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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
I.
High representative approves draft law on federation TV.
James Fergusson, spokesman of the Office of the High
Representative, has confirmed that High Representative
Carlos Westendorp has approved the draft law on the
Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation television, in which
particular attention is paid to the issue of preserving
the Croat identity in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
At a news conference in Sarajevo, Fergusson said that
this slow process is finally coming to an end, which will
provide the basis for good-quality public reporting in
Bosnia-Hercegovina. He expressed the hope that the
Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation government will, in
accordance with its obligations contained in the Madrid
Declaration, manage to define and put together a modern
public information service that will serve the interests
of both the Croat and the Bosniak [Croat Muslim]
people.
Bosnian
Serb radio, Banja Luka, April 29, 1999
II.
Federal parliament backs radio and TV draft bill.
Bosnia-Hercegovina’s Federal Parliament House of
Representatives on [28th April] supported by majority
vote a draft bill on the federal radio and television and
asked the government to make a final bill on the ground
of this document.
At [the 28th April] session the lower house of the
Muslim-Croat Bosnian Federation adopted a conclusion in
which it warned the government to take into account all
remarks expressed during the parliamentary debate while
drawing up the final act.
This referred particularly to two contentious articles
which regulate the issue of language usage in the
channels of the federal radio and television and the
distribution of the assets of the current Radio
Television of Bosnia-Hercegovina (RTVBiH).
Deputies of Bosnia’s Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ
BiH) voted differently on the matter, and most of them
abstained in the vote.
During previous talks on the issue, Croat and Muslim
(Bosniak) officials in the federation could not reach
agreement on a proposal that programmes on two television
and radio channels be divided on the language
basis.
A final decision has not been reached on provisions
regulating the issue of property which should be at the
disposal of the federal radio and television.
A draft bill proposes that the newly-established media
house should take all the assets of the current RTVBiH,
but the Muslim side opposed the proposal.
The federal lower house called on
Bosnia-Hercegovina’s parliament to take part in
efforts aimed at settling the problem by adopting a new
law which may regulate the status of the current RTVBiH
as a public corporation which should be set up at the
state level.
HINA
news agency, Zagreb, April 28, 1999
III.
OHR and IMC reportedly disagree over SRT.
The unbalanced and war-mongering journalism that the SRT
[Serb Radio-Television] has been practising noticeably
lately and the ways of resolving such unprofessional
behaviour are the reason for disagreements between the
Independent Media Commission [IMC] and the Office of the
High Representative [OHR].
As far as the SRT is concerned, the IMC cannot use its
mandate and powers, one unnamed IMC official
claims. According to the same source, the reason
for that lies in the fact that the OHR has its own
supervisor, Dragan Gasic, who is in charge of supervising
the reconstruction of the SRT that leaves both space and
time for resolving the SRT problems. However, in
our source’s opinion, Gasic cannot do much, since he
is surrounded by editorial and journalistic staff who
mostly favour the hard-liners and their political
options, and he is also constantly exposed to
threats.
“We are not pleased with the SRT,” OHR
officials claim, admitting that the high representative
himself wrote several times to the SRT warning it because
of its way of reporting. Monitoring is being
carried out currently, but, as the OHR officials say, in
order to have any concrete action undertaken in the SRT
case, the high representative, and not the IMC, has to
take a political decision first. In other words,
the OHR is in charge of SRT’s reconstruction, and
the IMC’s role is to do the monitoring and issue
licences, the OHR people say.
“The OHR has a formal memorandum with the [Bosnian]
Serb Republic government on the reconstruction of
SRT. Supervisor Dragan Gasic is in charge of
overseeing and monitoring that process. However,
considering the crisis in the Serb Republic caused both
by internal and external events, the situation in the SRT
is far from satisfactory and we are aware of
it”—that was the only comment from Simon
Haselock, the High Representative’s deputy for the
media.
“Gasic
powerless, and IMC’s hands tied,”
‘Vecernje Novine,’ Sarajevo, April 28, 1999
IV.
Serb Kanal S TV defies broadcasting ban.
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) expects Kanal S
[Pale-based Bosnian Serb TV station] to respect the
commission’s decision to ban its broadcasts, IMC
spokeswoman Zinaida Babovic told SRNA [on 21st April],
adding that this had not been done.
She said that IMC officials were in constant contact with
Kanal S employees and that this was common practice in
such cases, adding that the IMC insisted that its
decision on the suspension of broadcasts be implemented
before any talks could begin.
“The ball is now in the court of Kanal S.
They, like all other media, were aware from the very
beginning that they must abide by the broadcasting
code. They violated that code twice and had a fine
imposed on them. They have failed to pay the
fine,” the IMC spokeswoman said.
Babovic has declined to elaborate on the measures the IMC
might take in the event Kanal S fails to respect the
broadcasting ban.
Bosnian
Serb news agency SRNA, Bijeljina, April 21, 1999
V.
OHR objects to RTVBiH closure prior to reform.
“The OHR’s [Office of the High Representative]
official position is that RTVBiH [Radio and Television of
Bosnia-Hercegovina] must exist,” Daniel De Luce
said, among other things. De Luce was the OHR
delegate to a round-table meeting organized by the Forum
2000 Bosnia-Hercegovina-EU [European Union] which
discussed the process of transforming and developing
electronic media in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
De Luce was categorical: “The future RTVBiH
must exist as the legal successor of the current
RTVBiH. This definitely implies certain conceptual
changes. There can be no closing down of the
RTVBiH.”
Anto Domazet, chairman of the Provisional Governing Board
of the RTVBiH, commented for ‘Dnevni Avaz’ on
the OHR’s first publicly-voiced position on the
RTVBiH:
“The memorandum on restructuring the RTVBiH clearly
said that a new structure of radio and television should
be created and that it should reflect the interests of
all the peoples living in Bosnia-Hercegovina. As is
known, the first step is to form a federal radio and
television company and then to start establishing the
RTVBiH, and that is the process that the Serb people
should also join. The OHR repeated to us on several
occasions that until a new RTVBiH is created, the
existing one should continue to operate. We work
under the memorandum, and I think that so far everything
has gone according to plan.”
According to him, the Provisional Governing Board has
already started working on the concept of the RTVBiH law,
as well as forming a public corporation for
telecommunications. Domazet does not think that the
governing board is working “too fast,”
considering that even the bill on federal television has
not gone through the parliamentary procedure yet.
The
HDZ’s refusal
Domazet said the following about the HDZ’s [Croat
Democratic Union] refusal to have the bill forwarded to
the deputies of the federal parliament: “I
cannot see a single rational reason why the HDZ should
dispute the bill in question, as they have said a
thousand times that they want a federal television.
I can understand that there are certain objections, but
the parliament is the place where these can be resolved
and where certain solutions may be improved.”
Almir Alikadic, head of the KCD [Coalition for an
Integral and Democratic Bosnia-Hercegovina] deputy club
in the House of Representatives of the federal
parliament, thinks that despite its certain shortcomings
the bill on federal television will be ratified during
the next parliament’s session.
‘Dnevni
Avaz,’ Sarajevo, April 19, 1999
VI.
IMC issues new code on election coverage.
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) in
Bosnia-Hercegovina has adopted a special code on media
conduct during pre-election and election
activities. According to a statement issued on [9th
April] by the IMC headquarters, the code will be valid
until a final election law is adopted by the
country. The code will be binding for all
media and it will have priority in relation to all other
laws in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Electronic media will have to abide by a special,
previously adopted code for broadcasting programmes, as
well as respect the right to a response.
The press will be obligated to see that the information
published is correct, complete, fair, just and
unbiased. The media are forbidden to distort or
conceal information or use materials to instigate
religious or ethnic hatred or violence.
The IMC has in principle forbidden paid political
announcements and ordered that the identity of their
sponsors be published should they be made.
According to the code, all political parties and
candidates shall be equal in accessing the media, and
this rule especially refers to the period of 45 days
before elections take place.
The code also reaffirmed a previously adopted regulation
on media blackout 24 hours prior to the opening of
polling stations to their closing.
Any violation of these rules will be punished in line
with powers exercised by the IMC or the Election Appeals
Subcommission of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the IMC said.
HINA
news agency, Zagreb, April 9, 1999
VII.
OHR urges parliament to pass radio-TV law.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR) warned it was
crucial that the Federation House of Representatives
adopt the draft law on federation radio-television at its
[7th April] session.
Deputy High Representative for Media Matters Simon
Haselock told reporters in Sarajevo the biggest problem
is the legal vacuum on public broadcasting, because the
“elected leadership has failed to deliver on this
for more than three years.”
“New Federation TV will help bolster cohesion of the
federation at a difficult moment as it is will be an
institution created by the federation and by
agreement. It is fundamental to the Croat feeling
of belonging as it will ensure that they are able to get
indigenous TV which recognizes their culture, traditions
and language,” Haselock said.
Criticizing accusations on the account of the
international community related to the financing of
public television in the federation, Haselock said the
donor governments have promised their assistance, but
“there are limits.” He added that the
“Democratic Action Party (SDA) and the Croat
Democratic Union (HDZ) are spending millions of marks on
cantonal and municipal stations, which are not
multiethnic, or financially transparent or editorially
independent.”
“This type of expenditure at the cantonal level is
insulting to the international community,” Haselock
said.
Speaking on the establishment of the television at the
state level, Haselock compared the Bosnian
radio-television with the old national bank and the
Bosnian currency, dinar. He said it has to be
replaced with “new institutions, with new laws that
all the ethnic communities can support.”
“The Commission on Public Corporations has already
begun to discuss this matter, but, unfortunately, it is
being hampered by the present moratorium by the RS
[Bosnian Serb Republic] officials,” Haselock
said.
Onasa
news agency web site, Sarajevo, April 7, 1999
VIII.
IMC notes improvement in SRT reporting.
The Independent Media Commission [IMC] in
Bosnia-Hercegovina held a news conference [on 31st
March]. Radan Zekovic has a report.
[Zekovic]
At [the 31st] news conference, IMC spokesperson Dieter
Loraine told reporters that the deadline for submitting
applications for frequencies is tomorrow. He said
that 264 stations out of the 272 on the territory of
Bosnia-Hercegovina had submitted their applications to
the IMC.
Speaking about the situation in the media in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, Loraine emphasized that the
commission’s mandate is to supervise the operation
of the media in Bosnia-Hercegovina, particularly in the
Serb Republic [RS].
The IMC spokesman emphasized that the media (?play a
special role) in the objective reporting and coverage of
events. Otherwise, as Loraine emphasized, the IMC
would have to exercise its mandate and revoke the (?work
permits) of the biased media.
As far as the RS media reporting on the situation in
Yugoslavia is concerned, Loraine said that most stations
in the RS had accepted IMC’ s recommendation to use
in their reports other sources on the situation in Kosovo
and Metohija, in addition to Radio-Television Serbia
[RTS]. In this context he said that the Serb
Radio-Television [SRT] reporting has changed for the
better in the last few days.
Bosnian
Serb radio, Banja Luka, March 31, 1999
IX.
IMC slams “unprofessional” reporting.
Sections of the Bosnian broadcast media were accused on
31st March of “unprofessional” reporting of the
NATO strikes against Yugoslavia, the Croatian news agency
HINA reported.
The criticism was made by the Independent Media
Commission (IMC), a Western-sponsored media regulator in
Bosnia.
IMC spokesman Dieter Loraine said broadcasters in the
Bosnian Serb Republic were particularly at fault, by
exclusively quoting Yugoslav and Serbian sources.
Belgrade-based Serbian Radio-Television (RTS) had often
been rebroadcast, and the public had not been given an
alternative to such sources, Loraine added.
Loraine said such failures would have an impact on the
IMC’s allocation of broadcasting licences.
HINA news agency, Zagreb, March 31,
1999
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