Belgrade, October 26th 1998

The Ministry of Information of the Serbian Republic received during past several days large number of letters and calls from the international organizations, institutions and associations worried about the state of public information in our country, so we use this occasion for a common reply to all of them.

The Serbian government and the Ministry of Information are taken aback and surprised with your extraordinary interest in media regulations in our country, having in mind your total disinterest in helping our government, our country and people and in discouraging certain western forces from conducting their tomahawk democracy against the innocent people of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This, illegal and uncivilized behavior of those western countries didn't get you to think about the respect for human rights and freedoms and elementary right to life of the Serbian people as a whole and, unfortunately, it is obvious that neither the kidnapping of Serbian reporters on the territory of Republic of Serbia wasn't worthy of your attention, nor did it occur to you to demand from your political protégés in Kosovo and Metohija to immediately release those reporters.

We admit that we are overwhelmed by your worry, concern and hope that the media regulations in Serbia could be better and differently arranged than it is the case today, but, believe us, we are also somewhat worried about the double standards that you are resorting to in the struggle for the establishment of supposedly democratic relations in all parts of the world.

You have condemned, you say, the Draconian public information law which was adopted by the Serbian National Assembly; you don't say, but we remember, that you've never condemned horrible sanctions imposed against our country and our people by the same countries from which we usually receive these concerned letters. You have never condemned the bombing and killing of innocent civilians, ethnic Serbs in the Republic of Srpska; you've never condemned the fact that because of your democratic bombs, filled with who knows what, Serbian women are still giving birth to sick babies.

It's also interesting that the most significant articles of the Public information law are inspired by the very protection of human rights and freedoms that you constantly talk about, although you show very little respect for them; the norms for responsible reporting are very similar to the norms in the countries that condemn our laws, with the addition that the fines for certain violations are much lower than the fines foreseen by your laws. If we made a mistake about that, we are sorry.

The most important reasons, because of which the Serbian authorities, according to you, started the conflict with independent media are strange. By the way, in the independent media you include those whose editorial policy is, most often, directed against the interests of our country! For you, the independent media are those who do not depend on our country, but on your countries. Strange term, isn't it? In one of the letters you say that those media have been banned, (although nobody in Serbia has done that) because they had openly written about the alleged Serbian repression in Kosovo and Metohija; next time you claim they have been banned because they had written about the alleged Serbian surrender on Kosovo and Metohija; thus, we suggest that all of you from most important international organizations, institutions and foreign governments that found it suitable to condemn the new Public information law, gather at one place and agree on a single platform about what and why Serbia is taking certain steps in the media sphere.

We are, like you, strongly support the improvement of the free and open media in the whole world, including your countries. Since, you are concerned for the state of the media in our country let us mention that currently there are over 2.500 public corporations registered in Serbia that, without censorship and pressure from the state, have freedom to truthfully inform the public about all events. We, like you, actively support the brave actions of the local organizations and media in your countries, because in your letters you express support for that kind of media in our country. Since you boast about the fact that you have intensified the Voice of America and BBC programs in Serbian language, you can rest assured that very soon we will be able to boast about the amplified signals and programmes of Radio Yugoslavia, Serbian Radio and Television and some other media in English. We firmly believe that you, as consistent democrats and fighters for the free flow of information throughout the world, will help us in our intentions to as simply and cheaply as possible inform citizens of your countries in their mother tongue about everything that is happening in our country, but also about all the problems that they are facing in their countries.

Tons of paper that you've spent explaining how Serbia is an undemocratic country and that, as you've said, she stifles the freedom of media, only prove to us the integrity of the Public Information Law enacted by the National Assembly of the Serbian Republic; we know from experience that you don't care about our people nor about the citizens of our country, but only about your own interests. We know that you'd like all media in Serbia to democratically inform about the alleged Serbian repression and crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, to tell stories about the totalitarian Serbian regime and the magnificent and democratic western world, but before that happens you will have to exert yourselves a little bit more to convince us in the truthfulness of that kind of attitudes and statements.

In the end, the question is why you were never concerned about the problems, torture and killing of the people in this country, and you are so much concerned about this law. It seems that everybody knows the answer to this question. We've hit the target in the bull's eye.