Odbor za zaštitu novinara (CPJ) nagradit æe godišnjom nagradom Galimu Bukharbeavu, Flavia Pinta, Shi Taoa i Beatrice Mtetwu.

27.10.2005.

To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM),
mediawatch@lists.opennet.org


ANEM WEEKLY MEDIA UPDATE
October 18-25, 2005
CPJ TO HONOUR PRESS FREEDOM DEFENDERS

NEW YORK, October 19, 2005 (Beta) - This year's International Press Freedom
Awards will be presented to three journalists and one lawyer.

On 22 November 2005, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will present its 2005 International Press Freedom Awards to former Uzbekistan-based correspondent for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting Galima Bukharbaeva, publisher and editor of "Jornal Pessoal" Lúcio Flávio Pinto, Chinese journalist Shi Tao and Zimbabwean lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.

CPJ will also honor the late ABC News anchor Peter Jennings with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for a lifetime of distinguished achievement.

"All of the awardees have risked their lives and their freedom to report the truth about politicians, policies, businesses and crime. For their work, these journalists have been attacked in various ways to powerful people determined to hide their actions", said in the statement of the CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper.

Flávio Pinto has been physically assaulted and threatened with death for reporting on drug trafficking, environmental destruction and corruption in Brazil's remote Amazon region.

Bukharbaeva risked her life covering the massacre of innocent protestors in the city of Andijan last May. She now lives in exile in the United States but faces criminal charges in her home country.

Shi Tao is serving a 10-year prison sentence for "leaking state secrets abroad." He has been a freelance journalist for Internet publications and an editor for "Dangdai Shang Bao", a Chinese business newspaper. His essays on political reform, published on news Web sites outside of China, drew the ire of authorities.

Mtetwa, a media lawyer, continues to defend journalists in her home country, despite being arrested and beaten because of her work. She has won acquittals for several journalists facing criminal charges, including two London journalists arrested during April's tightly controlled presidential elections.


WORLDWIDE PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2005

NEW YORK, October 21, 2005 (FoNet) - According to the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005, three former Yugoslav countries are among top 60: Slovenia occupies 9th, Bosnia and Herzegovina is on 33rd, Macedonia 43rd and Croatia on 56th place.Serbia and Montenegro is ranked 65th on the Index of freedom of press.

North Korea once again comes bottom of the Reporters Without Borders fourth annual World Press Freedom Index. It is closely followed in the 167-country list by Eritrea (166th) and Turkmenistan (165th), which are other "black holes" for freedom of expression.

Some western democracies slipped down the Index. The United States fell more than 20 places and now occupy 44th position. Canada (21st) and France (30th) also dropped several places.

At the top of the Index once again are northern European countries Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands, all sharing the first place, where robust press freedom is firmly established.


ONE BILL FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ELECTRICITY AFTER ALL

BELGRADE, October 21, 2005 (Beta) - Managing Board of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) accepted the Government's recommendation to charge the TV subscription together with the electricity.

The subscription fee will be a separate heading specified on the electricity bill. Collection of the RTS subscription fee is expected to start after the signing of the contract between EPS and RTS, which would fine-tune the technicalities.

However, the list of subscribers has not yet been made so it still remains unknown whether the subscription fee of 300 dinars will be included in the November electricity bill.


MARKO KNEW ABOUT BOMBING OF RTS?

BELGRADE, October 21, 2005 (FoNet, Beta) - Zanka Stojanovic, whose son was killed in the bombing of RTS, claims that Marko Milosevic knew the station would be a target.

Zanka Stojanovic said that in December 2001, Aleksandar Petkanic, who claims to be the former bodyguard of Marko Milosevic, proposed to lawyer Borivoje Borovic to appear as the witness of prosecution in the case against the former RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic.

Stojanovic also claims that, Borovic approached her in the hall of the Belgrade Palace of Justice in December 2001 and told her that he had a letter which might be used as key evidence in the case against Milanovic.

"The letter allegedly cited that on April 21, 1999, one day before the RTS bombing, Petkanic was sitting with Marko Milosevic, the then Chief of Directorate for moral and information of the Supreme Command Headquarters Brigadier General Aleksandar Bakocevic and two other generals, in the café Rolex in Pozarevac. Milosevic told them then that RTS and one military object in Pozarevac were going to be hit tomorrow, adding that the number of victims would be minor comparing to the benefits gained in anti-NATO
campaign", said Zanka Stojanovic.

Zanka Stojanovic said that she had tried on several occasions to get the copy of the letter from Borovic, but he told her every time that the letter was misplaced, suggesting her to appeal to the Justice Minister Vladan Batic regarding the Petkanic's claims. She did just that, but there were no results.

Stojanovic was persistent in obtaining the copy of the letter from Borovic, but was told that "the guy was threatened to keep quiet", and that the letter was lost.

Lawyer Borivoje Borovic could not remember Petkanic, but allowed the possibility that some of the prisoners had sent the letter, asking to take on his case.

Former Justice Minister Vladan Batic said he was not aware of the letter.

"I would turn heaven and earth to get hold of that letter. Everyone knows my opinion of Dragoljub Milanovic", Batic said.

The role of Slobodan Milosevic, father of Marko Milosevic and president of Yugoslavia at the time of NATO air campaign in Serbia, in the deaths of 16 RTS workers was never investigated on the court. The then RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic was convicted for disobeying the order of evacuation, but was never found guilty for premeditated mass murder.


DANAS SUES PETROVIC AND NIN

BELGRADE, October 21, 2005 (Beta) - Belgrade daily Danas has announced pressing charges against the weekly NIN and former Head of State Security service Goran Petrovic.

The daily will sue Petrovic for serious accusations issued on the account of Danas journalist Vuk Z. Cvijic in the interview given to the weekly NIN.

According to Danas, Petrovic has discredited and libelled both Cvijic and the daily by claiming Cvijic was a "drug addict" who a "military service collaborator". The daily Danas also reminded the public on the chronology of events from the moment it was discovered that Cvijic was wiretapped. Danas stated that it did not sue the responsible ones at the time, however, after Petrovic's attack of Cvijic and Danas in the interview of NIN, the daily was
forced to take legal charges against both Petrovic and NIN.

"It is vital to remind the former chief, the editorial of the oldest Serbian weekly and the public, that these outrageous and ungrounded accusations on Cvijic's account are not only libel, but also violation of his privacy. It's needless to say that the drug addiction is a disease, and every disease, even if it is accurately diagnosed, is not illegal and a police matter", the daily stated, demanding from Petrovic to name his source of information on
the alleged medical condition of Cvijic.

Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (NUNS) protested over the insults and unsubstantiated insinuations by Petrovic.

"These very grave qualifications are unfit for the serious people. But, when they come from the former head of one of the secret services, we are reasonably troubled with the question whether we are going back to the times of publicising unconfirmed claims from the secret files", said in the statement of NUNS.

"Obviously out of the need for sensationalism, Petrovic neglected the fact that there were papers and journalist who were doing their job honestly.
NUNS is very concerned by the fact that one such a respectable weekly like NIN allowed that its pages be used as a field for making unverified and undue accusations against the fellow journalists. It only aggravates the situation of our media, most certainly infected by numerous violations of ethical and professional codes", said NUNS.

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Povratak