<nettime> ANEM WEEKLY REPORT: October 28 -- November 3, 2000

[mediawatch-owner@freeb92.net]

ANEM WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA
OCTOBER 28 - NOVEMBER 3, 2000

SISIC: RTS MANAGEMENT KNEW THE EXACT TIME OF BOMBING: 

BELGRADE, October 28 2000 - The Radio Television Serbia Strike
Committee stated yesterday that they had come into possession of
reliable information, found in the RTS building, which implied that
the house's management knew the date and the exact time when the NATO
air force would strike the building in Abardareva Street twelve hours
in advance.

Slobodan Sisic, the lawyer representing both the committee and the
families of those who were killed, told an RTS Independent Union press
conference that he had proof that the management, especially former
General Director Dragoljub Milanovic had known about the NATO attack
on the night between April 22 and 23 when 16 workers lost their lives,
Beta reports.

Sisic said that the criminal charges he had filed on behalf of the
victims' families on July 18 against eight responsible persons in RTS,
would, after the investigation most probably be changed from the
suspicion of endangering public safety to premeditated murder, a crime
punishable by a prison sentence of up to 20 years or the death
penalty.

Sisic said that he would most probably extend the criminal charges to
include Deputy General Director Jovan Ristic, since there was
"reliable evidence" that he too was responsible for the deaths of the
RTS employees.

SOCIALISTS OWE 85 MILLION DINARS TO RTS FOR ADVERTISING

BELGRADE, October 28 2000 - Representatives of the RTS Independent
Union Strike Committee told a press conference yesterday about the
financial dealings, malversation and debts of this media house,
estimated at a total of around one billion dinars, the equivalent of
around 30 million German marks, Beta reports today.

At the press conference, it was revealed that RTS owes suppliers
around 320 million dinars, Yugoslav Radio Television around 250,
occasional contributors more than 10 million, with the remaining
amount due to unpaid royalty fees and unregulated obligations for live
coverage of various sports events.

At the same time, debts to RTS are estimated at around 700 million
dinars, the largest amount owed by the Serbian Electrical Company (549
million). Based on the election campaign coverage, the Socialist Party
of Serbia owes RTS 85 million, the Radicals 42 million, and the
Yugoslav Left 45 million dinars. In addition to this, the invoice for
the Socialists and the Yugoslav Left was calculated based on last
year's prices, which included 30 per cent lower prices compared to
those of August this year. Only the Serbian Renewal Movement paid its
debt of 4.4 million dinars, but this party's election coverage on
state television was conditioned on payment in advance.

NIS MEDIA MANAGEMENT DISMISSED

NIS, October 28 2000 - The management of Nis television and daily
Narodne novine were dismissed yesterday following a decision made by
the Public Company "Info Nis" Managing Board on the grounds of not
carrying out the programming concept and editorial policy. The founder
of "Info Nis", which comprises Nis TV and Niske novine, is the City
Assembly.

RADIO EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVELY LEAVE SOCIALIST PARTY AND YUGOSLAV LEFT

LEBANE, October 28 2000 - Employees of private Radio Caricin grad in
Lebane have decided to collectively revoke their membership of the
Serbian Socialist Party and the Yugoslav Left and begin the objective
informing of the public, Beta reports.

A press release signed by Director and Editor-in-Chief Srdjan Zivkovic
said that the decision to leave the Socialist Party and the Yugoslav
Left was made on October 24 at a meeting of the union organisation and
editorial staff of Caricin grad. Radio Caricin grad has 18
technicians, anchors and journalists. Thirteen of them were members of
the Yugoslav Left, while five were members of the Socialist Party.

When asked about the motives for the collective joining of the left
parties, Zivkovic said that it was done "to obtain frequencies more
easily".  

VUKOVIC: INDEPENDENT MEDIA BEHAVE LIKE STATE MEDIA IN THE PAST 

PODGORICA, October 28 2000  - Senior official of the ruling Democratic
Party of Socialists Miodrag Vukovic today assessed that a new
anti-Montenegrin hysteria was being created in Belgrade, "maybe worse
than the one from the time of Slobodan Milosevic," Beta reports.

"Certain self-styled analysts, otherwise tested Serb nationalists and
tested anti-Montenegrins, are now competing in their accusations
against Montenegro and its authorities," Vukovic said in an interview
for the latest issue of Podgorica weekly Polis.

Vukovic accused the independent media in Serbia, "who had previously
hidden from the Serbian dictatorship in Montenegro," and who had
without doubt contributed to the victory of democracy in Serbia, of
"competing in making accusations against those who had fed them".

He said that in the new political climate, former Serbian independent
media had started behaving in the best tradition of the notorious
state media.  

BISERKA MATIC FOR BALLANCED AND RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM 

BELGRADE, October 28 2000 - Co-minister of Information in the
transitional Serbian government Biserka Matic-Spasojevic said she
would fight for the opening of the media to all political opinions,
and that she would make a consolidated effort to gain the approval of
the co-ministers from the Serbian Socialist Party and the Serbian
Renewal Movement Ivica Dacic and Bogoljub Pejcic, Beta reports.     

Biserka Matic told Politika that the Ministry of Information, which
decides collectively through a consensus of the three co-ministers,
would make efforts to prepare the "ground for the new government"
until the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 23.

She said that the Public Information Act, under which the Serbian
media, mostly the independent media, had in the last two years been
fined more than 30 million dinars, had been practically rendered ad
acta. Regarding initiatives for the adoption of new legislation, she
said that this was not necessary, because according to the
Constitution the media were free, and any violation of that principle
could be sanctioned by the Criminal Code.

She added that the three-member Ministry was currently working on the
establishment of a new Managing Board for Radio Television Serbia, the
members of which, in her words, should be from the "ranks of the
employees and non-government organisations". Biserka Matic said that
other expected moves included the opening of an RTS correspondence
office in Kosovo, "in addition to the seven radio stations opened by
the Socialist authorities".

She said that the idea of opening a media council with the Federal
Government which would contribute to the autonomy of journalism should
also be considered.  

BLIC: HADZI DRAGAN ANTIC HIDING IN MONASTERY 

BELGRADE, October 29 2000 - Former Director of Politika Hadzi Dragan
Antic has not entered the monastic order as claimed by the domestic
public, Belgrade daily Blic journalists who visited Milesevo monastery
near Prijepolje and Milesevo Bishop Filaret on Friday reported in
yesterdays' edition of the daily.

One of the monks in charge of guests said that Hadzi Dragan Antic had
come to the monastery ten days ago and was not wearing a monastic
habit, Blic wrote yesterday.

When asked whether that meant that Hadzi Antic would enter the
monastic order, the monk said that before any potential monk became
part of the order, he had to spend a certain time as a novice. Former
director of Politika Hadzi Dragan Antic still has not opted for the
monastic life, which makes him a guest in this monastery, wrote daily
Blic.

NEW TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION ELECTED

BELGRADE, October 29 2000 - Longstanding Tanjug agency journalist and
Vecernje Novosti foreign affairs analyst, Dusan Radovanovic, was
elected the new, temporary president of the Association of Serbian
Journalists after a tumultuous discussion at the organisation's
extraordinary assembly, Beta reports.

The assembly, held under the motto, "Komrakov's darkness never again"
elected a temporary Court of Honour which will over the next four
months re-examine the responsibilities of the former Association's
president Milorad Komrakov and his associates in the light of their
"being servants to the former regime".

The beginning of the session saw the rejection of Zoran Cvijic's
proposal that the Court of Honour "throw out those who nobody but
themselves would refer to as journalists". He said that if today's
assembly failed to do that, it would represent a "group of people with
sullied honour". Cvijic also proposed the disbanding of the
association and the submittal of individual requests for admittance to
the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists. The majority of
the participants in the assembly dismissed that proposition.

RADMILA HRUSTANOVIC TEMPORARY STUDIO B DIRECTOR

BELGRADE, October 29 2000 -City government member Radmila Hrustanovic
has been appointed temporary director of Belgrade Radio Television
Studio B by the Belgrade Commercial Court, Studio B stated today. The
Commercial Court also reduced the rights and authority of incumbent
Studio B director Dragan Kojadinovic, who formally and legally
remained in that position after recent court decisions returning
Studio B to the City Assembly's jurisdiction, Beta reports.

DIRECTOR OF TELEVISION PALMA FOUNDS PARTY

BELGRADE, October 30 2000 - Director of Television Palma Miodrag
Vujovic last night promoted his new party, the Serbian Progress Party
during prime time programming hours on his own channel.

Vujovic sat alone in the studio and addressed the viewers in front of
a board displaying his party's logo, and the name and address of the
party flashed repeatedly across the screen throughout the programme.

Among other things, Vujovic said that the Serbian Progress Party
pledged for the admittance of Serbia and not Yugoslavia into the
United Nations.  

MITSUI BUYS SHARES IN RTV PINK

BELGRADE, October 30 2000 - International corporation Mitsui, co-owner
of daily Blic purchased shares in RTV Pink two days ago thus becoming
a minority share holder, the two companies announced yesterday.  

The exact amount invested and the number of shares purchased has not
been made public. Mitsui representative Peter Kelbell said this was
the first foreign investment in a Yugoslav company since the recent
political changes, adding that Pink was selected because of its good
media and marketing position.    

The owner of RTV Pink Zeljko Mitrovic, gave his comments on this
latest business move to B92. "We are delighted that the Mitsui company
has been present on our scene for a long time and they showed their
good investment judgement by investing in Blic and other magazines in
South-east Europe. I think it is very significant for us that we will
be able to obtain fresh capital though foreign investment and I think
we will enter a phase of rapid development resulting in the production
of better quality programmes", Mitrovic told B92.      

Director of Blic press Miodrag Djuricic stated yesterday that the
basic sense of the contract between Mitsui and Radio Television Pink
"the television with the highest ratings and the publishing house
whose ambition it was to use other media for its development, was
establishing programming cooperation". Djuricic told Beta that one of
the goals was to help Pink become a "better television station" by
using the additional possibilities of the written media.      

ANEM DEMANDS REVISION OF PRO-MILOSEVIC MEDIA BUSINESS DEALINGS

BELGRADE, October 30 2000 - The Association of Independent Electronic
Media has demanded that the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities set up
judicial and regulatory bodies to prevent the ownership transformation
of private media previously close to Milosevic's regime until their
business dealings had been revised, Radio B92 reports today.    

ANEM Chairman Veran Matic said that the Association had already
reacted twice, warning the new authorities to prevent the ownership
transformation of any media, especially electronic media, bearing in
mind the sensitive subject of frequency distribution as national
property over the last ten years when only those institutions favoured
by the regime managed to obtain frequencies, while a large number of
independent stations did not.      

"At the last frequency tender there were over 50 requests from ANEM
members, and only three frequencies were granted, while a large number
of media who supported the authorities or were directly involved with
the authorities obtained several very convenient frequencies. We will
now have them seeking to attract foreign investment by putting
themselves forward as strategic partners for foreign corporations in
order to use these connections to preserve their illegally achieved
frequencies, leaving independent media again with the poor range of
remaining frequencies", said Matic.        

VERAN MATIC DENIES GLAS INFORMATION

BELGRADE, October 30 2000 - ANEM Chairman Veran Matic today denied
information published in Sunday's edition of Glas javnosti in an
article entitled "Government on Friday" which suggested that he might
become Minister of Telecommunications. "Nobody has as yet offered me
that position, nor would I be willing to accept such a position,
because I see my present and my future solely in the Association of
Independent Electronic Media, and Radio and Television B92," Matic
said.       

MEDIA ANALYSIS SINCE OCTOBER 5

BEOGRAD, October 30 2000 - "Although political events in the country
demand the support of the newly-elected government, the recently
liberated media are in danger of once again becoming the greatest
support to the current authorities and repeating the mistakes made in
the time of the former regime," the MEDIA Works agency concluded in
its analysis of the extent of influence October 5 had exerted on
different reports on domestic political protagonists.      

The agency noted that independent publications and the electronic
media had not changed their editorial policy and that they gravitated
towards balanced and criticism-inspired reporting.

As regards the change in attitude towards political protagonists,
MEDIA Works noted that, for example, since the events of October 5 BK
Telekom has not broadcast a single positive story about the former
president, in common with daily Politika, which was until October 5
one of the major promoters of the regime.    

PROPOSAL TO KOSTUNICA FOR MEDIA COUNCIL

BELGRADE, October 31 2000 - A group of reputable local media
representatives and experts yesterday requested that Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica form a media council, which would in the
transitional period, until such time as relations in the media and
public expression sector were regulated, protect the elementary rights
of the citizens and institutions in that politically sensitive area.     

In a letter to Kostunica, it was proposed that the media council be
formed by a small number of respected persons, who had gained their
reputation in public work outside the media field. They would,
according to that proposal, publicly declare any violations of
"customs of decency and appropriate conduct" in the information
sector,  which would introduce "an element of self imposed therapy"
into media rhetoric.      

"We believe that such a democratic institution would quickly win
public confidence," said the signatories of the letter -
Editor-in-Chief of Mreza production group Lila Radonjic, Snjezana
Milivojevic from the Center for Media Studies, the Association of
Independent Electronic Media Chairman Veran Matic, Beta agency
Director and Association of Private Media President Radomir Diklic,
Vreme magazine Director and Editor-in-Chief Dragoljub Zarkovic and
Media Center Executive Director Zoran Jelicic.       

If it gained an appropriate reputation, the Council could also carry
out the important job of supervising media activity during the
forthcoming election campaign in Serbia, in accordance with the
regulations set out for republic parliamentary elections, said the
letter to Kostunica, Beta reports.    

INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION FOR MORATORIUM ON INVESTMENTS IN
PRO-REGIME MEDIA 

BELGRADE, October 31 2000 - In response to the selling of Radio
Television Pink shares to the foreign co-owner of daily Blic, the
Independent Association of Serbian Journalists has requested that the
new federal government introduce a moratorium on investments into
"those regime media which had accumulated wealth and based their
monopolistic position on political privilege".     

The Mitsui company, co-owner of Blic Press, became a minority owner of
Radio Television Pink on October 27, based on the contract signed
between the authorised representative of this Vienna-based company,
Peter Kolbel and Pink Director Zeljko Mitrovic, senior Yugoslav left
official.    

The Independent Association described this contract as a "textbook
example of money laundering", adding that "it was obvious that the
purchase of shares in Pink was not the purchase of private property
earned in the market game, but money snatched away from the citizens
in various ways".    

A similar request was sent to the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities on
Sunday by the Association of Independent Electronic Media, while the
Pink-Mitsui contract was also severely criticised by the Association
for the Development of Private Radio Diffusion, Spektar.   

Blic Press Director Miodrag Djuricic declined to comment on the
contract to Radio B92. The Mitsui representative who was staying in
Belgrade also declined to comment on the accusations in the domestic
media and press associations, adding that everything had been said in
the statement issued after the signing of the contract.    

Since Zeljko Mitrovic, a person close to Slobodan Milosevic's regime,
was blacklisted by the EU and thus prevented from travelling to those
countries, European Commission spokesman Gunar Vigand was asked
whether the EU had mechanisms in place to prevent investments into
firms known for their close association with the former regime. Vigand
replied as follows: "There are such mechanisms and they are currently
in effect, and they will also be implemented in the future. This
regards a ban on any financial transactions with firms whose owners
are members of the Milosevic family or his close associates. The
Yugoslav authorities need to bear these measures in mind as well, just
as the EU members do, and they constantly have to be reminded of
them".           

WHITE TALKS WITH MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES

BELGRADE, October 31 2000 - Secretary-General of the International
Federation of Journalists Aiden White held a series of meetings in
Belgrade yesterday with representatives of independent media, the
Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, as well as journalists
from former regime media - now in the process of transformation, Beta
reports.     

During his visit to Belgrade, White was acquainted with the most
urgent needs of the media and their organisations. He especially
regretted that nothing had been done so far about the establishment of
guilt for the casualties during the NATO bombing of the state
television building, pledging joint media action in that respect.    

JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION CALLS ON MEMBERS TO JOIN ASSEMBLY PREPARATIONS

BELGRADE, October 31 2000 - The temporary management of the
Association of Serbian Journalists has scheduled a new, regular,
election assembly of this association for February 24 next year and
called on all members to join the preparations for this gathering and
thus "contribute to the return of the Association to its basic
principles". The statement, signed by newly elected President of the
Association Dusan Radovanovic described the announcement of the
assembly scheduled for November 6 by the incumbent management as
"illegitimate" and "meaningless". According to Beta, it was emphasised
that the association's early assembly had elected the new management,
which would in the next four months prepare a regular election
assembly. At the early assembly, the new management had received
written support from 750 journalists "from all over the country" thus
removing the "Komrakov mark". The early assembly included 155 members
of the association. The same session claimed that the association
included 3,850 members.               

AREZINA RADIO BELGRADE COORDINATOR, DIVJAK DEPUTY

BELGRADE, October 31 2000 - Radio Belgrade's Temporary Editorial
Collegium stated yesterday that Jovan Arezina had been appointed
coordinator of Radio Belgrade, while Slobodan Divjak had been
appointed his deputy, Beta reports today. The statement issued by the
collegium specified that Arezina and Divjak had been appointed on
October 26, based on the decision of the Radio Television Serbia main
coordinator Nenad Ristic. The Temporary Editorial Collegium distanced
itself from any public statement made in the name of Radio Belgrade by
the director of this house Milivoje Pavlovic, emphasising that
Pavlovic had not participated in the change in editorial policy in any
way after the recent political changes in the country.          

MITROVIC: I DID NOT SELL SHARES IN PINK TO PROTECT MYSELF 

BEOGRAD, October 31 2000 - The majority owner of Radio Television Pink
Zeljko Mitrovic yesterday denied that the selling of shares to the
Vienna-based company Mitsui was an attempt to protect himself from any
eventual investigation into his business dealings and the way he was
granted radio frequencies and television channels.    

Mitrovic told Beta that Pink was open to the audit of its business
dealings. "We propose that the audit start from us," he said and added
that "he offered all guarantees" that Radio Television Pink had not
used his senior position in the Yugoslav Left. "I am offering all
guarantees that we did not get any help from the state, and that my
political life only cost us as a company," Mitrovic said. When asked
in what sense it had cost Pink, he replied, "In every sense, in the
sense of the negative politicisation of the company itself." He said
that he had left the Yugoslav Left and that he was through with
political life. As to the reason for this decision, Mitrovic said that
he felt partially responsible for the poor election results.          

Mitrovic said that the cooperation would work to the advantage of both
sides, but that Pink would remain a non-political television company,
whose sole criteria would be to attract as many viewers as possible.
He added, however, that in the new programming, which would start from
December 10, there would be short news broadcasts on the most
important events in the country. Mitrovic announced that Pink would
start broadcasting from the new building in Dedinje in about two
months. 

SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT: MURDER OF SLAVKO CURUVIJA ORDERED BY
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS 

BELGRADE, November 112000. During a Serbian Renewal Movement press
conference yesterday, senior party official Vlajko Senic announced
that his party had found documents testifying that the murder of owner
of Dnevni Telegraf Slavko Curuvija had been ordered by the Ministry of
Internal Affairs. The Human Rights Foundation is also in possession of
the same document. Part of this document was cited in a statement made
by this non-governmental organisation which reported that the
following of Curuvija was organised by the head of Belgrade State
Security, Milan Radonjic, while the order for his murder was
personally issued by the Head of State Security, Radovan Markovic. The
document also states that the officers following Curuvija were
withdrawn from the field a few minutes before his murder.           

Deputy President of the transitional government, Nebojsa Covic, said
that the documents were in possession of each of the three
co-ministers and that senior DOS and the Serbian Renewal Movement
officials would present this information to the presidents of Serbia
and Yugoslavia, Milan Milutinovic and Vojislav Kostunica. The second
deputy president of the transitional government, Mr Spasoje Krunic
told B92 that the authenticity of the document would be checked by the
relevant department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Co-ministers
have demanded that the statements from this document should urgently
be investigated and checked. The prosecutor's office should do its
job", said Krunic.          

DANAS: CURUVIJA STATEMENTS CREDIBLE

BELGRADE, November 1 2000 - Wednesday's issue of Belgrade daily Danas
writes that the information presented in the report about last year's
"secret surveillance" of murdered journalist and owner of Dnevni
Telegraf, Slavko Curuvija is credible, and cites the statement of the
former editor-in-chief of weekly NIN, Dusan Velickovic. Danas writes
that the above mentioned statement reports that "the late Curuvija,
together with his wife Branka Prpa, had a meeting with a male that
afternoon", who was, "as it turned out later", Dusan Velickovic. "All
descriptions in this report are entirely credible and precise, up to
the last detail. Among other things it states that I gave Curuvija a
little paper, which was actually my visit card", Velickovic told
Danas. Beta reports that Slavko Curuvija's wife, Branka Prpa, was
unable to comment on the statements from the above-mentioned report.

SERBIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS TO HOLD REGULAR MEETING

BELGRADE, November 1 2000 - The Regular annual meeting of the veteran
activists of the Serbian Association of Journalists will take place on
Wednesday in the House of Serbian Journalists, reports Beta. In their
announcement, the Serbian Association of Journalists stated that the
aim of the meeting was for the "veterans of Serbian journalism" to
evaluate their activities of the past four years and to discuss the
current situation in journalism following the latest political changes
in the country.       

MILIVOJEVIC: MEDIA FACED WITH PAINSTAKING EMANCIPATION

BELGRADE, November 1 2000 - A group of editors from independent and
private media and prominent experts have put forward a proposal to
President Vojislav Kostunica that a media council be set up. There has
been no response to their proposal to date. One of the group, Snjezana
Milivojevic from the Center For Media Studies told Radio B 92 that the
media council might be able to prevent the further worsening of the
situation in the field of public broadcasting , and that it could
operate until such time as the authorised republic institutions in
charge of that field were set up. Milivojevic said that such a body
would protect the basic rights of the citizens and institutions in the
media during the transitional period.          

"We believe that the council's greatest contribution would be in
establishing some kind of fair play or influencing the introduction of
a sort of a moratorium, one which would prevent any dramatic changes,
primarily regarding property and financial arrangements from having an
adversary effect on the already violated relations on the media scene
which could have long-lasting consequences for the creation of the
media system following the elections at republic level. The second
most significant area concerns the council's eventual intervention in
cases of the dramatic violation of every citizen's right to
expression, especially by means of those methods which were customary
during the time of the former regime. The council would, therefore,
react in cases of any new attempts at establishing the communication
of hatred of any kind, aggressive, militant, discriminative
communication. The council should work on making communication on the
public scene more sophisticated and adapted to the demands of a
democratic society", said Milivojevic.               

Commenting on the general situation on the media scene, from a
position of someone who has researched and analysed that field over
the last ten years, Snjezana Milivojevic estimated that the ratio of
destruction in the informative space was dramatic.   

"I think that serious talks about how we should regulate the field of
media are imminent. Afterwards, we will be faced with institutional
changes, primarily ways of transforming the state media. During the
last ten years, the family of independent and respectable media has
grown, and they will also have to adapt to these new conditions.
Therefore, in these new circumstances, they should not stand either as
a partner or a rival to the state media, but instead, should all work
together, each defining their own position, in an attempt to provide a
rich and diverse media. Finally, I believe that all the media
professions will be faced with a serious self-confrontation, and also
I'm afraid, with the painstaking process of emancipation and
establishing the mechanism of professional protection within",
concluded Milivojevic.            

STUDIO B RETURNED TO THE STOCKHOLDERS?

BELGRADE, November 1 2000 - DOS member New Serbia yesterday demanded
that the administrative committee and the director of Radio-television
Studio B should not be appointed until such time as the question of
the ownership of that media house had been resolved, until it had been
returned to its genuine owners - its stockholders and employees. Beta
reports that the New Serbia Central Committee accused the former city
government of not keeping to its promise made a long time ago that
Studio B would be returned to its stockholders. The new City Council
has been requested to "strictly reject the methods of governing" of
their predecessors in that respect.         

CANAK: EVEN THE NEWS TOOK PART IN PROVOKING HATRED

BELGRADE, November 1 2000 - President of the Vojvodina Parliament
Nenad Canak yesterday accused the holding company Dnevnik of
participating in provoking international and internal hatred, FoNet
reports. During talks with leading representatives from Dnevnik, Canak
said that during the last years Television Novi Sad had been
Vojvodina's "most shameful symbol, zealously contributing to the
provocation of hatred". "Provoking international and internal hatred
is a criminal offence and anyone who took part in it will be held
responsible", said Canak. He reminded the representatives of the
reports published in Dnevnik during the fighting around Vukovar in
1991, and said that "anyone who assumed the right to lie and made a
doctrine out of it will be held responsible". Canak added that Dnevnik
would remain the regime state newspaper since its founder was the
Vojvodina Parliament, "but that this regime demands the truth and
objective reporting". Canak concluded that Dnevnik would be
responsible for representing all political parties from the Vojvodina
Parliament, including the two remaining MPs from the Serbian Socialist
Party.                 

TADIC: DISTRIBUTION OF FREQUENCIES RESOLVED FOREVER

BELGRADE, November 2 2000 - Democratic Party Vice President Boris
Tadic, who has been nominated by DOS as Telecommunications Minister in
the transitional government, said that the problems in that area "will
be solved exclusively in collaboration with experts". Tadic told the
Beta agency yesterday how reluctant he was at first to accept the
nomination for the Telecommunications Minister, since he knew that
area was going to be targeted first as far as the financial
arrangements for a country in a process of modernisation and
globalisation were concerned. "However, the trust of those who
nominated me was crucial and I will especially support the
anti-corruptionist attitude of the Government", said Tadic. He
evaluated the question of the distribution of frequencies as having
been classically political and not a question of engineering, vowing
to resolve that problem once and for all. "That is a crucial question
as far as the freedom of the media is concerned", said Tadic,
announcing "close co-operation with the Deputy President of the
government, Miroljub Labus".                

EDITOR OF NEDELJNI TELEGRAF DETAINED

BELGRADE, November 2 2000 -Belgrade police detained Nedeljni telegraf
assistant editor Milos Antic at around 1p.m. yesterday. The officers
who detained Antic failed to show any warrant, said director and
editor in chief of daily Danas Momcilo Djorgovic. "They didn't give
any reasons for his detention, or comment on what the subject of the
investigation was", added Djorgovic. Djorgovic assumed that Antic was
detained because of his articles published in the last two issues of
Nedeljni telegraf in which he wrote about the orders issued by former
president Slobodan Milosevic to Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff
Lieutenant General Nebojsa Pavkovic on the night between 5th and 6th
October. "I tried to intervene, but I wasn't given any explanations.
They said, if necessary, that I could also be detained", Djorgovic
said. "We asked for the warrant to be shown and for an explanation,
but they didn't show anything and didn't say anything", he added.
Djorgovic also said that Nedeljni Telegraf attorney Milan Vukovic had
gone to the police station to offer Antic legal aid and to find out
the reason for his detention.                

In its Wednesday issue, citing sources in the Serbian Ministry of
Internal Affairs Nedeljni telegraf published an article entitled "A
death list brought in an envelope wrapped in a red ribbon with the
names of Kostunica, Djindjic, Batic, Covic, Perisic and Ilic circled".
According to the daily's report, the list contained fifty names of
those who were to be "liquidated" on the night between 5th and 6th
October, after the demonstrations in Belgrade when the electoral
victory of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica was defended and the
acceptance of Milosevic's defeat was obtained.        

RADIO KRALJEVO STUDIO INCINERATED

BELGRADE, November 2 2000. - One of Radio Kraljevo's studios was
incinerated, while the other sustained serious damage in a fire which
broke out in the center of Kraljevo because of faulty installations at
around 8.20 p.m. last night. Broadcasting and transmitting equipment
and several offices belonging to the local newspaper company Ibarske
novosti, within which Radio Kraljevo functioned were also heavily
damaged. In his statement for Radio B92, Radio Kraljevo
editor-in-chief Alen Knezevic said that no human casualties had been
reported in the fire.        

Knezevic also said that according to unofficial information, the
installations caught fire, which spread rapidly to the Radio Kraljevo
Studio located above the office where the fire initially started. "We
are probably looking at around 100,000 German marks worth of damage
considering the fact that the whole studio burned down. People who
happened to be on the spot at the time of the fire tried to localise
the fire, and to save at least some of the equipment, but all of the
transmitting and broadcasting equipment was lost", Knezevic said.
According to his judgement the fire brigade "failed to turn up on
time. In spite of the fact that the fire brigade is located only 500
meters from Radio Kraljevo, it took them 20 minutes to get there. It
took them the whole hour to bring in the vehicles with the baskets for
the external fire extinguishing", concluded Knezevic.            

"PICTURES, WORDS AND HATRED" RETURNS TO STATE TELEVISION 

BELGRADE, November 2 2000 - The authors of the "Pictures, words and
hatred" series, the broadcasting of which has been suspended,
announced today that the continuation of the documentary will be
broadcast on Wednesday at 8p.m. on state television's first channel.
State television reported that the authors of the documentary series,
Isidora Sekulic and Lazar Lalic thanked the public for their support,
announcing that the remaining episodes would be broadcast during the
following days at the same time. On Tuesday they accused state
television acting director Nenad Ristic of "introducing censorship" on
state television. Ristic responded by saying that the broadcasting of
the series had been suspended as a result of pressure from the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia.           

UNITED SYNDICATE DEMANDS NORMALISATION OF SITUATION

BELGRADE, November 2 2000 - The Serbian state television United Union,
which claims to be the only legitimate union organisation in state
television today demanded that the Serbian transitional government
urgently "normalise the situation" within state television. The union
also asked for all "illegal changes in active -legal areas" to be
revoked, Beta reports. President of the Serbian United Union Milan
Jaric told a press conference that the union had also demanded from
the Serbian government that they be allowed to nominate
representatives of the new state television Management Committee from
the current employees. Jaric also said that he had already spoken with
the Information Co-Minister from the Serbian Renewal Movement Bogoljub
Pejcic, and that on the basis of these talks, he could conclude that
there were realistic chances that these demands would be met. He also
added that the United Union had already nominated five of its
representatives for the state television Management Committee.
              
The United Union described the Independent Union as non-existent since
it had not been registered. According to Jaric, the United Union has
7.502 members, out of a total of 7.876 employees. The Independent
Union recently announced that as of 5th October its membership had
increased to 1.750 new members.    

RIBNIKAR NOMINATED THE EDITORS OF FOUR POLITIKA'S PUBLICATIONS

BELGRADE, November 2 2000 - The temporary editor of the Politika AD
company Darko Ribnikar yesterday nominated acting editors in chief of
Politika's  publications "Politika ekspres", "Ilustrovana politika",
"Bazar" and "Ana". According to the Beta agency, Ribnikar in his
position as editor of the Politika AD Temporary Management Committee,
nominated Vladimir Lazarevic as the acting editor in chief of Politika
ekspres while weekly Ilustrovana politika will be edited by Ognjen
Janevski. Branka Jeremic and Ivana Zivkov were appointed acting
editors in chief of the women's magazines Bazar and Ana.        

BROVINA RELEASED FROM PRISON

BELGRADE, POZAREVAC, November 2 2000 - The cabinet of Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica announced yesterday that Albanian poet
Fljora Brovina had been acquitted on the basis of the Federal
Constitution and The Law of Pardon, Beta reports. Brovina was released
from prison in Pozarevac and left for Kosovo accompanied by her
defence attorneys and the head of the United Nations Human Rights
Mission in Belgrade Barbara Davis. The justification for Yugoslav
President Kostunica's decision stated that in putting the Law of
Pardon into effect, "the positive opinion of the Federal Public
Prosecutor was obtained", as well as the "negative opinion" of the
Federal Minister of Justice. Kostunica therefore "judged that there
were justified reasons for granting Fljora Brovina a pardon".           

As Brovina's defence attorney Branko Stanic told Radio B 92, she was
freed by the act of the President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, according to which all charges against her had been
dropped meaning that she was now a free citizen.   

MARKOVIC CONFIRMS AUTHEHTICITY OF TWO PAGES OF DOCUMENT

BELGRADE, November 3 2000 - Police Co-Minister in the Serbian
government Bozo Prelevic stated today that Head of State Security Rade
Markovic had replied to the demands made by the Ministry of Internal
Affairs to deliver his opinion about the document that leaked to the
public concerning the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, Radio B92
reports. During the press conference, Prelevic said that Markovic had
confirmed that two out of the three pages of the document were
unambiguously written in the hand of the official in question.       

"In the document (I'm talking only about the first two pages) there
are professional, technical and formal deficiencies on the basis of
which the authenticity of the document could be doubted - therefore
the board of directors of the ministry has demanded a detailed report
from the field of activity of the State security as we have not been
given an answer to the crucial question of whether the document is
authentic. The third page was clearly added to the text, which tells
us that the whole document was not composed at the same time, nor
typed on the same typewriter. It is without any marks, signatures, or
initials of any official which is the usual way of writing this type
of a document", Prelevic said.          

Prelevic also added that the reply from Markovic was expected within
24 hours, as it had taken him that long to reply to the first request.
He also emphasised that Rade Markovic had declared that he was willing
to present all the relevant information regarding this matter to the
authorised federal body. He also demanded that the public should be
informed.     

Co-minister Prelevic openly criticised the way some media had
presented the report from the press conference organised by the
Humanitarian Rights Foundation, requesting that journalists act
professionally, and refrain from making judgements, leaving such tasks
to the courts.    

"I barely know Rade Markovic and have no reasons to defend him, or to
attack him. If he has committed a criminal offence, only the court
make that judgement and nobody else", Prelevic emphasised, adding that
very soon there would be personnel changes in the Ministry of Internal
Affairs. He also emphasised that all policemen who had committed
criminal offences would be held responsible, and that the Ministry of
Internal Affairs would not obstruct the investigation and
establishment of responsibility for anything that had been done
illegally.        

ANDJELKOVIC: MEDIA CONDUCTING WITCH-HUNTS

BELGRADE, November 3 2000 - Secretary General of the Serbian Socialist
Party Zoran Andjelkovic declared yesterday that as a government
official, Head of the Serbian State Security Rade Markovic, "should be
responsible to the government, and not to the media leading an witch
hunt against him". In his statement to Beta he also added that "the
courts should establish the responsibility of every individual
including that of Rade Markovic". He sharply criticised the media for
"not writing about who is braking the agreement about the scheduling
of extraordinary Republic elections which was signed on 16th October
by the Serbian Socialist Party, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia
and the Serbian Renewal Movement". "Instead of that, the media are
conducting witch hunts against certain people thus creating the
impression that the overall situation in the country is abnormal",
concluded Andjelkovic.             

BISERKA MATIC: POLITICIANS KEEP AWAY FROM MEDIA

BELGRADE, November 3 2000 - Serbian Information Co-Minister Biserka
Matic yesterday asked the domestic media to criticise the new
government as much as possible. She also asked politicians not to try
to exert influence on the information sector. "Whoever offers a hand
to the media, should be smacked", she said in an interview for Radio
B92, pledging for autonomous and responsible journalism. Matic said
that she would personally lead the queue of those independent media
which would be asking for "the return of everything that was taken
away from them" in previous years. Reminding the public that since the
adoption of the Public Information Act in October 1998, media had been
punished 66 times in total with fines amounting to over 30 million
dollars. She said that those fines, as well as the threats made by the
former Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Vice
President of the government Vojislav Seselj directed at the
independent media, "should not be forgotten".              

She pledged for the continuation of the boycott of the activities of
the Radicals in the independent media, as part of the "Stop the
violence" action, saying that this should be done because of Seselj's
accusations and threats of the liquidation of journalists following
the murder of the Federal Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic at the
beginning of this year. She repeated that she supported the demands
made by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists and the
Association of Independent Electronic Media to set up a moratorium on
foreign investments into media that were close to former Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic's regime.         

Regarding the sale of shares in TV Pink to the co-owner of Blic Press,
Viennese company Mitsui, Biserka Matic said that she hoped that
foreigners would have a "good nose" for the market and that inquiries
had made about the origin of the property belonging to Pink before the
purchase of shares. "From what I know about TV Pink, Palma and Kosava,
I can conclude that they should all be investigated, as the origin of
their means is questionable", she said, adding that "with these three
televisions the country was collapsing with music and dance, as if we
were in a bar".        

She accused former government representatives of "totally burying"
some state media. She also accused Milosevic of transforming Politika
into a moral swamp and of degrading the century of its existence, all
that with the help of Hadzi Dragan Antic. "Journalists are writing
that Antic is currently in a monastery, but I have already said -
Politika will expect him to face the consequences even in his habit",
concluded Biserka Matic.      

DISRUPTION OF RTV PIROT

PIROT, NOVEMBER 3 2000 - Citizens in the Pirot region are unable to
watch Pirot Television since Pink Television is currently being
broadcast on the same frequency.  Pirot Television's technical
director Miloje Nesic told Radio B92 that two transmitters belonging
to this ANEM member had been disabled by Pink Television's signal. "We
didn't have this problem before the elections, not even on the eve of
the elections, everything has happened in the last few days", said
Nesic, adding that "as far as the regional transmitter on Crni vrh is
concerned, we have a situation where the BK Television transmitter is
operating on the next channel, while the state television has changed
the location of channels 2 and 3 and is also interfering with Pirot
Television's regional transmitter." We are currently working under
more difficult conditions that before the elections", concluded Nesic.

VESELINOV: RADIO TELEVISION NOVI SAD SHOULD BE RETURNED TO PEOPLE OF
VOJVODINA 

NOVI SAD, November 3 2000 - President of the Vojvodina Coalition,
Dragan Veselinov stated yesterday that Radio Television Novi Sad must
be returned to the people of Vojvodina, Beta reports today. "It should
be the television of Vojvodina, not a local television channel called
RTV Novi Sad, but RTV Vojvodina, Veselinov said in an interview for
Novi Sad daily Vojvodina. He also added that the decision regarding
this matter would be made by the regional government and parliament.
"RTV Novi Sad was financed by the people of Vojvodina's subscriptions
and other funds, which were illegally confiscated by Milosevic's
regime", said Velelinov, adding that if Studio B was to be returned to
the Belgrade Assembly, the people of Vojvodina should also be given
back their own television station.           
 
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