War between the Serb-controlled Yugoslav government and the ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) erupted in March in the province of Kosovo,
with repressive repercussions for media throughout Yugoslavia.
Covering the Kosovo war has been an assignment fraught with danger and
frustration. Foreign correspondents whose reports were deemed "anti-Serb"
were denied reentry visas by the Serb government. Local journalists were
blocked and harassed so routinely at military checkpoints that by summer
most would not travel into conflict zones unless they were accompanying foreign
news teams. But the presence of foreigners was no guarantee of protection;
they, along with local journalists, encountered problems in the field that
ranged from intimidation to violence to kidnapping.
The KLA was responsible for one of the most serious incidents -- the October
kidnapping of two journalists from the Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug
who were later released. But the vast majority of incidents of harassment,
intimidation, and physical assault documented by CPJ in Kosovo were carried
out by the Serbian special police and military.
Elsewhere in Yugoslavia, the Kosovo war generated a fresh wave of Serbian
government repression against independent media that dared challenge the
hate speech and nationalist policies of President Slobodan Milosevic's regime.
Among the government's primary targets was the Association of Independent
Electronic Media (ANEM), a network of 50 stations whose radio and television
broadcasts reach 80 percent of Serbia's population. ANEM's flagship station,
Radio B92, has long been a thorn in Milosevic's side, though in the government's
May tender of broadcast licenses B92 was one of the few independent stations
to be granted even a temporary right to broadcast. Dozens of unlicensed
independent broadcasters stayed on the air even after the government shut
down two ANEM radio stations in the summer for operating without licenses.
But in September, when NATO threatened air strikes against Belgrade to force
Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, the Serbian government used
the West's threats to turn on independent journalists with a vengeance. A
series of government statements in early October accused independent journalists
of being spies, and on October 5 the Serb information minister ordered
independent stations to stop rebroadcasting Serb-language programs from the
Voice of America and other foreign services. The ban was formalized on October
8 in a temporary decree that also forbade articles or broadcasts deemed by
the government to foment "fear, panic and defeatism" during the showdown
with NATO.
One day after the decree took effect, a CPJ delegation met with then-U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck to urge strong U.S. opposition
to the crackdown. The State Department subsequently circulated a CPJ statement
to U.S. ambassadors in Europe, urging them to work with their European
counterparts to orchestrate diplomatic protests of the Serb government's
actions.
Milosevic continued to lash out at the independent press after agreeing on
October 13 to pull Serb forces out of Kosovo and allow international monitors
into the region. By October 15, the government had shut down two ANEM radio
stations and three independent Belgrade newspapers, Danas, Dnevni
Telegraf, and Nasa Borba. On October 20, the Serbian government
adopted a new Law on Public Information that codified much of the earlier
temporary decree, set crippling fines for violations, and eliminated basic
judicial rights for those accused of violations.
Some independent Serb journalists said that the Western powers, led by the
United States, were so eager for a diplomatic resolution of the Kosovo conflict
that they had decided to look the other way while Milosevic decimated the
independent media. Their sense of abandonment intensified as the new law
led to more punitive action and crippling fines against the owner
of Dnevni Telegraf and the
weekly Evroplijanin.
On December 4 and 5, ANEM held a conference in Belgrade titled "Media for
a Democratic Europe." Delegations from CPJ and other press freedom organizations
met to assess the ongoing threat to the survival of Serbia's independent
media. While journalists at the conference were buoyed by the support, most
believed that the Serb government's persecution of the press would not ease
as long as Milosevic remained in power. |
| Attacks on the Press in
Yugoslavia in 1998 |
| Date |
Journalist |
Incident |
| 12/04/98 |
Nikola
Djuric, City Radio |
Legal Action |
| 11/17/98 |
Monitor |
Harassed, Legal Action |
| 10/23/98 |
DaTePress |
Legal Action |
| 10/23/98 |
Slavko
Curuvija, Evropljanin |
Legal Action |
| 10/23/98 |
Ivan
Tadic, Evropljanin |
Legal Action |
| 10/23/98 |
Dragan
Bujusevic, Evropljanin |
Legal Action |
| 10/20/98 |
All
media |
Censored |
| 10/18/98 |
Nebojsa
Radosevic, Tanjug |
Imprisoned |
| 10/18/98 |
Vladimir
Dobricic, Tanjug |
Imprisoned |
| 10/15/98 |
Nasa
Borba |
Censored |
| 10/13/98 |
Dnevni
Telegraf |
Harassed |
| 10/13/98 |
Danas |
Harassed |
| 10/13/98 |
Nasa
Borba |
Harassed |
| 10/09/98 |
Radio
Senta |
Censored |
| 10/08/98 |
All
media |
Censored |
| 10/07/98 |
Dejan
Anastasijevic, Vreme |
Harassed |
| 10/06/98 |
All
independent media |
Harassed |
| 10/06/98 |
All
independent broadcasters |
Censored |
| 09/30/98 |
All
independent media |
Harassed |
| 08/21/98 |
Djuro
Slavuj, Radio Pristina |
Missing |
| 08/21/98 |
Ranko
Perenic, Radio Pristina |
Missing |
| 08/18/98 |
City
Radio |
Censored |
| 07/06/98 |
Reuters
TV cameraman |
Harassed |
| 07/06/98 |
Kurt
Schork, Reuters |
Attacked |
| 07/06/98 |
Anthony
Lloyd, The Times |
Attacked |
| 07/06/98 |
All
journalists in Kosovo |
Threatened |
| 07/01/98 |
Radio
Kontakt |
Censored |
| 06/22/98 |
Neils
Brinch, TV2 Denmark |
Attacked |
| 06/22/98 |
Heinrik
Gram, TV2 Denmark |
Attacked |
| 06/22/98 |
Unidentified
Albanian interpreter, TV2 Denmark |
Attacked |
| 05/16/98 |
All
Serbian Media |
Harassed, Censored |
| 04/21/98 |
TV
Pirot |
Censored |
| 03/19/98 |
Taras
Protsyuk, Reuters TV |
Attacked |
| 03/19/98 |
Michel
Rouserez, RTBF, Belgian TV |
Attacked |
| 03/10/98 |
Gruica
Spasovic, Danas |
Harassed |
| 03/10/98 |
Manjo
Vucotic, Blic |
Harassed |
| 03/10/98 |
Slavko
Curuvija , Dnevni Telegraf |
Harassed |
| 03/10/98 |
Lyubinka
Milintic,Demokratija |
Harassed |
| 03/10/98 |
Ivan
Mrcan, Nasa Borb |
Harassed |
| 03/02/98 |
Agron
Bajrami, cultural editor, Koha Ditore |
Attacked |
| 03/02/98 |
Veton
Surroi, editor in chief, Koha Ditore |
Attacked |
| 03/02/98 |
Staff
of Koha Ditore |
Attacked, Threatened, Harassed |
| 03/02/98 |
Fatos
Berisha, Koha Ditore |
Attacked |
|
|
