RADA'S DRAFT FOR FOREIGN MERCENARIES

New Attack on the Media in Serbia

AIM Belgrade, 12 March, 1997

A foreign, American citizen temporarily employed in the Government of Serbia (born in Serbian town of Azanja, retired history professor, fighter for spreading the truth about the Serbs in the world, former minister without portfolio in the federal government of Milan Panic), minister of information, Radmila Milentijevic, intends to brand independent media as foreign mercenaries. For just a month at the post, Milentijevic wrote a draft law on public information with which she proposes that "financial or other aid from abroad be indicated on each copy of a newspaper, or magazine, news agency...". This is no news in Serbia, because there have been similar threats in previous campaigns against independent media. What is new in the Minister's draft Law on information and why did it cause vehement reactions among the opposition and free journalists?

At the very beginning, when she announced with great pomp that Slobodan Milosevic and she had decided to free the media, it was clear that Radmila Milentijevic dropped by Serbia again with the task to deceive the so-called international community which is pressuring the Serbian regime to democratize the sphere of media. It was announced that the law would be made according to European models, which is in many aspects true, so it was first presented to foreign journalists and ambassadors of western European countries and only in the end to those it refers to. The regime is obviously in a hurry to get commercial preferential treatment from the European community... and this is not possible without new concessions to the democratic opposition. The opposition and the journalists hurried to bungle the deal for them.

What is the essence of the deceit prepared by Ms Milentijevic and those who issued the order to her? It is best illustrated by two examples: as soon as she stepped on Yugoslav ground, a new wave of defamation of independent media began in state and para-state media, and recently Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) cancelled the contract on using tv transmitters to BK Telecom - television station which has for months professionally and objectively been reporting on developments in Serbia - which would reduce its spectatorship to the region of Belgrade. Minister Milentijevic marked this controversy as a commericial matter and referred BK to the court. Perhaps Ms Milentijevic does not know, and indeed with quite a few declarations she has shown that she does not know much about media in Serbia, that it was the same Government of Serbia that issued permits for the allegedly contestable frequencies to this television station. As if director of RTS Dragoljub Milanovic is allowed and is capable of doing anything on his own, without an order...

Confirmation that Milentijevic and the Serbian regime have dangerous intentions can be found in the drafted law: "Individual owner (physical person or organization) cannot possess more than 20 per cent (15) of all daily newspapers published on the territory of the Republic, nor broadcast radio and television programs which cover more than 25 per cent of the total piopulation of the Republic". According to this norm, BK should not be allowed even to cover whole of Belhrade which has two and a half million inhabitants...

The regime will certainly refer to European standards, especially in view of the fact that the European Commission is planning to adopt a law by which domination of a handful of industrialists over the media would be prevented. The only problem is that we are not Europe, at least not accoring to standards, and that over here the intention of this law is in fact to consolidate the monopoly of state television, while the concern of Brussels is protection of pluralism of media.

Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Dr Miroljub Radojkovic, believes that such a law cannot be in the service of freedom of information but only in the service of the regime. He believes that with these provisions, monopoly of RTS is just additionally ensured, because it is losing its status among other media. By instisting on "David's Star" for all those who receive aid, the regime wishes to indicate who is a "traitor", comments Radojkovic.

Former minister of information in the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Tijanic, also assessed that the drafted law was restrictive, and as the founder of the new daily called Gradjanin (Citizen), he announced formation of the association of owners of privately-owned media which would fight against reppressive measures of the state. Tijanic wonders why labels are not put on other firms, for example, those dealing with food or clothing, that they are receiving foreign investments. He warned against the fact that the law stressed only the majority union of journalists (pro-regime) while minority ones would be pushed to the margins.

All the editors and managers of non-governmental media agree that Milentijevic's version of the new law is about new repressions and a outright manoeuvre of the authorities: "The law protects media financed from the budget, which like never before draws the separating line between independent and state media" (Sasa Mirkovic, Radio B 92); "The state is trying to introduce a limitation, a stamping, without touching the monopoly already established by state-controlled companies" (Dragoljub Zarkovic, Vreme); "The provisions which refer to deletion from the register are also controversial, since it is not regulated who will decide about it. It is unpermissible to leave it to voluntary arbitration" (Ljubica Markovic, Beta); "Judging by the first version of the Law, it is intended to satisfy pre-election interests of the party in power" (Zoran Sekulic, Fonet)...

Dangerous intentions are concealed also in paragraph 3 of Article 9: "the competent agency shall not enter a media in the register... if its editorial policy is aimed at forcible destruction of the constitutional system..." which can serve as a good screen for purges.

All the opposition parties also issued statements, except for the Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj, and they all recognized new repression against media in the drafted law, but also an attempt of the regime to avoid confrontation at the round table. That is why they are announcing that they will starting whistling in the streets of Serbian cities again.

One thing is for certain, with this regime in Serbia no law on information, as the Editor-in-Chief of Studio B Lila Radonjic says, can "ensure that the editor Milorad Komrakov in the central daily news program of RST will say: 'Good evening, dear spectators, in Serbia, an election theft has occurred committed by the ruling party'". Everything else is "deja vu".

Veselin Simonovic