(IPI/IFEX) – Radio Kontakt, an independent radio station in Pristina, the capital of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, was shut down on 1 July 1998, by Serbian policemen just two days after it started re-broadcasting news programmes from Radio B92, the principal independent radio station in Serbia. The station was reportedly closed because it […]
(IPI/IFEX) – Radio Kontakt, an independent radio station in Pristina, the
capital of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, was shut down on 1 July
1998, by Serbian policemen just two days after it started re-broadcasting
news programmes from Radio B92, the principal independent radio station in
Serbia. The station was reportedly closed because it did not have a
broadcasting licence from the Yugoslav Ministry of Telecommunications and
was therefore operating illegally. In a news conference on 3 July, Yugoslav
Information Secretary Goran Matic claimed that “Radio Kontakt was banned
because it did not tender in the competition for frequency allocation….No
station can broadcast without a licence. This is a technical issue rather
than a political one”. However, Radio Kontakt had in fact tendered for a
frequency and even received a note from the Ministry that its application
documentation was complete and that the station would be issued a licence.
**More details on IFEX alert dated 3 July 1998**
Broadcasting in Albanian and Serbian since June 1998, Radio Kontakt was the
first multi-cultural media outlet in Kosovo and aimed to assert itself as a
radio of “good-will and reconciliation”.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
campaign by the
authorities to stifle the voice of the independent electronic media in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in general and objective information
regarding the crisis in
Kosovo in particular
and return all items seized during the closure
harassment being waged against the independent media in the FRY
Appeals To
His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
email: slobodan.milosevic@gov.yu
Fax: +38 111 636 (775) / (682) / (167)His Excellency Milan Milutinovic
President
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 684 679Ministry of Information
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 685 937 / 659 370
e-mail: mirs@eunet.yuGoran Matic
Secretary for Information
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: +381 11 600 446
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
