Ministry of Information Staring Shutting Down Media

Rules of Operation by "NATO Decree"

AIM Belgrade, 14 October, 1998

There is not a single journalist in Serbia any more who has not been informed about new rules of the profession inaugurated on 9 October by the already notorious "NATO Decree" of the Ministry of Information of the Government of Serbia. Pursuant an unusual procedure and with exceptional haste, the Government of Serbia adopted the "Decree on special measures in conditions of threat to our country by NATO armed forces". The decree bans broadcasting and re-broadcasting programs of foreign media which are aimed against interests of our country, which spread fear, panic and defeatism. Media in Serbia are also forbidden "to spread defeatism, fear, panic or act contrary to conclusions of the federal and the republican assembly" with their own articles and programs.

No law in this country has been so efficiently implemented as the mentioned government document. The administration had hardly informed the public about the Decree, when on that very same day equipment of multiethnic Senta Radio station was confiscated. Almost at the same time, inspectors arrived at the doorstep of Index Radio station.

It is interesting that the executor in both cases was the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications. It should be stressed that Index Radio station has never re-broadcast programs of foreign stations because of whose spying and anti-state contents the Ministry had allegedly adopted the mentioned regulation.

The true meaning of the "NATO Decree" was soon revealed when the Ministry sent a "warning before shtudown" to the address of daily Danas on Monday evening. All alleged violations were listed in the letter and enclosed there were "instructions for use" which stated that this warning was not to be published, in other words that it was a secret!

The editorial team did just the opposite and the next day the public was informed about the manner in which "order was to be introduced" in disobedient media. On Tuesday evening, news spread like lightning around Belgrade that executioners of the Ministry of Information were on their way to lock Dnevni telegraf up. Telephones were ringing in Danas conveying the same fear. Pressures and shutting down of each individual media threatened to make any article on this topic outdated at the moment it is written.

Unfortunately, this proved to be true. Two assistant ministers accompanied by ten odd policemen in civilian clothes or in uniforms arrived at the door of daily Danas after ten o'clock in the evening and tried to hand in the warrant on shutting down the journal.

At first they did not succeed, so they went to shut Dnevni telegraf first (with similar indictment as Danas), and after midnight they returned to do the same in Danas. Publication of both journals is temporarily banned, more precisely, for as long as the Decree is in force. It is also interesting that the execution of the two dailies took place on the day president Milosevic declared that danger of bombing has ceased and made his agreement with world public.

By the decision of the Ministry, the equipment was locked in, and in front of the door of the editorial offices, an "authorized person" was posted. The editions for the country of both dailies were published and for the second edition, the order arrived to the printing works of Borba to abolish printing, so on Wednesday morning Belgraders could not find their papers at the newsstands.

Slavko Curuvija, owner and editor-in-chief of Dnevni telegraf, and Grujica Spasovic, editor-in-chief of Danas announced that they would try to edit their papers despite the ban. What it is like is clearly illustrated by Index Radio which is from the first day changing premises and channels and documents on ownership in order to remain on the air.

The Independent Union of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) and the Association of Free and Independent Media (ANEM) initiated proceedings for investigation whether "NATO Decree" was contrary to the constitution. How effective that will be may be anticipated from the fact that, according to unanimous interpretation of lawyers, the Decree is illegal. This is clear from the very title of this document: Decree on special measures in conditions of threat of NATO armed attacks on our country. The constitution does not recognize "threat", only the state of war, direct war danger and state of emergency.

The Ministry used political decisions of the federal and the republican assembly as the foundation for adoption of this document, which is unprecedented in jurisprudence. According to the words of Ilija Popovic, lawyer from Belgrade, this decree was not adopted for the sake of improving implementation of the Law on Information, which is the intention of such documents, it does not even refer to it. Besides, Popovic points out, the Law on Information unambiguously says that only the court has the right to ban media in case of spreading information which call for forcible overthrow of the constitutional system, stimulation of hatred and violation of human rights and freedoms.

A special problem with the mentioned Decree is that the Ministry of Information, as the executive authority usurped both the legistalive and the judicial function and by creating conditions for stifling media freedoms enabled stepping into open dictatorship.

Since everything that the Decree was supposed to ban had already been regulated by the Law on Information, the inevitable conclusion is that this document of the Ministry was unnecessary. The impression is that seriousness of political circumstances was just a smoke screen for setting out to eliminate independent and professional media in Serbia. Managers and editors-in-chief of about fifteen media had no doubts about it when they issued statements of solidarity on Monday, 12 October from the platform of the Belgrade Media Centre.

According to what Milos Vasic, president of NUNS, had to say, the authorities were not concerned by either NATO or the Liberation Army of Kosovo (UCK), but this was "an attempt of extreme rightist parties to finally get rid of the freedom of the press". Ljubica Markovic, editor-in-chief of Beta agency, had no doubt that freedom of the media was in fact at stake here. Milan Becejic, deputy editor-in-chief of Blic, warned that after political decisions were reached, situation for the media would become dramatic, because "the regime has reached the stage when it is afraid of news". Stevan Niksic, editor-in-chief of NIN, said that this was "a desperate attempt of the regime to hide the truth and proclaim lies to be true". According to the opinion of Zoran Ostojic, director of Mreza, "the regime which rules by fear is beginning to fear that fear".

Veran Matic, editor-in-chief of Radio B92 and president of the ANEM association, pointed out to the danger of concentrated pressure for stifling independent media. Nenad Cekic, head of Index Radio reminded that in Serbia "men who know not what they are doing are in power, and that is why they are dangerous".

For Dragoljub Zarkovic, manager of Vreme, the good news is that a large number of editors and managers of the media have gathered to express solidarity. However, the bad thing is, according to his opinion, that the logic of the regime indicates that "if it does not set out on an excursion to Montenegro, only we in Serbia will be left".

While this article is being written, on Wednesday morning, Nasa Borba carried the warning of the Ministry of Information that this daily had also violated the Decree. They too are now expecting the "locksmith". The weekly Vreme is not indifferent either, as it is possible to hear in the editorial team. This issue of Vreme is devoted to unprecedented efficiency of the Ministry of Information of Serbia. For decades there has not been shutting down of newspapers.

Vesna Vujic

(AIM)