Radio B 92, the principal independent radio station in Serbia, has been banned by the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) as the “Free Media Pioneer” of 1998. The station, represented by director and co-founder Sasa Mirkovic, will receive the award on Wednesday, 27 May 1998, at the IPI World Congress in Moscow.
Sasa Mirkovic will be in Vienna to speak about the current situation of the media in Serbia on Monday, 20 April. This lecture, part of the IPI series of dinner lectures featuring “Top Media Representatives”, will mark the occasion on which IPI officially announces B 92 as the recipient of this year’s “Free Media Pioneer” award.
Since its beginning in 1989, B 92’s broadcasts have been critical of government, anti-war, and based on human rights. Over the years, the station has had to fight to elude government efforts to shut it down. It was first banned in March 1991 and again in December 1996 amid the wave of street protests after President Slobodan Milosevic’s government cancelled the results of local elections won by the opposition. On that occasion, B 92 was repeatedly jammed, then shut down altogether, but it went on operating via the Internet until international protest forced the authorities to reopen the station after only two days.
With Serbia’s elections now over, the state propaganda machine remains as vital as ever for Preisdent Milosevic’s hold on power. Anticipating further trouble, B-92 established the Association of Independent Electornic Media (ANEM), a network of independent local radio stations throughout Serbia and Montenegro. ANEM currently provides 32 radio stations covering 70 per cent of the country with daily news and information programming, as well as professional development, legal support and training opportunities, thereby offering an alternative to state-controlled broadcasting and helping to build the conditions for free media and democracy in Yugoslavia. B 92 intends to establish a similar network of independent local TV stations.
IPI, the global network of editors and media executives, believes that a free and pluralistic media is vital to ensure lasting peace and democracy in the former Yugoslavia. Therefore, in recognition of B 92’s ongoing work in the development and protection of the independent electronic media in Serbia and Montenegro, and in order to mobilise and encourage international support for its efforts, IPI has decided to aware B 92 with the IPI “Free Media Pioneer ’98” award.
