Geert Lovink on Wed, 16 Jun 1999 10:24:10 +0100 |
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Syndicate: ANEM press release |
ANEM press release June 15th, 1999 THE CONTINUED STRUGGLE FOR THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN YUGOSLAVIA IN THE FACE OF INCREASED REPRESSION. BELGRADE, June 14, 1999 -- ANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in Yugoslavia today protests most sternly at the laying of misdemeanour charges against Zoran Malesevic, the owner of Radio Senta and VK Radio in Kikinda, the ban on Television Mladenovac and the continuing confiscations of periodicals being distributed across the Yugoslav borders. ANEM also salutes the resumption of work by Television Soko, the independent broadcaster in Sokobanja. Zoran Malesevic will appear today in a hearing in the Kikinda Municipal Misdemeanour Court on charges filed against him by the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry. The ministry claims Mr Malesevic has been operating radio stations without a licence. On the night of April 2 the ministry banned Radio VK, VK II Channel and Radio Senta with the justification that the stations had been "operating against the interests of the defence of the country". Now the ministry claims that Malesevic did not have licences for his radio stations. This is despite the fact that the ministry had received complete documentation in the public frequency competition of February 1998, which obliged the ministry to issue the licence as it had collected fees for the use of the frequencies from Mr Malesevic's stations. The ministry has repeatedly undertaken similar actions over more than half a year, initiating misdemeanour procedures against the owners of all banned stations. ANEM demands that the misdemeanour agencies dismiss the charges against Mr Malesevic, as has happened with the owners of all ANEM affiliates which have been subject to similar charges. ANEM also warns that such repression is increasingly targeting owners and editors rather than media companies. On the night of June 12, the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry banned Television Mladenovac, which was operating as an outlet of Studio B Television. At the same time, Studio B Television was ordered to continue rebroadcasting news programs from state Radio Television Serbia with the justification that the state of war in Yugoslavia was still current. Although it formally rejected the ministry's order, Studio B has resumed rebroadcasts of the RTS prime time news show, saying that it was doing so out of professional solidarity as the general manager of state television had requested continuation of the rebroadcasts for "another couple of days". Studio B demanded that Television Mladenovac be permitted to resume operations immediately. ANEM demands that Television Mladenovac be allowed to continue its work without hindrance, and that the Yugoslav authorities cease issuing orders to the media. ANEM emphasises that no regulation, including those passed in wartime, gives those authorities the right to take this action. Since June 9, the Serbian police on Serbian borders have confiscated all copies of Nezavisne Novine, a newspaper published in Republika Srpska. The police have not provided any explanation or legal justification for doing so. Nezavisne Novine has covered the resolution of the Kosovo crisis in a manner which has allowed all political leaders to present their views on the responsibility of the Serbian regime for the recent developments and war in Serbia. ANEM demands that the practice of confiscating newspapers, which for the past six months has affected not only Nezavisne Novine but also most of the Montenegrin independent press, stop immediately, as repression and ceaseless propaganda cannot remove the political, or other, responsibility of the authorities. On June 11, independent Television Soko in Sokobanja resumed its broadcasts. Television Soko was banned on March 27 by the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry. Television Soko's editor-in-chief, Nebojsa Ristic, was sentenced on April 13 to one year's imprisonment for having displayed a Radio B92 poster protesting against repression and stifling of the media in Serbia. Mr Ristic is currently serving his prison sentence, but the staff of Television Soko have decided to resume their broadcasts despite the threats and warnings from the authorities not to do so. ANEM supports this decision by Television Soko's staff and hopes that other outlets which have been banned on the illegal decisions of the authorities will do likewise. ANEM also warns the authorities that the continuation of repression against the independent media, especially in Sokobanja, could lead to civil outrage which would be difficult to control and demands that Television Soko be permitted to operate without hindrance. ANEM emphasises that the repression of the media by the authorities has increased since the termination of Nato actions against Yugoslavia. ANEM asserts that the continuation of this repression could provoke a severe reaction from the public, which is gradually recovering from the traumas of war and the withdrawal of the Yugoslav armed forces from Kosovo. ANEM emphasises that the freedom of the media and cessation of the systematic dissemination of lies and propaganda through the media under state control is the first and one of the most important steps towards democratisation of the political and social life of Serbia. ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress