The following is a 14 April 2000 press release by the Prime Time for Freedom Campaign, which is supported by IFJ: Supported by Journalists, Publishers, Broadcasters and Press Freedom Groups Around the World Prime Time for Freedom: International Campaign for Defence of Independent Media and Free Journalism in Serbia 14 April 2000 In Memoriam: Slavko […]
The following is a 14 April 2000 press release by the Prime Time for Freedom Campaign, which is supported by IFJ:
Supported by Journalists, Publishers, Broadcasters and Press Freedom Groups Around the World
Prime Time for Freedom:
International Campaign for Defence of Independent Media and Free Journalism in Serbia
14 April 2000
In Memoriam:
Slavko Curuvija
ON Tuesday April 11, 2000, one year will have passed since the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija in central Belgrade.
In an open letter to the Serbian Minister of Interior, the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists demanded information be made available to the Serbian public on what progress has been made so far in the investigation into Curuvija’s murder.
His family, his colleagues and the public of Serbia still have no knowledge of who the assassins were or on whose orders Curuvija was killed. Nor have they been given any information about what progress has been made in the investigation. The bullet wounds in the back and head of Slavko Curuvija are a criminal act aimed at stamping out the freedom of the press in Serbia.
Independent Press on Fire
IN NAME of the Prime Time For Freedom Campaign a letter of protest was send to President Milosevic. Seven people, of which at least three were journalists, were hurt and one person was missing on the 6th of April, after private radio and TV stations caught fire in northern Serbia. Equipment belonging to the independent radio 021, two private TV stations and a Montenegrin TV station were irrevocably damaged. An immediate investigation into the causes of this fire, which are not known at present, was demanded by the representatives of the campaign – Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, and Timothy Balding, General
Director of the World Association of Newspapers.
Newsprint Restrictions
The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have protested against a new threat to the independent press in Yugoslavia: a shortage of paper.
In a letter to Information Minister Goran Matic, the Paris-based WAN and the WEF called on the government to remove import restrictions on newsprint, the supply of which is tightly controlled by the government.
Newsprint cannot be imported without a license from the Yugoslav Foreign Trade Ministry, which has consistently denied import licenses to independent publishers, though granting them to selected trading companies. The restrictions have resulted in significant increases in the price of imported paper.
At the same time, Yugoslavia’s only newsprint manufacturer, Matroz, suspended production on 25 March, citing a shortage of raw materials. According to reports, deliveries were halted because of payment difficulties, though production was expected to resume this month.
WAN and the WEF called on the government to ensure that normal newsprint imports resume immediately, and that all import restrictions are removed. In the meantime, WAN is helping to rush emergency supplies to independent publications.
