Tjedni izbor vijesti IFEX-a

11.08.2005.

EU INDEPENDENT RADIO FOR BELARUS

MINSK, July 30, 2005 (Beta) - The European Union will respond to the appeal
of Poland authorities to financially support radio and TV programs for
Belarus for better promotion of objective and uncensored information.

The European Union's external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
said it was part of EU's striving to provide uncensored information to the
citizens of this country.

Poland's foreign minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld wrote to the European
Commission on Friday calling on the EU to urge Belarus to respect the rights
of Polish minority there. Poland has demanded the problem to be discussed at
the next EU meeting in September.


"The European Commission can support the non-government organisations but
not political parties. We never do that", the External Relations
Spokesperson for the European Commission Amadeu Altafaj Tardio told the
Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.

The reasons for this were new strong pressures of the Belarus authorities on
the Union of Poles, an organisation representing the country's large ethnic
Polish population. The tension between the two neighboring countries
originated in mid May and since then both countries have expelled three
diplomats. This week, Poland has called off their ambassador from the
consultations in Minsk, also considering the option of proclaiming Belarus
ambassador in Warsaw a persona non grata.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the Polish community and
Warsaw of plotting to overthrow him.

The Belarusian police on Wednesday had stormed the headquarters of the Union
of Poles, throwing out the new legally elected management, at the same time
briefly detaining two journalists of the Polish daily Gazeta Vyborcza.

Hans Gert Petering, leader of the largest fraction in the European
Parliament, the European National Party, has reported on the attempt of the
Lukashenko's regime to destroy the largest non-governmental organisation
free of government control.

Reporters without Borders have protested over the harassment of Polish
journalists and pressures on Polish minority media in Belarus, which counts
around 400.000 members. This media organisation urged the government to stop
repressions of minority media, since "they must not be the victims of
tensions in relations of the two countries".

Polish Parliament Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz urged the EU to condemn
the violation of democratic standards and minority rights in Belarus, and to
assess this new crisis of Polish-Belarus relations.

SEEMO: TO WITHDRAW DRAFT AMENDMENTS

VIENNA, July 30, 2005 (Danas) - The Vienna-based South East Europe Media
Organisation (SEEMO is concerned about draft amendments to the Broadcast
Act, which the Government of Serbia intends to put before Parliament.

SEEMO is informed that the Serbian Government would like to amend the
three-year old Broadcast Act and has sent the amendments to Parliament
without consulting professional media organisations in Serbia, said in the
statement of this media organisation.

SEEMO also noted that one of the amendments would revoke the veto power of
the Broadcast Council member nominated by the autonomous province of
Vojvodina, who until now has had the power of veto in all decisions
concerning Vojvodina. With this amendment, the Belgrade government has
displayed a singular lack of understanding of the problems that are specific
to Vojvodina as a multi-ethnic province.

In addition, the amendments also extend the deadline for the privatisation
of media operated by local government authorities until the end of 2008.
According to the original Act, the deadline for privatisation was the summer
of 2006, said in the statement.

"Instead of speeding up the process of political independence, the Serbian
Government is leaving the electronic media at the mercy of local authorities
until after the next local elections in Serbia in 2008," said Oliver
Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

SEEMO is particularly alarmed over fact that, under the new amendments, the
deadline for the transition of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) from a
state-controlled broadcaster to a public service broadcasting organisation
had also been extended until 30 April 2006.

"SEEMO calls on the Serbian Government to withdraw the draft amendments to
the Broadcast Act and to enter into a wide-ranging consultation with media
and other civil society groups before any further amendments are put
forward," Vujovic added.

JOURNALISTS' ETHICS

BELGRADE, August 1, 2005 (B92) - The media report of the Belgrade Media
Center showed that the journalists have not respected the rule that everyone
is innocent until proven guilty.

Belgrade dailies Kurir and Glas Javnosti are leading in the number of
articles on violence over children and minors and in which the code of
ethics was breached by publishing the names and photographs of victims or
suspects, while dailies Politika and Danas, according to the reports of the
Media Center, had almost none.

The report dealt with the violation of ethics in print media, stating that
the journalists ought to respect the rule that no one was guilty until
proven otherwise.

The reporting of journalists in print media was based on sensationalism,
huge amount of gossip, groundless accusations, rumors, fabricated letters or
letters of unidentified authors, said in the report.

Psychologist Vesna Brzev Curcic said that the eruption of reports on child
abuse in print media in Serbia was caused not so much by the frequency of
such incidences, but the fact that the society started to open up toward the
issue.

"The abuse has become recognizable as a social phenomenon. It stopped being
the taboo and there are more experts that deal with the issue. People are
being more encouraged to report the abuse. Certain legal measures and
regulations have been implemented. There are not so many cases of abuse as
much as our media writes about them", said Brzev Curcic.

Vesna Brzev Curcic stressed that the front page of the newspapers, which
showed the photograph of the suspect for child abuse and murder of a child
with the headline: "Look at him, Serbia: he murdered a child!", was regarded
as a violation over the readers. She also said that nobody, particularly the
media, must not convict before the valid verdict of the court of law.

A nine-year-old raped?

Milan Jankovic was taken to one-month detention for allegedly raping
nine-year-old M.V.

The police reported that the investigative judge of the Valjevo District
Court Milan Aleksic had detained Jovanovic for suspicion of raping a girl on
July 28. Jankovic is a refugee from a place near Vakuf in Bosnia and
Herzegovina with temporary residence in village Patkovaca near Bijeljina.
Jankovic was working as a wage laborer in villages near Valjevo. He met the
girl's father last year, when he helped him with three cutting.

According to the police reports, the decision on detention was brought to
prevent Jankovic of escaping and influencing the witnesses during the
investigation.

WHAT'S SERBIA WATCHING?

BELGRADE, August 3, 2005 (Beta) - The highest rated television station in
Serbia in the first seven months of this year is RTV Pink, with RTS' Program
1 and TV BK following.

According to results of the survey of AGB Nielsen Media Research, RTV Pink
was the most watched television station from January to July with 22.5
percent of total audience share, followed by the RTS with 21.7 percent and
TV BK with 11.4 percent of audience share. TV B92 is in forth place with 6.9
percent, followed by the Program 2 of RTS with 6.3 and RTS Program 3 with
3.8 percent.

All other television stations with coverage on the territory of Serbia had
less than 1.5 percent of total audience share, said AGB Director Darko
Brocic.

The best rated television show during those seven months was the TV Pink's
coverage of the soccer game between the national teams of Serbia-Montenegro
and Spain on March 30, with the average audience share of 27.5 percent.
Second best was the last episode of the soap "Ruby" broadcast on TV Pink on
January 29, with the average ratings of 23.5 percent, while RTS 1 News 2 on
January 6 was third with 22.2 percent of average share.

RTS 1 had the highest daily share during the first seven months with
3,948,000 viewers on average. TV Pink had 3,762,000 viewers, BK 3,257,000,
RTS 2 2,876,000, B92 2,587,000 and RTS 3 2,303,000 viewers.

TV Pink was watched 119 minutes a day, RTS 1 - 110 minutes, BK 70, RTS 2 43
and RTS 3 - 33 minutes a day.

All research data were based on results measured by peoplemeters installed
in 890 households on the territory of Serbia without Kosovo.

VIOLENCE OVER BROADCAST FIELD

BELGRADE, August 4, 2005 (B92) - The Association of Independent Electronic
Media (ANEM), the Association of Independent Serbian Journalists (IJAS) and
the Media Division of the Nezavisnost Trade Union protested against the new
violence of the authorities over the broadcast sector in Serbia.

The three organisations protested strongly against the proposed amendments
to the Broadcast Act.

The amendments would delay transformation of RTS into a public service
broadcaster and introduction of subscription nine months earlier. The
government-proposed amendments would also delay the privatisation of the
local media and introduction of the principle under which members of the
Broadcast Council could be elected several times in a row. The organisations
also protested over the amendment which revoked the power of veto of the
Council member from Vojvodina.

The proposed changes to the Act which would postpone the privatisation of
local media to the end of 2008 would leave the possibility of the local
government to use these media outlets as their mouthpiece, said the IJAS
president Nebojsa Bugarinovic.

"This demonstrates clear political intention to keep the media under control
until after the 2008 municipal elections. This sends a bad message to the
public", said Bugarinovic.

"One of the disputed amendments delays the transformation of RTS into a
public service until April 2008. The government proposed this amendment not
because it was not ready to carry out such complex work, but because of its
inclination to control the electronic media", said Dragan Milanovic from the
Nezavisnost Union.

"They obviously want to create confusion, in which they would have the
absolute authority over RTS on local and national level, by passing disputed
legal solutions and interpreting previous clauses of the Act as they see
fit", said Milanovic.

At the same time, the amendments to the Act envisage introduction of RTS
subscription and divisional balance and transformation of this media into a
public service until the end of March 2006.

Chairman of ANEM Managing Board Slobodan Stojsic said that the journalists'
associations and professional organisations supported the introduction of TV
subscription in general, but not as long as RTS was just one of the media
outlets whose management was directly appointed by the government.

"The subscription is just an imposition because the citizens are already
paying it through the budget set for financing this television. Now they are
asked to pay again", said Stojsic.

ANEM, IJAS and Nezavisnost Union see the solution in enacting the valid
provisions of the Act. The three organisations expect the government would
not adopt the proposed amendments.

UNACCEPTABLE AMENDMENTS

BELGRADE, August 4, 2005 (Danas) - Representatives of the Association of
Independent Serbian Journalists (IJAS), the Association of Independent
Electronic Media (ANEM) and the Media Division of the Nezavisnost Trade
Union protested strongly against the draft amendments to the Broadcast Act
at a press conference yesterday.

The three organisations regarded these amendments as unacceptable. Chairman
of the ANEM Managing Board Slobodan Stojsic called on the members of
Parliament not to adopt the proposed amendments. He also suggested the valid
Broadcast Act should be implemented and pressures on the members of the
Broadcast Council should stop.

Representatives of the three professional organisations voiced their mutual
opinion that these amendments would only hinder the resolution of the media
sector's accumulated problems.

At the same time, the professional organisations noted that they heard about
the proposed changes from the media and that they have not been previously
consulted or informed.

President of IJAS Nebojsa Bugarinovic said that the proposed amendments to
the Act would give certain members of the Council more authority. The fact
that some members could stay in the Council for 18 years only prevents the
fluctuation of this regulatory body.

Bugarinovic pointed to the concealed attempt to deliberately annul certain
rights of the province by revoking the power of veto of the Council member
from Vojvodina.

Bugarinovic added that the postponement for the privatization of local media
until December 31, 2008 evidently demonstrated Government's intention to
control media until the new elections.

"The delayed privatisation will be used only to hold up the RTS
transformation and to preserve political influence and power in the
broadcasting field until the new elections", Slobodan Stojsic pointed out.

Vice-president of the Nezavisnost Union Dragan Milanovic said that the
government was reluctant to bring order into the broadcasting sphere.

"The government still shows its intention to control the electronic media,
introducing confusion into the field by misinterpreting the articles of the
current valid Act", said Milanovic.

All three organisations noted it was still unclear why the government
proposed new amendments to the Act before it has been implemented. Only its
implementation would prove if the Act was really unworkable.

PRESSURES ON COUNCIL'S INDEPENDENCE

BELGRADE, August 5, 2005 (Danas) - The Broadcast Agency Council stated
yesterday that the press conference, held by the Independent Association of
Serbian Journalists (IJAS), Media Division of Nezavisnost Trade Union and
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) in Belgrade Media Center,
was a certain form of pressure on council's independence established by the
law.

"These organisations are aware that the proposed amendments to the Broadcast
Act were partly initiated by the Broadcast Council. This regulatory body was
pushed to this action because the existing legislation, created by the
personal criteria of the groups gathered around ANEM and IJAS, cannot be
implemented. In short, the badly written and contradictory Act needs to be
amended", said in the statement of the Broadcast Agency Council.

The council also stated that "maintaining of the power of veto of the
council member nominated by the Vojvodina Parliament was against the
Constitution".

"The work of the Council would become absurd, since the member with the
power of veto is currently under investigation for suspicion of abusing his
authorities", said in the statement.

Further, the postponement of privatisation of local electronic media would
leave wider strategic space, said in the statement signed by Vladimir
Cvetkovic.

Namely, according to Council's records, from the moment the Act came into
force three years ago until present, none of 113 radio and TV stations
founded by the local government had been privatized. It is unrealistic to
expect that the media would be privatized for less than a year under such
conditions.

The Broadcast Council said it would bring measures that would encourage
privatisation of local media with the Development Strategy and other
documents.

Commenting on the voiced protest against the proposed procedure of
determining members' mandates, the Council noted that "this was also
disputed in the first version of the Act. The amendments noted and corrected
the omissions."

"As for the transformation of RTS into a public service broadcaster, it is
utterly clear that there is no public service without its financial sources,
that is, subscription. Such claims that RTS needs to be transformed into a
public service broadcaster before the introduction of subscription are
absurd, since it would lead to the financial control of the government (if
it is financed from the budget) or to a bankrupt of the public service, if
it isn't financed at all."

Besides, the Broadcast Council believes that the business ethics of ANEM as
the association of radio and TV stations should not allow interference in
the internal organisation and transformation of RTS into a public service
broadcaster.

"Once again ANEM and IJAS use obvious tactics of declarative fostering, but
in reality obstructing of the transformation of RTS into a public service",
said in the statement of the Council.

"ANEM and IJAS do not have to worry about the pressures on the members of
the Council, since the press conferences and statements of these two
associations are in fact the strongest pressure which the council members
have felt until now", said in the statement.

"The Broadcast Council reminds the public of the fact that ANEM and IJAS
were the bearers of the two-year-long campaign which resulted in paralyzing
the work of the council. The managements of these organisations weren't
protecting the public interest but preserving the chaos in the broadcasting
field which in fact suits the groups linked to them."

AMENDMENTS DAMAGING TO VOJVODINA

NOVI SAD, August 5, 2005 (Danas) - The draft amendments to the Broadcast
Act, put into the urgent parliamentary procedure and scheduled to be debated
on August 20, were brought without consulting the professional
organisations. These amendments are damaging to Vojvodina, said the
Information Secretary of the province Milorad Djuric at the press conference
held yesterday.

Djuric stated that the proposed abrogation of provision of the Broadcast
Act, which envisages that the Broadcast Council cannot bring any decisions
concerning the privatisation and status of media in the province without the
consent of the council member from Vojvodina, would deprive it from having
any power in regulating the media scene in the province.

Djuric also said the proposed postponement of the privatisation of the
state-owned media to the end of 2008 was unacceptable, as well as delays in
forming of the public service broadcaster until April 30, 2006. Djuric noted
that these changes would only hinder the resolution of the media sector's
accumulated problems. He also pointed to the problem of RTS subscription
introduction, which would start from September 2005, saying that it would
not support the work of the public services but rather the public company
RTS, which should split the income from Vojvodina with RTV Novi Sad.

CONFUSION IN BROADCASTING

NOVI SAD, August 5, 2005 (B92) - The Association of Independent Electronic
Media called on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to withdraw draft
amendments to the Broadcast Act from parliamentary procedure.

If this was not done, this organisation urges the Parliament of the Republic
of Serbia not to adopt these amendments, said the chairman of the
Association's Managing Board Slobodan Stojsic.

Vojvodina authorities also protested against one of the amendments to the
Act that revoked power of veto of the council member from the province. They
also voiced their concern over the delay in transformation of RTS into a
public service and privatisation of local media.

ANEM believes these new changes to the Act were unnecessary, since the
legislation had never been implemented. The association also said that the
amendments to the Act would further obstruct the transformation of media in
Serbia. Moreover, impulsive actions concerning such sensitive issues such as
media were not good, said the chairman of ANEM Managing Board Slobodan
Stojsic.

"There is no justified reason for this second raft of amendments to the Act.
It only weakens the legislation and leads to dangerous consequences that
have the potential to create a mechanism which would lead to further
obstructions and delays in reform of the broadcast sector, which simply
isn't good", said Stojsic.

ANEM does not oppose the introduction of the subscription for the public
service broadcaster, but the general position of the association is that
RTS, not yet transformed, simply cannot collect the income from the
subscription. Besides, when subscription is introduced, it is necessary to
explain to the citizens the purpose of the money collected in such manner.

Vojvodina authorities also voiced their concern over the draft amendments to
the Act, saying that the position of the TV Novi Sad would be additionally
aggravated by postponement of RTS transformation. Vojvodina Information
Secretary Milorad Djuric said the amendments that revoked the power of veto
of the council member from Vojvodina demonstrated a lack of understanding
for the special problems of the province as a multiethnic environment.

"The forming of the public service broadcasters should be hastened, as a
requirement for the regulation of the media sphere in the country."

The authorities of the province objected to the introduction of RTS
subscription from September 2005 before its transformation into a public
service broadcaster and further postponement of the privatisation of local
media. "This is another wrong step that takes us away from the improvement
of conditions in which the media operate", stated the Information
Secretariat.

Povratak