Media situation in Serbia

The 2012 edition of IREX’s Media Sustainability Index (MSI) for Europe and Eurasia measures the struggles and triumphs of the media sector in 21 transitioning countries from Croatia to Kazakhstan. Evidence from local media experts shows overall stability in the media sector. Increasing use of digital and social media gives hope for expanding freedom of expression. However, reported backsliding in several countries, partly due to the increased political control of media, concerns the experts. Croatia received the highest score overall. Kyrgyzstan returned to the top spot in Central Asia as the political situation there stabilized. The MSI’s unique methodology measures journalism quality, media management practices, news plurality, press freedom, and supporting institutions. Journalists, media advocates, academics, and related professionals evaluate the media in their own country.
(IREX Washington, DC, 05. 04.2012)

The dispute over the building continues. In its press statement, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) says: "NUNS is not trying to abuse the judicial verdict by claiming that it already owns a half of the building located at 28 Resavska Street, as is claimed in the statement issued by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) but, on the contrary, the management of the UNS is refusing to accept the fact that according to the effective verdict of the Court of Appeals in Belgrade both UNS and NUNS are joint owners of the building at 28 Resavska Street."
(NUNS 29.03.2012)

Eighteen years after the murder of Radislava Dada Vujasinovic, 13 years after the murder of Slavko Curuvija and 11 years after the murder of Milan Pantic, the citizens of Serbia still do not know who kills journalists. Unsolved murders of journalists have been followed by the unsolved bomb attack on Dejan Anastasijevic on 14 April 2007 and attacks on Brankica Stankovic, while the lack of concern is evident in everyday insults and attacks aimed against journalism and journalists, says Novi Magazin.
(Novi Magazin, 06.04.2012)

An editorial in the newspaper Alo! says: "Another year has passed and a new electoral cycle is already approaching, but the murders of journalists have not been solved. Only promises remain. It has long been obvious that the system in Serbia favors only those who are in power. 18 years after the murder of Dada Vujasinovic, her murderers have not been identified. Nor the murderers of Slavko Curuvija and Milan Pantic. This will continue. No one cares... New promises are being made."
(Alo!, 09.04.2012)

An editorial in the daily newspaper Danas says: "I watched the re-run of something called 'The Night TV Project'. It is a sickening trying to describe it. It depicts the first snow in Montenegro in its history: no one can find a single shovel because Montenegrins have not used a shovel 'for as long as Montenegrins have been in existence – which is 50 years'. Judging by numerous web forums, this media outlet is perceived by many Montenegrins as hostile toward them and Montenegro. This case, and the lack of a response from the Republic Broadcasting Agency, is a proof that institutions which are supposed to protect the public scene from contamination are inert and unresponsive."
(Danas, 09.04.2012)

Assessments of the current media situation in Serbia

"It can be said that we have a free journalism, but I am of the opinion that the sums of money that is directed towards the media but is under control of the government or other interest groups has not only been not reduced, but has even seen an increase. Around a quarter of the money that is available to the media come with strings attached", said Dragan Janjic to Magyar Szo. The vice president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) pointed out that all political parties were influencing the media, and that "the pressure exerted by these parties is proportionate to their size".
(Magyar Szo, 29.03.2012)

The European Parliament (EP) demands that the government in Belgrade guarantee "independence of the media from political pressure and other influences". The resolution "points out that strong and independent media is a fundamental requirement for democracy and welcomes the adoption of the Media Strategy of the Government of Serbia". It also expresses "concern with the threats directed against Serbian journalists" and demands "thorough investigation of these threats in order to ensure that journalists can perform their job safely, efficiently and without need for self-censorship". The deputies of the EP "emphasize the need to take steps against concentration of ownership and the lack of transparency in the media". The EP demands that "equal access to the advertising market by all participants be ensured, including the sums given by state institutions for advertising and marketing". "At the same time, we call on journalists to adhere to the Ethical Code of Journalism". The EP "expresses its disappointment with the fact that the government introduced media blockade during the incidents in the north of Kosovo in July 2011 and misrepresented the role of KFOR in the events."
(Beta, B92 online, UNS, 29.03.2012, Radio Slobodna Evropa, NUNS, 02.04.2012)

So far, there have not been major violations of the rules on reporting during the electoral campaign, says the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA). On the other side, journalistic and media associations say that during the electoral campaign the already strong pressure on the media usually increases. Dragan Janjic, from the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), points out that most of the media outlets in Serbia are reporting on the electoral campaign passively, waiting for the political parties to "serve" them their own propaganda, instead of having an active approach and demanding the parties to clarify their promises to voters.
(Deutsche Welle, 30.03.2012)

The state and the media

The Government of Serbia approved a non-interest loan in the amount of 17.5 million dinars to the state news agency Tanjug for the purpose of reporting on the electoral campaign and the election day, May 6. The Government approved the loan at the same session during which cost-saving measures were approved that are expected to achieve savings amounting to 15.7 billion dinars. The loan was approved three days after Tanjug demanded it. Each year, the news agency also receives money allocated from the state budget. In 2011, the agency received 216,715,000 dinars.
(Beta, Danas, NDNV, UNS, 30.03.2012, Politika, 31.03.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) and Local Press condemned the decision of the Government of Serbia to make a non-interest loan to the news agency Tanjug for the purpose of reporting on the electoral campaign. This move violates the basic rules of market competition, since there are two other news agencies in Serbia which do not have access to such loans. Issuance of non-interest loans from the Serbian state budget to a state-owned agency allows an even greater influence of the government on the editorial policy, which is contrary to the principles defined by the Media Strategy. The coalition of media organizations expressed its deepest concern with the fact that the government says one thing while adopting strategic documents, while at the same time it does the opposite by undermining its own adopted policy. International organizations and institutions will be informed about the case.
(MC, NUNS, 02.04.2012, Beta, Pregled, NUNS, NDNV, Vecernje Novosti, UNS, 03.04.2012)

Prime Minister of Serbia Mirko Cvetkovic says that all media outlets have an equal treatment, and that the Government of Serbia decided to give a loan to the news agency Tanjug because the agency is a state-owned company and state's responsibility.
(Fonet, Politika, B92, UNS, Vecernje Novosti, NUNS, 04.04.2012)

In their response to the statement made by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic in Leskovac, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) and Local Press say that his words are in complete contradiction with the Government's decision to give the money to the state-owned news agency for the purpose of reporting on the election campaign and the election day. The media coalition considers that both bases for the decision are disputable and unacceptable. There is no economic, political or public interest that would require that the Government save unsuccessful public companies – like Tanjug – that are already largely financed by the state budget, nor that the news agency should be additionally paid for something that constitutes its primary field of activity and is already being funded by more than 200 million dinars a year. This contradiction further confirms the media coalition's suspicion that the decision to give the non-interest loan to the state-owned news agency is actually motivated by the desire to exert an even greater influence on its editorial policy.
(NUNS, UNS, ANEM, NDNV, Lokal press, 05.04.2012)

The Serbian Progressive Party says that the government loan in the amount of 17.5 million dinars given to the state-owned news agency Tanjug is politically motivated and aimed at influencing its editorial policy in favor of the Democratic Party (DS).
(RTV B92, 09.04.2012)

Threats, attacks and legal processes against journalists; media-related trials

In to separate legal processes, the First Primary Court in Belgrade fully acquitted the secretary general of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Nino Brajovic, of the libel charge filed against him by the retired journalist Petar Stojanovic.
(UNS, 02.04.2012)

Trial of a football fan before the First Primary Court was postponed because of the absence of journalist Brankica Stankovic, who was not able to come to the Court because of health reasons, according to her lawyer.
(RTV B92, NUNS, 03.04.2012)

The legal process in the civil case Jesic vs. Velimir Ilic has been completed. Journalist Jesic sued Velimir Ilic, demanding damages because the politician kicked, insulted, and tried to physically attack him during an interview made for TV Apolo in 2003. Jesic's legal representatives said to journalists that the judiciary had allowed Velimir Ilic to appeal to the verdict three years after the Municipal Court in Novi Sad passed an effective verdict that Ilic had to pay Jesic damages in the amount of nine and a half million dinars. They said that Ilic's appeal, filed in 2009, was upheld despite the fact that it was submitted after all legal deadlines had expired. Jesic's lawyer, Vladimir Horovic, submitted a claim for damages in the total amount of 2.5 million dinars. The Court is expected to pass a verdict during a 15-day period.
(Beta, NDNV, 05.04.2012, Beta, Danas, NUNS, Dnevnik, UNS, Politika, 06.04.2012)

Investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, in cooperation with the Prosecutor's Office from Belgrade, arrested Bojan Bozovic from Zubin Potok, who works as a journalist with the Albanian TV Klan. He is suspected of screening, acquisition and possession of pornographic material resulting from abuse of minors, as well as coercion and threat to security.
(Vecernje Novosti, 06.04.2012)

Pressure exerted on TV and Radio Timocka by the city government and the mayor of Zajecar, Bosko Nicic, who is a member of the leadership of the political party United Regions of Serbia, is continuing. The station's programme has been shut down by the cable distributor JOTEL yesterday. RTV Timocka has a valid contract on cable distribution of TV programme with the distributor and has been fulfilling its financial and other obligations regularly. AD TV and Radio Timocka filed criminal charges yesterday against the director of the company JOTEL DOO from Nis. Criminal charges have been filed to the Police Administration and the Primary Prosecutor's Office in Zajecar. AD TV and Radio Timocka has also submitted criminal charges against the mayor of Zajecar, Bosko Nicic.
(MC, 29.03.2012, Kurir, UNS, 29.03.2012, Kurir, 30.03.2012, Kurir, UNS, 07.04.2012)

The Republic of Serbia might needlessly waste more than six million euros because of the unwillingness of officials in the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL) to accept an out-of-court settlement with the television channel SOS, reports daily newspaper Alo!. Despite the fact that a court expert testified that RATEL had caused damage to SOS in this amount, and that the TV station had offered mediation to settle the mutual debts, RATEL has not yet offered any response. Therefore, the dispute will probably end with a multi-million payment from the state budget to the TV station. A legal case before the Commercial Court in Belgrade between TV SOS, on the one hand, and RATEL and RRA, on the other hand, has been ongoing since 2008, centered around the frequency allocated to the TV station by these two agencies. On the basis of the allocation of frequencies performed by RATEL, TV SOS was issued a license to broadcast on the channel 36, despite the fact that RATEL had known that the channel was internationally uncoded and that the Second Channel of the public service broadcaster of Romania was broadcasting its programme at the same frequency with 1,000 times more power.
(Alo!, UNS, NUNS, 06.04.2012, Alo!, 07.04.2012)

Commenting on the dispute between TV SOS and the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL), the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) said that the frequency had been allocated to TV SOS in strict accordance with the Law on Telecommunication and the frequency allocation plan established by RATEL.
(Alo!, UNS, 07.04.2012)

"The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) supports the regional TV Kraljevo, which is being criticized by the City Branch of the Democratic Party (DS) from Kraljevo and the DS District Committee for the region of Raska. UNS reminded that the City Branch and the District Committee of the DS had accused TV Kraljevo of spreading racial and national hatred, promotion of hate speech and discrimination, and 'illegal reporting on war crimes and their perpetrators', without offering a single proof for their accusations".
(UNS, 04.04.2012)

Investigations of murders of journalists

Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime intends to launch a new investigation of the death of 16 employees of Radio-Television Serbia during NATO bombing of 1999. The new investigation is supposed to examine whether someone ordered the then-director of RTS, Dragoljub Milanovic, not to allow relocation of employees from the building in downtown Belgrade.
(Press, NUNS, UNS, 29.03.2012)

Journalist with the magazine Duga was murdered in her apartment in New Belgrade on 8 April 1994. For a decade and a half, her death was classified as suicide. In January 2009, the prosecutor's office established that the journalist was murdered, but the investigation has not progressed during the three years since. For 18 years, the death of journalist Radislava Dada Vujasinovic has not been solved. She became renowned for her reporting on war and crime. During the forensic examination, fingerprints from the rifle were not taken, photographs of the crime scene were black and white, making it difficult to identify blood, while the examination was performed in the absence of the investigative judge. The legal process before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office is now in the phase of pre-criminal proceedings.
(Novi Magazin, 06.04.2012)

Yesterday, on eighteenth anniversary of the murder of journalist Radislava Dada Vujasinovic, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) called on Serbian police, prosecutor's office and judiciary to identify and punish the perpetrators and organizers of this crime. "NUNS demands that the authorities investigate who has been obstructing the investigation during all these years, misleading the public to believe that the famous journalist committed suicide and hiding the murderers". "We will not rest until the murderers and organizers of this crime are punished", said the president of NUNS, Vukasin Obradovic.
(NUNS, NDNV, 08.04.2012, Beta, Danas, NDNV, Politika, UNS, Pravda, 24 sata,Kurir, 09.04.2012)

The murder of Slavko Curuvija in 1999 and the inability of the authorities to solve it demonstrates the power of Milosevic's death squads and the influence of the secret services on judiciary and the police, reports Novi Magazin. Ten days before his murder, Mirjana Markovic labeled Curuvija as the public enemy number one, the one who had caused the bombing, and announced that people would judge him. The verdict was made public on 5 April in Ekspres, which published an article authored by Miroslav Markovic and entitled "Curuvija Lives to See Bombs". Rajko Danilovic, who is the legal representative of Curuvija's brother, Jovo Curuvija, investigators know who committed the murder and which members of the secret services organized it.
(Novi Magazin, 06.04.2012)

Jovo Curuvija, the brother of murdered journalist Slavko Curuvija, send a letter to the European Parliament Rapporteur Jelko Kacin, asking him to pressure the authorities in Belgrade to finally solve the murder of the owner of Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin. Apart from non-governmental organizations, Jovo Curuvija has sent more than 30 letters to highest institutions and officials of Serbia, as well as representatives of other countries and international organizations.
(RTV B92, Blic, UNS, 09.04.2012)

Eleven years of investigation and 1,500 interviewed individuals later, the police in Jagodina has not yet solved the murder of Milan Pantic, correspondent for daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti. Pantic was murdered because of his reporting on abuses of local powerful figures. He was murdered after a series of articles on economic crime in the region of Pomoravlje, abuses of privatization and activities of the municipal government. In June 2011, Deputy Mayor of Jagodina Milos Antic said that "some powerful and dark forces are preventing the investigation from establishing the truth about the murder of Pantic, as well as his colleagues, Dada Vujasinovic and Slavko Curuvija".
(Novi Magazin, 06.04.2012, UNS, 09.04.2012)

What we are talking about in the case of three unsolved murders of journalists in Serbia – Dada Vujasinovic, Slavko Curuvija and Milan Pantic – is not the lack of clues, despite the time that has passed, but the lack of political will – said to daily newspaper Danas lawyer Rajko Danilovic. This is one of the reasons why Jovo Curuvija asked the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin for help in his recent letter. Although valid evidence about organizers has been discovered, a legal process has not been launched, which creates an impression that some of the involved in the monstrous crime are being protected, says the brother of the murdered journalist.
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, Večernje Novosti, 10.04.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) reminds that 13 years has passed since the murder of the owner of Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin, Slavko Curuvija, and that investigation of his death has not yielded any results despite numerous promises made by authorities since 2000. A large "Catalogue of Empty Promises of Post-2000 Governments" is available on web pages of UNS.
(UNS,10.04.2012)

Representatives of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) will lay wreaths on 11 April at 12.00 at the memorial plate placed on the building at 35 Svetogorska Street, where Slavko Curuvija was murdered in 1999. NUNS calls on journalists and other media professionals, as well as family members, friends and colleagues of Slavko Curuvija, to again protest against the fact that the crime has not been solved after 13 years and perpetrators and organizers have not been punished.
(NUNS, 10.04.2012)

The European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin confirmed to daily newspaper Blic that he had received and replied to the letter sent by Slavko Curuvija, who demanded help in solving of murder of his brother, journalist Slavko Curuvija. Kacin did not say what his reply was, but emphasized that this one and all other murders of journalists in Serbia must result in trials.
(Blic, UNS, 11.04.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) marked the 13th anniversary of the unsolved murder of journalist and owner of Daily Telegraf, Slavko Curuvija, today by laying wreaths on his memorial plate. After the laying, the presidents of two journalistic associations, Vukasin Obradovic and Ljiljana Smajlovic, repeated their demand that murderers and organizers of the murder of Slavko Curuvija be identified.
(Beta, NUNS, 11.04.2012)

Minority media

Employees of Radio Sombor have received their last minimum wage-salary in January 2011, despite the fact that the sum of 3.5 million dinars was allocated for the station. Privatization has been annulled mid-2008. The Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina considers that survival of Radio Sombor is of utmost importance not only for informing of citizens of the West Backa region, but also for the multicultural character of Vojvodina, and that every possible step should be taken to ensure the survival of this media outlet. The station with a regional frequency broadcasts its programme in Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bunjevac and Romany languages.
(Blic - Vojvodina, 31.03.2012, NDNV, 04.04.2012)