STATE OF
MEDIA
FROM THE ASPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
January - December 2000
Last year, while continuing to monitor, record
and analyse on a regular basis all the relevant
events and facts indicative of the state of media
in the context of human rights (particularly when
it comes to pressures exerted by the authorities
on public media and media workers, and physical
threats to journalists), the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BiH especially focused on the
establishment of legal regulations in this field.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH
engaged its efforts in all forms of activities
pertaining to the protection of the freedom of
expression and the setting up of the legal
framework in this domain, particularly in the
sphere covered by two decisions of the High
Representative, Carlos Westendorp, passed in July
1999, the substance of which was only partially
translated into the form of legal regulations.
The Helsinki Committee deems that the
publishing of the Draft Law on the Freedom of
Information (June 28th 2000) at both
the state and entities’ level is one of the
most significant steps in the democratisation of
BiH and its struggle for promotion of the freedom
of public expression. The Advisory Group for
preparation of the Draft Law on the Freedom of
Information and Libel, established by the Office
of the High Representative (OHR) of the
International Community in BiH and the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) Mission to BiH thus performed the
task that in fact was the duty of the BiH
authorities. The Draft Law on Information was
adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH
under the name of Law on Free Access to
Information. It is one of the pillars of civic
freedoms. Therefore, the Helsinki Committee
upholds its enforcement in practice, because the
experiences of the countries that have this kind
of laws indicate that there are attempts to avoid
full implementation of their norms. The Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights, with the assistance
of the International Research and Exchange Board
(IREX ProMedia), prepared a special programme for
monitoring the implementation of the Law on Free
Access to Information in practice.
The Law on Free Access to Information, which
for the moment exists only at the state level,
should make the functioning of governmental
authorities and all the public institutions at
all the levels more transparent, making them more
accountable for what they do or fail to do. The
provisions of the Law do not, as a rule, directly
refer to private business organisations and
non-governmental organisations, but if any of
these organisations performs certain tasks for
the governmental authorities, then, such an
organisation also becomes subject to the norms of
the Law. Whether the democratic potentials of the
Law on Free Access to Information will be used to
their full will depend on all the protagonists of
civil society - parliament members at all levels,
associations of journalists, media and their
journalists, non-governmental organisations, as
well as on all the citizens ready to participate
actively in the introduction of true democracy in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Helsinki Committee will persist in
insisting that the BiH Federation (FBH)
Parliament and the People’s Assembly of
Republika Srpska (RS) adopt the laws on free
access to information as soon as possible. At the
same time, it will campaign in favour of having
the Draft Laws on Libel and Defamation enter the
parliamentary procedure as urgently as possible.
At this point, the Helsinki Committee reminds of
the fact that the competent bodies in both
entities are under obligation to enact the laws
that will treat libel and defamation as civil law
offences, striking out these categories from the
criminal code.
The Helsinki Committee, together with other
institutions from about fifteen countries
(Central and East Europe, Scotland and USA)
actively participated in a workshop organised by
the Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute
(COLPI), Open Society Fund and Central European
University in Budapest. On that occasion, the
experiences relating to the law on access to
information were exchanged and this contributed
to further development of activities relating to
this issue in BH. A round-table on the topic
“Right to Ask for, Receive and Disseminate
Information” was held in the Human Rights House
of Sarajevo. The round-table was organised by the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, with
the assistance of the Public Relations Office of
the US Embassy to BH. That initiative met with a
powerful response of the public and gave an
impetus to participants, (which included the
representatives of the majority of journalist
associations and media in BH, then OHR, OSCE
Mission to BH, Independent Media Commission (IMC)
and IREX ProMedia association) to further develop
actions on this subject matter. After the
round-table on the topic “Importance of the Law
on Free Access to Information for Citizens of
BH”, organised by the International Research
& Exchange Board (IREX) and the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH, an appeal was
sent to political parties represented in the
Parliament of BiH to urgently adopt the law. In
co-operation with the Independent Union of
Professional Journalists in BH, the Helsinki
Committee is engaged in preparing the materials
and selecting an author for a book to be
published on freedom of public expression. The
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH
welcomed the decision of the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe to adopt the
Recommendation R (2000) to member countries,
which concerns the right of journalists not to
disclose confidential sources of information.
The majority of the BiH Federation cantons
have laws on information that provide for a moot
mandatory requirement to register the media with
the cantonal ministries in charge of inspecting
the lawful work of media in the canton. The
“inspecting” role has not been specifically
defined, thus opening the door to various
misuses. Among else, there are cases where the
fines prescribed for editors-in-chief who fail to
register the media or just the change in the data
on the media outlet, are even five times greater
than the fines prescribed for responsible
authorities for not providing information. The
Ombudsmen of the BiH Federation gave their
opinion that there were no reasons for the
existence of the control over media by the
cantonal Ministries and that any registering of
media with the organs of executive authorities
was unacceptable. Only the Cantons of Tuzla and
Una-Sana positively responded to the demand of
Ombudsmen to abolish the obligation to register.
The Ministry of Information exists in the
Republika Srpska as well, although as of recently
without the minister.
In the continuation of this analysis, we will
consider the pressures exerted on media and
journalists, threats to personal safety and
physical assaults on public media, clannishness
and inaccessibility of sources of information, as
well as the status of media and journalists and
their self-organisation.
ATTITUDE
OF AUTHORITIES TOWARD MEDIA
AND ATTACKS AGAINST JOURNALISTS
What was the attitude of authorities toward
media could be discerned from the introductory
part that dealt with the issue of legal
regulations in the sphere of public expression.
The pressure exerted by authorities on
journalists reflects in the sphere of judiciary
as well. Thus, the three Ombudsmen of the
Federation of BiH intervened when the judge of
the Municipal Court II in Sarajevo (BH F), Kenan
Tahirovic, pronounced a 3 months imprisonment or
one year suspended sentence to journalists of Oslobodjenje
Arijana Kuci and Edin Krehic without reasonable
grounds. Actually, this sentence infringed the
decision of the High Representative on
abolishment of the category of libel and
defamation as criminal acts. After the
intervention of the Ombudsmen, the President of
the Municipal Court II, Senad Kreho, suspended
judge Tahirovic.
Inspectors of the Ministry of Interior in
Tuzla Canton interrogated Elvir Huremovic,
journalist of Dnevni avaz, without
informing him in what capacity was he being
interrogated (as a suspect, a witness or
something else). Huremovic was interrogated in
connection with a dispute between a politician
and a judge in Tuzla.
The municipal prosecutor in Lukavac (BH F)
ordered the arrest of journalists Elvis Kovacevic
and Denis Dugonjic, the authors of a play
“Disaster”, instituting criminal procedure
against RTV Lukavac “for inspiring panic and
fear”. The play in question described a
fictitious situation in which the nearby
artificial lake Modrac threatened to bring
disaster to Lukavac and neighbouring places.
Particularly indicative was the case of
multiple pressures on a daily paper Dnevni
avaz by the leaders of the Party of
Democratic Action (SDA). The paper had made a
turn in its editorial policy, abandoning its
position of a media outlet controlled by SDA. At
a solemn ceremony in Sarajevo, the
editor-in-chief of Dnevni avaz, Mensur
Osmovic, refused to accept the BiH Journalists’
Association’s Newspaper-of-the-Year Award.
Addressing the audience, Osmovic said that the
reason for the refusal of the award was the
behaviour of the BiH Federation Prime Minister,
Edhem Bicakcic, also present at the ceremony as
sponsor. Indeed, prior to this, Enes Colpa,
Bicakcic’s driver, had attacked Adi
Hadziarapovic, journalist of Dnevni avaz,
because of a critical article on the Prime
Minister. After Osmovic had filed a written
protest, Bicakcic did not respond to him
directly, but addressed the Director General of
the Dnevni Avaz Company, Fahro Radoncic,
disparaging and insulting the editor-in-chief.
This signalled introduction to an attempt of SDA
to wipe out Dnevni avaz, in the course of
which the Financial Police officers, accompanied
by uniformed policemen of the Federation Ministry
of Interior, repeatedly kept intruding, without
authorisation, into the premises of this paper,
interfering with the newspaper-making process and
creating a menacing atmosphere. The Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH reacted
promptly, resolutely demanding that such bullying
behaviour of the authorities be stopped. Finally,
the High Representative was forced to order
cessation of pressures on Dnevni avaz and
to suspend the work of the Financial Police in
the pre-election time. The Helsinki Committee
draws attention to the statement of the Director
of the BiH Federation Financial Police, given in
connection with the criticisms that appeared in
media about the Dnevni avaz case: “I am
not going to hide this either: let other media,
electronic and printed, have in mind that we will
soon be checking their business operations as
well. This won’t stop only at Avaz.”
In the reporting period, twenty charges for
libel were filed against the newspaper Glas
Srpski from Banja Luka (RS).
In the first instance court in Banja Luka, the
journalists of Reporter, Perica Vucinic
and Zeljko Cvijanovic, were examined upon a
request from the District Court of another
country (Sremska Mitrovica District Court from
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia!). These
journalists were called to account because they
had published an allegedly insulting article and
photo of (now already former) President of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan
Milosevic.
Death threats again continued to be sent to
Zeljko Kopanja, the owner, director and
editor-in-chief of the Independent Newspaper
from Banja Luka (RS), whose both legs had been
amputated after the assassination attempt against
him in 1999, when explosive had been planted in
his car. Kopanja was the foremost champion of
freedom of media in RS, among the first to try to
disclose the truth on crimes committed by Serbs
during the last war.
Marko Asanin, from the Party of Independent
Social Democrats in RS, together with two of his
bodyguards, physically assaulted Ljubisa Lazic,
journalist of Srpsko Oslobodjenje,.
An anonymous person physically assaulted Antun
Kasipovic, journalist and Deputy General Director
of Srpski Glas daily in Banja Luka. Bojan
Vjestica, activist of the Serb Democratic Party,
issued threats to Gordana Katana, correspondent
of Oslobodjenje and RTV BH, while the
President of the municipal committee of SDS in
Doboj, Milan Ninkovic, in an interview for
Independent TV station Doboj, issued threats to
Azemina Mulahuseinovic, the owner of radio
station ZOS and correspondent of Oslobodjenje
(according to the information of Help Line for
Journalists, the person in question was Azemina
Mulahuseinovic, while according to the
information of IMC it was Azemina Smailbegovic -
in both cases all this was about ZOS radio
station).
The IMC fined NTV Doboj because of a comment
of its editor-in-chief, Ozren Jorganovic (Serb),
in which he spoke of his colleague Smailbegovic
(Bosniak) in an utterly insulting and derogatory
way.
The Directorate of the Intelligence and
Security Service of Republika Srpska warned that
would institute criminal proceedings against the
editor-in-chief of Reporter, Perica
Vucinic. The Prime Minister of Republika Srpska,
Milorad Dodik, in his interview for the newspaper
Blic from Belgrade (Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia) singled out the journalists of Reporter,
daily based in Banja Luka, as journalists who
”write untruths, thanks to their frequents
visits to Sarajevo, and who obtain information
exclusively from the circles that are against
Republika Srpska”. On that occasion, Dodik
implicated that it would be right for all the
«patriots» to force a showdown with the editors
and journalists of Reporter. Threats and
attacks on the editorial staff and journalists of
Reporter continue, and for that reason
this paper again addressed the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH, announcing that, in spite
of everything, they will continue in their fight
for truth. What irritated Dodik were the articles
on corruption. The then Minister of Information
in the Government of RS, Rajko Vasic (who
resigned in the meantime) issued threats to
journalists because of their allegedly false
reporting.
Hasan Hadzic, journalist of independent weekly
paper Dani from Tuzla, was forced to leave
his apartment and move with his family to a safer
place, because of many phone threats and sudden
appearance of unknown persons in the vicinity of
his family house, and also because of the failure
of police to react properly. Hadzic received
threats after a series of articles on the
discharged of Minister of Work, Social Policy and
Refugees in the Government of Tuzla Canton, Adib
Djozic.
Fatmir Alispahic, journalist, also received
threats from a moving car in Tuzla, after
publishing the article “Terror-stricken
Democracy” about the incidents provoked in that
city by Islamic extremists of the Wahhabi sect.
Alispahic claims that it was the Wahhabites who
issued threats to him.
A morbid assault against an eleven years old
boy, Davorin Sekulic, took place in community of
Solin in Tuzla. After the classes, he was beaten
up by about ten boys of same age, who were
forcing him to declare himself as either Serb or
Croat, and threatened that they would kill him
next time. Davorin is a son of Marinko Sekulic,
reporter of Deutsche Welle Radio, who has been
living in Tuzla for more than five years as a
displaced person from Srebrenica. According to
Marinko Sekulic, the leader of the group of boys
who beat up his son was a son of the local imam
Saletovic.
Radio Hayat in Tuzla (F BiH) received an
anonymous letter with Serb and Croat nazi-fascist
symbols, which contained threats that the radio
station will be blown up and that two journalists
of this house will have their throats slit
because they broadcast programmes of
Bosniak-Muslim character.
Independent TNT Radio from Travnik (BH F)
received several anonymous telephone calls and
letters in which the station was accused of being
an “ustasha media outlet” (ustashas are
Croatian nazi-fascists - author’s note); this
indicates that accusations and threats came from
Bosniak extremists. While conducting a poll, a
journalist of this radio was physically and
verbally assaulted in the very centre of the
city.
The editor-in-chief of Sarajevo magazine
“AS” again addressed the Helsinki Committee
for help because of the repeated assaults of
Nasir Curic-Haka, who calls himself the best debt
enforcer, against Ada Lopara, correspondent of
this magazine from Travnik, and her family. The
articles in “AS” showed Curic to be in
connection with the Minister of the Police of
Central Bosnia canton Midhat Zubaca.
Ademir Jerkovic, adviser in the cabinet of the
member of the BiH Presidency Halid Genjac,
Bosniak (SDA) representative in this body, on
several occasions pressurised Emir Felic,
journalist of the BiH PRESS news agency,
demanding from him to interpret official
statements and releases in such a way as if they
were coming from Jerkovic himself, which Felic
refused. At one point, Felic even thought of
leaving journalism because of this.
Certain M. Dz. from Sarajevo twice invaded the
premises of Radio Kalman, issuing threats to the
employees. The police arrested him.
An owner of a catering establishment
physically assaulted a newsvendor of “Front
Slobode” in the centre of Tuzla, shouting
insults and threats. The passers-by intervened
and prevented the incident from turning into one
with more serious consequences.
RTV Mostar and its Director Alija Behram are
now daily flooded with threats, after HDZ accused
them of being responsible for the fact that the
Election Appellate Sub-Commission had put a ban
on a promotional video of HDZ.
An unidentified perpetrator broke into the
premises of Radio Hayat in Mostar (BH F) and left
a hand grenade on the desk of the director of
this radio-station, Alija Lizde. In all
probability, this was a sign of warning to stop
broadcasting a documentary serial about
internment camps in the territory which had been
under the control of the Croatian Democratic
Union and Croatian Council of Defence and in
which Bosniaks had been detained during the war.
Bosniak Amela Rebac, woman-editor-in-chief of
Radio 88 in Mostar, which gathers a multi-ethnic
team of journalists, is receiving threatening
phone calls every day.
In Stolac (F BiH), during a visit of the
representatives of the International Peace
Mission, a journalist of RTV Mostar and
correspondent of OBN, Sanel Kajan, Bosniak, was
physically and verbally assaulted by a Croatian
extremist.
In Livno (F BiH), town where Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) is in power, one day there
appeared threatening leaflets, accusing Frano
Mioc, the editor-in-chief of “Studio N” and
Zeljka Mihaljevic, one of its journalists, of
being “miserable mercenaries, who work
exclusively for the sake of money, spitting and
vomiting on everything that represents Croat
legal authorities in Livno”. What particularly
raises concern is the reaction of the government
of Livno canton, which declared that it was maybe
the journalists themselves who had written the
pamphlet in order to draw attention and to win
favour of those who advocate for freedom of
media.
It is devastating that the major part of
perpetrators and persons issuing orders for
assaults against journalists and media houses are
still out of reach of justice and law. According
to the information of OSCE, which established a
Help-Line for assistance and protection of
journalists’ rights, out of 132 registered
cases of assaults, even 35,5 percent (49) related
to the government and other public officials, and
5 percent (7) cases related to the police. There
were allegedly 20,3 percent (28 cases) of unknown
perpetrators, and there were only 20,3 percent
(28) cases without political background.
The Association of Electronic Media of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (AEM BH) carried out a public
survey on pressures among its members. As for the
threatening telephone calls, out of 116 members,
86 of them either did not answer the question or
stated that there were no pressures against them.
30 RTV stations received 733 threatening
telephone calls. As for the threatening letters,
out of 116 members, 99 of them either did not
answer or there stated that there were no
pressures of this kind against them. 17 RTV
stations received 117 threatening letters.
During the round-table organised by IREX
ProMedia, Zeljko Kopanja, director and
editor-in-chief of Nezavisne novine,
stated among else, that the perpetrator of
assassination attempt against him was identified
by the police and residing in the neighbouring
state, but that this was something that the
police in RS continuously kept silent about.
On the same occasion, Zorica Petkovic, woman
editor of Radio Osvit from Zvornik (RS) said that
charges against 14 people who took part in
demolishing this independent radio station had
been raised a year before, without the trial ever
commencing as yet. During one of pre-trial
questioning sessions, Petkovic met with sneers on
the part of those present, including some court
representatives.
Ismet Bajramovic Celo was fined with 60 DEM
for breaking into the editorial office of Dani
and threatening the staff with a gun (a toy gun,
as it was found out later).
As a positive example of the attitude of the
police we mention here two meetings of the
Ministry of Interior of the Canton of Sarajevo,
Ismet Dahic, with the leaders of the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BiH. The subject
matter discussed was provision of efficient
protection to media and journalists.
In the reporting period, an instance of
something unseen before occurred: an under-age
hacker sent more than 8,000 electronic messages
in one day to Radio “Osvit” from Zvornik.
This blocked the functioning of e-mail in this
radio station.
The event when an armed man broke into the
studio of TV D in Doboj (RS) on 18 March, issuing
threats to the guests of the show was a first
signal of rising pressure on media and
journalists during the spring and autumn election
campaigns. According to the findings of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH and
the OSCE Mission to BiH, number of threats to
journalists and media doubled in comparison with
summer and autumn 1999 figures; in May and June
2000 the number was even quadrupled.
Special monitoring undertaken by the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BiH, during which
the behaviour of media in the pre-election times
was closely observed, has shown that the public
media for major part worked in accordance with
the Rules and Regulations of the Provisional
Election Commission (PEC) and the Rules of the
Independent Media Commission (IMC). However, it
was obvious that editorial policy was under
pressure of political, particularly the ruling
national (i.e. ethnically-oriented) parties, due
to which some media asked for help and protection
from IMC and OSCE. On the other hand, IMC
punished some media outlets for being partial.
IMC sanctioned the media under the control of the
Serb Democratic Party and the Serb Radical Party
(Radio Doboj, Radio Srpsko Sarajevo, Radio
Srebrenica) and media outlets in service of the
Croatian Democratic Union and its extremist
satellites (Croatian TV Mostar, Croatian Radio
Station Mostar, Croatian Radio TV Herceg-Bosna,
Croatian TV Mostar -Oskar Croatian) for violating
election rules and Code on Editing RTV programmes
during the local and general elections. The
Helsinki Committee deems that the major part of
media outlets in BiH have, by fairly reporting
and commenting during the election campaign,
contributed to having general elections this year
pass in an atmosphere appropriate to countries of
highly developed democracy.
As concerning the behaviour of the leading
national parties, SDA and HDZ frequently accused
the most influential media houses that they were
paid by the international factors, and that they
were under the direct command of foreigners and
part of the international conspiracy against the
national parties. The party leaders particularly
accused the independent media of being against
“their” own people. SDS, during the campaign,
behaved quite discreetly, trying not to irritate
the international authorities, in fear that it
would otherwise be eliminated from elections and
access to power. The Prime Minister of RS,
Milorad Dodik, put the most powerful media outlet
in Republika Srpska, RTV RS, completely at the
service of his own election needs. The leaders of
SDA justified their electoral results by
“brutal partiality of some media outlets”.
Both HDZ and SDS complained about inequitable
treatment.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH
continuously engages its efforts in criticising
the clannishness and inaccessibility of sources
of information, and non-transparent work of the
bodies of authorities at all the levels,
including public enterprises and institutions,
which deprive citizens of the right to be
informed. Inaccessibility of the sources of
information, which also means the lack of
responsibility of the authorities toward their
electoral body, continuously shows what is the
attitude of the authorities toward citizens and
their social position. As mentioned earlier, the
Helsinki Committee was particularly active in the
field of establishment of legal regulations
governing the freedom to information.
Unfortunately, not even the existing norms and
standards in the sphere of public expression and
right to information are observed. We will give
some examples.
The releases issued after the sessions of the
BiH Presidency, which, as a rule, are a task of
advisors to the members of collective state
bodies, following the principle of rotation, are
usually given in corridors, without
public-address system and other elementary
conditions provided for proper work of
journalists, who kneel in front of their
interlocutors in order to get out of the way of
TV cameramen, who, on their part, also do not
have an easy job. In addition to this, the
refusal of then Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of BiH, Spasoje Tusevljak, to give any
information to the journalist of TV Hayat, Kenan
Cerimagic, about the costs of the trip to the
Olympic Games in Sydney (although it was financed
from the budget) speaks of the arrogance the
highest officials show toward journalists, and
therefore toward the public in general.
The crew of Liberty TV, which intended to make
a television broadcast about Bosniak returnees
into the village of Suceska near Srebrenica had
first to ask for permission from the Minister of
Information in Republika Srpska, Rajko Vasic.
They claim that after obtaining the approval they
had to pay 50 KM (DEM). A TV crew ATV from Banja
Luka also paid 50 KM for permission to take
pictures of a border crossing with the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. These procedures are
striking examples of disrespect for the right to
freedom of information, which implies free access
of journalists and media crews to places and
events without obligation to obtain any
permission from the state administration. Indeed,
the Resolutions of the European Ministerial
Conference (from 1994 and 1996) read, among else,
that even in the situations of conflicts and
tensions the work of journalists and freedom of
press should not depend on credentials obtained.
The leaders of the religious communities
continue to insist on their special position in
respect to the right of the public to demand
transparency of work from all public factors.
After the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, the Cardinal
Vinko Puljic, had involved himself in
pre-electoral activities and sided with the
retrograde political platform of the Croatian
Democratic Union and the unlawfully held
“referendum” of Croatian people in BiH on the
very day of general elections, the media and
journalists who dared criticise that act were
condemned by persons from Cardinal’s
environment. The Islamic community (IZ)
demonstrated its aversion to public openness of
their work, especially on the occasion when the
chief imam of Tuzla, Muhamed effendi Lugavic, was
discharged by the Islamic community. This event
astonished the democratic public in Tuzla and in
wider region, particularly since ef. Lugavic was
an unrelenting fighter for religious and ethnic
tolerance. Upon the invitation sent to the
representatives of the office of Mufti of Tuzla
to participate in a public debate on this issue,
there came a reply signed by Husein effendi
Kavazovic which read: “I consider your
invitation as an interference of journalists and
media with the competences and the work of the
Islamic community regarding its duties and
decision-making processes. No public debate
announced on this topic could be a forum to
discuss its work, procedures and decisions”.
STATUS
AND SELF-ORGANISATION OF MEDIA
The status of the media was the product of the
absence of legal regulations that would govern
this area, frequent disrespect for elementary
rights and freedoms in the sphere of public word
by the bodies of authorities and other public
protagonists, interventions of the international
peace mission, depressing economic situation and
poor purchasing power of the population. A large
number of media outlets, particularly at the
local levels, is under the direct control of the
ruling national parties and depends on municipal
and cantonal budget. All this contributes to
narrowing the freedom of opinion and expression
and to self-censorship of journalists.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH
expressed on several occasions its
dissatisfaction with the tempo of transformation
of Radio and TV broadcasting system, as the most
mass-oriented and influential media complex, into
public broadcasting services at the level of the
state and at the level of the entities. The
restructuring of RTV BiH was delayed with no
justifiable reason, with international factors
directly contributing to such situation. To boot,
not a single one among the RTV houses has forces
capable of taking upon themselves the process of
transformation. The High Representative, Wolfgang
Petritsch, as late as end-October passed a
decision whereby by a framework for a system of
public RTV broadcasting was established. Under
this decision, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)
at the level of BH, RTV of the BiH Federation and
RTV of Republika Srpska were established as the
three key broadcasters. All three systems should
operate in the best interest of the citizens of
BiH, based on a principle of professionalism and
economic sustainability, and should be financed
in a transparent manner.
PBS is in its trial period, and its most
successful action last year took place during the
Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, when RTV BiH and
RTV RS crews worked jointly on producing the
Olympics broadcasting programmes, transmitted by
all three broadcasters. During the year, RTV (of
the Federation of) BiH, due to its unclear status
and inconsistent activities of the international
factors, suffered blows in terms of its
financing, organisation and staffing, which
adversely affected the quality of its programme.
In its programming and editorial policy, RTV RS
formed a more correct attitude toward Bosnia and
Herzegovina and its overall problems. Yet, it was
evident that that the news programme of this
house was under the command of the Prime Minister
of RS, Milorad Dodik. The High Representative
intervened, eliminating the provisions from the
Law on RTV in RS which were in violation of the
European standards in this field. The name was
also changed - instead of Serbian Radio TV it is
now called Radio TV of Republika Srpska.
At the end of the year, the Independent Media
Commission (IMC) invited tenders for long-term
licenses to radio and television stations in BH,
by regions. The citizens were given a possibility
to submit their comments on the programmes of RTV
broadcasting stations.
IMC refused to grant a long-term work license
to Bosniak Radio Television International, house
under the control of SDA. Indeed, the IMC
identified the BRT Int. as an institution with
special domestic and foreign sources of
financing. The decision provoked contradictory
reactions of professional associations and in
public. As BRT Int. was refusing to comply with
the IMC’s decision, its broadcasting was
stopped by means of technical intervention.
During the year, the IMC was forced to impose
a number of penalties on broadcasting stations in
BiH, particularly for not respecting the Code on
Editing of Programmes of broadcasting stations.
Those who most frequently breached the Code were
the media outlets in the territory of Republika
Srpska and those under the control of the
Croatian Democratic Union. Thus, Kanal S
TV station (RS) had to suspend its broadcasting
for two months because it had broadcast the
American film “Lolita” without copyright
license and also because of repeated breaches of
the Code. But, from the point of view of
programming and editorial policies and their
impact on public, far more serious breaches of
the Code by Kanal S were those that were
sanctioned because of Kanal S’ having broadcast
the programmes that distorted the truth on war
crimes, instigated ethnic hatred and called for
revenge. IMC also fined the radio station
Bratunac because of its broadcasting an appeal of
the Association of War Veterans from Bratunac,
addressed to Serbs, inviting them to protest
against the visits of Bosniak displaced persons
to their homes. During the protests that followed
this appeal, several returnees were injured. In
the period observed, IMC did not impose penalties
on RTV stations under the control of HDZ for
broadcasts provoking ethnic hatred and calling
for revenge. However, it should be noted here
that these stations were sanctioned several times
in in connection with the local and general
elections, because of their propaganda in favour
of HDZ and its allies and to the detriment of the
rights of other parties in the election period.
In connection to this, we have to remind that the
election campaign of HDZ, particularly during the
November elections, took an extremely negative
stand toward the BiH Federation, Dayton Accords
and the International Peace Mission, producing
messages aimed at instigating ethnic intolerance
and exclusion of other peoples. The IMC also
punished FERN radio station (based in Sarajevo)
because of its broadcasting the Islamic prayer to
God “Allah-u-ekber” during a broadcast of
church music on the day of the Orthodox Easter
holiday. We have to mention also that the radio
station Kalman (Sarajevo) was warned because of
frequent calls to the families of shehids
(families of killed Bosniak Muslim soldiers) to
prevent eviction of one shehid family. In
addition, the RTV of Una-Sana Canton, where SDA
is a dominant party, was penalised because of a
contact show about war crimes committed during
the war, during which revengeful feelings were
instigated.
Negative influence of the authorities on the
situation in the sphere of public information
reflects in the economic domain as well. Namely,
in the situation where industrial production is
minimal, market reduced and the purchasing power
of the population diminished - the entity
governments imposed such taxes on media that put
in question their survival. Thus, in September,
in the BiH Federation, a tax rate of 12 percent
was imposed on the sale of dailies, weeklies,
periodicals and magazines. It is paradoxical that
foreign newspapers and periodicals, therefore
also including those coming from the same
language area (Croatia and Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia), were exempt from the tax, whereby
the domestic media were brought in an unequal
position.
The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
of the BiH Federation, Edhem Bicakcic and Dragan
Covic, when asked by the Federation Ombudsmen to
explain the decision on the tax rates said that
they had to comply with the request of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMC).
However, the representatives of these two
institutions claim that they “exclusively
insisted on general taxation policy principles,
i.e. that they neither mentioned nor asked for
taxes to be imposed or increased”. The Helsinki
Committee supported the BiH Federation Ombudsmen
in their demand that tax on sale of daily
newspapers be completely abolished, and that the
tax on weeklies and periodicals be reduced to 5-6
percent. The associations of journalists demanded
the same.
It is not realistic to expect that about 80
television and about 200 radio stations in BiH
will all survive. As many as 25 radio and TV
stations could not afford to pay 1,000 KM (DEM)
to IMC for provisional broadcasting licenses. The
system of long-term licenses will by itself
reduce the number of stations, while the logic of
the free market will decide what will happen with
the remaining ones. To speak the truth, some RTV
houses will succeed in surviving thanks to their
political obedience.
A special problem is the question of
privatisation of media. The public applauded the
privatisation of Oslobodjenje, in which
the management and the employees became the
majority owners both of the paper and the
company; however, this house is far from
stabilising its financial situation. The process
of capital re-equipment offers some hope, but
internal efforts are needed to bring about a
radical change in the market position of the
newspaper as such and the company as whole. The
real ambiguities appeared in connection to the
privatisation of Vecernje novine (Evening
Newspaper), the major owner of which became Irfan
Ljevakovic, former member of the Agency for
Information and Documentation (AID) – secret
service under the control of the Party of
Democratic Action. Legal and economic
irregularities in the privatisation of this media
were revealed when the name of the paper was
changed into Jutarnje novine (Morning
Newspaper) in order to avoid the payment of
enormous financial obligations that had been
created prior to the privatisation on the basis
of the paper’s prize competition.
The factionalism of the press market is caused
primarily by the policy of the ruling structures,
although as of recently there are wider
possibilities for purchase of newspapers from
“the other” entity, particularly when
speaking of the bigger cities. Even five years
after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, in the
majority of the municipalities of the Livno
Canton, controlled by HDZ, it is impossible to
buy dailies published in Sarajevo and Banja Luka.
It is possible to find Oslobodjenje and Dnevni
avaz in Livno, but not in Drvar, Bosansko
Grahovo, Kupres and Tomislavgrad. The good news
is that the programme of RTV BiH can be seen in
this area from November.
Political war is being waged in the sphere of
electronic media as well. There is a
characteristic case of closing down the Velika
Kladusa radio station on September 25th
following the decision of the Board of Directors
of the public enterprise RTV of Una-Sana Canton
to exclude that station from their organization.
The cantonal government had nothing in essence
against this decision, giving away the equipment
of the “banished” Velika Kladusa radio
station without any compensation in return. On
the basis of the decision of the Board of
Directors of RTV Una-Sana Canton eight employees
of the radio station remained without a job and
went on strike, upon which the cantonal
government asked that this decision be
reconsidered in order that the journalists and
technicians be not the only victims in this case.
Doubts are, making the situation even more
complex, that the intention behind exclusion of
the Velika Kladusa radio station is to revive the
former RTV Velkaton, which had been a powerful
weapon in the arms of the former power-wielder
Fikret Abdic. It is obvious that this is a media
expression of the political struggle between the
Party of Democratic Action and the Abdic’s
Democratic People’s Community.
There were strikes in other media as well.
Thus, seven journalists of radio Buzim (BH F)
went on hunger strike because their founder, the
municipality of Buzim, owed them 23 unpaid
salaries. The municipal authorities used the
salaries to blackmail the radio station because
they were not satisfied with its editorial
policy. The employees of radio Kljuc also went on
hunger strike, because the founder, the
municipality of Kljuc, for two years had been
neglecting to fulfil its obligations toward this
media outlet. The threats of journalists and
other editorial staff of the daily Oslobodjenje
that they will go on hunger strike proved
effective, and after that they finally started
receiving their pays and dues. The problem of
failure to pay the salaries and contributions is
a general problem facing the journalists and
other media workers in BH, and the above were
only the examples of the situation. Seven
experienced and renowned journalists of RTV BiH
protested in public because they were badly
treated by this media outlet, where the
management did not duly acknowledge their
professional qualities and labour rights. It
happened at the time when the editor-in-chief was
Senad Hadzifejzovic, who, after having been
removed from duty, with an explanation that his
resignation had been accepted, himself also
announced filing suit against the management of
RTV BH. The international factors accepted his
removal.
The difficult position in which the public
media and media workers are is also the
consequence of poor level of their
self-organisation. As many as five journalists’
associations were established; the tendency of
journalists to organise along the entity and
ethnic lines played a role in this. The lack of
the solidarity among the journalists also leads
to quarrelling in public between independent
media themselves, as was the case with editorial
boards and editors-in-chief of Slobodna Bosna
and Dani. Several court actions were
instituted, based on disputes among journalists.
The imposition of ethnic divisions among
journalists and media blocked for a long time the
setting up of the Council for Press as an
important body for self-regulation of media, the
role of which would be to promote journalist
ethics and professional standards, to defend the
freedom of media and to monitor the
implementation of the Press Code. After eight
months of painful negotiations, the Council for
Press was established thanks primarily to
international factors.
The trade union of BH, which started
ambitiously, now shows no signs of existence at
all. The trade union of RTV BiH is active, but it
is out of the trade union at the BiH level. The
trade union of RTV BiH is trying to be an equal
partner in the transformation of this house, but
is being reproached for uncritically siding the
external mediators in the process to the
detriment of the employees. Moreover, this trade
union opposed the Decision of the High
Representative on constituting the RTV BiH F on
15 January 2001 (whereby RTV BiH would actually
cease to exist), because it was not involved in
this key phase of transformation of RTV BH.
Lately, there is an active trade union
organisation in Oslobodjenje, which might
contribute to the rehabilitation of this firm and
to the reaffirming of the status of journalists
and other editorial staff in this house.
As a sign of support to the freedom of media
in BiH and in wider region, there was a World
Congress of Journalists held in Sarajevo, in
which about 180 journalists representing about 60
media outlets from 18 countries took part.
Unfortunately, the Congress and the accompanying
events did not prove a motive strong enough for
representatives of domestic media to take a more
active part in this, otherwise successful,
gathering.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH
points out that in spite of the above
difficulties, there is an on-going process moving
toward developing media in line with the criteria
of contemporary democracies. The last year has
shown that we also have media which are close to
the parameters of European journalism. On this
occasion we particularly emphasise two new
qualities that have appeared in the domain of
written press – the fact that Nezavisne
novine, by its contents, and even by the
composition of its editorial and journalist
staff, are increasingly becoming an independent
bosnian-and-herzegovinian newspaper which
operates along the principles of research
journalism and democratic ideas, and the
emancipation of Dnevni avaz, which should
be supported in its attempts to promote its own
editorial and strategic concept. It would be
important were Oslobodjenje to make more
radical moves in its transformation, which would
enable this progenitor of independent journalism
in BiH to spread its influence in a more profound
manner.
CONCLUSION
The situation in media, as shown in this
analytical report, indicates that it is necessary
to undertake a number of actions in 2001 in order
to make substantial improvements in this field,
which is of a vital importance for the process of
normalisation and democratisation in BH. It is
important, in the first place, to complete the
legal framework in relation to media picture in
BH, in order that the activities of media attain
the highest professional and democratic standards
and in order to protect and develop the freedom
of public expression. It is also necessary
legally to regulate the status and protection of
journalists and other media workers in terms of
their relations with founders and employers.
Finally, it is necessary to complete the
transformation of the public broadcasting system
in BH, as a potentially a key protagonist in the
provision of objective information in the entire
territory of the country and in the creation of a
critical social-mindedness as an important factor
in the peace process and development of
democracy. It is necessary to initiate a new
action aimed at self-organisation of journalists
and other media workers and self-organisation of
media. It is also necessary rapidly to create
conditions for media to disengage themselves from
political manipulation and to reduce the
intervening role in the organisation of
international factors.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH,
together with representatives of media and their
associations and other non-governmental
organisations and international associations,
will be always an active factor in advancing the
situation in this field of crucial importance for
promotion and protection of human rights and
freedoms.
No.: 29A -01/2001
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