Exposing the Guilty

The warning was sent to all the radio and television stations belonging to the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) in a letter from the Serbian Ministry of Information. The letter stated that the ministry “was aware of broadcasts by particular association members, which have been designed by western forces to conduct a psychological war against Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Distribution of such programming represents a direct attack on the nation’s sovereignty, and amounts to willful participation in acts of espionage against the Serbian people. We are hereby warning owners of local radio and television stations that government organizations will no longer tolerate such subversive acts, nor will it stand idle to the undermining of the state’s authority. Violators will be severely punished.
Sincerely, Aleksandar Vucic”

While Minister Vucic was “sincerely” directing these warnings, his party’s president was speaking on the floor of the Federal Parliament, where he threatened “spies and collaborators [who].... use lies and spread fear” will be held criminally responsible.

The government launched its anti-foreign and independent media campaign on September 28th in the Serbian Parliament. Prime Minister Marjanovic began by evaluating the “so-called independent media as agents of lies, defeatism, fear and hopelessness.” Prominent Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) official Zeljko Simic equated the work of the “so-called independent media” with treason. Vojislav Seselj characterized the dailies “Danas”, “Nasa Borba”, “Blic”, and “Glas javnosti” as fifth columnists. “We will not down every NATO plane, but we will be able to arrest their [domestic] spies and collaborators.”

On top of these accusations, the Yugoslav Government refused to issue visas to participants in the conference “Broadcasting for a Democratic Europe”, organized by ANEM, B92 and under the auspices of the Council of Europe, scheduled for October 2-3.

On the October 1 press conference by the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Seselj continued with his threats directed at those who “have supported foreign propaganda such as Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Free Europe, France International, Radio BBC, etc. and who do not even deserve rights guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.”
The socialists (SPS) continued with the attacks on Friday. The state run news aired a segment where the picture of a dead infant, appearing in an Albanian newspaper as well as Reuters, claiming that it strongly resembled a doll.  In an unscheduled broadcast on the state run television, the SPS Council for Information Executive Board member Ratomir Vico charged that media reporting on Kosovo by the West contains “numerous examples of propaganda and breaches of journalistic ethics, notwithstanding the affiliation of certain journalists with certain foreign intelligence services.” Fellow member Zeljko Simic charged that the “so-called domestic independent media relies on centers of power which radiate strong antidemocratic sentiments”, explaining “why they satanize the Serbs.”  He too used the epithet “fifth columnists” for the independent media, branding them mere puppets of western powers who “destabilize Serbia and the Balkans”, and calling their “style of reporting... equivalent to treason.” The conference strongly condemned reporting methods of CNN, BBC, ABC, Euronews, the New York Times, as well as individual journalists. On Saturday, RTS journalist Avramovic stated in an interview that it is possible to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the photo of the dead infant is in fact a doll.

The state press also jumped on the massive criticism bandwagon. On Friday, “Politika” daily began printing their feature on “Media Manipulation against Yugoslavia”, which finds evidence of foreign wrongdoings since 1878. The government run “Borba” daily ran their anthology on the analysis of infamous deceptions used by the “so-called independent media”. Its journalist Mirjana Bozic accuses “Blic” of trying to falsely portray Serbian Prime Minister Marijanovic as “tired, sleepy and uninterested” in a photo where he has his hands pressed against his face while sitting in Parliament.

On Saturday, Serbian state television (RTS) aired its suspicions about “400 spies being among the ranks of international journalists”. RTS does not find that very surprising, although it “laments reading similar content in newspapers written in Cyrillic, and by Serbian reporters. Instead of writing about the facts, they [the Serbian journalists] shamelessly scare the population with stories of potential bombings, and thus naturally commit treason against the state.”

After a week-long break, the Radicals once again resumed their campaign.

Interestingly enough, President Milosevic affirmed in his talks with the Russian defense and foreign ministers, that Yugoslavia is absolutely open to foreign journalists, and that those registered with the government enjoy all the privileges granted under the Vienna Convention. Although neither the federal Government, nor the socialists claim to want an outright confrontation with the foreign media, they readily provide support to anyone willing to do so. That is precisely the mechanism by which the radicals will shift the blame for the current crisis in the country. So while foreign journalists remain protected, Seselj has a free hand in dealing with domestic journalists working for foreign organizations, and the independent media. Many of the so-called “fifth columnist” newspapers contain clear nationalist rhetoric, and have been privileged to receive interviews by Seselj. But in this case, their treason mainly hinges on occasionally addressing issues outside of Kosovo, with which the government does not wholeheartedly agree. “We have been elected to determine what is in the country’s best interest, and will not be hindered by opposing views held by others,” says Seselj in a Radio B92 interview.

Head of the Belgrade desk for Radio Free Europe Dusan Radulovic believes “problems have emerged between Seselj and his coalition partner. ”(Is it still forbidden to quote journalists accused of treason? Just a question we have not had answered by the Ministry of Information yet).