IFEX izvještava o prilikama u Srbiji i Crnoj Gori

16.11.2005.

BELGRADE, November 9, 2005 (B92) - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) urged the state authorities to investigate the demolition of a car belonging to Kursumlija journalist Ljiljana Danilovic.

In its statement ANEM noted that there were reasons to believe that the incident was not just a case of vandalism, but was intended to intimidate Ljiljana Danilovic who had earlier been threatened because of her work as a journalist.

The Association also called all journalism and media associations to show solidarity with anyone exposed to threats because of their work as a journalist.

NEW STRIKE OF ITALIAN JOURNALISTS

ROME, November 9, 2005 (Beta) - Italian journalists started a two-day job walkout today, displeased with the contract renewal talks.

The journalists noted that, despite the proposed increase, the wages were still too low and demanded the improvement of working conditions for journalists, especially freelancers.

During the strike, most newspaper editions will be stopped.

The court in Rome ordered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to pay 16.855 Euros of court expenses to journalists that were forced to leave RAI after his criticizing of some of the shows that had mocked him.

The court found that the journalist Marco Travaglio, who questioned Berlusconi's money origin, which made him the wealthiest man in Italy, in the television program "Satyricon" on March 14, 2001, conveyed a "legitimate political criticism to Silvio Berlusconi".

The court also ruled that the statements of the "Satyricon" editor Daniele Lutazzi, who was thrown out of RAI for his frequent challenges of Berlusconi's conducts, "were satirical, but not offensive".

The court's verdict obliged the Italian national television to reinstate
journalist Michele Santoro on his journalistic activity, who was in the
meantime elected member to the European Parliament. Santoro resigned from his euro-parliamentary office, and participated on "RockPolitik", a controversial TV show hosted by Adriano Celentano, watched by around 12 million viewers every Thursday.

The Italian Academy Award winner Roberto Benigni has recently derided Prime Minister Berlusconi in the same show, inviting him publicly to come to theshow and say all he has to say.

UPF PRIZE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 2005

LOME, November 11, 2005 (Danas) - This year's prize of the International Union of French-speaking Press (UPF) for freedom of expression is allocated to Lebanese journalist May Shidiak.

More than 220 people from 40 countries, Serbia and Montenegro among them,
participated in the 37th Summit of the Francophone Journalists, held in Lome, Togo.

Lebanese TV LBC journalist May Shidiak, known for her courageous analysisand comments on the destructive Syrian presence in Lebanon, was heavily wounded on September 25, from a bomb planted under her car. The journalist survived, but lost her hand and leg.

The Summit also paid tribute to the Congo newspaper columnist Franck Ngyke, who was brutally murdered together with this wife in Kinshasa on November 3, 2005.

Journalists are killed not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in all
other parts of the world where the need to suppress freedom of information exists.

In Serbia and Montenegro, the murders of Curuvija, Pantic and Jovanovic have not yet been solved and assassins never found. It still remains unknown who planted a bomb under the vehicle of journalist Zeljko Kopanja in Republic of  Srpska, who lost both his legs in the blast.

The next Summit of the francophone journalists is scheduled for autumn 2006 in Bucharest. The summit will precede the meeting of the heads of francophone countries, where Serbia and Montenegro could be admitted to the Union as an observer.

The Union of French-speaking Press (UPF) gathers more than 50 countries:
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, but also Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Macedonia as affiliate members. Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania also have the status of observers.

"MEDIA IS NOT PRESSURED"

BELGRADE, November 12, 2005 (B92) - Culture and Information Minister Dragan Kojadinovic said today that journalists should stop complaining about state pressure on the media because there is none.

The situation was worse under Slobodan Milosevic, said the minister.

Kojadinovic was responding to the European Commission's report on Serbia-Montenegro which identified the situation in the media, together with the judiciary and organized crime as major problems facing Serbia.

According to the report there have been cases of state security services threatening journalists and thus endangering free media.

Kojadinovic says that there is no pressure of the kind which existed under Milosevic and after October 5, 2000.

"I think that the time for whining and complaining has passed and I urge all journalists, and I was one of them for thirty years, to finally turn to professional work and if there is pressure, and especially if that pressure comes from state bodies, to publicly speak about it and let's see who now can apply any kind of pressure," said the minister.

The Serbian Government claims that responsibility for the state of the media lies with the former government and that it has not been able to sort this out over the past eighteen months.


**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of ANEM**

Povratak