(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 21 April 1998, officials from the Yugoslav Ministry of Telecommunications ordered local independent television station TV Pirot closed and confiscated the station’s equipment, saying that the station was not properly licensed. This action comes just weeks before the 15 May 1998 deadline for public disclosure of the Ministry of […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 21 April 1998, officials from the Yugoslav
Ministry of Telecommunications ordered local independent television station
TV Pirot closed and confiscated the station’s equipment, saying that the
station was not properly licensed. This action comes just weeks before the
15 May 1998 deadline for public disclosure of the Ministry of
Telecommunications’ decision on granting licenses to independent television
and radio stations throughout the country (for more information see IFEX
alert of 12 February 1998).
According to legal experts at the Association of Independent Electronic
Media (ANEM), the station’s application met the legal requirements for
licensing and was submitted on time. ANEM has noted that dozens of newly
operational independent television and radio stations are currently
unlicensed, yet authorities have allowed them to broadcast until their
applications are approved. CPJ is deeply troubled by the possibility that
authorities may have targeted TV Pirot for closure in retaliation for its
independent news coverage.
CPJ is concerned about the lack of coherent and transparent guidelines for
frequency allocation in Yugoslavia. ANEM’s legal experts maintain that
tender requirements were initially “impossible to meet” due to their
ambiguity. ANEM was successful in demanding a revision of these regulations,
thus allowing most stations to meet the new requirements. However, the
revisions were only issued verbally, a move which at the time was viewed as
an attempt to allow the authorities the opportunity to manipulate the
regulations in the future.
CPJ views the closure of TV Pirot as a violation of the rights of
journalists to freely practice their profession. Taking such extreme action
against independent broadcasters who have demonstrated a readiness to comply
with the legal requirements of the application for frequencies can only be
viewed as an attempt to stifle freedom of expression in Yugoslavia.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
guarantee that its equipment is returned
Appeals To
His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: +381 11 656 862
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
