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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
I. Bosnian
Croat journalists urge resumption of HRT.
The presidency of
the association of [Bosnian] Croat journalists in
Bosnia-Hercegovina has discussed the state of the Croat
media in Bosnia-Hercegovina, and especially the state of
the electronic media, at a session held in Mostar.
[Reporter]
After
the session, a statement was issued on the conclusions
reached. The statement said that the
association of Croat journalists in Bosnia-Hercegovina
supported the normal work and development of all local
radio-TV stations, and the resumption of the
rebroadcasting of all the three HRT [Croatian Radio-TV]
channels [recently banned by International Media
Commission]. The statement said that the programmes
should also be made available to the Croats who currently
could not receive them.
The question of
rebroadcasting the HRT channels must be regulated under
the relevant addenda to the agreement on special
relations between Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, or in
some other way.
The association
must propose a draft law on radio and TV in the
[Muslim-Croat] Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, because
the existing draft was unacceptable to the Croat
people. Nor is it consistent with the
federation’s constitution or with the Dayton
Agreement.
Furthermore,
there has got to be an investigation into the way
Bosnia-Hercegovina Radio-TV has acquired the exclusive
right to be a member of the European radio union before
reform.
The presidency of
the association supported the move to make the
association of Croat journalists in Bosnia-Hercegovina a
member of the Brussels-based international federation of
journalists, the statement said.
Croatian Radio, Zagreb,
January 16, 1999
II. Croat
radio stations agree on closer cooperation.
At a meeting [on
15th January] between the minister for education, science
and sport of the Posavina canton [Croat enclave in
northern Bosnia], Ivo Jelusic, the minister’s aide,
Mijo Mijic, and representatives of radio stations that
broadcast or produce programmes in the Posavina canton,
it was agreed that radio stations in the area—Croat
Radio Orasje, Radio Odzak, Radio Ravne-Brcko, Family
Radio Valentino and Independent Radio 93—would
increase their cooperation.
The directors and
editors in chief [of the radio stations] informed the
minister and his aid about the current problems
experienced by their stations. Thereupon, the
minister’s aide, Mijic, informed them about the
legal acts which need to be brought into line with the
existing county law on public statements.
Minister Jelusic said that the Posavina canton
government would once again start an initiative to set up
a canton television station.
Habena news agency,
Mostar, January 16, 1999
III.
International official questions HRT operations.
The HINA
[Croatian news agency] correspondent in Mostar, Pejo
Gasparovic, just before this programme began, sent our
colleague a report on how the head of the department
responsible for issuing media permits in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, Robert Gillete, has accused Croatian
TV of damaging Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina. This
is what his report says:
Robert Gillete,
the head of the Independent Media Commission department
responsible for issuing media permits in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, said in Mostar [on 15th January] that
Mostar’s Erotel TV and other Croat media in
Bosnia-Hercegovina have a future, but that it is
necessary to find a new mode of cooperation between
Zagreb Croatian TV and the Croat media in
Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Gillete said that
initially Zagreb Croatian TV resolved some of the
problems of the Croat people in Bosnia-Hercegovina, but
is now causing harm to people who should be helped.
In this connection he said that in the Mostar area
between 30 and 100 per cent of the public watch only
Croatian TV, and public also watch the
advertisements. In other words between 30 and 100
per cent of the money which the domestic and local Croat
media could earn from advertising goes across the border
into Croatia.
This prevents the
normal development of the media market in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, Gillete said. He hopes that
Zagreb Croatian TV will have an understanding for
resolving these problems and find new ways of cooperating
with, as he put it, the domestic Croat media, meaning the
Croat media in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Gillete intimated
the possibility of cooperation between Croatian TV and
the future federation television in Bosnia-Hercegovina in
such a way that Croatian TV programmes, for example
Motrista [Viewpoints] and Dnevnik [Daily News], might
also be broadcast on federal television, but at different
times so as to avoid the simultaneous broadcasting of two
Daily News programmes.
This relationship
should be regulated between these two public media,
Gillete added, saying that in this way Croatian TV
cultural, historical and religious programmes could be
broadcast on federal television.
Gillete said that
Zagreb Croatian TV only has a permit to broadcast
numerous films and entertainment programmes in the
Republic of Croatia. By broadcasting these
programmes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatian TV is
breaching its contract and is taking bread from the
mouths of the domestic local Croat media.
If Croatian TV
really wants to support the local Croat people it should
allow the domestic media to develop, Gillete added.
He said Croatian TV was the only TV which could be seen
in southern Bosnia-Hercegovina but that for democracy it
was necessary to have a choice of media presenting
differing political viewpoints.
Analysing the
ownership structure of Erotel TV, Gillete said that this
media organization should now be restructured so as to
fully comply with all the laws of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Croat Radio
Herceg-Bosna, Mostar, January 15, 1999
IV. Bosnian
federation president calls for Croatian TV.
If they are not
granted the right to their own national channel on
Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina Television [RTVBiH],
that will be a sign for Bosnian Croats that they have
nothing to do there, the president of the Croat-Muslim
Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, Ivo Andric Luzanski,
said on [9th January].
Luzanski said
this in an interview with the Croat radio of
Herceg-Bosnia in Mostar, commenting on the reorganization
of television in Sarajevo without national channels.
If we are not
allowed to have a national channel with the Croatian
language, culture and music, I fear that we will face a
situation similar to the one 50 years ago, when
everything that was Croatian was stigmatized, Luzanski
stressed.
However, he
expected that the international community would accept
requests by the Croat side that no ban be imposed on the
rebroadcast of Croatian Radio Television (HRT) programmes
in Bosnia-Hercegovina and that a Croatian national
channel be opened.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, January 9, 1999
V. Erotel
condemns ban on HRT rebroadcasts.
An official of
the Mostar-based TV station Erotel, Jozo Curic, on [8th
January] commented on a statement by Croatian Radio
Television (HRT) spokesman, who said that only one
Croatian channel in Bosnia-Hercegovina would be
sufficient to completely protect the interests of Bosnian
Croats. The HRT spokesman’ s statement was
published in [the 8th January] issue of the
‘Slobodna Bosna’ daily.
Curic was
speaking in the context of recent announcements of the
international community that the rebroadcasting of three
HRT channels in Bosnia-Hercegovina through Erotel would
be declared illegal, despite the fact that there are no
adequate laws to regulate this issue.
“. . . The
cancellation of HRT channels and media separation of BH
[Bosnia-Hercegovina] Croats from the Republic of Croatia
will have serious consequences for their language and
culture. There is no legal basis whatsoever to
forcibly cut off BH Croats from Croatia. We are
talking here about political reasons, that is, an attempt
to decrease the influence of the Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ) and the Croatian state on the overall
political situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina,” Curic
said.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, January 8, 1999
VI. HRT
broadcasts in Bosnia said to be illegal.
The international
community and the Office of the High Representative in
Bosnia (OHR) are taking great efforts to ensure that
Bosnian Croats have access to the media, but, at the same
time, they are demanding the introduction of the rule of
law and the cessation of the illegal rebroadcasting of
Croatian radio and television programmes in Bosnia, Simon
Haselock, [High Representative] Carlos Westendorp’s
deputy, in charge of the media, said.
Haselock told
[the 5th January] news conference in Sarajevo that
Croatian press reports about problems in the
establishment of Bosnian (Muslim-Croat) federal radio and
television did not present the state of affairs
accurately.
“The
international community spares no effort to ensure the
Bosnian Croatian community’s right of access to the
media. This also means that illegal activities will
no longer be tolerated,” Haselock said in
Sarajevo. The deputy high representative explained
that he was referring to the fact that Croatian
Radio-Television (HRT) broadcast some programmes in
Bosnia-Hercegovina illegally. He added that the
HRT’s activities must be brought into line with the
law. . . .
“Any kind of
federal TV must guarantee respect for the rights of the
constituent peoples and must have a joint
management,” Haselock told the news conference.
“The public
deserves the television which will operate legally and
which will serve all ethnic communities. We are
looking forward to constructive proposals from political
leaders and hope that there will be no press attacks
against us, since that would be counterproductive,”
he said.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, January 5, 1999
VII. Bosnian
Croat TV protests multiethnic radio-TV plans.
The Mostar-based
TV station Erotel [on 2nd January] denied strongly a
statement by High Representative Carlos Westendorp, who
said in an interview for [Zagreb-based] ‘Jutarnji
list’ [on 1st January] that broadcasts of the
Croatian Radio-TV [HRT] programme [in Bosnia] could be
suspended because both sides had shown a lack of goodwill
during negotiations.
Erotel, a TV
station which rebroadcasts Croatian Radio-TV programmes
in Bosnia-Hercegovina, says that certain international
players are trying to force the Bosnian Croats into an
unequal position as far as the media are concerned.
We have insisted that the future federal TV should have
one Croat and one Bosniak [Muslim] channel, and that
Erotel, which has around 70 employees, should provide the
basis for the Croat channel. However, Erotel says,
attempts are being made to follow the example of the BBC
and centralize all transmitters in the Bosnia-Hercegovina
Federation—30 of which were built from scratch by
the Croats during the war—and organize both channels
of the federal TV as multiethnic, with mixed languages
and mixed editors.
The director of
Erotel, Branko Colak, warns that minorities throughout
Europe are allowed to watch programmes from their mother
countries, so why should not a sovereign people [Bosnian
Croats] be able to decide for themselves whose TV they
want to watch?
Croat Radio
Herceg-Bosna, Mostar, January 2, 1999
VIII. HDZ
leader calls for Croat-language TV.
A member of
Bosnia-Hercegovina’s three-man presidency and the
president of the Bosnian Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ),
Ante Jelavic, on [31st December] advocated the
reorganization of Bosnian Radio and Television.
Jelavic urged the establishment of a federal
television and a TV channel in the Croatian language,
which is guaranteed by the European Charter.
At [the] New Year
reception held for journalists in Mostar [on 31st], he
said the media in Croatian language was one of important
preconditions for Croats’ existence in Bosnia.
Therefore, he added, it would be necessary to create
strong Croatian media in the country and begin publishing
dailies and weeklies in Croatian in Mostar.
He accused Muslim
(Bosniak) media of “attacking without valid
arguments all that is Croat and of perfidiously
prejudging political solutions in Bosnia.”
Jelavic called on journalists to advance
cooperation with the [licence regulator] Independent
Media Commission [IMC].
He maintained
that the pre-war Sarajevo-based Bosnian Radio and
Television had been “an exclusively Muslim
electronic medium” although all three constituent
peoples in [the] country had paid for the construction of
its transmission system.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, December 31, 1998
IX. Croat
radio privatization reports denied.
Croat Radio Soli,
a Tuzla radio station, has refuted allegations that it
was privatized. The allegations were made at the
last session of the Tuzla county assembly by the
Bosnia-Hercegovina Social Democrat [SD] deputies and the
Social Democratic Party [SDP] of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
In [the 30th
December] statement by Croat Radio Soli, surprise is
expressed. These parties, the statement says, are
bothered by the fact that this radio exists although they
describe themselves as European, multiethnic and
civilian-based.
The statement
says that the Bosnia-Hercegovina Social Democrats and the
Bosnia-Hercegovina SDP have been trying for a long time
now to bring about the closure of this radio. By
uttering lies, they try to diminish the reputation and
the importance of this media institution. . . .
Croat Radio Soli
also warns that the Tuzla municipal council, which is
controlled by the SD and the SDP, is secretly financing
its own “media favourites.”
Habena news agency,
Mostar, December 30, 1998
X. Serb
assembly bans live TV coverage of proceedings.
The third session
of the People’s Assembly of the [Bosnian] Serb
Republic [RS] was adjourned at 2200 [2100 gmt] and is
scheduled to resume tomorrow [24th December] at 0930.
Prior to this,
deputies decided that the proceedings of the RS
parliament should in future not be covered live by
[Bosnian] Serb Radio-TV (SRT).
Deputies of the Serb Democratic Party [SDS] and the
Serbian Radical Party [SRS] were particularly opposed to
this decision.
The RS prime
minister designate, Dragan Kalinic, then refused to
address the RS People’s Assembly on his activities
in connection with the formation of a government of the
Serb entity in Bosnia-Hercegovina, assessing that the
abolition of live coverage of the RS People’s
Assembly session meant the introduction of a media
blackout.
Kalinic said that
he would soon finally inform the RS president about his
activities in connection with forming a new government.
Tanjug news agency,
Belgrade, December 23, 1998
XI. Plans to
stop live relays from Serb parliament.
Serb Republic
Information Minister Rajko Vasic announced [on 10th
December] that Serb Radio-Television [SRT] would most
probably discontinue the practice of live relays from
sessions of the Serb Republic Assembly, because every
session, as he put it, humiliates the Serb people and
takes away their dignity as a political factor.
In a statement
for tomorrow’s [11th December] issue of ‘Dnevne
Nezavisne Novine,’ Minister Vasic explained that the
termination of live relays would enable deputies to
realize at last that they should get down to work rather
than keep addressing the nation every five
minutes—the sessions would thus become more
efficient as well.
He also pointed
out that, from the very start, he had been against live
relays of parliament proceedings, primarily because this
was not a common practice anywhere else in the
world. Asked by a journalist why he had not banned
live relays before, Vasic said that he, as information
minister, did not have such a [words indistinct], but
that it is up to SRT to decide the matter.
Kanal S Television,
Pale, December 10, 1998
XII. Plans
for radio, TV restructuring.
The interim management
board of Bosnia-Hercegovina Radio-TV [RTVBiH] has drawn
up a draft proposal on the reorganization of
Bosnia-Hercegovina Radio-TV and a draft law on
Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation Radio-TV. This is
what the documents say:
The proposals
provide for the establishment of Bosnia-Hercegovina
Federation Radio-TV, of Bosnia-Hercegovina Radio-TV and
the public telecommunications corporation of
Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Bosnia-Hercegovina
Federation Radio-TV would be set up as an institution in
charge of the production and broadcasting of radio-TV
programmes throughout the federation. It would have
two channels and take into account historical, national,
cultural, linguistic, religious, economic, social and
regional differences between the nations and citizens.
Bosnia-Hercegovina
Radio-TV would produce and broadcast its programme on the
whole of state territory via the already existing network
or via several radio-TV networks. Its primary task
would be to follow events in the country, Europe and the
world, and to be a factor in the process of integration.
Bosnia-Hercegovina
Radio-TV would maintain its membership in Eurovision
while promoting rights and interests of all public
radio-TV stations in the country. Radio-TV stations
in the entities [the Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation and
the Bosnian Serb Republic] would not be members of
Eurovision.
The national
structure of the staff employed at Bosnia-Hercegovina
Federation Radio-TV and of Bosnia-Hercegovina Radio-TV
will be balanced.
The establishment
of a public telecommunications corporation is also
proposed, which would transmit and broadcast signal to
all public and commercial radio-TV stations and offer
services of cable and satellite distribution.
TV Bosnia-Hercegovina,
Sarajevo, December 10, 1998
XIII.
Independent Media Commission set up as licence regulator.
All electronic
media broadcasting their programmes on Bosnian territory
will by the end of next February have to request a
broadcasting licence from the Independent Media
Commission (IMC), which was established by the
international peace coordinator for Bosnia.
All licences
issued by the IMC would represent a binding contract
containing clearly specified conditions for professional
programme broadcasting, IMC deputy manager and head of
the licence granting department, Robert Gilette, told
reporters in Sarajevo on [9th December].
After four months
of work, the IMC determined that 280 radio and television
stations were active in Bosnia. Many broadcasts
with inadequate equipment or fail to comply with the
minimum of professional standards.
According to available estimates, only 20 of 80
television station in Bosnia have a significant audience.
There is nobody
in Bosnia which would regulate the allocation of
frequencies for broadcasting radio and television
programmes, which has resulted in a chaotic state of
affairs.
Following a peace
coordinator’s decision, the IMC was authorized to
regulate the distribution of frequencies as public goods,
with the intention to transform the regulating body into
a standing state institution which would be run by local
experts.
The grants which
will be issued at first will cover a six-month period and
will not be charged. Licences covering longer
periods will be issued later and will cost the media
between [DM]1,000 and 5,000, depending on the size of the
territory they intend to cover.
Licence granting
rules envisage that no station run by a war crime suspect
can obtain a licence.
Robert Gilette
said the licence-granting was also a way of making sure
that radio or television stations using the public
spectrum of frequencies cease being a means of political
promotion.
Asked how
broadcasts of Croatian-Radio Television (HRT) and
Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) would be regulated on
Bosnian territory, Gilette confirmed these two
institutions too must request licences.
He said the IMC
understood the Bosnian Croats’ necessity for HRT
programme rebroadcasts, but pointed out that, were it to
continue at the present rate, it would be more
detrimental than of benefit to Bosnian Croats.
By focusing all
potential on HRT rebroadcasting, radio and television
stations in Bosnia which could produce programmes in
Croatian are being obstructed in their development.
Gilette said it
was time for the Croatian government to consider another
way of assisting the media in Bosnia. He suggested
the possibility of direct cooperation between the HRT and
Bosnian Radio-Television.
He emphasized the
IMC retained the right to refuse granting a licence to a
Bosnian media financed by a foreign government.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, December 9, 1998
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