BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
SERBIAI. SRNA HQ to move temporarily to Bijeljina.Croatian TV
II. Sacked SRNA chief comments on relocation decision.
III. Minister says banned SRNA agency was biased.
IV. Bosnian Serb minister suspends SRNA news agency.I. Croatian TV begins to observe election rules—OSCE.Other Media News
II. Journalists’ group not impressed by TV changes.
III. Croatian TV warned again over biased coverage.
IV. Croatian TV head responds to OSCE decision.
V. TV boss responds to Croat protest over coverage.
VI. Croat protest over Bosnian TV election coverage.
VII. Paper views moves to curb HRT broadcasts in Bosnia.
VIII. Media Commission not satisfied with HRT response.
IX. Croat media urged to boycott election campaign.
X. HRT “resents” OSCE threats over poll coverage.
XI. OSCE warns HRT over bias in election coverage.I. Media body raps two radios over election coverage.
II. Paper assesses output of Kanal S TV from Pale.
III. Serbs reject joint media commission.
IV. OSCE says party presentations must be free.
I. SRNA HQ to move temporarily to Bijeljina.
Following the decision by the government of the [Bosnian]
Serb Republic to dismiss the SRNA news agency’s leadership and move its
headquarters [to Banja Luka], Information Minister Rajko Vasic decided
during the handover in Pale, for technical reasons, to move SRNA’s headquarters
temporarily to Bijeljina.
This decision is aimed at avoiding longer breaks
in SRNA’s work and transmission of information, the Serb Republic information
minister’s statement said.
Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA, Pale, August 21, 1998
II. Sacked SRNA chief comments on relocation decision.
Branislav Ilic, the dismissed general director of
[the Bosnian Serb news agency] SRNA, said [on 20th August] that the [Bosnian]
Serb Republic government decision to relocate the agency from Pale to Banja
Luka was completely illegal.
“This is a show of force, which completely ignores
the decision by the SRNA management board as well as the statement by Serb
Republic President Biljana Plavsic, who said 12 days ago that SRNA was
the backbone of the Serb Republic information system and stressed that
the agency would remain where it was,” Ilic told BETA. . . .
Ilic stressed that the agency employees were “embittered
by the undemocratic measures thought up in certain quarters that do not
wish the Serb Republic well, and do not want authentic Serb institutions
in this region.”
Ilic could not say whether the agency’s work would
be interrupted again but he explained that the relocation of the vast number
of computers, satellite dishes, receivers, phono and photo services, and,
as he put it, “the largest” documentation in the Serb Republic would take
a long time.
He announced that [Serb Information] Minister Vasic
was coming to Pale tomorrow and that the handover could take place then.
“We would like all the media to attend this event, to see the dismantling
of something that took a great deal of effort to create in the worst days
of the war,” Ilic said.
He stressed that he had had many meetings with international
representatives over the last few days and, as he said, they did not approve
of the Serb Republic government’s treatment of SRNA.
Beta news agency, Belgrade, August 20, 1998
III. Minister says banned SRNA agency was biased.
The Bosnian Serb Republic’s information minister,
Rajko Vasic, said on 13th August that he had ordered the closure of the
Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA specifically after it distorted a speech
by President Biljana Plavsic.
Accusing the agency of political bias and withholding
information, Vasic said that replacing its management would not solve the
problem.
“The rewriting of the speech of Serb Republic President
Biljana Plavsic at a commemorative meeting in Pale in honour of the killed
deputy head of the Serb Sarajevo police station, Srdjan Knezevic, by which
the agency tried to underestimate that terrorist act, is one of the reasons
that led me to impose a ban on SRNA,” Vasic said, according to the Yugoslav
state news agency Tanjug.
SRNA had also avoided “carrying in its service statements
by the ministry and giving more prominence to the Banja Luka mayor than
to the Serb Republic president.”
The agency had also supplied reports to “some state
bodies and offices . . . which were not included in SRNA’s general output.”
“Vasic is of the opinion that omissions detected
in SRNA’s work could not be removed by merely replacing the agency’s management,
and says that the management committee will offer a solution,” Tanjug reported.
[On 13th August the independent association of Bosnian
Serb Republic journalists issued a statement saying the decision to ban
SRNA “with the election campaign in full swing seriously compromises the
government’s democratic authority,” according to a report by SRNA itself.
Also on the 13th, the independent Belgrade-based
news agency Beta quoted Momcilo Krajisnik, member of the presidency of
Bosnia-Hercegovina from the Serb Republic, as saying the ban on the news
agency was “disastrous . . . and further proof that the constitution and
laws in the Serb Republic are being violated.”]
Beta news agency, Belgrade, August 13, 1998
IV. Bosnian Serb minister suspends SRNA news agency.
[Bosnian] Serb Republic Information Minister Rajko
Vasic [on 12th August] made a decision to suspend the work of the [Bosnian]
Serb news agency SRNA until the next session of its management board, a
statement issued by the Information Ministry signed by Minister Rajko Vasic
says.
“Because of tendentious reports, crude falsehoods
and the rewriting of speeches made by top state leaders, as well as because
of the obvious imbalance in the length of reports about state and local
leaders, the Information Ministry has decided to suspend the work of the
Serb news agency SRNA until the management board meets,” the statement
says.
The decision comes into effect immediately and the
session of the management board will be held as soon as the conditions
for this are created, the statement says.
Minister Vasic [on 11th August] sent a letter to
SRNA director-general Branislav Ilic and management board chairman Stanko
Stanic demanding that a meeting of the management board be held within
48 hours in order to discuss the quality of reports over the past 10 days.
SRNA director-general Ilic and management board
chairman Stanic are currently on holiday (Ilic is at the seaside), having
agreed to hold a session of the management board after their return.
Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA, Pale, August 12, 1998
I. Croatian TV begins to observe election rules—OSCE.
A spokeswoman for the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia-Hercegovina on [8th September]
said that Croatian Television (HTV) programmes had begun to respect election
regulations related to media presentation for the B-H elections.
The OSCE mission’s Nicole Szulc said monitoring
in the past 24 hours had shown that HTV balanced its coverage of parties
participating in the elections without favouring any particular group.
Szulc said that the OSCE mission was satisfied with
this approach and that it had advised the Electoral Appeals Sub-Commission
(EASC) in this regard.
The mission had earlier threatened that it would
remove Croat Democratic Union of Bosnia-Hercegovina (HDZ BiH) candidates
from electoral lists if HTV did not respect the electoral procedures and
regulations set for the media.
The OSCE spokeswoman on [8th September] said that
HDZ BiH president Ante Jelavic had given a firm promise during a meeting
with the OSCE mission head Robert Barry that his party would not boycott
the coming elections. We are quite satisfied that all the registered
parties will participate in the elections, Szulc said.
She also said that special directions had been forwarded
to the foreign ministries of Croatia and Yugoslavia with regard to the
election blackout, which takes effect 24 hours prior to the opening of
polling booths, as these countries broadcast their programmes in B-H.
Media Experts Commission (MEC) chairwoman Tanja
Domi requested Foreign Ministers Mate Granic, of Croatia, and Zivadin Jovanovic,
of Yugoslavia, for their respective governments’ support so that the regulations
would be completely adhered to.
HINA news agency, Zagreb, September 8, 1998
II. Journalists’ group not impressed by TV changes.
The broadcasting journalists’ group Forum 21 says
the latest personnel changes announced at Croatian Radio-Television [HRT]
did not inspire hope the HRT would be transformed into a public broadcaster.
“The list of nominated persons shows that nearly
all the key places have been entrusted to members of the governing party,
and that the two operationally most important places (the information-documentary
and culture-arts programme editors) have been entrusted to members of the
governing party’s main committee,” a Forum 21 statement said on [8th
September].
Forum 21 warned that no personnel changes had been
foreseen in the informative-documentary programme, which had been coming
under sharpest criticism by the domestic public.
“True changes at the HRT are possible only through
fundamental changes in the way the HRT functions, and not through new rhetoric
and occasional personnel charades which place the HRT under even tighter
control by the ruling political party.
“Forum 21 continues to expect a real and not rhetorical
transformation of the HRT from a state-party into a public television (broadcaster)
applying European standards,” the statement signed by Forum 21 president
Damir Matkovic.
Forum 21, however, welcomes the intention of new
HRT general manager Ivica Vrkic to introduce financial order at the Croatian
national broadcaster, strengthen public influence on its editorial policy,
increase the production of domestic programmes, pay more attention to the
quality of the Croatian language in HRT programmes and to establish professional
criteria as the primary measure of one’s success at work.
Vrkic announced the HRT’s personnel changes on [7th
September].
HINA news agency, Zagreb, September 8, 1998
III. Croatian TV warned again over biased coverage.
The Media Experts Commission (MEC) has warned Croatian
Radio-Television (HRT) of continuous violations of electoral rules and
regulations pertaining to the media in its programmes transmitted in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
despite previously reached agreements.
The Election Appeals Sub-Commission (EASC), part
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission
to Bosnia, on [4th September] decided to remove several candidates of the
Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Hercegovina (HDZ BiH) from electoral
lists as a result of electoral regulation violations by the HRT.
In a letter sent to HRT director Ivica Vrkic on
[6th September], MEC chairwoman Tanya Domi said that an independent supervision
of HRT programmes, conducted in the period from 27th August to 3rd September,
established that the HRT covered the HDZ BiH four times more than the first
subsequent party whose election campaign had been presented in both news
and other programmes.
Domi particularly pointed out reports on the dismissal
of General Stanko Sopta, the former commander of the Bosnian Federation
Army’s First Guards Corps.
The reports did not provide unbiased information
to the public on the different views of various political parties and candidates.
HRT director Ivica Vrkic was also warned that the
Croatian broadcaster should present editorial comments in a considerate
manner, avoiding constant repetitions of stances of only one candidate
or party.
Monitoring reports keep showing that the HRT’s coverage
of events are the most biased in relation to other popular electronic media
in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Domi said. She suggested that the HRT should
begin transmitting previously recorded campaign programmes of political
parties that took part in a draw. The HRT had been requested to hold
a draw to determine the sequence of appearances of parties and candidates
on its programmes.
Domi also requested that, considering the time the
HRT provided to the HDZ after the EASC decision, the HRT should provide
her time for a response during the prime-time news on Sunday.
HINA news agency, Zagreb, September 6, 1998
IV. Croatian TV head responds to OSCE decision.
Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) director, Ivica
Vrkic, on [4th September] called the OSCE’s decision to remove candidates
of the Croatian Democratic Party of Bosnia-Hercegovina (HDZ BiH) from election
lists as “tendentious, provocative and harmful to the general situation
in Bosnia-Hercegovina.”
Vrkic said he would file a complaint to the High
International Representative in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Carlos Westendorp,
stating that this was a case of bias against the HDZ.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the assessments
of the appellate electoral sub-committee (EASB) of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe on Croatia’s internal political relations.
In a letter sent to the chairwoman of the Media
Experts Centre (MEC), Tanya Domi, Vrkic said the EASB decision came as
a surprise to the HRT, particularly as it contained a threat of further
removal of candidates. Such acts “behind the HRT’s back” are inappropriate
and harmful, a well as based on false facts, Vrkic said.
The HRT had fully fulfilled OSCE’s requests regarding
the coverage of the electoral campaign. The only problem that had
occurred was a lack of sound in a limited number of locations during a
show on Bosnia-Hercegovina elections on 31st August, due to technical difficulties,
he said.
In addition, claims by the EASB judge that Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman controlled all state institutions in Croatia and
abroad and used the HRT for the purposes of the Croatian Democratic Union
is petty politics and an inappropriate means of pressure and manipulation,
Vrkic said.
HINA news agency, Zagreb, September 5, 1998
V. TV boss responds to Croat protest over coverage.
The election HQ of the Croatian Democratic Union
[HDZ—Bosnian Croat ruling party] of Bosnia-Hercegovina replied [on 29th
August] to the letter from the director of TV Bosnia-Hercegovina, Ahmed
Hadzijamakovic, regarding the coverage of the HDZ’s election campaign.
The statement said that in his reply of 28th August,
Hadzijamakovic had not denied the HDZ’s assertion of inadequate coverage
of the party’s election rallies by TV Bosnia-Hercegovina. The statement
added that the assertion was thus confirmed.
Therefore, the HDZ was seeking an urgent investigation
into this case by the Independent Media Commission [IMC], in accordance
with Article 9.25 of the IMC rules and regulations. . . .
Hadzijamakovic’s statement that the party had not
provided a schedule of its main election rallies was completely untrue,
the HDZ election HQ said, adding that it was party policy to regularly
announce publicly all election activities and rallies.
“The media effect of sound and video recordings
of the big election rallies cannot be compared to the shortened agency
news items of individual parties,” the election HQ’s statement said and
added that the effect of news and reports broadcast during prime time TV
news bulletins could not be compared with the same ones broadcast in the
late “Election Chronicle” programme at 2300.
The HDZ election HQ has rejected as inaccurate claims
that TV Bosnia-Hercegovina’s technological capabilities and branch network
of correspondents were a limiting factor in covering at least one of the
three main election rallies which are held every day by the HDZ.
The election HQ said it would like TV Bosnia-Hercegovina’s
director to publicly present a breakdown of the appearances of individual
party officials and parties during the current election campaign in TV
Bosnia-Hercegovina news bulletins.
While the election campaign would soon end, the
HDZ called on TV Bosnia-Hercegovina to be present at the party’s election
rallies.
The statement, which was signed by the HDZ’s election
HQ secretary, Nevenko Herceg, concluded by saying that the HDZ demanded
that the IMC urgently investigate this case. Copies of the letter
were also sent to the leader of the OSCE mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
Robert Barry, as well as to TV Bosnia-Hercegovina and the IMC.
Habena news agency, Mostar, August 29, 1998
VI. Croat protest over Bosnian TV election coverage.
Nevenko Herceg, secretary of the HDZ BH [Croatian
Democratic Union of Bosnia-Hercegovina, ruling Bosnian Croat party] election
headquarters, lodged a protest with the director of Radio-TV Bosnia-Hercegovina
[RTVBiH] over its coverage of the HDZ BH election campaign [on 27th August].
In the HDZ’s view, this coverage is not in line with the Media Experts
Commission’s rules.
According to the protest, RTVBiH has not been adequately
covering the HDZ BH election rallies. By monitoring the current affairs
programmes (news bulletins, “Election Chronicle” etc) it has been noticed
that RTVBiH has not been covering the main HDZ BH rallies (in Siroki Brijeg,
Knin, Usora, Banja Luka, Slavonski Brod, Kupres, Tomislavgrad, Bugojno,
Neum, Medjugorje, Posusje, Citluk, Glamoc, Drvar and Novi Travnik) at which
the main candidates of this party (Jelavic, Prlic, Gabelic, Antunovic and
Marinic) addressed the voters.
Habena news agency, Mostar, August 27, 1998
VII. Paper views moves to curb HRT broadcasts in Bosnia.
The presence of Croatian Television [HTV] in the
Bosnia-Hercegovina media sector over the last two years has often been
a subject of discussion between Bosnia-Hercegovina officials and the international
community.
Most of Bosnia-Hercegovina’s leaders demanded that
the international community disable HTV broadcasts in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
and they often pointed out the irritating weather forecast map of the Republic
of Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina as an argument.
That demand was definitely accepted at the last meeting of the Peace Implementation
Council for the Dayton agreement. Namely, it was concluded that the
presence of HTV in Bosnia-Hercegovina’s media sector must be reduced to
the legal boundaries of activity, which, in fact, means that Croatian Television
can only broadcast satellite programme in Bosnia-Hercegovina, like all
the other international broadcasting companies.
The Office of the High Representative [OHR] has
been entrusted with that task. At the Sarajevo headquarters of the
international representatives it was concluded that the problem of HRT
[Croatian Radio and Television] should be resolved after the September
election if Croatian Television accepts the rules of behaviour on equal
treatment for all, particularly Croatian parties which are preparing for
the election.
Having watched the broadcasts so far, the OSCE [Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe] expert team for the control of
the media registered that the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Hercegovina
[HDZ B-H] got four times more coverage than Zubak’ s New Croatian Initiative,
while other two Croatian parties got minimum coverage for their promotion.
Therefore the OHR demanded that the management of
Croatian Television stick to the rules or its broadcasts would be disabled,
while the OSCE threatened to “cross out” party candidates favoured by Croatian
Television.
The threat to HRT by the OSCE, to remove party candidates
favoured by HRT, is, to say the least, strange. Instead of possible
sanctions against HRT, the bill for promotion should be paid by the candidates
in the sense that they will be removed from the lists. Does that
mean that politicians must forbid the media to cover their election rallies,
and that they must not give statements because they do not know how many
minutes of their statements will be broadcast?
Surely the international community is not satisfied
with the way in which the most influential Croatian medium is covering
the election in Bosnia-Hercegovina. The spokespersons of the international
community say that they want to place all parties in an equal position,
but it is absolutely clear that the international community, which does
not conceal its sympathies for Kresimir Zubak, primarily wants to provide
for an equal and as good media treatment as possible for its favourite.
So, after the election, HTV will probably have to
collect and remove its transmission equipment installed in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The opinion of the international community that HTV is illegally present
in Bosnia-Hercegovina will certainly not change.
Therefore it would be high time to think carefully
about establishing one strong Croatian television station in Bosnia-Hercegovina!
“The battle for TV time,” ‘Slobodna Dalmacija,’ Split, August 25,
1998
VIII. Media Commission not satisfied with HRT
response.
The Media Experts Commission (MEC) on [24th August]
said it was not satisfied with the response to its complaints against programmes
broadcast by Croatian Radio-Television (HRT) and the requests for the broadcaster
to consistently obey elections rules and regulations valid in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Tanya Domi, chairperson of the MEC, which is a part
of the OSCE mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, sent a letter to HRT director
Ivica Vrkic [on 24th August] in which she expressed her concerns over the
manner in which the HRT intends to continue covering activities of parties
registered to participate in September’s elections in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
In her letter, a copy of which was sent to HINA,
Domi expresses concerns over Vrkic’s promise that the HRT will report in
its daily political and news programmes only about the activities of nine
Croat political parties from Bosnia-Hercegovina.
“The HRT evidently intends to continue disregarding
the Provisional Election Commission’s (PEC) Rules and Regulations on media,”
Domi states in her letter, stressing the fact that the election rules which
the HRT disobeys in its policy and practice are made to guarantee equal
access to the media by all political parties.
What this actually means is that the right to be
equally represented in all media which broadcast in Bosnia and Hercegovina,
including the HRT, should apply to all political parties and their candidates,
not only those representing Croats.
Domi’s letter sent to Vrkic [on 24th August] requires
that he personally take further measures to fulfil the MEC’s conditions
regarding the coverage of election activities beginning 20th August.
[Later on 24th August HINA added: “HRT will
not broadcast any reports about election campaign gatherings in Bosnia-Hercegovina
in its main news programmes—the 1930 [1730 gmt] and the “Motrista” current
affairs show—starting tonight and lasting the next two days, the office
of HRT director Ivica Vrkic said on [24th August]. The HRT will use
this period to send letters to all parties and coalitions registered for
the Bosnian elections and invite them to specify the terms of their gatherings,
in order to have the opportunity of equally presenting them by the campaign
deadline (which is 24 hours before polling stations are opened on 12th
September). Depending on the parties’ response and their number,
the HRT will organize a precise schedule and allot equal time to each presentation,
in compliance with the Media Experts Commission (MEC), a part of the OSCE
mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the same source reported.”
HINA news agency, Zagreb, August 24, 1998
IX. Croat media urged to boycott election campaign.
We have just a received a statement from the presidency
of the HDZ [Croatian Democratic Union] for Bosnia-Hercegovina in connection
with media coverage of the election campaign:
The HDZ for Bosnia-Hercegovina [on 24th August]
again welcomed efforts for the reconstruction of Bosnia-Hercegovina TV,
the founding of the IMC [International Media Commission] and all other
measures for the legal regulation of the media system of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
However, as many international representatives have
been looking for a pretext to ban the broadcasting of TV programmes in
the Croatian language during the election campaign, the HDZ for Bosnia-Hercegovina
stressed [on 24th August] that it considered the right of Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina
to programmes in the Croatian language to be far more important than coverage
of the HDZ election campaign.
Not wishing to provide an excuse for international
action against the Croat people in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the HDZ for Bosnia-Hercegovina
calls on the HRT [Croatian Radio-TV] and all other Croat media to stop
covering the election campaign of the HDZ for Bosnia-Hercegovina, while
not infringing on the right of other political parties taking part in the
September elections to be represented in these programmes, the statement
from the HDZ for Bosnia-Hercegovina said
HRT1 TV, Zagreb, August 24, 1998
X. HRT “resents” OSCE threats over poll coverage.
Croatian Radio and Television network (HRT) says
that it will cover the elections in Bosnia-Hercegovina in a professional
manner. In a response to the OSCE directions relating to the manner
of covering the election process, which it completely agrees with, the
HRT management at the same time resents the way in which this institution
has expressed its complaints.
The Media Expert Commission (MEC), which is part
of the OSCE mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, requested that the HRT urgently
change the manner in which it presents political parties participating
in Bosnia-Hercegovina elections, and warned it would take punitive measures
if their requirements were not met.
In a letter to the MEC chairwoman, Tanya L.
Domi, sent [on 21st August] by Obrad Kosovac on behalf of the HRT president
Ivan Vrkic, the HRT claims that it will “professionally, objectively and
equally” follow the activities of Croat political parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
“as it always has.” The HRT quotes its statistical data of the election
campaign coverage in its response to the “messages, remarks and suggestions”
of the MEC.
The HRT management in its letter informs the MEC
that it will, in compliance with the provisions of the Croatian constitution
which requires it to cover the areas of life and work of Croats living
outside Croatia, “in daily political broadcasts report informatively and
in approximately equal length on gatherings and political activities of
all nine Croat political parties registered for elections.” In doing
this, the HRT will follow MEC’s directions and will not favour any party
or candidate.
However, the HRT emphasizes that although its technical
and staff conditions do not allow it to cover all political parties in
Bosnian elections, it will do its best to present all parties in separate
programmes which will be broadcast for the area of Bosnia-Hercegovina in
prime time on its Channel One. The order will be determined by means
of draws, the procedure which will also be followed in the programmes the
Erotel broadcasts for Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The HRT resents MEC’s incorrect procedure in submitting
its request regarding the change of relations towards election campaign
participants. It refers chiefly to the fact that the HRT received
the request only [on 21st August], after it was published in the media
and reported that it had been made on [20th August]. Furthermore,
the HRT finds unfitting that such a message was sent from another country
instead of through the OSCE office in Zagreb.
The MEC head Tanya Domi said on [20th August] in
Sarajevo that the HRT had been required to ensure equal treatment of all
Bosnia-Hercegovina political parties in prime-time news broadcasts by 23rd
August at the latest. Moreover, the HRT had to start presenting participating
parties and candidates by 26th August, the same as other TV networks in
the country were doing, i.e. it had to determine by means of drawing
[lots] the order of their appearance in broadcasts, which had to be at
the same time and duration.
Domi emphasized that such a request had been made
because the previous talks with HRT representatives and Croatian authorities
had not been successful, although they had been warned of the fact that
the network favoured the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Hercegovina
(HDZ BiH).
The reaching of the decision, said Domi, was based
on demarches concerning the contents of the HRT broadcasts sent to the
authorities in Zagreb earlier, after scrutinizing the major news broadcasts
in July and August.
Robert Barry, the OSCE mission chief in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
reminded of the fact that this body was authorized to remove candidates
from the lists in case election rules and regulations were being disregarded.
He also said that the OSCE mandate did not include physical obstructing
of HRT broadcasts, but that it would, if Croatia fulfilled the MEC’s requirements,
significantly influence the decision of the independent Media Expert Commission
whether the HRT broadcasting would be allowed in Bosnia-Hercegovina after
the elections.
[Earlier on 21st August HINA reported: “Office
of the High Representative (OHR) spokesman Simon Haselock told reporters
that . . . the Independent Media Commission is currently very carefully
considering the legal basis on which the HRT is using land transmitters
in Bosnia . . . The OHR believes there are no doubts that the Mostar
firm Erotel which officially operates the transmitters rebroadcasting HRT
programmes is only a subsidiary of the HRT in Bosnia-Hercegovina . . .
Carlos Westendorp’s spokesman said Erotel was using licences and frequencies
awarded on the basis of regulations which had been valid in, as he put
it, the so-called illegal creation of Herzeg-Bosnia. From this it
can be seen that the legal position of this firm is not defined at all
. . . .” ]
HINA news agency, Zagreb, August 21, 1998
XI. OSCE warns HRT over bias in election coverage.
The Media Expert Commission (MEC) on [20th August]
sent a request to Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) to urgently change
its manner of presenting political parties participating in the September
elections in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The MEC, a section of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), warned that ignoring this request would
result in punitive measures.
The Centre’s chairwoman Tanya Domi said at a press
conference in Sarajevo that the HRT had been requested to ensure equal
treatment of all political parties of Bosnia-Hercegovina in main news shows
by midnight 23rd August at the latest.
It must also begin to present parties and candidates
participating in the elections in a manner other television stations in
the country do. The schedule of their appearing on shows must be
chosen randomly, at the same time and same length of time.
Domi stressed that this request had been sent because
the talks so far with HRT representatives and Croatian authorities did
not yield expected results, although they had been warned of the fact that
the television network showed preference to the Croat Democratic Union
party of Bosnia-Hercegovina (HDZ BiH).
We will follow closely whether these requests will
be fulfilled. If they are not, the Electoral Commission will undertake
the necessary steps, Domi said.
OSCE mission chief in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Robert
Barry, said that the Electoral Commission had the authority to remove candidates
from elections lists if electoral rules and regulations are not followed.
He stressed the OSCE’s mandate did not include obstruction
of HRT programmes. The Independent Media Commission will decide after
the elections whether the HRT will be allowed to continue broadcasting
in Bosnia.
Barry stressed he had personally handed the international
community’s complaints on HRT programmes to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman
and Foreign Minister Mate Granic.
Similar requests were also sent to the Serbian Radio
and Television (RTS), but HRT programmes at this moment represented a priority,
as they cover 60 per cent of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
HINA news agency, Zagreb, August 20, 1998
I. Media body raps two radios over election coverage.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe’s Media Experts Commission, monitoring the coverage of the Bosnian
election campaign, has criticized two radio stations—one Serb, the other
Croat—for failing to comply with regulations concerning political coverage.
At the same time, the commission said that Croatian TV had taken some steps
to improve the fairness of its reporting but that its output would continue
to be monitored. The following is the text of a report by Bosnian
radio (Sarajevo):
The report by the Media Experts Commission on the
work of the media institutions of Croatian Radio-TV [HRT], [Serb Sarajevo-based]
Radio St John and [Bosnian Croat Mostar-based] Radio Herceg-Bosna, was
[on 28th August] presented to journalists at a regular news conference
by Sarajevo-based international organizations operating in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Here is a report by Aida Omerovic:
[Omerovic] The Media Experts Commission,
at a meeting in Banja Luka [on 27th August], adopted three decisions connected
with the cases of HRT, Radio St John and Radio Herceg-Bosna. The
Media Experts Commission believes that the HRT has taken steps on the issue
of fair reporting and equal treatment in its current affairs programme.
Although steps have been taken, the Media Experts Commission will continue
its monitoring both of HRT news and of other broadcasts, and it expects
HRT to continue working to make improvements and comply in full with the
rules and regulations of the Provisional Electoral Commission.
In connection with equal access to the media for
all registered parties, the Media Experts Commission observes that HRT
respected instructions and held a draw in Erotel in Mostar on 25th August,
1998, which was also attended by OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe] representatives. The HRT also made available its broadcasts
of its political programmes. Nevertheless, the Media Experts Commission
believes that it is in the interests of effective reporting and the registered
electorate in Bosnia-Hercegovina that HRT broadcast its election programmes
during prime time viewing, between 1900 and 2200.
The Media Experts Commission expects HRT to continue
to improve its reporting on all registered political parties during the
election campaign. As a result, the Media Experts Commission will
suspend the decision it took on 20th August on the lodging of a complaint
to the electoral appeals’ subcommission. The Media Experts Commission
retains the right to have jurisdiction in the HRT case. Nevertheless,
it authorized its chairman to lodge a complaint with the electoral appeals’
subcommission, without prior warning, if it is established that HRT has
failed to implement the planned broadcasting of election programmes, or
if there is a sudden deterioration in terms of programme content.
The Media Experts Commission will continue its work on the HRT case during
the election campaign.
This commission has established that Radio St John
infringed the instructions it was given on 20th August. Radio St
John did not broadcast the letter from the Media Experts Commission as
its right to reply on 21st August, something ordered by this commission.
In fact, according to the OSCE monitoring report,
Radio St John has stopped broadcasting daily news since 20th August, which
is obviously an attempt to oppose the instructions of the Media Experts
Commission. Radio St John has shown itself to be uncooperative and
negative in its contacts and cooperation with OSCE officials, who on several
occasions tried to inform this radio station about its broadcasting obligations,
as they have been termed, as per the guidelines for access by political
parties to the media. The Media Experts Commission is therefore lodging
a complaint against Radio St John to the electoral appeals’ subcommission.
The Media Experts Commission established that Radio
Herceg-Bosna infringed the rules and regulations about media access for
political parties, fair reporting, and equal treatment in their broadcasts.
The chairman of the Media Experts Commission on 26th August ordered Radio
Herceg-Bosna to hold a draw for political parties [to establish when they
should appear on the radio], which they should have completed by 27th August.
This commission stressed that the official election
campaign has been going on since 29th July but that Radio Herceg-Bosna
had not complied with the demand to hold the draw without direct orders
from the chairman of the Media Experts Commission. The OSCE monitoring
report on Radio Herceg-Bosna shows that the Croatian Democratic Union [HDZ]
of Bosnia-Hercegovina is given disproportionate coverage. The Media
Experts Commission will continue to check on the news put out by Radio
Herceg-Bosna, and broadcasts which are not of the current affairs type.
This commission ordered Radio Herceg-Bosna to report in a balanced way
during the election campaign, and to include all registered parties in
the coming 48 hours, in other words by midnight on 30th August.
If Radio Herceg-Bosna does not comply with the demands,
the Media Experts Commission has authorized its chairman to lodge a complaint
to the electoral appeals’ subcommission without warning.
Radio Bosnia-Hercegovina, Sarajevo, August 28, 1998
II. Paper assesses output of Kanal S TV from Pale.
Daily media attacks on Dayton—that is how one could
describe the programming of Kanal S, the party television of the Serb Democratic
Party [SDS], which is broadcast from Pale and can be seen in Sarajevo.
Kanal S evokes some bitter memories from the time
of the media war and the war years. One after another, the enraged
SDS members—to whom one must admit consistency—speak in the language and
style of 1991 and 1994, occasionally swearing by Dayton, just in order
to have a formal alibi for acting against it.
All of this is taking place amid the election campaign
in which all parties should have equal access to the media. One of
the parties, the SDS, has its own television station.
Tolerating such practices until the very finish
of the election race has become a stumbling block for those in the territory
of the [Bosnian] Serb Republic and in the Federation who advocate equal
representation of the competitors. One can always retort: Why
can the SDS do it? Why does Krajisnik have his own personal television
station when he is formally only one of the candidates for the Bosnia-Hercegovina
Presidency?
Kanal S is not the exception that confirms the rule,
it is the exception that jeopardizes the rule. The simplest way the
supervisors of the September elections could react would be the roughest
way—by taking the programme off the air. The best way would be to
bring the SDS into line with the rules that are valid for everyone else.
Time is running out
The absolutely late reaction to the influence of
HRT [Croatian Radio and Television] shifted the emphasis of the debates
from politics to the media. There is an ongoing debate about whether
the HRT broadcasts will continue or not, instead of what each party offers
as its programme.
Pale television shows no intention of complying
with the rules governing pre-election behaviour. The inevitable discussion
about its position will shift attention from the contents to the form.
There will be no debate about the SDS but about the measures against one
television programme.
A programme resembles its founder
The Serb Democratic Party withers but maintains
its tough core—the diehard supporters, the loudest promoters of the ideas
from which the familiar practice originated.
The party paved its political road on the elimination
of opponents and the self-proclaimed exclusive right of representing Serb
national interests in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Even today it preaches
partition—us on one side, everybody else on the other, except for the Radicals,
whose programme is not different from the SDS’s programme.
Many things indicate that the SDS ends where the
law begins, where there are normal rules of behaviour. This also
pertains to its media offspring, Kanal S.
‘Oslobodjenje,’ Sarajevo, August 25, 1998
III. Serbs reject joint media commission.
With regard to Carlos Westendorp, High Representative
for Bosnia-Hercegovina, establishing the Independent Media Commission,
the [Bosnian] Serb Republic [RS] Ministry of Information reported the following:
The RS government does not accept the founding of
the Independent Media Commission with regard to it [the commission] divesting
the RS bodies and [word indistinct] of power in legal regulation and management
of electronic media. More specifically, this relates to frequency
allocation and determining and charging taxes for using the frequencies.
The government will not put forward its representatives
for this commission until the decision is changed and coordinated with
the Dayton Accords, and the government and ministry in charge are consulted.
This was the decision made at the RS government’s 30th session.
The Ministry of Information believes that the authority
of the Independent Media Commission does not correspond to democratic mechanisms.
The authority includes the following: demand for apologies, issuing
warnings, issuing orders, fines, suspension of licences, entering official
premises, confiscation of property, [word indistinct] of operation, and
revoking licences.
According to the Ministry of Information, there
is no basis for the Independent Media Commission in either the draft law
on telecommunications or the regulations that accompany this law.
The negative effect of the commission being founded is already evident,
[word indistinct] starts the avalanche of artificial [word indistinct]
and violation of the Dayton Accords, which is unacceptable to the RS, says
[its] statement [of 12th August] issued by the RS Ministry of Information.
Bosnian Serb radio, Banja Luka, August 12, 1998
IV. OSCE says party presentations must be free.
OSCE spokesman Paul Hockenos said [on 3rd August]
that, in accordance with the Provisional Election Commission Rules and
Regulations, media must not collect payment for election presentation of
parties, coalitions and independent candidates, the Beta news agency reported.
Speaking at a news briefing, Hockenos said that
those media that fail to comply with these rules would be criminally charged.
Hockenos called on media to submit the results of
drawings according to which all parties, coalitions and independent candidates
would be presented in their programmes during the election campaign to
the OSCE by the end of this week.
Onasa news agency web site, Sarajevo, August 5, 1998
An extended session of the [ruling] Socialist Party
of Serbia’s main board underscored on [8th September] the important role
of media in disclosing the activities of ethnic Albanian terrorists in
Kosovo-Metohija and government measures protecting state and national interests.
President of the board’s propaganda council, Slavoljub
Veselinovic, cited media that contributed towards spreading the truth about
the activities of ethnic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo-Metohija.
Among them are the national news agency Tanjug,
Serbian Radio-TV, Radio Yugoslavia, ‘Politika,’ BK television and ‘Dnevnik’
newspaper, and several independent media not financed from abroad.
He listed media, financed from outside, that persisted
in the “ information subversion” : the ‘Nasa Borba’ and ‘Vreme’ newspapers,
Radio B 92, and “other media acting from the same positions in Montenegro.”
Veselinovic singled out the activities of Radio
Free Europe, which he said had become a loudspeaker of the so-called Kosovo
Liberation Army.
SPS spokesman Ivica Dacic said that terrorism was
at the core of all problems in the province.
Terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija has clear political
aims, he said: a “ separate and independent Kosovo Republic,” which
will subsequently transform into a Greater Albania, with those parts of
Macedonia populated by Albanians, said Dacic.
He said that the citing of Albanian sources, “with
unverified reports, rumours and misinformation,” was nothing else but direct
support to terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija.
Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, September 8, 1998
II. Independent radio stations vow to continue broadcasts.
Belgrade Radio B92 received a written order the day
before [1st September] from Dragoljub Milanovic, the Radio-Television of
Serbia [RTS] director-general, in which Radio B92 was required “to remove
its transmitter” from the RTS building within a month at the latest.
This is what Veran Matic, the editor in chief of Radio B92 and its chairman,
said in [the 2nd August] news conference for the ANEM [Association of Independent
Media].
Matic and Nenad Cekic, the editor in chief of Radio
Indeks, stated that their radio stations would go on broadcasting their
programmes, since there is “no legal basis” for cancelling them.
Radio B92, which was given a temporary permit to broadcast in a competition
for the allocation of frequencies organized by the Federal Ministry for
Telecommunications, assessed Milanovic’s requirement as “unclear.”
According to Matic, the reason is that the transmitter in Zvezdara [a Belgrade
district] is not owned by Radio B92 but by RTS. Sasa Mirkovic, the
Radio B92 manager, said in his answer to the RTS director-general that
his radio station is not in charge in removing the RTS transmitter, adding
that it “cannot even physically approach it.” Citing the Contract
on Business and Technical Cooperation, which was signed with RTS in December,
the employees of Radio B92 assess that the discontinuation of their station
by RTS would be “a flagrant violation of that contract.”
Radio Indeks also signed a contract with RTS, in
which RTS obliged itself to enable the university radio to broadcast its
programmes through a RTS transmitter until they install their own transmitter.
“ We shall not discontinue our programmes, since even if RTS violates the
contract, we have the technology for transmitting that enables us to continue
broadcasting,” Nenad Cekic says. . . .
“Giving up” under pressure
On behalf of the Independent Media Association,
Veran Matic also says that some radio stations within the ANEM signed contracts
“under threat and pressure” exerted by the Federal Ministry for Telecommunications
by which they are giving up their constant broadcasting permits free of
charge and accepting temporary permits, which are valid for periods of
between one and two years and which cost a lot of money. ANEM states
that this was done with the Jasenice, Kragujevac, Pancevo, Cacak and Jagodina
radio stations.
Order for Pink Television too?
Nenad Cekic says that no one knows so far whether—except
for Radio Indeks and B92—anyone else received the same letter from Dragoljub
Milanovic, but he adds: “I know that Pink Television also uses a
RTS transmitter. We shall immediately call the manager Zeljko Mitrovic
(from Yugoslav United Left) in order to coordinate among ourselves, so
that we can fight together for independent media. I do not know whether
Pink Television received the same order, but I shall check it.”
‘Dnevni telegraf,’ Belgrade, September 3, 1998
III. Independent radios given a month to close down.
Acting on the orders of the Federal Telecommunications
Ministry, the director of Serbian Radio-TV [RTS], Dragoljub Milanovic,
has ordered B92 and Index radio [independent student station in Belgrade]
to switch off and remove the transmitter from the RTS broadcasting building
in Zvezdara [part of Belgrade] within a month.
The director of the Association of Independent Electronic
Media [ANEM], Veran Matic, and the director and editor-in-chief of Index
radio, Nenad Cekic, said at a news conference that the order was legally
unfounded and above all incomprehensible, since RTS and not the two radio
stations is the owner of the above transmitter, and it would be unlawful
and physically impossible to execute the order.
Matic said that such a gesture was a unilateral
cancellation of the agreement on the 10-year use of frequencies and added:
[Matic] What is important is that the
order says that we must remove the equipment in Zvezdara which we use for
broadcasting. Mr Milanovic does not seem to know that we have been
broadcasting our programmes for years via their [RTS] equipment.
He asked us to remove their equipment and we cannot do that. We will
try to protect Mr Milanovic from being tortured by the Federal Telecommunications
Ministry which allegedly issued such an order.
I suppose Mr Milanovic does not want to have fresh
problems with us since experience shows that these problems affected him
more when he tried to pursue the whole thing to the end.
Radio B92, Belgrade, September 2, 1998
IV. Belgrade paper slams Serb media policy.
A commentary in the Belgrade newspaper ‘Srpsko
Oslobodjenje’ has criticized the Bosnian Serb authorities for being so
concerned with exercising control over the Bosnian Serb media that they
have neglected to take action to counter those stations being financed
by the international community. The following are excerpts from the
commentary, by Milan Djukic, headlined “Spies are ‘strolling’ through the
ether”:
The international community has founded the so-called
SIMIC [expansion untraced] centres for the development of private business
and economic recovery. But it has turned out that these centres are
actually places of quisling corruption. . . . Here the SDS [Serb
Democratic Party] made a huge mistake in not monitoring the work of these
centres and immediately excluding those people from the SDS.
One of the most important goals was the creation
of so-called private radio stations that were backed by Radio Free Europe,
a subsidiary of the CIA. This radio station has created a network
of private radio stations, which they use to disseminate their propaganda.
These radio stations are a gift, and their work is financed. They
were mainly given to people who had Muslim wives. In return, they
agreed to play Ustashi music and read Radio Free Europe news and take part
in joint programmes with other Muslim radio stations that talk about how
much progress has been made since the Serb aggression against Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Another network of radio stations covers the territory
of Bosnia-Hercegovina. This is the so-called Radio FERN [Free Elections
Radio Network]. Vasic, the [Bosnian Serb] information minister who
keeps shutting down Serb media, has not even attempted to defend the sovereignty
of the [Bosnian] Serb Republic in the area of broadcasting by prohibiting
the work of these illegal radio stations. He is too busy closing
down the media owned by Serbs that do not have a quisling orientation.
They do not say that black is white, unlike the minister censor.
These so-called unfortunate owners of radio stations are only temporarily
basking in fame and fortune, believing they are important individuals,
not realizing that they will be discarded as soon as their mentors get
what they want.
It is not possible for three radio stations to operate
economically in small cities when they need 60,000 German marks for salaries
and other costs. Shops and restaurants cannot set aside these sums
for advertising, and these radio stations will be closed down as soon as
they finish their role of distracting people’s attention from important
issues.
“Independent” TV Banja Luka admitted that it gets
60,000 German marks as a donation for monthly salaries, but it seems to
have forgotten that it is crime for a profitable organization to receive
donations. How do they show this in their financial accounts, and
do they pay taxes?
Only nonprofit organizations are allowed to receive
subsidies. These organizations include the Red Cross and others.
Our financial police are setting up court processes for the needs of the
political campaign of the regime of Biljana Plavsic. How can they
deal with economic crime when it would be counterproductive to the campaign?
First of all, because the people would realize just how many shady transactions
the regime is hiding; second, if they closed down these media because of
the criminal activities going on in them, who would sing songs of praise
to the regime?
The SDS government used to give permits to everyone,
reporters, radio and TV stations, even to Dodik and Radisic, which only
strengthens freedom and democracy. This regime goes around shutting
down media and calls it democratization. Go ahead, try calling a
political TV talk show and see what telephone number they show on TV.
You will see for yourself that the questions are faked. When the
SDS was in power, you could call in to a live programme and say whatever
you wanted without any censorship at all, but now all you can do is vote
for Ceca or Dragana [modern folk singers].
What can we do when our information minister is
an intellectual who responds to a reporter’s question by saying that there
are no independent media and after only several sentences says that his
aim is to create independent and objective media. Good old Vasic.
When you manage to become minister with your brains, then we are really
in for a joyride.
‘Srpsko Oslobodjenje,’ Belgrade, August 26, 1998