On the Media; [1996-12-08--excerpt], Press Control in the Balkans; Part 1

From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. Just how far would you go to make sure you heard the news each day? According to a news report, a man in Belgrade stands in the water in his bathtub holding an antenna in order to bring in the signal from the only independent radio station left in Serbia, B 92 radio. Last week, the Milosevic government jammed their signal to keep the news from getting out. But thousands of protesters took to the streets and media from around the world criticized the Serbian president in order to get be ninety-two back on the air. Still, it's one local radio station against a sea of state censorship. And this hour on the media, we'll be talking about the role of independent media in Serbia right after this news. So stay tuned. From National Public Radio News in Washington. During the past week, the World's news media have carried article after article about the

demonstrations against the government in Serbia. Television around the world is broadcast images of hundreds of thousands of protesters. No, wait, that isn't true. Reports and pictures of the huge demonstrations have been everywhere but one place, and that is Serbia itself. President Slobodan Milosevic has done everything possible to silence that unhappy nation's news organizations. The state run television news either ignores the protests or slams the demonstrators as traitors. On Friday, with thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Belgrade and the government in crisis, the state controlled main newspaper carried a banner headline on the front page that said, and I quote, intensive road building project to begin this spring. But something inspiring and one would hope frightening to autocrats everywhere was also happening when Milosevic shut down be 92, the last remaining independent radio news station, the station began using the Internet to move

the news and garner international support. Indeed, determined brave journalists have kept the news flowing inside Serbia and around the world. I'm Alex Jones, and on this edition of On the Media, we're taking a look at the media's role in what's been happening in Serbia. I'm joined by Roy Gutman, foreign affairs correspondent for Newsday in Washington. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his coverage of the former Yugoslavia. Roy, welcome. Glad to have you. Roy, are you there? Well, we seem to have a problem getting Roy Gutman and we'll be getting him up just as quickly as we possibly can. In the meantime, let me just give you a sense of what's been going on in Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslavia in Belgrade, especially during this last week. If those of you who've been listening to the radio know what's been happening today, the demonstrators are back on the streets. But what's been happening over the last week has been fundamentally this. When Milosevic, the president of Serbia, the guy who basically started

the war in Bosnia by creating a very high, high nationalistic sensitivity and awareness, an aggressive policy in Serbia. When he started doing that, the people of of Serbia were in many ways his hostages. They were ostensibly in a democratic situation and had elections. But in fact, those elections were then, in many cases nullified by Milosevic, prompting these kinds of demonstrations that have been going on in the last week. It is a government crisis. Roy Gutman, are you there? Yes. Roy, good afternoon. Hi, how are you? Fine. Good. Can you give us some context? What is the tradition of a free press in Belgrade and in Serbia in the light of what's been going on in the last week? Is this is this exceptional or. No, they have had a moderately free press, even in communist times. But for international news, that is for domestic news. It's always been pretty controlled, with a few exceptions,

has always been one or two places where there's been a free press. And however, in the last months, Milosevic has really cracked down and especially right in the middle of this crisis. There's not really a tradition of a great tradition of a domestic free press there. Well, give us a sense of what the structure of the press is. Well, you start with television, which is the central means of communication, and that is almost completely under the control of the state. Certainly television outside of Belgrade. And even for most of Belgrade, there was a very good independent station which he closed down. And now I think there's a small private television station. So basically he's got the ability of through state television to put across the party line to push the propaganda position. And that's what he's done really for the last five years. That is one of the major means he used in order to whip up nationalist fervor in order to support the war in Bosnia.

And what about newspapers and magazines? There's a very fine newspaper or a newspaper with a fine pedigree called Politica, which was privately founded early in the century, which had a has a number of foreign correspondents. Very good tradition. But in my 1989, 1990 was put completely under the thumb of the state and of the Milosevic regime. There was another newspaper called Borbor, which was connected with the Communist Party. And as the communists basically were removed from power or from their party, was no longer called the Communist Party, Borbor became more independent and actually became a national paper and a good paper. Milosevic closed that down. The reporters of Border then founded Natia ba ba ba ba ba ba. And that is still a pretty good daily newspaper. There aren't many other all the others are pretty much tabloids which are run by the state. And what about radio then? Well, radio is in the hands of the state except for one or two small stations, maybe five or six around the country just with local audiences.

And the famous and the very good be 92 in Belgrade. And what is B, 92? I mean, why is it not controlled by the government when the newspaper is when the television stations are when virtually the entire media in in in Serbia seems to be one degree or another under the control of the government? There are anomalies there. B 92 is not the only one. There's also a Freema a news weekly which has managed to stay outside of the control of the government all this time. And they basically have been living by a thread over over the last several years. They have income, not a lot, I think, from advertising. They have income from publishing books and other purposes, but basically they cannot even expand their signal enough to reach all of of Serbia. It's basically heard only in Belgrade and they exist on their wits and on their talents. And he's tolerated it up until this past week.

Rogovin, give us you know, give us a sense of what's been going on in the last three weeks. I mean, why is this suddenly blown up this way? You know, it reminds me of what happened in East Germany in 1989. It was a set of obscure elections, the municipal elections, the same thing. There and the government decided, as is tradition, simply to pad the results and this time around, though, in Belgrade. In fact, in fact, they had a national election as well as the municipal election and the national elections. Everybody basically voted or the majority voted for the Milosevic's Socialist Party. But in the municipal elections, they decided to throw them out in almost every major city. Subsequently, the government threw Milosevic or by Milosevic, annulled the results. And they did this either in a legal way by going to courts and requesting an annulment or by stuffing the ballot box.

And everybody in the in the opposition expected this to happen. They basically started demonstrating even before the annulment was complete. And the protest has has started around that very thing. But it's taken on a life of its own, it seems, and it has other goals to free the media from the state control and I think to introduce democracy, although I'm not quite sure that everybody agrees on the meaning of democracy. This brings us to the point where B 92, the independent news radio station, really begins to to be an important part of this story. And it's my pleasure to welcome Sasha Milkovich, who's the director of the 92. He's speaking to us from Belgrade. Welcome, Sasha Milkovich. We're very glad to have you with us. Thank you very much. If you would, tell us what happened as far as B 92 is concerned at the beginning of this process of demonstrations after the the voting was nullified by by your president,

I will tell you, you know, it'd be nice to think is existing from 1989 and we always had to do and still have the same editorial policy. So we continue to inform our listeners what is exactly going on, not only in Belgrade, but in the many other big towns in Serbia where there is a lot of problem with the local elections and the results. And after that, a few days, you know, after the protests started started in Belgrade, you know, our signal, you know, begins to begin to be jammed, you know, and we didn't know what exactly is going on. And that's happened for seven days. And then we realized that there is some other transmitter which is working from the different part of the town where I was just meters and which is more powerful and who is covering

our signal. So people and our audience and our listeners in many parts of the town could not reach our signal. That was the start of our problems. Well, I don't I know that at the beginning of the show, I was talking about a man who had to stand in his in water up to his ankles in his bathtub, holding an antenna to ground the signal sufficiently to bring it in. Is that typical? Yes. You know, we had we were getting, you know, deep to our listeners. You know, the advice is how to reach our signal, you know, so you could hear a lot of different stories, you know, people and our listeners having a lot of various, you know, experience. You know, how could they reach the signal of being 92? But that was much better than what's happened exactly on the 3rd of December, which was Tuesday to go seven p.m. every time, you know, when we were, you know, cut off, you know, and definitely out of the air.

Just five minutes later, they could see what did they do. You know, that that was the you know, we could not reach ourself, you know, even in the radio. And our listeners thought, of course, that, you know, in all town of, you know, all Belgrade, they could not reach our signal. So it was obvious that something happened with our first meter. So then we you know, we expecting, you know, some paper. And 45 minutes later, that paper came for federal Ministry of Transport and Communication in which they're informing us that maybe 92 is illegal and that we do not have enough papers and all the necessary documents for, you know, our existence. You know, and these papers, we do not here for seven years, you know, so which means being 92 is from the very beginning kind of pirate radio stations in the station in the heart of Belgrade. So you were tolerated for a period of years, but then suddenly, did they cut the power

to your transmitter or how did they silence you? You know, it's interesting that nobody. What responses to that, you know, took the responsibility for what happened with the signal would be 92 and why we are not on the air, you know, and that's, you know, was for 51 hours, Benedetto was out of the air for 51 hours. And then, you know, finally we, you know, received the again by a fax message from general manager of Radio Television Serbia, which is the owner of our transmitter, and in which he's informing us that because of the heavy rain, the penetration of water by damaging a coaxial antenna, cable, you know, there was some sort of interference and of this meter and antenna system which caused automatic switch off of the transmitter.

In other words, just a technical problem. And it wasn't our fault or anyone's fault. It just could happen. And unfortunately, it happened just at this moment. Yes. You know, and but they could inform us much, much earlier, you know, that this kind of problem, you know, I remember that it was in Belgrade much, much, you know, bigger rains. And, you know, I remember the snow and it was in Belgrade for half a meter, you know, and being 82 was still working. So I'm afraid, you know, when next time it will be rain or snow in Belgrade. I want to invite our listeners to join this conversation. We're talking about the role of the media in in covering and keeping alive, in many ways, the demonstrations against the government in Serbia. Our number is one 800 three, four, three three three four two. That's one 800 three, four, three, three, three, four, two. This is on the media from National Public Radio. I'm Alex Jones. We're back with all the media talking about price controls in Serbia in

the last week and what the media in Serbia have done to circumvent the efforts to silence the media there. I'm talking with Roy Gutman, Pulitzer Prize winning foreign affairs reporter for Newsday, Sascha Milkovich, director of BE 92 Radio. And we're now joined. I'm glad to say, by Paul Wood, reporter for the BBC. You heard his voice just a moment ago on NPR, in fact, giving a broadcast from Belgrade. Paul, we're very glad to have you with us. Good afternoon. What's the status of things today in Belgrade? The opposition have had what they I think will regard as a terrible blow. They were hoping that the Serbian Supreme Court would restore their election victories. They were hoping it would cost the ruling of a lower court, which had said that these results should be annulled. There was talk for many days of a behind the scenes deal. I have this from government sources, from diplomats, whether the opposition were a little chary of saying so and many opposition figures. So today it would all be over.

It wasn't to be. The Supreme Court went through all the applications, threw them all out, and it's back to the street protest. Now, does this mean that the protest you think will end because they are going to be, you know, essentially not the not with the support of the rule of law in Sofia. I mean, in Serbia, this may be the calculation that President Milosevic is making. He perhaps is thinking that he can wait it out, that the protesters will run out of steam. The opposition leaders are adamant that they won't give him that easy victory. They say they're going to keep coming back. One of the leaders, Viktor Yanukovich, compares it to the Czech Velvet Revolution with 45 days of mass protests. They say they're not going to be defeated by what they regard as a political court. They say that the Supreme Court is quite simply a tool of the authorities here. Certainly the protesters agree with that. They spotted the building with red paint today, a sign that they discussed. I will say we saw a wreath being laid outside Mr. Milosevic's office to the death of Justice Paul.

Would how would you characterize the importance of the local media in in keeping this protest, in this demonstration against the Milosevic government alive? Well, the Socialists really maintain their grip on power by ruthlessly laying down a line that the official media must follow. And if you're a peasant living in the Serbian countryside, you get your news from artists. The artist's view of the world is your view of the world as well. This monopoly is broken in Belgrade and a few other towns and cities by independent radio stations like B Ninety-two. There are only small radio stations. Nevertheless, they have a huge importance. They report pretty accurately, pretty fairly on the demonstrations. People can hear what's going on. They can hear accurate reporting. And clearly, the government of Mr. Milosevic does not like that by attacks of recent days. Roy, Roy Gutman, do you have a question? Yes, I had a question for greetings to Paul in Sarajevo. I wanted to ask you, what impact did it have in the midst of your shutdown that the Voice of America decided to expand its reporting

to include B 92 reporting? And in fact, in general, what impact does international radio have? It's run by the governments of major Western countries, the United States, Britain, France and Germany. I guess primarily if you could answer those of first of all, thank you because of these nice words, about 92, you know, when all this happened on the 3rd of December to us, you know, our colleagues from Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, BBC, Deutsche Avello, Radio France Internationale offered us a possibility to create and to broadcast some programs, you know, special programs on their, you know, ways. And we first started with The Voice of America. And I could tell you that immediately happened that our listeners started to call us and to ask for the exact frequencies of these radio stations. And also, I could tell you that for the first time,

for example, my friends who are leaving out of Belgrade, who could not reach our signal, they could hear what kind of programs, having been 82. And then they realized in, you know, how how is informative dark in the rest of Serbia, like for, say, a few minutes ago? And also I could tell you that it was of great importance because, you know, people are so desperate situation here that they are really, really, you know, you know, fighting for the information, you know, and there is no way that you can, you know, make, you know, create such a big problem that people could not solve here. If you are talking about the information, you know, so they were prepared, you know, to do to find, you know. In all radio stations, you know, that kind of radio waves which could, you know, give them information, what is exactly going on or just, you know,

fuel few streets, you know, from their homes because, you know, it was impossible, really to hear anything on the other electronic media here in Belgrade. And is it continuing? Has are these international stations still continuing with expanded broadcasts? No, we wouldn't be. You know, again, starting to broadcast our radio program three days ago. Then, you know, we contacted our colleagues and you know who we say to them that we really appreciate what they offered to us. But that was in this moment, unfortunately, impossible to continue to have a special shows because we really have to cover what is going on in Belgrade streets and not only on the streets, you know, in several towns in Serbia, you still have, you know, similar demonstrations like you have in Belgrade. So we do not have enough time and, you know, people, but there are some, you know, possibilities to continue

that. And I think that now, you know, some important people, you know, recognize how is important to have, you know, the different opinions, different to hear different opinions and information in the rest of Serbia. I want to get our listeners in on this conversation. Just Jason in Worcester, Massachusetts. You're on the air. Hi, thanks very much. Sure I am. This is all very interesting, very exciting for me because I spent two years during the war in Bosnia and I spent a lot of time struggling with the issues of media in Bosnia. And one of the things that's been very difficult for me to gauge here in the States now is are issues of content in the reporting in Belgrade. And one of the questions I have is, first, whether or not the the various opposition media, including print media, et cetera, are in agreement about what the nature of these demonstrations are. And given the complexity of the coalition, I realize that they have an anti Milosevic position at this point and that they're very unified on that.

But what role is the media playing in educating people about the the range of issues and the range of perspectives within the coalition of opposition? Poleward? Well, I think the media, apart from, of course, the state controlled media, has really done a remarkably good straight reporting job saying what's been happening on the streets, supporting the positions of the different leaders. Of course, this opposition, although it's maintained a pretty united front over the past few weeks, does have a long history of internal bickering, of internal feuding. Many diplomats, for instance, say that if it ever did come to power, it would have great difficulty in holding together a stable government. But for the time being, the issue is simple. The opposition has even retreated from calls that President Milosevic should resign. They know there is international support for that until national elections next year. The simple issue is give us these election results. There was a democratic election. You must now recognize them. That is an issue around which people can unite. It's also an issue that the international community has been able to support. So the opposition leaders have had no problem in sticking to that simple line, although,

of course, there have been tensions behind the scenes. Jason, thank you very much for your call. We're going to have more on the subject and have a lot more to discuss in terms of the ramifications of what it means for the larger issue of the former Yugoslavia writ large. We want to hear more from you and we want to get as many of you on the air as we can. Our number, one 800, three, four, three three, three, four, two. That's one 800 three, four, three, three, three, four, two. This is on the media from National Public Radio. I'm Alex Jones. We're back with all the media we're talking about press in the Balkans,

especially in Serbia this past week or two with Roy Gutman, Pulitzer Prize winning foreign affairs reporter for Newsday, Sasha Berkovic, director of BE 92 Radio in Belgrade, Serbia. And Paul Wood, reporter for the BBC, also based in Belgrade. I'm very glad to say that we're now joined, albeit briefly, by Katie Martin, chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists and host of NPR's America in the World. She has gotten up from a dinner in her honor at the American Embassy in Belgrade. She's sitting in the kitchen and we want to take a few minutes of your time. Katie, thank you. Well, my pleasure, Alex. It's an important cause, and I'm happy to talk about it. Well, tell us about your conversation with President Milosevic recently. What what do you think? Well, I had a two and a half hour conversation with President Milosevic. I think it's the first conversation, first meeting he's had with a journalist in in recent memory. And the subject was press repression, press control, which is why I'm here.

I got on a plane the minute B 92 was was silenced by Milosevic, basically to show the solidarity of the American media with our Serbian colleagues and and to attempt to see the president with whom I had done business once before when when Bosnian Serbs grabbed another colleague of ours, David Rohde of the Christian Science Monitor, who later won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. So Milosevic and I had had four tough sessions which which which resulted in inroads freeing by the Bosnian Serbs. So we had a prior relationship. Milosevic did agree to see me. And in a two and a half hour conversation, he he basically promised that that he'd keep his hands off, be 92 and and that he would allow the demonstrations to continue peacefully, that he would not use force. And and then I drafted a a manifesto for his signature guaranteeing basic, very basic press freedoms.

But he found that that my draft was was a little bit too specific and entailed a little too much owning up to his own hand and in controlling the media here, which, of course, is very much the case, he I handed him that manifesto. He tore it up. But I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave this this a rare opportunity with with Serbia's strongman empty handed. So I quickly scribbled out another one, which he, in fact did sign, which I have issued to the press here. And basically it says that that he endorses the right of print and broadcast media to to to publish freely in in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Now, we all know that that Milosevic is not as good as his word. But but if the document and and it's in writing and it's something that he can be held accountable for. And so I'm happy to have it.

And my Yugoslav colleagues seem happy as well. Courtney Martin, what has been the role of the international press presence there? I know the Committee to Protect Journalists is fundamentally aimed at preserving press freedom all around the world, but that is its power is based in the United States. Fundamentally, is the United States media? Is the United States media a major factor in what's going on there as far as the way the media in Yugoslavia, former Yugoslavia, especially Serbia, had been able to to, you know, survive in this situation? Yes, absolutely. I think that the recent American press coverage of the street demonstrations, which, by the way, I just joined your conversation and I don't know if my if my colleagues, Paul and Sasha covered this, but but the street demonstrations and I've been here now for three days and I've observed them have have taken place in it with with the most remarkable restraint and I would say even dignity, good natured. Very they are not they are not making any mistakes

in terms of giving any cause for and for provocation. And and I really compliment the both students and and the media in their in their restraint here. And by the way, I and I told President Milosevic, too, that the fact that there aren't any police visible, that there aren't any uniformed military in the streets has has also been, I think, very smart. So we're in a we're in a tight situation now. And I'm sure you've already discussed this about the Supreme Court decision upholding basically Milosevic's side and in annulling the municipal election results with a very tight situation. But everybody is behaving with with with great restraint. And and I think courage and I really applaud that. And the fact that the American media is giving this such a big play at a time when when no one, quite frankly, the U.S. media do not give very much coverage to to foreign stories, it's been a huge boost to two to the Serbs.

And and it's put a new face on Serbia, which which sadly was identified very much with Milosevic and with its role in the in the Bosnian war and the fact that there is now this nascent and growing grassroots democratic movement and the fact that the United States government came in because let's face it, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America are not independent media. They are U.S. government organs. And the fact that they immediately went when B 92, the most respected radio here was silence. That Voice of America and Radio Free Europe immediately may have made their air available for B 92. I think that's had tremendous impact. And I don't think that President Milosevic would have given me the time of day if he didn't feel under great pressure cutting Martin. One of the things that that is often said is that the American media doesn't pay attention when it should, that there are crises similar to this in issues where where press freedom is at stake and where certainly all other kinds of freedoms or freedoms are at stake, where the American media simply doesn't get involved in this case,

they've gotten deeply involved. Why now? Why this one? Well, I think I think that that this is a critical issue. We're not taking sides here. I met with the opposition leaders and they asked me to march with them and I said thank.