<nettime> ANEM BI-WEEKLY REPORT: December 23, 2000 - January 5, 2001

[<mediawatch-owner@freeb92.net>]

ANEM WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA
DECEMBER 30, 2000 - JANUARY 5, 2001

PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

BELGRADE, December 30, 2000 - The key articles of the notorious Serbian
Public Information Act widely used to control the media were pronounced
unconstitutional today. The Federal Constitutional Court declared virtually
all the decrees that did not relate directly to the basic principles of
freedom of information - derived from the Yugoslav constitution itself -
null and void today. The annulled decrees include those relating to the
system of public media registration, publishing restrictions, and the hefty
fines imposed. During the lifespan of the Act, 67 media bodies were fined a
total of around 2.5 million DM. (FoNet)

ANEM AD SCOOPS PUBLICITY PRIZE

BELGRADE, December 30, 2000 - An Association of Independent Electronic Media
TV advert has won a Belgrade agency an award at Europe's biggest publicity
festival.

The Focus FCB agency won the Epica prize for its "Birdy - free media" TV
clip. It is the fourth time it has won a prize, and the third time for work
relating to the subject of free media. It has also won a string of awards
for its "B92 Free Press made in Serbia" placards. More information can be
found at the festival's website www.epica-awards.com

OTPOR WEBSITE STRUCK BY HACKER

BELGRADE, December 30, 2000 - A hacker managed to disable administrators'
access to the websites of both the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy
and resistance movement Otpor on Monday. Officials from both organisations
have launched a full-scale investigation into the attack, together with
their German-based provider BG DREAM. A spokesman for the company said this
was the first time somebody had hacked into Otpor's site.

REFERENDUM MEDIA GUIDELINES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

PODGORICA, January 3 2001 - The Social Democratic Party leader and member of
the Montenegrin working group for the referendum said that guidelines for
the media coverage of the referendum campaign would be finished by the end
of January. Miodrag Ilickovic said that journalists' participation in
preparing the guidlines was absolutely indispensable.

The working group has already offered parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic
its draft bill concerning the legal infrastructure for the referendum. It
has yet to hand him the media guidelines. The working group consists of two
representatives each from the Democratic Socialist Party, the Social
Democratic Party and the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro, plus one from the
Democratic Union of Albanians. The People's Party and the Socialist People's
Party are not taking part in the working group. (FoNet)

TANJUG THREATENS WARNING STRIKE

BELGRADE, January 3, 2001 - Employees of the TANJUG news agency announced
that they will hold a warning strike today or tomorrow unless the Yugoslav
government listens to their requests for pay rises and the appointment of a
permanent management board.

It is now three months since the appointment of the temporary management
board, Nezavisnost union official Dragoslav Vasic said. He warned that the
union might order a general strike if its demands were not met. He added
that the company needed ten times more money than the federal budget
provided.

PLAYWRIGHT SUED FOR HARRASSMENT

BELGRADE, January 4, 2001 - The Helsinki Human Rights Committee filed
charges today against a famous playwright for allegedly harrassing a
publicist over an article she had written last month.

Ljiljana Djurdjic criticised Dusan Kovacevic in an article examining the
role of the intelligentsia entitled "The Fear from the Hill", published in
daily Danas on December 12. Kovacevic is famous as the author of the script
for Underground, filmed by director Emir Kusturica.

In a statement issued today, the HHRC said it was "concerned" about the
case, which Kovacevic's lawyer has said will be settled in court,
"especially since it comes from those who constantly emphasise to the media
their loyalty to democracy and condemn the old ways".  (FoNet)

BALKAN MEDIA POLITICISED, SAYS DUVE

FRANKFURT, January 4, 2001 - Freedom of media is not the main issue in the
Balkan region, OSCE media representative Freimut Duve said today,
emphasising that the main problem was rather the overwhelming politicisation
of local media. "The problematic use of media is in the spreading of
conflicts among entities. Many people's political relevance depends on those
conflicts and they are afraid that, when conflict ceases, they will have no
power," he said in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau.According to
Duve, there is a new generation of journalists in Zagreb and Belgrade who
display a welcome understanding of what the profession is all about.

"Had young people been unable to get information on the Internet, there
would not have been a plebiscite on Slobodan Milosevic's departure from the
political scene," Duve said. As a special media contribution to Milosevic's
departure, he mentioned Radio B292's transition to the Internet after being
forced off the air. "When the Milosevic authorities closed down Radio B92,
the opposition managed to switch this radio's program to the Internet, and
the people were thus able to use the information from this station," Duve
said.


TANJUG POSTPONES STRIKE

BELGRADE, January 4, 2001 - Employees in the state-owned Tanjug news agency
did not go on strike as they had previously announced that they would
yesterday. According to Radio B92, Nezavisnost Union representatives agreed
to hold a meeting with Yugoslav government representatives today instead of
going on strike as a warning measure.

The strike threat was motivated by employees' discontent with the Yugoslav
parliament decision to earmark 30 million dinars from the federal budget for
the company, and to limit the average salary to 2,200 dinars. Tanjug editor
and senior Union official Dusan Vasic said Tanjug employees gave up the
strike because the government said it would "meet the employees' requests"
and promised to hold a meeting with them today.

Yugoslav Information minister Slobodan Orlic and Yugoslav Prime Minister
Zoran Zizic are expected to attend the meeting today. "We are trying to find
the best solution, since the Nezavisnost Union members concluded that we did
not have that many reasons to criticise the new authorities, which we all
had voted for, that the inheritance from the former authorities was really
huge and heavy and that we should reach an agreement, because there is no
reason to shut the agency," Vasic added. The company temporary management,
as well as all unions' representatives will also attend the meeting. A
director and an executive board should be appointed at the meeting. The
agency has not had a legally elected management since the previous director
and editor-in-chief, Dusan Djordjevic's death three months ago.


INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS DEMAND ACTION IN SUBOTICA

SUBOTICA, January 4, 2001 - Mayor of Subotica Jozsef Kasza today welcomed
the request of the Subotica-based Independent Journalists Association for an
investigation into the work of the city's media. The Association has also
demanded that journalists who breached their professional code should be
refused work. In particular, the Association has demanded action against
several journalists who worked for TV Channel Super, loyal to the former
regime until October 5. The Association also called on the municipal
parliament to stop financing weekly paper Dani.

HCHR DELIVERS REPORT ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP

BELGRADE, January 5, 2001 - The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
yesterday presented its report on the former regime's opposition to the
ownership status of several media houses, including B92.

The committee president, Sonja Biserko, said that the regime had stood in
the way of the privatisation of the media as it wanted to exercise complete
control. The report looked at the experiences of Borba, Vecernje Novisti,
Politika and Studio B as well as Radio Television B92.

The former High Commercial Court judge, attorney Jelisaveta Vasilic, said
the ownership status of the media houses could not be settled as long as the
state was interfering in their work and strangling their autonomy and
independence.

She said that Borba had been a public company until 1997, when the federal
government issued a decree to turn it into a Federal Public Company, i.e. a
state-owned company. A similar measure had been implemented regarding Studio
B. She said the commercial court in Belgrade had been doing the work of the
executive. She added that ownership status could be changed only by law, and
not by decree. ANEM attorney Nebojsa Samardzic said that certain media
should be privatised and others should remain the property of the state and
become public information services, independent of the executive power. He
said regulations that would comply with European standards should be passed,
which meant independent managing and regulative bodies. The members of such
bodies should have a longer period of office than MPs. [FoNet]

YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT DOUBLES TANJUG SALARIES

BELGRADE, January 5, 2001 - The Yugoslav government today pledged financial
aid to increase TANJUG news agency employees' salaries and avert the
threatened strike. After the meeting with agency management, the Yugoslav
information minister Slobodan Orlic told media the government would balance
the budget and provide financial support for the agency. He said that
salaries would be doubled. He also supported the workers' request for the
appointment of a new management. Orlic said a working group would be formed
to investigate the company thoroughly.

TANJUG WORKERS LIKELY TO REJECT GOVERNMENT OFFER

BELGRADE, January 5, 2001 - Independent Union official and TANJUG editor
Dragoslav Vasic said his colleagues would probably not be satisfied with the
agreement with the federal government representatives. He said TNAJUG
employees would decide either today or Monday whether they would carry out
their plans for a one-hour warning strike.
After the meeting with Yugoslav Information Minister Slobodan Orlic and the
Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Zizic, he said the government did not back
those employees who had demanded a minimum salary of 3,000 dinars a month.
He said the company needed 10 million dinars a month in order to stand on
its own feet and compete with others. (Srna)

KUSTURICA FILM CUT FOR TV BROADCAST

BELGRADE, January 5,2001 - Emir Kusturica's film Underground was broadcast
twice over New Year by Radio Televesion of Serbia but with a cut of ten
minutes.

It is not yet known whether the film producer and distributor Komuna Company
or RTS was responsible for the cut, which included one of the most popular
scenes.

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Previous report:

ANEM WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA
DECEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 29, 2000

MEDIA SHOWS BAD FAITH, SAYS COMMITTEE

BELGRADE, December 23, 2000 - The media keeps "breaking the election
blackout unscrupulously" and none of the media has accepted its
suggestions, the Supervisory Committee for Elections declared today.

The Committee announced it would bring legal charges against weeklies
Vreme and NIN and daily Glas Javnosti for publishing election result
estimates during the media blackout.

The Committee chastised daily Danas for publishing an advertisement on
the last page urging voters to "kill the pests on Saturday".

Television stations Studio B and state-run Radio Television Serbia
were criticised for broadcasting footage of a recently opened Paris
exhibition whose works display a negative attitude towards the
Socialist Party of Serbia election candidates.

Studio B was further admonished for broadcasting a DOS MP speaking and
a politically biased image consisting of a torn photo of the Socialist
Party of Serbia candidate and a Yugoslav Left leader.

Television station Pink was criticised for broadcasting an interview
with Yugoslav Interior Minister's advisor.

YU Info television was castigated for not broadcasting the Committee
statement in full. (Beta)

POLITIKA BOSS HAS NOT FLED, SAYS LAWYER

BELGRADE, December 23, 2000 - The former director of the Politika
media corporation, Hadzi Dragan Antic had not fled the country and had
no reason to do so, his lawyer, Dragoljub Todorovic, said this
morning. Todorovic denied reports that Antic had left Yugoslavia on a
one-way ticket to Havana.

"Antic is abroad for convalescence and will return in three weeks,"
said the lawyer.

Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti yesterday claimed that the former
director of the Milosevic-friendly Politika had fled Yugoslavia on
December 15 on an Aeroflot flight to Cuba via Moscow and did not hold
a return ticket.

MEDIA BLACKOUT BREACH "LED TO UNFAIR ELECTIONS"

BELGRADE, December 25, 2000 - The Republican Election Commission will
be asked to declare the results of yesterday's poll null and void on
the grounds that violations of the media blackout gave the victors an
unfair advantage.

The move has been made by the Elections Surveillance Board, which
represents the respective interests of the political parties. Its head
Elena Bozic Talijan, who represents the Serbian Radical Party, said
today: "The media competed to see who could violate the blackout the
most. This means that the election procedure was highly irregular and
the board will be applying to the commission to get the results
annulled."

She added that all the media "work for the Democratic Opposition of
Serbia".

However, DOS representative Sasa Vukadinovic refused to back his
colleagues' initiative - prompting Bozic Talijan to walk wordlessly
out of the press conference.

He agreed that some media had broken the blackout, but through
ignorance of the rules rather than bias towards any political party.

MEDIA LYCNH CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE YUGOSLAV LEFT: MATIC

BELGRADE, December 25, 2000 - Yugoslav Left high official Goran Matic
said the results of the elections reflected the irregularity of the
pre-election period. "An unscrupulous media lynch campaign has been
conducted against the Yugoslav Left for the past two months," Matic
told Radio B92. He added that the media had created a "police force"
just before the elections, in order to create the impression that the
Yugoslav Left was a criminal party.

NEW OWNERS FOR TV KOSAVA

BELGRADE, December 26, 2000 - A private television station founded by
Marija Milosevic, the daughter of the former Yugoslav president, has
changed hands.

The new proprietors are Belgrade lawyer Borivoj Pajovic and Stjepan
Egzet, Federal Telecommunications Minister Boris Tadic said today.

Kosava resumed broadcasting recently after vanishing from the air
during the October 5 revolution.

Ministry inspectors have determined that the station is operating
legally.

Pajovic is the chairman of the board of Blic Press which publishes
Belgrade daily Blic.

ISAKAOV TO ABOLISH TAXES FOR STATE TV

BELGRADE, December 26, 2000 - Taxes connected with state television
are set to be abolished, the future director general of Radio
Television Serbia said today.

In an interview with Politika express, Mile Isakov said the tax that
every household pays on electric meters for watching RTS plus every
other kind of state tv taxes would be lifted. He also announced a
massive shake-up of the company.

"We shall have to find alternative financial sources, and what they
will be depends on the state budget assets earmarked for television,"
said Isakov.

He added that he would propose not to privatise any of the three
state-owned channels, but to change the system. He envisaged changing
the First channel into the news channel, with the news every hour, the
Second into a cultural and educational channel , and the Third into a
commercial channel with entertainment and sport shows. This last would
finance the entire company.

Isakov said that once he becomes the director he would not be "loyal
and obedient to the authorities". He said that "mechanisms for
protecting all media, even the state-owned, from the authorities
should be introduced." He added that according to current regulations,
the state media were greatly dependent on the authrorities and would
therefore need a lot of time to adapt. "Journalists too will need to
abandon the habit of dependence they have acquired over the last
decade or more," he said.

Regarding the broadcasting of independently produced news on RTS, he
said the Association of Independent Electronic Media and the
production group "Mreza" were lending a helping hand.

SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: MEDIA BLACKOUT BREACHES MADE ELECTIONS IRREGULAR

BELGRADE, December 27, 2000 - The supervisory committee for election
monitoring agreed by a majority yesterday that it was not authorised
to take the initiative to repeal the Serbian parliamentary elections.

A statement signed by the committee president and Serbian Radical
Party representative Elena Bozic Talijan declared that the media had
violated the law during the pre-electoral campaign, especially during
the media blackout. The Committee remarked that "numerous and severe
violations of the law made these elections irregular with respect to
the media."

It continued: "The Committee has been issuing statements continually,
but the media either refused to publish them or shortened them,
misinterpretated them or commented on them".

IMPOVERISHED POPULATION "FUND LUXURY STAY"

BELGRADE, December 28, 2000 - The Yugoslav tax-payer picked up a
Montenegrin MP's hotel bill that was equal to ten times the average
monthly salary, a Belgrade daily reports today.

Federal MP Predrag Bulatovic's 880 DM bill for his four-day stay in
Belgrade's Hotel Intercontinental was published by Glas Javnosti
today.

Asked to explain, the Socialist Party vice-president replied: "What do
I know how much it costs!"  He said that as an MP he was entitled to
hotel accommodation, adding that he had paid for all the drinks out of
his own pocket.

"If you publish this I will pack immediately and leave for Podgorica,
and never return to Belgrade," he declared.

Glas Javnosti pondered the question of whether it was really necessary
in times of economic crisis for Yugoslavia's MPs to stay in the most
expensive hotels.

MATIC ACCUSES CEKIC OF ANTI-DOS SMEAR CAMPAIGN

BELGRADE, December 28, 2000 - Radio Index's broadcasting of a supposed
Democratic Opposition of Serbia financial report is an attempt by its
director to smear the coalition's name, the chairman of the
Association of Independent Electronic Media said today.

Veran Matic said that the report was obviously forged. He accused
Radio Index's director of following a dubious tradition by using
information from sources such as head of the Belgrade Socialists Ivica
Dacic, who in turn was quoting from the Serbian Renewal Movement's
party newspaper Srpska rec.

Stressing that Nenad Cekic's intention had been to discredit DOS and,
in particular, its campaign manager Zoran Djindjic, Matic said that
suspicions should have been aroused right from the start.

"Cekic also quoted Ivica Dacic quoting Srpska rec that ANEM got $11.2
million from the State Department," said Matic. He added that it was
well known that the State Department does not give donations, leaving
other organisations to deal with them.

TV KOSAVA TO GET REVAMP

BELGRADE, December 28, 2000 - TV Kosava is to be relaunched under a
new name with a varied programme, its new co-owner said today.

He declined to comment on whether the owner of Austrian company Mitsui
- also the co-owner of Blic press and a minority shareholder of TV
Pink - was behind the change. TV Kosava went off the air after the
October 5 revolution, when a number of companies withdrew from the
station, leaving former president's daughter Marija Milosevic as the
sole owner.


BELGRADE YOUTH COUNCIL RETURNS B92 EQUIPMENT.

BELGRADE, December 28, 2000 - The Belgrade Youth Council's new
management has returned the Radio B92 equipment which the former
Council president, Vladan Zagradjanin, took from the radio's offices
to his study.

Belgrade Youth Council is the organisation which took over Radio B92
during the NATO campaign in April 1999. It presented itself as the
owner of the Public Broadcasting Company Radio B92 until 15 days after
the revolution of October 5 when the Commercial Court Judge Milena
Arezina's illegal decisions were overturned. Radio B92 welcomed the decision
of the Council's new management.

VIPER PROBES INTO BK AND PINK

BEOGRAD, 29.12.2000. - A special organised crime-fighting unit
code-named Viper is currently investigating the business dealings of
the Karic Brothers and Radio Television Pink, B92 learnt today.

SERBIAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION DEFIES COURT ORDER

BELGRADE, December 29, 2000 - Independent Journalists Association
representatives accompanied by a bailiff failed to enter their offices
in the Journalists' Centre in Belgrade today.

Although they now have permission to enter the offices, the locksmith
could not break through the lock that the Serbian Journalists
Association had put on the door.

The Independent Journalists Association contends that the Centre was
built in part using funds levied from their members, yet the Serbian
Journalists Association has unfairly denied them the right to enter
their offices in the Centre and make use of the space since 1976.

On December 21, the Fourth Belgrade Municipal Court ruled that the
Independent Journalists Association had the right to enter the
offices.

JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION TERMINATES RADICALS BOYCOTT

BELGRADE, December 29, 2000 - The Independent Association of Serbian
Journalists has decided to terminate the boycott of the Serbian
Radical Party in the interests of their profession and respect of
democracy, secretary Dragutin Rokvic explained in a statement to B92
today.

Since the boycott came about in response to threats from the Radical
leaders to independent media journalists, B92 asked Rokvic what has
changed in the meantime.

"That was an agreement of the editors way before the election
campaign. The basic motive was to prevent discrimination against the
profession and threats to journalists. The editors, media
representatives, and directors decided then to respect democracy and
allow representatives of this party to be heard, despite their not
having behaved like decent politicians," Rokvic said.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media and B92 will resume
the boycott.

B92 WINS RATINGS BATTLE

BELGRADE, December 29, 2000 - Radio B92 has outstripped its rivals by
a comfortable margin to become Belgrade's most listened-to station.

More than 430,000 people tune in regularly for an average of an
hour-and-a-half a day, the Strategic Marketing Agency said today. This
is despite the fact that the station was off the air between May and
October.

In second and third place are Radio Index and Radio Belgrade, with
346,000 and 232,000 listeners respectively.

MIODRAG VUJOVIC - ANEM IS ALL TALK AND NO ACTION

NOVI SAD, December 29, 2000 - The owner of tv station Palma accused
ANEM of "yelling and roaring" but failing to take decisive action in a
magazine interview today.

Responding to the question, "And if there were no ANEM, a wealthy man
from Texas could throw lots of dollars your way and become a
part-owner, a sponsor.", Miodrag Vujovic replied that the initiative
was stupid. "Who are they to make such orders?" he said. "If we were
to go back 50 years, to the strict communist rules, then that's the
end of us. ANEM can only yell and roar. All their supposed journalists
complained about the distribution of frequencies by the Yugoslav
Government but did not do anything concrete until I submitted an
initiative with the Supreme Constitutional Court which was,
miraculously, accepted. We shared the same aims but the difference is
that they made a political hullabaloo while I went into action."

Vujovic, who is also the leader of the Serbian Progress Party, made
the comments in an interview entitled "Porn at Two: Serving Serbia and
the Orthodoxy" in the January 1 2001 issue of Novi Sad magazine Svet.




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