signal covering two-thirds of the country, is the most watched station.
In 1996 Parliament passed a law to privatize the second channel of Slovak Television (STV 2). On June 6, the Slovak Republic Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) announced that the private Slovak television company Pro TV, reportedly close to government circles, won the license to broadcast on the frequency vacated by Slovak Television’s second channel when it moved to satellite broadcast. The RRTV claimed that it gave preference to offers with Slovak capital, but press reports questioned the capital backing of Pro TV as well as its apparent ties to government supporters. An amendment halting the privatization was demanded by the opposition Party of the Democratic Left (SDL). President Kovac returned the privatization bill to Parliament in July, and on July 10 it voted to halt privatization. On October 10, Parliament again rejected an attempt to privatize STV 2.
The state-owned electronic media continued to be highly politicized. Critics charged that STV avoids controversial topics and provides almost no time for opposition views or reporting the activities of the President.
Money allocated to minority groups for the publication of minority-language newspapers has in some cases been eliminated. At the same time, the Government reportedly has given the Salus Publishing Company, with owners tied to the HZDS, $270,000 (Sk 9 million) to publish bimonthly minority-language supplements in the progovernment dally newspaper Slovenska Republika. Of the total, less than $120,000 (Sk 4 million) was reportedly used for this purpose.
The law provides for academic freedom, which is generally
respected. However, critics of the 1996 amendment to the law on universities
claim that it restricts the autonomy of the university by giving the Government
increased control over the administration and funding of institutions of
higher learning. In 1997 the Government established new universities
in four cities where universities already existed, meanwhile cutting the
budgets of the older universities. Critics believe that the Government
is trying to close universities that it considers are not progovernment
by diverting budgetary funds to the new universities. For example,
the yearly budget for the existing university in Trnava is $1.35 million
(Sk 45 million) while the new “Christian” university in Trnava is to receive
$1.8 million (Sk 60 million). Faculty at Trnava believe that the
government strategy is to attract teachers and students to the new university
thereby weakening the existing one.