Yugoslav Independent Press: Media Related Headlines

Media Related Headlines

Media Related Headlines

On August 16 Blic press announced that it was forced to discontinue the publishing of the weekly Blic News due to the pressure by the authorities, even though the circulation of the weekly has been increasing.
On August 15 around noon, Zoran Lukovic, former journalist of Dnevni Telegraf was arrested in Belgrade, while trying to register his vehicle in the New Belgrade police station. In 1998 Lukovic was sentenced to four-month imprisonment together with the now deceased owner of Dnevni Telegraf Slavko Curuvija and his colleague Srdjan Jankovic, because of an article dealing with the murder of doctor Aleksandar Popovic, published under the title "The murder victim criticized Milovan Bojic". Despite the fact that the sentence had been pronounced over two years ago, Lukovic spent some time in Montenegro and Srpska, but has reportedly been in Belgrade over the past few months, since he was convinced that he was no longer in danger of being arrested.(Glas Javnosti)
August 14 marked 90 days spent in prison by Miroslav Filipovic. On August 14 Filipovic was transferred from the Nis Prison to the Military Hospital in the same city. Filipovic is suffering from heart trouble and is seriously ill.
On August 9, Belgrade city magistrate Zlatko Jovanovic fined Danas 340,000 dinars acting upon the charges filed by the president of the Serb Radical Party and the deputy prime minister of the Serbian Government, Vojislav Seselj. Daily Danas was found guilty for publishing a text "DA: Seselj will not run", which, according to the verdict, "abused the freedom of public information and insulted the person of Vojislav Seselj". The incriminating text is actually a release of the Democratic Alternative (DA) carried by FoNet agency and published by the daily Danas on August 4.(Danas)
August 7 marked Miroslav Filipovic's 81st day in prison. On that day Miroslav Filipovic was transferred from Nis prison to the Military Medical Center in Belgrade, on account of problems with his heart.(Beta)
On August 3, Miroslav Filipovic, journalist of Danas and AFP was examined in the Nis hospital for heart failure. According to Filipovic's wife, the physician who examined Filipovic suggested that he remained in hospital but his superior decided against it... "We are concerned for his health, since in addition to heart trouble he has lost 20 kg and has face allergy."(Danas)
On July 26 the Military Court in Nis sentenced Miroslav Filipovic, a journalist for the Belgrade Danas daily and the France Presse (AFP) news agency, to a seven-year imprisonment for the crime of espionage combined with spreading of false information. According to the judge, Col. Radenko Miladinovic, "the Court undeniably assessed that Filipovic had committed the crime of espionage by gathering and publishing accurate information about troops and number of soldiers stationed in the territory of Sandzak, which is considered a classified military information. He was also gathering classified military information about troops stationed in Montenegro, which he did not publish, but filed in the hard disk of his computer that the police had taken away from him." Col. Miladinovic added that Filipovic was spreading false information by conveying untrue data [claiming that the Yugoslav Army had committed crimes in Kosovo] to the War and Peace Institute, the AFP and the Danas daily, as well as by publicizing them via the Internet (Z.M. Danas)
As of Saturday, July 15, the Radio Indeks' program cannot be heard in downtown Belgrade, though nobody of its staffers can tell for certain who or from what location has been interfering the station's signal at the 99.8 MHz frequency. The Radio Indeks is actually the only broadcast outlet in Belgrade that is not controlled by the regime. (Danas)
In late July, authorities started distributing free copies of the pro-government daily Politika to patients and staff of national health care facilities. The newspaper is distributed for free to large segments of population (pensioners, members of the ruling parties etc.)
July 11 2000: Satirical magazine Nasa Krmaca (Our Sow) celebrated its fourth anniversary in a weekend retreat on the Silver Lake, near Veliko Gradiste. At the celebration, attended by nearly the entire staff, it was announced that this popular satirical paper would no longer be published. The celebration was attended by members of the Pozarevac "Otpor" branch, Momcilo Veljkovic, street vendor of Nasa Krmaca and Radojko Lukovic, who were beaten on May 2 in front of the "Pasaz" café in Pozarevac, in a conflict with the security of the "Madona" firm owed by the FRY president's son Marko Milosevic, Addressing the guests, Bosko Savkovic, editor-in-chief, said that the paper would no longer be published after four years of troubles, during which time, 80 issues appeared, along with six special editions and 14 books in a series "Publishing Flops of the Year". Savkovic also emphasized that during the past four years the staff endured the pressures of the authorities, caused by the paper's satirical writing and mockery of the regime, as well as of the opposition which thought that the paper was giving legitimacy to the regime by playacting freedom of the press. The decision not to print Nasa Krmaca was influenced by the new pressures, caused, among other things, by the "Pozarevac case", shortage of newsprint and changes in the legislation, primarily within the sphere of the Information Law, as well as the announcement of other new legal acts (V. P. M. Danas)
On May 18, military authorities in Nis again arrested Miroslav Filipovic, the Kraljevo correspondent of Danas, Agence France Press, and IWPR. Filipovic has been earlier charged with espionage for IWPR and "spreading of false news", most likely for his writing about the Yugoslav Army, crimes committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo and the plight of Serb and non-Albanian refugees, but the military court dismissed these charges. The new arrest is likely the result of renewed pressure by the authorities to clamp down on independent journalists.(Danas)
On May 21 Blic announced that "the circulation of Blic keeps increasing on daily basis. New printing shops have been engaged and a new, daytime edition of Blic is about to appear on the newsstands, so as to meet the market demand, said director of this paper Miodrag Djuricic for Beta agency. 'Borba Printing Shop is still making the printing of Blic subject to its influence on the editorial policy of the paper, which we find unacceptable,' said Djuricic. Since May 12, this printing shop has been refusing to print Blic. In addition to regional, evening and morning Belgrade editions, the new, mid-day issue of the daily will appear on newsstands around 2 p.m. Blic is currently printed in Podgorica, Sarajevo, Nis and a few more printing shops in Serbia"(Danas, Media Center)
On May 19, Belgrade Commercial Court declared that the company ABC Produkt, which owns and publishes newspaper Glas Javnosti, illegally acquired its premises in 8 Vlajkoviceva St. The Court ordered Glas to move out from the building in 7 days. A day earlier the printing shop in Opovo, owned by ABC "Produkt", had an unannounced visit of the financial police, accompanied by local uniformed police, about 20 of them, in five vehicles. They wanted to check on the printing of the daily papers Glas Javnosti and, over the past few days, also Blic. They demanded from Milisav Rodic, who happened to be there, to open the halls so they could take a look at the machines. Since the above-mentioned Mr. Rodic was not authorized to do that, certain financial police officers threatened to break into his house and search it in order to find the key to the printing shop.(Danas, Glas Javnosti, Media Center)
On May 18 Radio Index continued broadcasting its news program after the Police allowed the employees to return to their studio in Beogradjanka highrise. The station can be heard in the center of Belgrade.
On May 18 Vrsac TV LAV stopped broadcasting is program on orders from the founder of this TV house, the Vrsac Brewery (VIK) and the president of this corporation, Rodoljub Draskovic, reported Radio Pancevo. Director and editor-in-chief of TV LAV Milenko Gvozdic, told Radio Pancevo that the decision to end the program was taken due to technical problems. He noted that the editorial meeting convened to discuss "other forms of work", was also attended by representatives of opposition parties in Vrsac. TV LAV is a member of the Alternative Network of Independent Media (ANEM), and the closure of this TV will, according to Gvozdic, leave about thirty people jobless.(BETA, Danas, Media Center)
On May 18 the Police dismounted and removed Radio TV Pancevo's transmitter on Visnjicko Brdo in Belgrade. The POlice prevented TV Pancevo's representatives from checking the condition of their transmission equipment. After the removal of the transmitter, TV Pancevo can be seen in heard only in the very center of Pancevo, a city 10 miles north from Belgrade. Previously its program could be seen and heard in parts of Belgrade as well.
ON May 17, at 2am, authorities carried out a raid on the studios of Studio B TV in Belgrade. The independent TV station, owned by the Belgrade city assembly, was confiscated by the Serbian authorities on the pretext of "calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order". In the same sweep the Police effectively banned Radio B2-92, Radio Index, and emptied the offices of Blic, the highest circulation Serbian daily. On the same day, the authorities began to jam the signal of Radio TV Pancevo in an attempt to totally silence all independent electronic media seen and heard in Belgrade. The citizens and opposition reacted by calling for immediate protests. After a high turnout of about 30,000 demonstrators on the first night and two days of extremely brutal Police intervention (arrests, beatings) the protests in Belgrade petered out. On the other hand many protests all over Serbia have been held since then. In Many cities and towns all over Serbia citizens have been gathering in front of their local media in order to prevent their seizure by the Police. The opposition has called a large protest on May 27 in Belgrade. In the same sweep which cloaed down the independent media in Belgrade, the authorities shut down TV Trstenik, TV VK (Senta), and TV Mladenovac.
On May 15 government owned printing shop Borba refused to continue printing the highest circulation Serbian daily newspaper, Blic. Although the official excuse was a breakdown of a machine, the Blic editorial team was unofficially told that the continued printing of the newspaper depends on the influence of the authorities on the papwer's editorial policy.
On April 17 Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic sued Blic and BETA based on the Public Information Law. The Minister spotted an inaccuracy in a recent BETA wire, also carried by Blic, which identified him as the owner of Radio M in Sremska Mitrovica. According to the public registry, the station is actually owned by the Socialist Party of Serbia.(Danas)
On April 13 the Federal Telecommunications Ministry informed the public enterprise "Rec Naroda" ("Voice of the People"), the broadcaster of Radio Pozarevac that it should change its current 106,3 MHz frequency and start using independent Radio Bum's 93,4 MHz frequency. According to sources, the request is aimed at creating space in the air for Radio Madona owned by the FRY President's son, Marko Milosevic. The station will be allocated the 106,3 MHz frequency.(Danas)
On April 13 a state-owned company demanded from Radio Bajina Basta in western Serbia to immediately evacuate its premises. The station has signed a lease for these premises which runs out in a few years time.
On April 13, Dragan Kojadinovic stated that the jamming of this station had again intensified and that this time it covered even the channel 51, which hadn't been jammed before. He claimed that the jamming devices are located on the roof of the state Criminology Institute.
On April 11, the Belgrade weekly Vreme was fined 350,000 dinars. This was the first fine for Vreme based on the new Public Information Law. Vreme editor-in-chief Dragoljub Zarkovic stated that the weekly would not pay the fine.
On April 11 A few hundred citizens of Nis, last night, gathered in front of the Narodne Novine building to prevent the inspectors of the Serbian Revenue Service in Nis to confiscate the property of the public enterprise Info-Nis. On April 6 the local daily Narodne Novine was fined 300,000 dinars under the Information Law on charges brought by the Yugoslav Army. However, the Executive Board of the City Assembly decided not to pay the fine, but to give the amount to the families of those killed or wounded in the NATO bombing of Serbia. According to some sources, the inspectors showed up on April 10 around 3:30pm but the security prevented them from entering the building. Soon afterwards, responding to an invitation broadcast on the TV by the city leadership, the people of Nis started gathering in front of Narodne Novine. President of the city government, Branislav Jovanovic called upon the "defenders" to remain there as long as it took to defend the single daily paper in Nis. Duty editor in Narodne Novine Milorad Doderovic announced increased circulation of the paper's today's issue which will be distributed for free; Student movement Otpor organized a party for the citizens with music from the loudspeakers and the live appearance of the Nis band Varosani. A number of firms sent food and drinks to the "defenders".(Blic)
On April 11 Federal Telecommunications Minister Ivan Markovic stated that the authorities were not persecuting independent media but trying to introduce order.(Borba)
On April 10 Belgrade TV station Studio B was fined 450,000 dinars. The station's director, Dragan Kojadinovic, stated that the station would not pay the fine. "If they want to collect the fine they may subtract the amount of fine from the value of equipment they have already taken away from us," said Kojadinovic.(BETA)
On April 7, Glas Javnosti daily decided to defy the authorities and again raise its price to 8 dinars. The authorities had previously ordered the daily to reduce its price, in spite of recent increases in the price of newsprint and printing services, controlled by the state. According to the daily, the paper was unable to break even if sold at the lower price.(Danas)
On April 6, a fire broke out in a Novi Sad highrise which housed offices of several local media, including the only independent radio station in Novi Sad, Radio 021. The likely cause of fire was an explosion of equipment in the offices if TV Duga, although there were assertions that the fire was a result of arson. Due to swift solidarity action of other members of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) Radio 021 was on air only several hours after the fire, using equipment borrowed from other ANEM members.
On April 4, state-owned newsprint factory "Matroz" announced that it had resumed production of newsprint, albeit at a higher price, approved by the authorities.
On March 31, a deadline imposed by the authorities for payment of broadcast licensing fees expired. The authorities announced closure of more than 250 radio and TV stations. However, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) claimed that only one of its members had received an invoice for the payment of broadcasting fees.
On March 27 about 5,000 citizens of Pirot gathered for a rally in support of TV Pirot. On the same day, the city TV, founded by the Pirot Municipal Assembly, installed new equipment and started broadcasting in defiance of the Serbian authorities. The local authorities stated that they would make arrangements to prevent any future confiscations of broadcasting equipment. TV Pirot stopped broadcasting on March 16 after the Serbian authorities confiscated its transmitter.
On March 27, the Serbian authorities returned the transmitter of the local TV station TV Kraljevo, in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo. The equipment was returned after sven days of protests by up to 10,000 citizens, including large numbers of Yugoslav Army reservists who threatened to use force unless the transmitter is returned. Howewver, together with the equipment, the Federal authorities sent a bill for more than 500,000 dinars. The local authorities have stated that they wouldn't pay the bill. The ttransmiter was removed by the Federal authorities on March 18.
On March 26 the local authorities in Nis announced that they had taken measures to prevent confiscation of broadcasting equipment belonging to local independent TV stations.
On March 23, the state-owned newsprint company Matroz announced that it was forced to stop production of newsprint due to its inability to import necessary row materials. Since the authorities refuse to issue permits for import of newsprint to independent publications, this would mean that they would have to cease publication. However, later that same week, the authorities announced that the stoppage in production was temporary and that the production of newsprint would resume "soon". The company is supposed to stop production in April 1. The opposition accused the authorities of trying to shut down the independent press ahead of the opposition protest rally scheduled for April 14 in Belgrade.
On March 17 the authorities took away the tansmitting equipment of TV Pirot in eastern Serbia. The transmitter was located on the Mt. Sarlah and was not guarded. The equipment was taken away by armed people in uniforms and plain clothes. They cut through barbed wire, smashed a window and broke into the building which housed the transmitter. The station was not informed in advance by the authorities of any legal problems. On March 18 about 2,000 citizens protested against the closure of TV Pirot atthe main city square. The station used the rally to show its daily news program to the demonstrators.
On March 17 the authorities ordered dailies Blic and Glas Javnosti to reduce their sale prices. According to the management of Blic, since the authorities failed to at the same time reduce the cost of printing and newsprint, the company will actually be making losses from every copy sold. With the current circulation of 200,000 and 70,000 copies respectively, Blic and Glas Javnosti are, besides Vecernje Novosti, by far the most widely read daily newspapers in Serbia. According to the management, the readers of Blic have offered to help the paper financially, if needed.(Blic)
On March 13, local authorities in Belgrade paid the fees allegedly owed by the TV station Studio B to the Federal Telecommunications Ministry. The alleged debt amounted to 10.7 million dinars, or $1,070,000 according to the official exchange rate. Average monthly salary in Serbia is about $50. The station did not receive any response from the Federal Telecommunications Ministry regarding the break-down and origin of the charges. Previously, on March 6, Studio B was fines 450,000 dinars for a statement made by a guest in a live program, based on the Serbian Public Information Law, in spite of an earler specific statement by the Serbian Information Minister that statements made in live programs cannot be the reason for suits under the Public Information law.
On March 12, Serbian authorities closed down TV Pozega, in Pozega, central Serbia. The station staff invited the citizens to defend the station on the air, and about 300 citizens responded. Two Federal Telecommunications Ministry inspectors and Police fled the town, only to return during the night and managed to take away a part of the broadcasting equipment. The station was taken off the air, but continued to broadcast via the towns cable network. The Serbian authorities accused "hooligans led by the members of opposition parties" of beating up a Federal Telecommunications Ministry inspector. The management of TV Pozega denied this claim.
On March 9 the Serbian authorities cloased down another two independent media outlets. Ten armed policemen took away broadcasting equipment of Tv nemanja and Radio Tir, both located in Cuprija. The management of the stations claims to have legally obtained a broadcasting permit and settled all debts with the authorities. The stations began broadcasting news and interview with opposition politicians in September 1999.
On March 8, the authorities shut down radio station Radio BUM 93, based in Pozarevac. The radio station has been on the air since 1992. It was previously shut down in December 1996 and reopened nine months later. The Police arrested and questioned the father of the owner of the station, Milorad Tadic, in order to find out the whereabouts of the transmitter.
On March 5, two unidentified persons broke into the guarded Studio B facility within a Belgrade Water Supply Service compound. The attackers wore police uniforms, beat up two guards and carried away broadcasting equipment. Studio B had managed to repair damange caused by an earlier similar attack a week before this incident.
On March 5, the Serbian authorities merged the highest circulation Serbian daily newspaper, Vecernje Novosti, with the state-controlled publishing house Borba. The official pretext was "irregularities in privatisation process", the same pretext used by the authorities to take over Borba and Ekonomska Politika. Although the employees and shareholders made belligerent noises prior to the takeover, once it took place, the "resistance" evaporated. Dusan Cukic was appointed for a new director of the paper and immediately introduced strict censorship of articles. According to Danas, only one journalist resigned in protest of the takeover. Although it followed the pro-government line in the early nineties, since 1996 Novosti have adopted a much more evenhanded editorial policy. It provided basically fair coverage of the opposition political parties and the authorities, nevertheless sticking to the "patriotic" discourse in connection with Kosovo and foreign powers.
On February 17, Dr. Tomislav Jankovic, director of the Serbian Healthcare Insurance Institute, invoking the Serbian Public Information Law, filed charges against the daily paper Danas, because of a text entitled "Medicaments neither poisonous nor healthy", published on Tuesday, February 15. The charges maintain that the article impairs the reputation, honor and dignity of Dr. Tomislav Jankovic, as well as the Institute. According to the indictment, the article states that Serbia imports medicaments from countries which are not subject to control, like India and China, that these medicaments are not poisonous, but that they ought to be refined for the European market and that this import is politically motivated. Dr. Jankovic claims that these allegations are not true.(Danas)
While foreign correspondents were given accreditations to cover the fourth congress of Milosevic's Socialirt Party of Serbia, held on February 17 in Belgrade, independent media were barred from reporting from the congress.
On February 15, Montenegrin pro-government daily Pobjeda alleged that the Federal government from belgrade was preparing to set up a TV station in Montenegro: The broadcasting and studio equipment for this TV station arrived in Podgorica last on board an army plane AN-26 from Belgrade. According to Pobjeda's source, this TV station shall operate within the "New Yugoslav Network", or rather the Yu Info Kanal, seated in New Belgrade. Preparations for the start up of the work of this TV station on the Montenegrin north are carried out precisely by the director and editor-in-chief of this house who arrived in Montenegro with the equipment and already had contacts with military authorities and representatives of the Socialist Popular Party in Podgorica.(Pobjeda)
On February 14 and 15, Yugoslav official news agency Tanjug released a commentary that accused well-known Belgrade independent journalist Aleksandar Tijanic of collusion in the murder of the Federal Defense Minister, Pavle Bulatovic. Tijanic currently writes a weekly column for a news magazine from Banja Luka in the Republic of Srpska, Nezavisne Novine. Since late last year, Tijanic has been predicting a violent end to the crisis in Serbia. He specified that he expected the regime to initiate a brutal crackdown, including "a murder of a well-known Serb". This was used by Tanjug as evidence of his prior knowledge of the murder. In February 15, pro-government daily Borba piped in with its commentary repeating the same charges. Tijanic characterized the attacks as "a death sentence" similar to that issued to his colleague Slavko Curuvija and announced that he would sue both Tanjug and Borba.
On February 9, Vojislav Seselj, the president ofthe Serb Radical Party and deputy prime minister of the Serbian government, during a press conference openly threatened independent media and journalists with unspecified violent reprisals. He called them traitors and accused them of complicity in the murder of the Federal Defense Minister, Pavle Bulatovic. Although Sseslj has been well-known because of his intemperate statements, this is a first open death threat issued to independent media employees issued by a government official. The statement caused quite a stir in Serbia. Seselj was roundly condemned for it by all the opposition political parties and independent media. Using characteristic Radical logic, Aleksandar Vucic, the vice-president of the Serb Radical Party and the Minister of Information in the Serbian government, concluded that this strong reaction proves that Seselj's accusations were correct. In theis response, all significant independent media outlets decided to boycott the Radicals. In their turn, the Radocals announced that from now on they will not allow independent media journalists into their press conferences.
On February 9, Belgrade weekly NIN was fined 150,000 for a statement made by former professor of Belgrade University law school, Gaso Knezevic, in his interview given to the magazine. Knezevic resigned from the faculty of the law school in response to appointment of Vojislav Seselj for a professor of law. Nin announced that it would pay the fine.
On January 29 the authorities took over the "ABC Grafika" printworks. The premises were secured by armed guards of the private security firm "Protect Team". The director of "ABC Grafika", Slavoljub Kacarevic, Kacarevic stated that the bankruptcy would have no effect on the publishing of Glas Javnosti and that "ABC Etigraf" housed in the same building would take over the printing of the daily as well as other publications previously printed by "ABC Grafika". On Monday, January 31, the guards dispersed workers by shooting in the air. On February 1, all 284 workers employed by "ABC Grafika" were dismissed by the court appointed receiver Dusan Abramovic. The parent company "ABC Produkt" has promised to reasign all of the dismissed workers to its other facilities. (Glas Javnosti, Danas)
On January 27, on appeal magistrate Zoran Milenkovic fined Kragujevac weekly Nezavisna Svetlost 100,000 dinars "for publishing an untrue information insulting the dignity, honor and reputation of the plaintiff in the pape on November 11, 1999, in the article which appeared under the title "Half-hour teachers' strike ineffective". Magistrate Vesna Paunovic, who tried the case in the first instance, after the hearing on December 9 discontinued the proceedings due to "doubtless evidence that the accused did not commit the offense they are charged with".
The second hearing in the bankruptcy proceedings against "ABC Grafika" printing shop was held on January 24. Acting on court instructions from the previous hearing, "ABC Grafika" presented the court with a written proposal for enforced settlement of debts to its creditors. The proposal provides analyses showing that "ABC Grafika" may overcome its financial problems and that the bankruptcy procedure was therefore unnecessary. The hearing was also attended by the representatives of creditors who agreed to the printing shop's proposal. However, the court rejected the proposal the following day.(Glas Javnosti)
British KFOR troops started distributing the Telegraf bi-weekly, the first paper in the Serb language since the arrival of the international forces in Kosovo. In every sector under their control, the British troops posted billboards with boxes containing the KFOR's first paper in the Serb language. According to Beta's reporter, Serbs firstly rushed to read the bi-weekly, but when they realized what it was about they started shredding the paper and throwing it under billboards. They said it was a true insult to get Serbs informed in this way. Some of them reminded the reporter that Radio Galaksija, under KFOR's control, used to regularly air a feature story about "how a Kosovo person should safely cross a railroad track". "We might be primitive, we might know nothing about democracy, but we have been familiar with railroad tracks and papers for at least hundred years," a reader of KFOR's Telegraf bi-weekly said.(Beta, 1/23/00)
Following the theft of broadcasting equipment, authorities continued the pile pressure on the Belgrade TV station Studio B. On January 23 Police visited the station and demanded to be shown a broadcasting permit. Previously, spokesperson of the Yugoslav Left (JUL) Ivan Markovic has threatened legal action against Studio B, while the Belgrade local authorities promised to finance acquisition of new broadcasting equipment for the station.
On January 21, Belgrade city magistrate, Nedeljka Popovski Friday fined the the paper Danas, 270,000 dinars because, as quoted in the verdict, the paper "abused the freedom of public information" to state "a series of untruths" about the acting director of Tanjug news agency Dusan Djordjevic in the article entitled "Funeral Without The Patriarch" published on December 18-19 last year. The paper paid the fine.(Danas)
On January 16, unidentified perpetrators disabled broadcasting equipment belonging to Belgrade Studio B TV station. According to the director ofthe station, Dragan Kojadinovic, the equipment was disabled professionally and the value ofthe stolen equipment excedes 100,000 German Marks. This "intervention" reduces the potential audience of the station by more than a half, from close to 5 million, down to two million. Kojadinovic stated for Danas that the station has no funds to replace the stolen and disabled equipment "and even if we did, who can guarantee that next time they won't blow everything up? We expected this to happen, since only three days before the burglary we had installed the links preventing intentional jamming of our signal." Studio B is controlled and supports Vuk Draskovic's Serb Renewal Movement in its editorial policy. On January 10, representatives of Serbian opposition agreed that in the future Studio B was to be open to all opposition politicians and parties. (Danas)
Radio Gracanica, came on air two and a half months ago broadcasting programs intended for the Serbs in Pristina, Kosovo Polje, Caglavica, Gracanica, Laplje Selo, Lipljan and the surrounding settlements. The station is headed by Vesko Stojkovic who, with a group of Pristina journalists and young people wishing to take up this profession, has developed an entertainment and information program.(Glas Javnosti, 1/16/00)
On January 10, Tanjug, the official government-controlled Yugoslav news agency, sued Danas for publishing the article "Requiem without the Patriarch" on December 18 1999 and "hurting [Tanjug's] human dignity, honor and reputation" as well as "abusing freedom of public information". The agency also claims that Danas "violated public order" by publishing the aforementioned article.
[MEDIA NEWS FROM 1999]

Last Update 11/14/00