H.E. Slobodan Milosevic
President of Yugoslavia
Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Vienna, 9 October 1998
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives, strongly condemns the latest Serbian government measures against the independent media, including the order to broadcasters to stop airing foreign news programmes hostile to Yugoslavia or face punishment.
On Wednesday, 7 October, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Milovan Bojic and Information Minister Alexsander Vucic summoned editors-in-chief of all independent media and warned them that “disobedience would not be tolerated.” Bojic was further quoted as saying that “The government is determined … to punish all media which refuse to heed the call. …This is not an appeal but an order.”
On Thursday, 8 October, another Deputy Prime Minster, Vojislav Seselj, who is also leader of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, said that Yugoslav citizens working for foreign news organisations will be treated as “spies.”
In the Government of Serbia’s Decree on Special Measures in Circumstances of NATO’s Threats with Military Attacks Against Our Country, the Government of Serbia has now formalised its previous warnings with regard to the country’s independent media. The decree not only prohibits the re-broadcasting of foreign news programmes deemed hostile to Yugoslavia, but also introduces sanctions against local media -including closure and seizure of equipment – which act against the interests of the State. Ominously, the Government has reserved the right to interpret what exactly is “against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the country.”
IPI believes that the government decree is a flagrant violation of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information through any media and regardless of frontiers,” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We therefore urge Your Excellency to ensure that the ban on re-broadcasting programmes from the BBC, the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other sources is lifted. We further urge you to ensure that all journalists are allowed to objectively report on the latest developments in Yugoslavia.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
