Savjetnik otpušten zbog pogrdnog jezika

01.09.2005.

ADVISOR FIRED FOR COMMENTS

BELGRADE, August 22, 2005 (Glas Javnosti) - Serbian Culture Minister Dragan
Kojadinovic confirmed to daily Glas Javnosti that has let go advisor and
rock singer for comments made against B92 to the media.

"Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, because Bora, regardless of having the
right to a personal opinion, cannot speak like that while holding such a
position. He can comment on the work of the media, but that is another
topic. I respect him as a person and musician, but what he did as an advisor
is unacceptable. We haven't had the chance to talk about it during the
weekend, but we will talk today. I wouldn't want to jump to any conclusions,
but I think the government will soon declare its position. However, after
such comments made by Bora Djordjevic, I do not think that he belongs in the
government any longer", Kojadinovic said.

Bora Djordjevic, who had applauded Ilic's behavior with "Good on you,
Velja!" and called B92 journalists "treacherous beasts", told the Belgrade
daily that he was already aware that his dismissal was being discussed.

"I don't really care. I stand behind every word I said and I think that
Velimir was too mild with his words. If I was in his position I probably
would have said something even sharper", Djordjevic said.


TIJANIC: RTS FACING BANKRUPTCY

BELGRADE, August 23, 2005 (Danas) - "Radio Television Serbia is facing
bankruptcy. Without the transitional funds for the period of three to six
months, RTS cannot turn upside down and become public service broadcaster",
said yesterday RTS director Aleksandar Tijanic

Speaking to the members of the Serbian Parliament's Culture and Information
Committee, Tijanic presented the current state of the national television
station which will soon be financed from the TV subscription.

Draft amendments to the Broadcast Act, disputed so much in the public by the
representatives of the media, will be discussed today in the Serbian
Parliament. The amendments were generally adopted yesterday by the
Parliament's Information Committee.

The amendments, among other things, envisage revoking of power of veto for
the member of the Broadcast Council from Vojvodina. They also define
introduction of subscription of RTS, which will have six months to be
transformed into a public service broadcaster, and postpone the deadline for
privatisation of the local and regional government media to the end of 2008.

The Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (IJAS) and the
Independent Association of Electronic Media (ANEM) have opposed the new
amendments, while the Broadcast Council and Culture Minister Dragan
Kojadinovic noted that this was the only way to start implementing the Act,
brought three years ago.

Aleksandar Tijanic called on all members of the Parliament to decide whether
they wanted respectful and powerful public service. Tijanic accused all
three private television stations of doing everything to destroy RTS and
share among themselves the "catch" of around 15 million euros, which the
national television earns yearly from advertising.

RTS director suggested another amendment to introduce the transition fund
for the period of three to six months, which was, according to MP Rajko
Baralic, supported by the Socialist Party of Serbia.

President of IJAS Nebojsa Bugarinovic supported the idea of introducing the
transition funds in general. He noted that the public would generally
disapprove of the haste introduction of the TV subscription, which could
lead to collapse of RTS.

While the G 17 Plus welcomes the introduction of subscription, Deputy Chief
of the MPs of the Serbian Radical Party Aleksandar Vucic said that the state
ought to finance this television station from the budget until the situation
is regulated.

Vucic added that the largest political party in the parliament would not
support nor oppose the amendment.

The demand of IJAS, ANEM and Vojvodina Parliament's Culture Information
Committee not to revoke the power of veto for the Vojvodina representative
to the Council met no support of the MPs.

One of the proposed amendments, to be debated in the Parliament, will
prolong the privatisation to the end of 2007.

Aleksandar Lazarevic from G17 Plus said that way, the local stations would
not get enough time to prepare for the process of privatisation. However, by
that time, it would be known whether those stations passed at the
competition of frequency allocation.

The question, brought by IJAS and Aleksandar Vucic, on who could guarantee
that the new deadlines would be met, also remained unanswered.


MINISTER WARNS JOURNALISTS MAY BE SHOT

BELGRADE, August 24, 2005 (B92) - The Association of Independent Electronic
Media (ANEM) warned of the dramatic situation that arose after the attacks
of the capital investment minister Ilic and his media advisor Lazovic.

ANEM protested strongly at the re-emergence of unacceptable and
irresponsible rhetoric in the public arena in Serbia. Political opponents
are now being attacked with the most vulgar language and described as
traitors and foreign mercenaries. This rhetoric has barely stopped short of
calls for lynching.

Culture and Information Minister Dragan Kojadinovic has responded with a
warning after the recent attack by Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilic
on journalists from RTV B92. Witnesses report that this attack included
death threats aimed at the company's director and editor-in-chief, Veran
Matic, from Ilic's media advisor, Petar Lazovic.

"It seems to me that the next step is for someone to pull out a gun and
shoot at a journalist, which happened in the Milosevic era," Minister
Kojadinovic told weekly Svedok.

ANEM applauded the decision of the culture and information minister to
dismiss his advisor, Bora Djordjevic, because of his unprecedented statement
about B92 journalists.

ANEM urges the democratic public and professional journalism and media
associations to express solidarity with journalists and media who are
subject to attacks and threats. The Association also calls on the
appropriate state bodies to urgently take appropriate measures to prevent
the real danger of which Minister Kojadinovic warns, and to halt the return
to the period of harshest media repression as practiced under the Milosevic
regime.


VUCIC CALLED B92 A LYER

BELGRADE, August 25, 2005 (B92) - The Serbian Radical Party used the
parliamentary stand to attack B92 again.

Deputy Chief of the MPs of the Serbian Radical Party in the Serbian
Parliament Aleksandar Vucic accused B92 of lying at the parliamentary stand
today.

"Announcing the coverage of the court trial to Slobodan Milosevic, the B92
journalist said the viewers would see how Milosevic's witness Vojislav
Seselj had accused Kostunica of having paramilitary formations, which is
preposterous", said Vucic, adding that journalists of B92 lie.

B92 has denied all accusations saying that the special reporter of this
television station from the Hague Milos Milic presented, like he did every
morning, process oversights from the previous day. "Believe it or not, this
morning the discussion will be about the paramilitary formations of Vojislav
Kostunica", announced Milic.

Reporter and editor of the Process TV on B92 had never, not at any point in
his coverage, said that Seselj told the court that Kostunica had
paramilitary formation. Indeed, the witness Seselj had never said that,
which the viewers of the court trial could clearly see and hear in direct
coverage that followed.


WAN PRESIDENT WRITES TO KOSTUNICA

BELGRADE, August 25, 2005 (B92) - Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World
Association of Newspapers, wrote to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica regarding the recent attacks made on B92.

O'Reilly writes that his organization is aware that the Serbian government
has discussed the behavior of Minster Velimir Ilic, but is also aware that
the government has refused to apologize for the insults and threats made by
Ilic's advisor Petar Lazovic which were directed at B92 journalists.

"We are very concerned that one member of the government can make violent
threats to journalists and not be sanctioned because of it. We are calling
on you to make sure that Mr. Ilic is seriously sanctioned and to state
publicly that such behavior by government ministers cannot be tolerated."
O'Reilly writes.

WAN represents over 18,000 publications in 100 countries internationally.


PARLIAMENT ON BROADCASTING

BELGRADE, August 25, 2005 (B92) - The Serbian Parliament has begun the
general discussion on the draft amendments to the Broadcast Act, which has
not yet been implemented 3 years after its passing.
The amendments envisage the postponement of the deadline for RTS
transformation into a public service broadcaster, introduction of TV
subscription and postponement of the deadline for privatisation of local
media.

The Broadcast Act was brought three years ago, but has not yet been
implemented or respected. RTS has not yet been transformed into a public
service broadcaster, which is, under the current valid Act, the prerequisite
for introduction of TV subscription. The amendments to the Act defer the
deadline for transformation of RTS, which expired two years ago, to April
next year. At the same time, the amendments give the right to RTS to start
collecting the subscription immediately.

Culture and Media Minister Dragan Kojadinovic explained that the opposition
before October 5, as opposed to the opposition today, called on the public
to boycott the subscription, since RTS was the instrument of a political
option that ruled in Serbia at the time.

"It is true that we, the opposition then, were fighting against that. But
one should be aware of the fact that RTS was not a public service working
for the citizens of Serbia at the time. The technical problem of charging
the subscription through the electricity expenditure scale was not the issue
but the character of the program which was the instrument in the hands of
Milosevic's regime. By introducing this way of charging the subscription,
the any possibility of any political influence on the program of the public
service broadcaster will be eliminated, which is the most important thing."

Chief of MPs of the Serbian Radical Party in the Serbian Parliament Tomislav
Nikolic however asked what where the difference between the times before
October 5 and now was, considering that Tijanic was there then as he is here
now, the Socialist Party of Serbia was in power then as it is in power now:

"The authorized proposers are now in a situation when they must deny
everything they were saying about the TV subscription while they were in the
opposition. They valued the state television according to who was in power.
They say the television wasn't good then and that the subscription should
not be charged. Now, when they are in power, now it is all right to charge
it", Nikolic said.

Despite the claims of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) that the
subscription will not be charged together with the electricity bills, the
president of the Serbian Parliament's Culture and Information Committee
Aleksandar Lazarevic said that would be regulated by the law.

"The amendment in this legislation, which should regulate this field, will
define the EPS as a company entitled to charge the subscription, while the
records of subscribers would be provided by RTS as envisaged by the Act. The
station is obliged to provide records before it is transformed into a public
service, and to notify the citizens of the subscription charge. Accordingly,
I expect that the real list of those possessing a TV receiver will be made."

The amendments envisage the extension of the deadline for privatisation of
local and regional electronic media, which expired in July, to the end of
December 31, 2008.

The amendments also envisage that the six-year terms for the members of the
Broadcast Council, nominated by the Parliament's Committee, while the
members nominated by the Vojvodina Parliament, universities and churches
would have five-year, and representatives of non-governmental organisations
and professional associations - four-year mandate.

MPs from the Democratic Party announced that they would vote against the
amendments. The Serbian Radical Party said they would not take part in the
voting, while the rest of the parties in the parliament said they would
support the legislation.

Many professional organisations, together with the Association of
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and the Association of Independent
Serbian Journalists (IJAS) opposed these amendments.


RTS SUBSCRIPTION AS OF OCTOBER 1?

BELGRADE, August 30, 2005 (B92) - As of October 1, citizens of Serbia will
pay a subscription for Radio Television of Serbia together with their
electricity bills. According to the amendments to the Broadcast Act,
citizens will have to pay subscription for RTS. The final amount of TV
subscription has not been set, but is estimated at about 300 dinars a month.
Minister of Culture Dragan Kojadinovic does not expect TV subscription will
cause any damages to the Electric Power Industry of Serbia because RTS will
have a separate bank transfer account. Minister Kojadinovic said that
payment through electricity bills, although not without its shortcomings, is
the most efficient method for financing a public service:

"Both EPS and RTS are public companies and I believe that there will be no
problems with subscription payment. There are no difficulties and accounts
and revenues of EPS will not be jeopardized -- there will be a separate
transfer account for subscription. It is a fact that everyone in this
country has electricity, but not everyone pays for communal services or a
phone line. This is the only way to collect the subscription and I think
that there will be no difficulties in technical implementation", said
Kojadinovic.

MPs from the Democratic Party in the Serbian Parliament have criticized the
amendments to the Broadcast Act discontinuing the right of veto for the
Vojvodina's representative in the Broadcasting Council. Chief of the
Democratic Party's parliamentary group Dusan Petrovic said that Vojvodina's
autonomy has been violated, while the government in Serbia and the media
which is supposed to be a public service is being increasingly centralized.
"There is not a single reason to disallow Vojvodina's representative, chosen
by this parliament, to decide on the Broadcast Act issues related to the
Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Without decentralization there can be no
stability in the country. If the government keeps insisting, as is the case
here, on centralistic solutions, there will be no stability", said Petrovic.

Serbian Parliament has also discussed today the withdrawal of criminal
charges against Marko Milosevic. Although the Minister of Justice Zoran
Stojkovic said that the Government of Serbia considers this case over,
Serbian Renewal Movement -- according to the Minister Kojadinovic -- will
insist on full investigation. He said that the investigation should be
continued to find out whether Zoran Milovanovic, who has requested
withdrawal of charges, has been persuaded, forced or threatened.

Representatives will vote tomorrow on the amendments to the Broadcast Act
and High Education Act. It is expected that both draft laws will be adopted.
Today's session started late because President of the Parliament demanded a
session of the Kosovo and Metohija Board dedicated to the murder of two
Serbian boys in Kosovo.


OPEN SESSION ONLY FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S CAMERAS

BELGRADE, August 30, 2005 (B92) - In yesterday's news on our television at
19:15 we have published the information that the formal session of the
Serbian Parliament has been closed for the media.

Head of the Serbian Government's Department for Media Relations, Srdjan
Djuric, has called us live just before the end of the news programme, saying
that this was not true. He said that it was impossible to let all media
crews into a session hall due to a lack of available space: "All journalists
who reported on this event, and all of them came by bus together with
government ministers - they all came by bus - were informed that Serbian
Government's cameras will record the whole session because it was impossible
to put more than 20 cameras and more than 20 reporters into the hall. It was
a small room and there was only enough space for the ministers. After the
session all reporters were offered unedited material to be broadcast in
their reports on the session", said Srdjan Djuric.

RTV B92's position is unchanged and we still support our journalist Petar
Gajic who claims that no one from the Serbian Government's Department for
Media Relations have mentioned that the session will be recorded and the
video material available, although Gajic has talked to Department's staff
members on several occasions.

B92's crew used its own transportation and was forced to walk several
kilometers because the police did not allow its car to continue. TV B92 has
been accredited in a timely manner for yesterday's event.


A SURREAL SEIZURE OF MONEY

BELGRADE, August 30, 2005 (Danas) - Imagine a situation when a supermarket
shop assistant forces you to pay for half a kilogram of biscuits you haven't
bought, or tries to pressure you into buying the very same biscuits although
you never eat them because there are many other biscuits which fit your
needs perfectly. And imagine that the whole surreal stealing of money is
done by having your money taken when you're paying for your electricity
bills. In the end, the shop assistant explains to you that the government
has come to a conclusion that you have no idea which biscuits are good for
you and that it has to prescribe you what you will buy and how much you will
pay for it.

The government tells you that you are not legally sane and that it has to
appoint persons who will educate you and your children because you are not
capable of doing it yourself. In short, this is a modern fable about the
national television subscription project which is a good example of the
paternalistic government which takes the money from its citizens considering
them unable to make simplest everyday decisions. The decision that all
households in Serbia must pay the service they did not ask for is a robbery
of a sort, especially when tens of TV and radio stations are available
providing free and similar service.

It directly favours state property over the private property, and imposes
the position of the minority to the rest of the citizens. This position is
more or less clear to the government (it has a track record of hostility
towards the free market), so it's trying to put a smokescreen using
educational and nationalistic rhetoric and the need for objective
information. Unfortunately, all these arguments are just the "emperor's
clothes". For 300 dinars an average consumer can buy more than 50 channels
offering all kinds of content: information, entertainment, culture, science
and education, even the channels dedicated to most specific areas. Out of
these 50 channels, more than 30 are broadcast or subtitled in Serbian or
Croatian. Most of them have a news programme, sometimes with positions not
encountered on the national television. Since it is obvious that
informational argument is not convincing enough, education and culture come
into play: in other words, someone must enlighten Serbia, and it is supposed
to be done by the government famous for its persecution of the media,
physical attacks on journalists and defiance towards the international
community.

It remains to be seen how the Broadcasting Agency intends to enforce this
kind of enlightenment upon the population - unless it intends to close all
TV stations which are "ruining" the people, or force citizens of Serbia to
watch RTS. This affair leaves a sour taste -- Serbian citizens are being
treated as retarded because they don't want to consume things offered to
them by the quasi-elite. If the RTS programme has really improved that much,
it would be best to scramble it and make people pay for it on voluntary
basis. If the programme is so good, most of the people would like to watch
it. Of course, this means an end to any kind of financing from the budget
and paying for excess expenses.

The end result would be that poor citizens who were most supportive of the
populist ideas would pay the biggest price. In just one year, by means of
subscription, at least 120 million euros will be confiscated from citizens
for purposes of something that is freely offered to them by other TV
stations. For less than 50 euros a year it is possible to connect to cable
TV networks anywhere in urban areas, buy quality antennas and amplifiers or
pay instalments for purchase of a satellite dish.

Citizens of Serbia will decide whether they will remain silent or protest
against this, because it is not only a stealing of money, but also a
negation of the common sense of the majority. Refusing to pay obligatory
subscription is a good way to awake from the apathy of a country heading for
an economic disaster.


POLITICAL ATTACK AGAINST DEFIANT EDITOR

NOVI SAD, August 30, 2005 (Danas) - There are serious indications that the
editor in chief of the Pancevac newspaper Nenad Zivkovic has not been
dismissed from his position for professional reasons, but because of a
political attack against the "disobedient" editor, warns the Independent
Journalists' Society of Vojvodina.

There are also clear indications that Zivkovic has been dismissed to remove
an obstacle for takeover of Pancevac by certain interest groups during the
paper's forthcoming privatization. Zivkovic has been doing his job with
integrity, completely insusceptible to political influence of any kind. He
was certainly not a good choice for the persons who are behind his
dismissal. Zivkovic's dismissal has not been justified by professional, but
utterly bizarre reasons like disagreements with the editorial office, it is
pointed out in the announcement of the Independent Journalists' Association
of Vojvodina.

The Association reminds that "the last two years were very successful for
Pancevac newspaper under Zivkovic's leadership. The circulation has
increased and it has become one of the best and most professional local
newspapers in Serbia, with a quality far exceeding its municipal
boundaries." The announcement says that "because of his courage, not only as
an editor, but as a citizen, Zivkovic has made enemies among the
'nationalistically aware' local and not just local politicians: let us just
mention that during the March 2004 demonstrations, when Serbia reverberated
with hatred towards everything nonserbian, when mosques were burned and
Albanian, Roma, Hungarian and Slovakian houses were stoned, Zivkovic painted
graffiti which called to peace and tolerance for which he has even been
arrested!"

The Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina points out that the
"case of Nenad Zivkovic should not be regarded as a single, isolated
incident, but as a serious warning that local power brokers will do anything
to take or keep control over local media and that they will attack anyone
who stands in their way".

Povratak