HASH(0x871bd1c) (AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a statement by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its entirety by AMARC: Belgrade — January 7, 1999 The Association of Independent Electronic Media in FR Yugoslavia (ANEM) calls on all relevant agents to urgently invest efforts to improve the media and information situation in Kosovo. […]
HASH(0x871bd1c)
(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a statement by the Association of
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its entirety by AMARC:
Belgrade — January 7, 1999
The Association of Independent Electronic Media in FR Yugoslavia (ANEM)
calls on all relevant agents to urgently invest efforts to improve the media
and information situation in Kosovo.
Recent developments, especially the announced founding of a news agency and
a radio station under the KLA’s main command’s editorial control, represent
steps that will diminish chances for a peaceful resolution of the Kosovo
problem.
ANEM believes that the existence of any media outlet that promotes the
language of ethnic conflict and hatred is unwelcome. Kosovo does not need
news media under strict control of either side in the conflict, as such
media are incapable of establishing credibility with the other ethnic
community and are thus incapable of helping establish mutual understanding
and dialogue between the Albanian and Serb communities, which is a
precondition for a gradual easing of tensions which could otherwise escalate
into an even greater-scale armed conflict.
ANEM reiterates its position that the establishment and operation of
multiethnic independent media outlets, as the only ones capable of winning
the trust of all of Kosovo’s ethnic groups through objective and unbiased
information, is essential. That is the only way to achieve dialogue,
understanding and reconciliation among all ethnic groups in Kosovo and
defeat all extremist tendencies.
ANEM therefore once again protests the ban on Radio Kontakt in Pristina, a
station that aimed to promote inter-ethnic dialogue as a way to peaceful
resolution of Kosovo’s problems. By failing to licence this and other media
outlets that met the requirements of the frequency allocation tender,
Yugoslav authorities have demonstrated their resolve to hold on to the
information monopoly they have over Kosovo. Given the importance of the news
media’s role in easing tensions, this is as unproductive and harmful as the
founding of a new medium which aims to establish an information monopoly in
the hands of Albanian groups that openly advocate armed and violent actions
targeted primarily against Kosovo’s population.
To a degree, representatives of the international community also share the
responsibility for this precipitation of the media situation inasmuch as
they have so far failed to incorporate into the current agreements
mechanisms for a fair and democratic allocation of frequencies primarily to
professional media whose aim is the establishment of peace and
understanding. One of the most important elements in the Balkan conflicts is
exactly the prevalent “hate speech” in the news media. The removal of that
“hate speech” must be an integral part of any conflict resolution process.
No medium under the control of one of the sides in the conflict, or even
under the OSCE’s or the control of some other international structure, would
be capable of winning the trust of all Kosovo’s communities.
ANEM therefore strongly urges all agents involved, especially the Yugoslav
and Serbian authorities, to enable operation of independent multiethnic and
multilingual news media which will be capable of speaking professionally,
without bias and with full credibility to both Albanians and Serbs, and to
members of other ethnic communities in Kosovo. The operation of such media
is essential for the cessation of the media war and hate speech, and even
more importantly for the reaching of a peaceful resolution of the Kosovo
crisis.
