05/06/2014: SERBIA – BLIC – SERBIA

Vienna, 05/06/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns statements by the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic connected to the daily newspaper Blic. After Blic published a newspaper investigation about his advisor, Nikolic asked ” Are the editors aware that they are trying to reduce my reputation in the eyes of the citizens of Serbia, the reputation of the institution of the President?” For SEEMO this is a clear pressure by the Serbian President on the editorial policy of the daily Blic.

Vienna, 05/06/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is worried about the news, that a Turkish prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence for Taraf newspaper journalist Mehmet Baransu and the newspaper editor Murat Şevki Çoban. The prosecutor is asking for 26 and 52 years in jail for the journalists for publishing a document about a meeting of the National Security Council in 2004. Mehmet Baransu published this document in November 2013

Vienna, 05/06/2014

As the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) was informed, Turkish journalist Nihat Behram was convicted in the insult trial for describing in his column in Yurt newspaper a high level police officer, as “a torturer and a rapist”. The court sentenced Behram to a fine of 1,740 TL

Vienna, 04/06/2014

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), is alarmed at the activities of the Turkish police against CNN reporter Ivan Watson. Istanbul police interrupted on Saturday 31 May, a live CNN International broadcast.

Watson was reporting on Saturday live on air from Istanbul, Turkey, covering the anniversary of mass anti-government demonstrations that took place in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, when he was detained and kicked by police there who demanded to see his passport and press card. After being detained for 30 minutes, Watson and his TV crew was released and the officer who kicked him apologized.

SEEMO is worried in particular by the fact, that the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called CNN reporter “agent” for his coverage of protests. “The media from abroad that came to Istanbul and made exaggerated, provocative calls were licking their paws. One of them was that CNN flunky,” Erdogan told members of his AK party in parliament in a speech aired live. Erdogan has repeatedly in the past accused the foreign media of having a hand in the protests

More also on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS0-WLxc52o

Vienna, 04/06/2014

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), calls on the police and other authorities in Belgrade, Serbia, to investigate the alleged attack by Nebojsa Covic, the former politician and today President of the basketball club Crvena Zvezda, on journalist and TV presenter Dejan Andjus from TV Kopernikus.

As the Journalist Association of Serbia (Udruzenje novinara Srbije – UNS), informed SEEMO, Andjus was alleged attacked after his TV show in front of the TV headquarter. According to Andjus, Covic was not happy with the report made by the journalist, including the fact that he mentioned his son in the report. Andjus informed the police about this case.

Vienna, 02/05/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is worried about the numbers of injured journalist during the 1 May demonstration in Istanbul. According to different soruces, 12 journalists were already injured because of tear gas and plastic bullets used by police. The Journalists’ Society of Turkey (TGC) condemned police in a statement, saying that police were attacking some members of the press on purpose and preventing them from doing their work

Vienna, 27/05/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is alarmed about the fact that the mayor of the City of Split, Ivo Baldasar, and his team, decided not to inform more regularly the journalist Dragan Miljus, working for the web-portal Index.hr, about the activities of the City administration of Split. Miljus reported in the past critical about activities of the mayor and city administration.

Miljus was informed by an official letter from the City about this decision.

“This is a step against freedom of information. A public institution, like the administration of a city, has to be open to all media. This mayor of Split has to accept also critical voices by Miljus”, Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General said. “The right of journalists to report from public institutions is also regulated by the law in Croatia”, Vujovic added.

Vienna, 24/05/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation is supporting the Serbian Media Coalition that sent a request on 30 April to the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information and the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, demanding that they take all necessary steps to end the abuse of public funds that are intended for the media at the local level.

The Media Coalition consists of the following journalistic and media associations in Serbia: Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and Local Press The request delivered by the Media Coalition points out:

1. That numerous local self-governments view informing the public at the local level as no more than an extension of their PR departments and routinely allocate their money only to those media outlets that are willing to report positively about their work, completely disregarding the interest of the public and the needs of the local community for unbiased, timely and complete information in the context of realization of the public interest;

2. That many local self-governments have been abusing public procurement procedures in order to give money to “appropriate” media outlets, as was recently evident, for example, in Nis, Nova Varos and Pozarevac;

3. That some of the EU reports have emphasized that the inadequate system of budget-based financing does not allow equal treatment of all media outlets on the market and that it enables the so-called “soft censorship”, which prevents the development of free and independent media and hinders the fundamental right of the citizens to freedom of expression, one of whose components is the right to information;

4. That the Media Strategy clearly and unambiguously stipulates that the public interest in the field of public information has to be realized by co-financing of projects, by using a single methodology, and taking into account the regulations on the control of state assistance, regardless of whether the money is allocated by the Republic, Autonomous Provinces or units of local self-government (City or Municipality);

5. That the interest of the public in the media scene, in accordance with the Media Strategy implies, among other things, the production and publication of “general informative and specialized media content of significance for everyday life and work of citizens in local and regional communities”; that the criteria for selection of projects are based on quality of the content offered by the specific media outlet; and that the projects are selected by an independent committee comprised of competent representatives of the public, professional associations and sectors that is not financed by the budget.

The Media Coalition expects that the new government will systematically and completely deal with this phenomenon and appeals that media laws be adopted as soon as possible.

SEEMO hopes that the Serbian authorities will seriously consider this letter.

Vienna, 22/05/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) criticizes threatening messages sent out over Facebook against Zeljko Tvrdisic, Belgrade news agency Tanjug correspondent and editor-in-chief of Radio Kontact Plus from Mitrovica, Kosovo.

The journalist was warned not to talk in negative terms about people who are on one of the election lists participating in Kosovo elections.

SEEMO calls all authorities to investigate the case and to determine the identity of the person or persons responsible for the threats.

Vienna, 22/05/2014

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is worried about the developments in Turkey.

Hasnain Kazim, an Istanbul-based correspondent for Germany’s Der Spiegelmagazine, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) yesterday in an email that he felt forced to leave Turkey for his own safety after he received thousands of threats for an article he wrote on the disaster, in which 301 miners died.

Kazim, who told AFP he was “just spending a few days somewhere else to be on the safe side”, said that “hundreds” of the messages via Twitter and Facebook threatened him with death. The threats came after he quoted a miner from Soma who said he wanted to tell Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “Go to hell”.

The journalist told AFP that “trolls” he believed were linked to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) “did not see or did not want to see that this was a quote but considered me and Der Spiegel to have said that”.

BBC Turkish reporter Rengin Arslan was similarly threatened in social media after Erdogan on Tuesday accused her of staging a video in which relatives of disaster victims criticised the prime minister, the International Business Times reported. Two veiled women in a Soma cemetery told Arslan in a 59-second clip that they regretted voting for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and that local residents voted for the party “out of fear” and had been bribed to do so.

Erdogan, without mentioning BBC Turkish by name, told an AKP meeting that the women were actors that Arslan hired. The network, however, rejected that criticism as “unfounded” and stood by the journalist’s report.

The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), said they were disturbed by the rhetoric and by the number and degree of threats against journalists.

“Tensions are already running high following the worst mining disaster in Turkish history,” IPI Senior Press Freedom Adviser Steven M. Ellis said. “In this atmosphere, authorities have a special responsibility to avoid dangerous comments that could lead supporters to believe that harassment or intimidation of journalists is in any way justified. We urge the prime minister to show his commitment to press freedom by refraining from such rhetoric and by stating clearly that threats of violence against journalists will not be tolerated.”