SEEMO i IPI izražavaju zabrinutost zbog napada na novinara u Grèkoj i Nacrta zakona o RTV Slovenija

17.05.2005.

 SEEMO PRESS RELEASE: GREECE

Vienna, 13 May 2005

 The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is alarmed about the recent assault on Kostas Nikolakopoulos, a journalist for the sports daily Fos ton Sport and the radio station Super Sport FM.

According to information before SEEMO, on Saturday, 7 May, Nikolakopoulos was attacked by four unknown men in front of his wife and two young daughters, only meters away from his home in Ilion, Athens. The perpetrators hit him repeatedly on the head and body using knuckledusters and iron bars. Once Nikolakopoulos had fallen to the ground, they disappeared. Nikolakopoulos was taken to a nearby hospital, where his injuries were treated. He left the hospital three days later.

SEEMO has also been informed that the journalist had received anonymous threats in the past regarding his articles and radio reports. Nikolakopoulos is a well known sports journalist, specialising on issues concerning the most popular soccer club in Greece, Olympiakos Piraeus.

 SEEMO would like to remind that in October 2004 sports journalist Philippos Syrigos was attacked in the car park near Super Sport FM radio station, while walking to his car after a radio show. He was attacked by two unknown men wearing helmets, who hit him on the head with a metal bar and stabbed him several times in the back. The two perpetrators managed to escape and have not been brought to justice.

SEEMO calls upon the authorities in Greece to find and bring to justice those responsible for these attacks. SEEMO would also like to remind the Greek authorities that freedom of expression and a safe working environment for journalists are the basic principles of any democratic society.

 

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 JOINT IPI/SEEMO PROTEST: SLOVENIA

H.E. Janez Drnovšek
President
Office of the President of the Republic
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Fax: +386 1 478 13 57

H.E. Janez Janša
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Fax: +386 1 1781721

Vienna, 12 May 2005

Your Excellencies,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), are writing to you to highlight a number
of problems with the draft Act on Radio Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia).

Before examining some of the provisions, IPI would ask the Slovenian government whether there is a real need to introduce an amended public service broadcasting law. In previous times, the Slovenian law was considered to be one of the most advanced within the new EU member countries and it appears to IPI that amendments might harm this reputation.

IPI believes that the draft law in its present form does not do everything possible to uphold the independence and autonomy of the public service broadcaster and, quite to the contrary, it leaves the organisation vulnerable to political influence and pressure.

For example, concerning the composition of the Programming Council of RTV Slovenia (PCRS), in Article 17 (5), 16 members are to be appointed by the National Assembly based on suggestions "by the viewers and listeners of RTV broadcasts, universities, associations of societies or their organisations..."

Using this format, IPI is worried that the relationship between civil society organisations and the National Assembly merely pays lip service to the idea of negotiation and consultation but, in truth, gives the organisations little or no say in the final decision as to who should be a member of the PCRS. To avoid this problem, IPI would prefer to see either an independent board of civil society organisations choosing their own representatives or certain nominated organisations forwarding their own choices.
 
IPI also notes that the Roma community is not specifically mentioned. On the question of the PCRS, IPI would like to see the Roma community represented in this body. This is important because of the government's commitment to the Slovenian Constitution and the Public Media Act.

Another important point is the question of the third channel that is to be used for transmitting parliamentary and other National Assembly and National Council activities. Given the special nature of this channel, IPI believes that funding should come not from the budget of the public service broadcaster, but from a special source of funding.

After all, the requirement to produce such programming is an additional burden on the broadcaster that might affect its work in other valuable areas and there is a need for heavy technical investment in programme distribution since, at present, it is obviously not possible to broadcast a third channel across the entire country.

In view of the above, IPI and SEEMO would ask that the Slovenian government take the draft law and enter into a rolling discussion with all interested parties as a means of making certain that the draft law meets the needs of the broadest possible spectrum of Slovenian society.

Finally, public service broadcasting operates both for and on behalf of the Slovenian public and a strong statement to this effect would certainly remove some of IPI's concerns about the possible deficiencies related to the question of the broadcaster's independence from political influences.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,
 
Johann P. Fritz

IPI Director

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General

 

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Povratak