(Belgrade) A few thousand Belgraders last night gathered at the plaza in front of the Town Hall, for the fifth broadcasting of Studio B news at 7…

At the beginning, the ralliers were read the statement of the associated democratic opposition demanding immediate release of all arrested citizens. The statement also demanded that a delegation of the city assembly be allowed to visit the arrested and injured protesters today.

The guest in the News at 7 Program was Damir Vasiljevic, president of the Serbian Renewal Movement Board for Europe.

"We most strongly condemn the takeover of Studio B, since this is an act which is unprecedented ever since the toppling of the Berlin wall to this date. We therefore promise to act through European institutions to secure the return of Studio B, said Vasiljevic…

P. O.

(Blic, p. 2)

A Futile Rally in Front of the Belgrade City Hall
Citizens Increasingly Ignore Opposition’s Rallies

Last evening in front of the Belgrade City Hall the so-called opposition staged a rally that attracted by far less people than the one of the evening before, which vividly illustrates that protests of the kind are becoming less interesting not only to members of these parties, but also to Belgrade residents.

The rally’s program was 15 minutes late obviously due increasingly smaller effects of such rallies, disinformation, manipulation and, generally speaking, the media terror constantly applied by the Television Studio B, but also due to a handful of party activists, opposition supporters and chance passers-by or curious Belgraders that just stopped by…

After the rally and in fine weather people peacefully dispersed.

(Politika, p. 14)

In Krusevac 2.000 Rally
"He Took Studio B But Will Lose RTS"

(Krusevac) The third protest rally in Krusevac, Sunday, was attended by about 2,000 citizens, After the protest walk and the reading of the news the citizens were addressed by Srdjan Milivojevic, an Otpor activist, eliciting applause from the people gathered…

"Slobodan Milosevic has these days, taken away Studio B, but he does not know that he will lose the RTS tomorrow," said Milivojevic. He invited the citizens to get rid of their fear and come into the streets to resist the current regime, humiliation and this kind of living.

There were no incidents but a large number of policemen, both uniformed and plainclothes were registered, since they are known to the people of Krusevac…

M. Arsic

(Danas, p. 22)

(Sabac) Over 2,000 people of Sabac last night in the city center protested the state takeover of Belgrade RTV station Studio B. The citizens were addressed by the federal deputy for the Serbian Renewal Movement, Zivko Topalovic, member of the Democratic party Presidency, Dusan Petrovic, and the representative of the Otpor movement Darko Pavlovic. After that the citizens took a protest walk through the city streets. The last night’s protest was the fifth successive protest caused by Studio B takeover.

(Danas, p. 22)

"Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, sent a letter to the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Zivadin Jovanovic, informing him of a letter addressed to Duve and Aidan White, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Journalists, by Federal Minister Goran Matic.

In that letter, Goran Matic makes serious threats against both the Secretary-General of a leading media NGO and a professional union and the Head of an OSCE Institution.

Duve and White are accused:

Of being accomplices of [a] crime. They are seriously warned that both should not forget that sooner or later justice would be served.

Of committing a serious crime by withholding the truth.

Support for independent media is defined as terrorism and a crime against a sovereign state.

They are warned in a direct way by a member of the Government that we have a long memory.

Freimut Duve sees these threats as directly linked to the ongoing discussion in the Serbian Parliament of a severe anti-terrorist law that would nullify all legal bodies in the country and would give the Government full authority to define all opposing voices, whether national or international, as terrorist criminals.

The OSCE Representative asked the Foreign Minister to inform him as soon as possible if he differed with the threats made by a cabinet minister."

(Brussels) "The hysteria of the regime against critical and independent media has now reached insupportable proportions. Journalists and media throughout the world must call for the political isolation of the regime which manifested nothing but contempt for democracy and freedom of expression."

This was, among other things, noted in the yesterday’s release of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on the occasion of the police raid on Belgrade Studio B and police actions against three other Serbian media Radio B2-92, Radio Index and daily Blic…

"Government action is undemocratic and its explanations are absurd. These media did nothing acting professionally, critically and independently and would be considered symbols of democracy and pluralism in any civilized society," states the IFJ…

"This is the critical moment for democratic forces to unite and protect their Serbian colleagues. We have to do our best to ensure the operation of the media and protection of independent journalism," said the secretary general of the International Federation of Journalists Aidan White, commenting on media bans in Serbia.

(Danas, p. 3)

Radio Yugoslavia Commentary
How Much For Independence

In Brussels, at a meeting of the so-called independent media from Serbia with Javier Solana and other NATO officials, new deals had been made, said Radio Yugoslavia in its Saturday comment.

Participation in the struggle Against Serbia – a term used by Christopher Patten, Commissioner of the Europen Union – will receive new specific, material and technical assistance.

Javier Solana said "on this occasion we must not stop with verbal support". Funds, and moreover, substantial funds must be ensured to our beneficiaries in Serbia, primarily papers Blic, Danas, Glas Javnosti, as well as radio and TV stations which started the struggle. The entire sentence is also a quotation.

Dragan Kojadinovic, Gordana Susa, Veran Matic and other completely independent journalists were told that their success in the struggle was the condition for, as NATO officials have put it, "our struggle, too".

Finally, now the new Norwegian government also judges what the Government of the Republic of Serbia should do and how. Norway is the country also known to the world by a man called Quisling…

(Politika, May 21, p. 15)

New Hearing for Danas Correspondent Miroslav Filipovic
Draganic: There Should Be No Custody

(Belgrade) Kraljevo Correspondent for the daily Danas and AFP, Miroslav Filipovic shall today at 10 a.m. again be questioned by the investigating judge of the Nis Military Court.

"I, as his defense counsel, expect that Filipovic be questioned. I do not wish to prejudice the procedure and say that the judge will decide in favor or against the investigation. I believe that the judge will not decide to place my client in custody…" said counsel Goran Draganic, adding that there were no legal grounds to prolong police custody.

M. V.

(Danas, p. 1)

(Belgrade) Radio Pancevo program may now be found on Free Serbia web site www.FreeSerbia.org, enabling timely informing of all interested in this station’s program.

Free Serbia shall daily broadcast Radio Pancevo news from 8 until 8.45 "The Morning Daily News", and the prime time information program "Paralele" from 4 until 9 p.m. The program from 7 p.m. onwards shall be adjusted to the events in the center of Belgrade…

As of Wednesday last Radio Pancevo program is aired via an auxiliary transmitter which is substantially less powerful. According to the employees, the station’s main transmitter once located on a police facility on Milica Brdo in Belgrade, has disappeared and the security would not let the technicians of the station come near…

S.S. & T.A.

(Blic, May 21, p. 6)

RTV Bor Employees vs. Chief Editor
Editor Sides With True Patriots

(Bor) Disciplinary proceedings have been instituted against Slavisa Petrovic, editor-in-chief of the paper RTB Bor Kolektiv, because of a text "New Appearance of Total War" which included political attitudes and thereby violated the non-party concept of the paper.

The above-mentioned text also gives excerpts from Petrovic’s speech delivered at the Assembly of the Journalists Association of Serbia held on March 25 in Belgrade, where he indicated the fact that "in the patriotic Journalists Association of Serbia traitors of their own nations are hiding, or rather the so-called independent journalists who are simultaneously members of the association of the so-called independent media, a practice which should be ended."…

Presidency of the Trade Union Brach of the Bor Copper Smelter and Refinery has so far repeatedly protested Petrovic’s biased reporting, ignoring the releases of the trade union in this workers’ mouthpiece.

S.Trifunovic

(Glas Javnosti, p. 4)

Expelled Studio B Journalists Write to Current Team
We Bear No Malice Against You

(Belgrade) Journalists of the Belgrade RTV Studio B, who stopped working in the house after it had been taken over by the state, sent a message to the current Studio B team that "they bear no malice against them so far" and wanted to "help them deal with the internal struggle clearly visible on their faces".

"It is hard for us to watch your anxiety interpreting the news from somebody else’s house and fully understand your discomfort. We also know that many among you would rather be in our place. Starting from the conviction that money still cannot buy everything, we turn to you hoping that you will find a moment of time to tell us who and what you are," says the letter…

No matter what a person does and where, we are human beings and it is only human to occasionally consult one’s own consciousness. We expect you to do just that," says the letter signed "Expelled from Studio B, Nameless street, no number".

(Danas, p. 3)

DHSS and ANEM on Glas Eviction
From Dusk To Pitch Darkness

(Belgrade) The Democratic Christian Party of Serbia (DHSS) yesterday protested the ruling of the Economic Court in Belgrade, ordering the firm "ABC Produkt", founder of the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti, out of its premises in Vlajkoviceva St. In its release the DHSS notes this as an attempt to prevent the publishing of not only the paper Glas Javnosti, but also the daily Blic, as well as specialized publications and bulletins of political parties. The DHSS states that this would "turn the prevailing media dusk into total darkness".

The Alternative Network of Electronic Media (ANEM) yesterday, sharply condemned the eviction of "ABC Produkt" from its seat in Vlajkoviceva St. in Belgrade housing both the office of the Glas Javnosti daily as well as the paper’s printing shop. "After the Borba Printing shop on May 15 discontinued the printing of the Daily Blic, followed in only a few days by the Novi Sad printing shop "Forum", this action has seriously endangered the existence of two daily papers with the largest circulation in the country," quotes the ANEM release.

(Glas Javnosti, May 21, p. 24)

TV Montena Director
You Can Count On Us

(Belgrade) Podgorica TV Montena, a station broadcasting the programs of independent producers TV Mreza, VIN and ANEM, shall continue to do so, said director of TV Montena Djuro Vucinic.

Vucinic said that Montena manifested solidarity with independent and private media as well as independent journalists in Serbia and was ready to "assist in professionally informing the public in Serbia and Montenegro."

(Glas Javnosti, May 21, p. 6)

Situation In Serbia To Be Discussed In Florence on May 24
Western Military Alliance To Support Media And Democracy

(Ottawa) Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy Friday evening condemned the Yugoslav authorities for intensifying the repression against the media and the opposition and announced NATO consideration of the possible responses this month…

He pointed out that "independent media essentially support free and open society and the democratic systems of rule"…

"The Canadian government shall, together with the allies, consider the possible responses to this assault as well as the means for us to demonstrate our lasting support to independent media and democratic reforms" in Yugoslavia," concluded Axworthy.

(Glas Javnosti, May 21, p. 3)

(Kosjeric) Minister for Science and Technology of Serbia, Branislav Ivkovic Saturday in Kosjeric, stated that the most important task of every patriot in our country is to preserve the unity of citizens, as established in the country’s defense against NATO aggression and later on successfully continued in the process of renewal and development…

Speaking of the current events in the case of Studio B, Ivkovic emphasized that in our country, which has a large number of radio and TV stations, "there is a lot more democracy than in many other countries of the world who lecture us on their alleged democracy".

"Studio B is a public broadcasting firm, owned by the Serbian Government and ceded to the Belgrade City Assembly to use it. However, this TV has turned into a producer of evil and hate, an instrument a married couple is using against its own country," said Ivkovic. …

(Politika, May 21, p. 15)

Socialist Party and Yugoslav Left Macva District Boards Release
Brutal Opposition Actions

(Sabac) Socialist Party and Yugoslav Left Macva District Boards absolutely support Serbian Government Measures aimed at suppressing terrorism and organized acts encouraging the destruction of the institutions of the system, points the joint release of these political parties…

Using paramilitary and fascist organizations such as "Otpor" and "Soko", these forces wish to instill fear and panic among Serbian citizens. This policy is wholeheartedly supported by the so-called independent media, and TV Studio B has gone the furthest in inciting fratricide and civil war…

(Ekspres Politika, May. 21, p. 2)

Delegation of Chinese Journalists Visits Pozarevac
Future Based on Renewal And Reform

(Pozarevac) A delegation of Chinese journalists headed by editor of theoretical journal of the Chinese Communist Party called "In Search of Truth" visited Pozarevac.

Chinese journalists were received in the building of Pozarevac Assembly by the representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Yugoslav Left as well as representatives of the, headed by the member of its Main Board Snezana Arsic …..

Editor of the Chinese paper, Dai Dhzou … was particularly impressed by the fact that this was the birth place of the FRY president Slobodan Milosevic who was an exceptionally respected statesman in the People’s Republic of China.

(Politika, May 21, p. 15)

Thirty Years Since the Establishment of Belgrade Studio B
Everyone Wanted It For Himself

The Studio B, that is the Radio Borba, started broadcasting on April 1, 1970 at exactly 11:55 a.m. It was founded by the Belgrade Assembly and the Borba Publishing House and its program included newscasters, political talk shows, entertainment and commercials. Dragan Markovic, journalist from Vecernje Novosti and Borba, was appointed director and editor-in-chief.

The Studio B’s channel II was launched on November 23, 1971. It was charged with informing citizens about developments in Belgrade in the first place, but also about events taking place in the country and the world…

The NTV Studio B, Vecernje Novosti and the "Sava" Center begun broadcasting joint television program at channel 36 on March 28, 1990, at 4:00 p.m. Just an hour later inspectors from the Federal Secretariat for Transport and Communications forcefully stopped the program, turned off the station’s transmitter and banned further broadcasts by "the first independent TV program in Yugoslavia."

The Studio B and Vecernje Novosti restarted broadcasting program at channel 53 on June 28 at 6:00 p.m. After scores of problems it had to overcome, the Studio B begun to broadcast independently on November 16, 1990. The Belgrade Economic Court decided to take off the broadcasting company Studio B from the list of shareholding companies. The stations thus resumed its status from 1972, when it was a public company owned by the Belgrade Assembly. In April 1991 the NTV Studio B was transformed into a shareholding company.

On February 15, 1996, the Belgrade Assembly’s deputies decided to turn the Studio B to the city’s jurisdiction. That was when, as claimed by well-informed people, the only independent station in Serbia actually ceased to exist….

After the Studio B was turned to the city’s jurisdiction, its editors-in-chief were Zoran Predic, Dragisa Kovacevic, Zoran Ostojic and Dragan Kojadinovic. An intensive persecution of the Studio B began several months ago by daily interference of its program. Huge fines under the Public Information Law were ruled to the station on several occasions…

So far, the station has been punished by the total of 2 million and 750 hundred dinars fine.

L. Colic

(Glas Javnosti, p. 3)

By applying for years a stupid propaganda pattern – the weaker arguments you have, the more fierce your attacks should be – the regime has gone so far that it had to replace its propaganda terrain with the police dominated one: when force of fabricated arguments proved to be inefficient, it had to be replaced by the force of a rubber truncheon. However, one cannot say that Serbian regime learns from its mistakes. Therefore, Federal Information Minister Matic will not turn jobless, but might easily become a foreman of intervention units’ night shift. By explaining that it had to apply force since the media started to serve NATO’s interests, the regime accused itself by far harder that all independent media put together, which it allegedly had to beat up with truncheons for the benefit of people. For, if several million viewers and readers eagerly watch or read whatever they are being offered by NATO’s servants, the regime must have made a terrible mistake. How come that the treacherous Studio B’s program or this newspaper attracts more audience than, for instance, the program of the Radio & Television of Serbia or the Politika daily? … Thus far, the opposition has tried several times to explain such paradox, while some time ago a professor gave her students an explanation of her own: according to her, Serbia has the world’s worst opposition and that such opposition suits best the regime the position of which on the global scene is probably no better than its opposition’s. As far as I know, many opposition’s supporters share the professor’s view. Of course, this does not mean that the professors and people sharing her stands back up the regime. But it certainly means that opposition leaders can rarely read an embarrassing truth about themselves in the media we take as independent. Naturally, this harms the most the highest officials from the opposition and their supporters, and suits the best the regime itself. For, the opposition that is not confronted with public criticism differs just slightly from a dictatorship, which attempts at all costs to disable such public criticism and fend it off from the political game…

Branislav Milosevic

(Blic, p. 4)

People familiar with developments in the air over Serbia have been warning for months that the radical wing of the Serbian regime would carry out its plan against the media that are not under its control. Everything indicated to such outcome, everything was in full view, but some perhaps refused to see it. Now they cannot see or hear even if they wished to, since "sweepers" of Serbia’s air have done their homework thoroughly or almost thoroughly…

Modeling of the air according to the actual regime’s needs begun immediately after the 1996/97-election fraud, when many private radio and TV outlets in towns wherein the opposition came to power turned to democratic options. In May 1997 it dawned on the regime and it invited all outlets that were practically operating without licenses to submit their technical documentation so as to be allotted working permits, or else would be forcefully closed down and taken responsible before the law.

However, as it turned out later, the invitation was a trick. Mass repression of such media followed as soon as July of the same year, when scores of Telecommunications Ministry’s inspectors, assisted by the police, closed down around 300 stations and confiscated 70 transmitters under the explanation that the former were operating without licenses.

The then telecommunications minister, Dojcilo Radojevic, was behind the action, though the then President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, annulled the already finalized action of his diligent minister, while Vuk Draskovic (leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, ed. com.) claimed himself to fame for such a turnover.

Next action followed in October 1998 and was less brutal than its predecessor. It started again with a competition called by the Telecommunications Ministry. The competition was illegal by its form and contents, but fostered hope of numerous local radio and TV outlets that they would finally become legalized after several years of wait…

Applications to the competition were being under consideration, or at least that was what minister Radojevic told owners and founders of 253 radio and TV outlets in October 1998. They are still being considered, while chances that the process of consideration will soon be over are rather poor. So, the whole group of private and public broadcast outlets is exposed to a permanent repression. Each and every of them can instantaneously be closed down without an appropriate suit, while its equipment can be taken away never to be returned…

So, for instance, the Pozarevac Radio Bum 93 disappeared from the air, while inspectors hushed up TV Nemanja’s transmitter the moment the station started to broadcast political programs. The same fate was shared by the Radio Golf from Belgrade, while citizens from Kraljevo and Pirot saved their local TV stations by staging mass protests.

Several days ago, the director of the Studio B, Dragan Kojadinovic, expressed a similar salvage-related hope by saying that the mess created by the case of his station would be over in ten-odd days.

Perhaps his hopes are much too high at this point…

Maja Vojinovic

(Glas Javnosti, May 21, p. 4)

Veran Matic, President of the Alternative Network of Independent Media
Chokehold Threatens Free Media Throughout Serbia

(Budapest) President of the Alternative Network of Independent Media (ANEM) Veran Matic said Serbian authorities would choke up free media throughout Serbia if the attempt to close down independent media in Belgrade proved successful. "We are endeavoring to ease the damage inflicted by closing down of Belgrade media," Matic said in an interview with the Hungarian Radio, and added that the Radio B2 92 had already started broadcasting via satellite, while the station’s program was being retransmitted by local electronic media.

In Matic’s view, at this point the province is by far better informed about events in the capital than Belgraders themselves are. The ANEM President also said that ways to "cover Belgrade with information" were being considered, and expressed his hope the project would be carried out within 10-15 days. Since Belgraders are not used to media darkness, Matic said, they are ready to start rioting, though it is the united democratic opposition’s task to channel their revolt…

(Danas, p. 5)