Frequent Implementation of Law and Order

There are no surprises: media control is evidently the most consistant characteristic of the ten-year-long regime personified in the shape and endeavors of Slobodan Milosevic and strongly stressed in the inaugural speech he made last week to the Yugoslav parliamentary MP's. He owes his ascent to the pinnacle of power to the charging troops (working groups) of "reconstruction", which, aimed at all editorial offices less favorably inclined toward him, seized all key positions of the public information system.

Today, control of all the "large" media no longer seems to be sufficient for maintaining a blessed idiocy amongst the public. By the end of last year, it was evident that state television could demonstrate to citizens the amazing achievements of, for example, Kraljevo, by broadcasting Mirko Marjanovic at the moment when he was "opening" the airport in Ecki (which the Germans had constructed in that war), however it proved to be more difficult to convince him that the local hospital was open and taking care of all of the medical needs of Kraljevo's citizens on an international level.

Therefore, the newest blow is aimed at the the territory where the opposition gained power during last year's rebellion, following the three-month citizens' rebellion - the local electronic media. By the day that Milosevic was sworn in as president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (which shall be remembered by the football match Partizan vs. Croatia), the following TV stations had been shut down: TV Pancevo, TV Trstenik, Krusevac's television stations Plus and Jefimija, along with the OK studio radio station and Program Two of Radio Krusevac, Radio Trend (Aleksandrovac), six radio and one television station in Kraljevo, Radio Bum 93 from Pozarevac (shut down on December 3) and Radio Pozega which was shut down over a month ago.

This new wave of repression was announced at the beginning of the year by Radmila MIlentijevic's appointment as minister of information of Serbia. The general consternation which her draft law on information caused was followed by the more or less scandalous state television "round tables" during which citizens were informed which media, when and how (the question of why went without saying) had betrayed the national-state issue, and what manner of punishment (naturally, in accordance with the law) lay in store for them (from wearing a "yellow star" to a many-year-long prison sentence). The state-media organized discussions on this subject, which was such a fiasco that even the revised draft law was for the moment, so to say, put on ice, and taken off the assembly of Serbia's agenda.

However, this didn't mean disciplinary measures were to be put on hold as well. The Serbian regime had both the time and the means to (from last November until this March) comprehend the true potential of the independant media, and from the stand of the regime that meant: uncontrolled journalism. The harshest blow occured over the internationally reported disgrace with regard to the infamous attempt to hinder and shut down Belgrade radion stations B92 and Index, along with the official explanation that the reason for the program's interruption and termination was "water in the coaxial cable", which was signed by no one other than the general manager of Radio-Television Serbia, as well as member of the Main Board of the Socialist Party of Serbia Dragoljub Milanovic.

That attempted shut-down of a local radio station proved to be extremely beneficial: due to radio B92, a lot more demonstrators took to the streets of Belgrade complimented by all the calls made by any coalition Zajedno leaders. Which is why the regime, upon consolidating its ranks after the extracted acknowledgment of the electoral theft, started disciplining the media on two simultaneous tracks. The rather clumsy actions of minister Radmila Milentijevic were supplemented by a reorganization of the authorized state institutions for telecommunications. In the midst of the preperations for inaugurating the "third president of the third Yugoslavia", the Federal Directorate for Radio Frequencies, made up of experts, was deleted, only to be replaced by a political institution, the Ministry of Telecommunications. Dojcilo M. Radojevic, placed as its chief, informed all illegal media stations towards the end of May that they had only one month to submit all the necessary documents, and if they failed to meet that deadline they would be turned off, shut down and prohibited.

According to the Ministry's calculations, 347 FM (radio) and 153 television stations are operating in the federal republic without a license, of which the majority in Serbia (333:14 for radio, i.e. 146:7 for TV stations). Issuing a warning on June 31 that the deadline for submitting the documents had expired, minister Radojevic promised that all dispatched documents would be reviewed with the utmost care in July, i.e. with the goal of enabling as large a number of radio and television stations as possible to have temporary legalization. State care traditionally provokes headaches instead of well-being, even if "temporary legalization" wasn't mystically set in the future ("until the moment when the new law on telecommunications is passed"). Based on the media's previous experience, the mention of laws and institutions of the system brings intimidation to mind. It is true that the existing regulations in Serbia mention a public tender for the allocation of frequencies in certain (supposedly regular) intervals of time, however it is also true that other regulations enable state radio-television an extremely monopolistic position - only frequencies which are not used by RTS and which they expressly state that they shall never use are up for a tender. Even with such a "system" and classification of media as right and wrong and all the mechanism of synchronization and votes, errors occur. The newest example is BK Telekom, which advertises itself as a television with open eyes, went overboard and (only for a second?) regained its sight. At that very moment, a certain top official of the institutions of the system immediately discovered unpaid bills, breach of contract, aborted promises and illegal transactions of the owner of the above mentioned television station, i.e. reason for its shut down, limitation and higher rents.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), established at the time of the extracted acknowledgment of the electoral theft, can do little to help its members other than supply them with legal counseling. Aleksandar Mirkovic from Radio B92 says that what ANEM expects from the newest regime offensive is for the federal Ministry of Telecommunications to finally give up its repressive tactics and issue papers for legal operations. The only aid which ANEM can give to its members is also media-wise, says Mirkovic: "We can use all the technology we've got, including publishing news of the repression on the Internet which proved to be extremely helpful to us when our station was shut down, together with our international contacts with non-government organizations."

For now that seems to be but slight comfort as the Ministry of Telecommunications - according to ANEM data - has managed to prohibit the operations of 55 electronic media in Serbia in its short action. Colleague Milos Vasic, as of recently president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, states that on the media plan, chaos is spreading: "A person is tempted to believe that what we have before us is a carefully planned conspiracy.

There are more and more dailies and no one is clear as to how they plan to survive. During the few years of tolerated chaos in the radio-frequencies realm some ten or more local radio and TV stations sprouted. Now the new Ministry of Telecommunications is shutting them down, one by one. That is much easier and more efficient: first allow the people to invest their money and work a bit, and then shut them down - usually at the moment when they start generating their own news program."

In these circumstances even cynics are not capable of rejoicing over the accuracy of their predictions, nor smile over the absurd situation that TV Trstenik, for example, could not submit its documents to the Ministry due to the fact that they had been taken along with its entire equipment by the national MP Raka Radovic following his defeat at the elections. One can naturally inquire how TV Pancevo was allowed to operate a number of years with no obstructions, with the legal problem cropping up only after a change had occurred in local government. The questions are purely of a rhetorical nature, as legality here boils down to an issue of somebody's good will and the speaker's inspiration. The citizens, who are treated by the above mentioned will purely as objects of information, are only left to protest.

List of Banned Radio and TV Stations by 7/23/97:

1. Radio Boom 93 - Pozarevac (banned December 3, 1996)

2. Radio Duga - Pozarevac (July 19, 1997)

3. Radio Folk Duga - Pozarevac (July 19, 1997)

4. Radio Dabar - Pozarevac (July 19, 1997)

5. TV Duga - Pozarevac (July 19, 1997)

6. TV Sat TV- Pozarevac (July 19, 1997)

7. RTV San - Novi Pazar (May 27, 1997)

8. JU Radio - Novi Pazar (May 27, 1997)

9. Radio Skala - Novi Pazar (May 27, 1997)

10. Radio Jedinstvo - Novi Pazar (May 27, 1997)

11. Radio Pozega -Pozega (May 29, 1997)

12. TV Pancevo - Pancevo (July 17, 1997)

13. Radio Melos -Kraljevo (July 20, 1997)

14. Radio Globus - Kraljevo (July 20, 1997)

15. Radio Miks -Kraljevo (July 20, 1997)

16. TV Trstenik - Trstenik

17. TV BK (banned broadcast in the region of Pec in Kosovo)

18. Eko Radio - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

19. Radio 96 - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

20. Radio Star FM - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

21. Radio Soliter - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

22. Radio Dzoker - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

23. Radio Dzenarika - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

24. TV Galaksija - Cacak (July 14, 1997)

25. TV Jefimija - Krusevac (July 21, 1997)

26. TV Kanal Plus - Krusevac (July 21, 1997)

27. Radio Krusevac II Program - Krusevac (July 21, 1997)

28. Radio OK Studio - Krusevac (July 21, 1997)

29. Radio VK - Kikinda (June 25, 1997)

30. Radio AMI - Kikinda (June 25, 1997)

31. Radio Golf - Belgrade (July 8, 1997)

32. Radio TDI - Belgrade (July 8, 1997)

33. Radio Roda - Belgrade (July 8, 1997)

34. Radio Stenka - Belgrade (July 8, 1997)

35. Radio Top FM - Belgrade (July 8, 1997)

36. Radio Ritam - Pancevo (July 17, 1997)

37. Radio Safir - Pancevo (July 17, 1997)

38. Radio Egeta - Brza Palanka

39. Radio Spektar - Pancevo (July 17, 1997)

40. TV Kanal 10 - Kraljevo

41. Radio Puls - Kraljevo

42. Radio Amaro - Sjenica

43. Vikom Radio - Sabac

44. Radio Civija - Sabac

45. Radio AS - Sabac

46. Radio Nesvil - Bogatic

47. Radio Koceljeva - Koceljeva

48. Radio Vladimirci - Vladimirci

49. Radio TV Lotel - Loznica

50. Radio Cer - Lipolist

51. Maksi Radio - Bogatic

52. Radio OM - Loznica

53. Radio Tufa - Kladovo

54. Radio Kometa 030 - Bor

55. Radio Luna - Lunovo Selo

NOTE: TV Trstenik, TV Pancevo, Radio Boom 93, Radio OK Studio and Radio Pozega are members of the Association of the Independent Electronic Media.

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Veran Matic, Editor in Chief tel: +381-11-322-9922

Radio B92, Belgrade, Yugoslavia fax: +381-11-324-8075

Radio B92 Official Web Site --- http://www.opennet.org/