01/06/2011: SEE – SEEMO CALLS FOR RESPECT FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTERS IN SOUTH, CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPE

SEE, 01/06/2011

The establishment of public service broadcasters has proved to be a very difficult task in some Eastern European countries. Public broadcasters tend to be used as government mouthpieces rather than as sources of information for the public at large.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation, SEEMO, an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), shares concern expressed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that recent changes to the statute of Radio-Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), the country-wide public broadcaster, may undermine its editorial independence, and called on Parliament to adopt a new statute.

The recent amendments to the BHRT Statute gave its Steering Committee – composed of four appointed members – extraordinary powers to interfere in both editorial and managerial matters. According to an official statement and evaluation by the BHRT legal department, issued on 24 May 2011, the modifications and amendments to the Statute, without consultation with the management, legal department or union representatives, are “in non-conformance with the Law, and even with certain international legal acts and recommendations”. The department suggests that court proceedings should be initiated “in order to determine the legality of the act”.

Public broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina has experienced serious problems for several years, in spite of regulatory changes. In fact, there are several public broadcasters – which reflects the country’s political division into two entities: Serb-controlled Republika Srpska and the Federation, controlled by Bosniaks and Croats. Under the laws adopted from 2005 to 2008, Bosnia’s public service broadcasting system consists of three broadcasters: BHRT, which is a country-wide service, and two separate-entity public broadcasters, Radio and Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Radio-Televizija Federacije BiH -RTFBiH), for the Federation entity, and Radio Television of Republika Srpska (Radio- TElevizija Republike Srpske- RTRS) for Republika Srpska.

The public broadcasters, designed to promote cohesion and tolerance, tend to behave as rivals. They have been used and abused by different political parties, generally organized along ethnic lines. In reality, they barely communicate with each other. The country-wide public broadcaster BHRT has been especially targeted by political parties. In that respect, the proposed amendments to its Statute, designed by the Steering Committee whose members have scant media experience, seem to be focused on reducing the independence of the only broadcaster that makes efforts to be a public service broadcaster rather than a government information channel.

In neighboring Croatia, in March 2011, more than 150 journalists working for the public broadcaster Croatian Television (Hrvatska televizija- HTV) signed a petition asking for one simple thing: respect for professional standards. Political interference and internal bickering have resulted in “the biggest professional and management crisis”, according to the petition. Some sections of the News Program do not speak to each other. The lack of transparency and communication undermine the trust and credibility in HTV which is losing audiences to private channels.

In Hungary, the new Media Law – the implementation of which coincided with the beginning of Hungary´s presidency of the European Union – initiated in January 2011 has seriously undermined the independence of the public broadcaster MTV. Even before the adoption of the internationally criticized Media Law, analysts detected a dramatic shift in political coverage by public television, reflected in the types of issues covered, the politicians and parties featured and the comments made by the anchors. In other words, after the 2010 elections, MTV changed its editorial policy accoding to the changes in the composition of the parliament.

Boris Bergant, President of the SEEMO board said: “It must be clear and transparent what is controlling, and what management in public service is. The management should work in the interest of the company, not in the interest of political representatives. Boards in public services are founded to work in the interest of the publicity and not in the interest of the political groups”.

“Respecting the premise of public broadcasting is the basis of democracy and public information,” said SEEMO Secertary General Oliver Vujovic. “It is high time that governments understand that public information service is not the same as government information service. I urge the authorities to respect and support public bordacasters rather than undermine their independence and credibility.”

Vienna, 15/06/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the authorities in Northern Cyprus to respect the freedom of movement of journalists.

On 25 May 2011, authorities in Northern Cyprus said that Ibrahim Aziz, a journalist working for the Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Afrika, would no longer be allowed to cross the border between Northern and Southern Cyprus unless he obtained the necessary documents from the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus.

Aziz was born in the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus in the north, but his residence is in Southern Cyprus. Therefore, he has documents issued by the Republic of Cyprus. Normally, people can cross the border without problems, but Aziz cannot, according to the Press Workers Union of Northern Cyprus.

Aziz works for the newspaper Afrika, which has been the target of both official and other attacks on several occasions. As SEEMO reported, on 2 March 2011, Sener Levent, the paper’s editor, received a death threat. On 25 February 2011, unknown attackers opened fire at Afrika’s office door. One bullet hit the wall and the other lodged in the door. The attackers left a note warning that next time the shots would target the journalist, rather than just his office door. The perpetrators were never found.

It is not clear if these events are related, but Afrika journalists appear to be a recurring target.

Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General commented: “Free movement of journalists has to be guaranteed and the authorities should make an additional effort in order to find those behind the attacks on Afrika.”

Vienna, 17/06/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the police authorities in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to protect journalists from physical threat.

On 13 June 2011, a group of journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia gathered in a village near Bijeljina (Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) in order to cover a funeral procession. Police officers were deployed in order to keep the reporters away from the family compound of a well-known athlete, whose family organised the funeral.

However, while the reporters were waiting for the procession to pass by, unidentified civilians threatened them with beatings and even death if they tried to take photographs or write about the procession. Eventually, the journalists were chased away, while the police did not intervene.

In the same incident, two civilians approached Vladimir Mitric, a journalist for the Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti, who is stationed in Loznica in Western Serbia, and threatened to come to his home town and kill him. This case is of particular concern to SEEMO. As SEEMO reported on 15 September 2005, Mitric was severely beaten by a former policemen and judicial procedures are still ongoing. Since then, Mitric has been living under 24-hour police protection. However, Serbian police are not responsible for his safety when he travels to Republika Srpska. Mitric has written on crime and corruption in Western Serbia and Republika Srpska. This latest death threat against the journalist needs to be taken seriously: the unidentified civilians knew about his police protection and said that they would kill him anyway if he wrote about the funeral procession, Mitric told SEEMO. Police officers observed the situation without reacting.

“The police authorities in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have to guarantee the safety of all journalists working in the area under their jurisdiction. It is not acceptable that police officers look the other way while unidentified civilians threaten journalists with death,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

Vienna, 22/06/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), joins two Serbian journalists’ associations in condemning mounting political pressure on Magyar Szo, a Hungarian-language daily in the multiethnic province of Vojvodina, northern Serbia.

The National Council of the Hungarian Ethnic Minority, an umbrella organization of ethnic Hungarians in Serbia, currently dominated by one political party, decided to replace the current Magyar Szo editor-in chief Csaba Pressburger. He was appointed to the post by the same Council . However, his independent editorial policy did not satisfy the dominating party within the Council.

On 20 June 2011, the executive board of the paper, composed of six members representing the Council and three representatives of the paper, presented a four-page report on Pressberger´s mistakes. Most of them were related to one political party. Pressberger admitted two out of the long list of alleged mistakes. Most complaints dealt with journalists’ absence from certain press conferences or the paper´s decision not to publish certain political press releases.

Two journalists’ organization, the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) denounced the move of the executive board as “an attempt to reconvert the newspaper into a party mouthpiece”.

As SEEMO reported in March of 2010, this is not the first time that the Council has attempted to control the paper. At the time, the Council set up a special board in order to monitor its editorial policy.

“While Magyar Szo is the only Hungarian-language newspaper in Serbia, it is not supposed to defend the interests of one political party, but serve the public,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General. “I am concerned with the decision of the Magyar Szo executive board and call on its member to reconsider it. It is not acceptable that political pressure should influence editorial decisions.”

Vienna, 06/07/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), today condemned the second shooting attack this year on journalists working for Afrika, a Turkish-language newspaper in Northern Cyprus.

An armed man came to Afrika’s office on 3 July looking for its editor-in-chief, Sener Levent, and fired a shot at newspaper employee Ali Osman when Osman opened the door. Osman managed to dodge the bullet and was unharmed.

The police arrested a 26-year-old Turkish citizen, Mustafa Yalcin, as a suspect. Yalcin appeared in court on 4 July and stands accused of attempted murder.

According to an article published in the Cyprus Mail, Yalcin previously admitted that he had been hired to kill Levent. Levent told the newspaper: “Mustafa Yalcin came to the newspaper offices around two weeks ago and confessed to me that he had been assigned to shoot me, but that he’d decided he wasn’t going to do it.”

The editor added, however, that Yalcin had warned him that the plan to kill him had not been abandoned and that the only way to avoid death would be to cultivate “good relations with Ankara”. Afrika is known for its critical articles on Turkish policy towards Northern Cyprus.

Police reportedly did not react to Yalcin’s previous admission and only took action following the latest incident.

As SEEMO previously reported, Levent received a death threat on 2 March 2011. One week earlier, on 25 February, unknown attackers opened fire on Afrika’s office door. One bullet hit the wall and the other lodged in the door. The attackers left a note warning that next time the shots would target the journalist, rather than just his office door.

SEEMO welcomed Yalcin’s detention, but Secretary General Oliver Vujovic added: “We strongly urge the authorities in Northern Cyprus to do an in-depth investigation and to find all of those responsible for shooting and threatening journalists.”

Vienna, 08/07/2011

The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South and East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), today visited Hungary to meet with journalists and with András Koltay, a lawyer who is a member of Hungary’s new, all-powerful Media Council.
A joint delegation, including SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic, IPI Press Freedom & Communications Manager Anthony Mills, and – as observers – SEEMO member Sándor Orbán, program director of the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media, and Judit Acsay from the Hungarian Association of Journalists, followed up on a joint IPI/SEEMO press freedom fact-finding mission to the country on 15-16 December 2010.

Hungary’s press law, portions of which entered into effect on 1 January as the country took over the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency, has been heavily criticized by top EU politicians, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), journalists and a host of press freedom and freedom of expression groups. Implementation of the elements of the new legislation dealing with print and online media was postponed for six months, and came into effect on 1 July.

The new legislation allows fines of up to 730,000 Euro against radio and television stations that broadcast content against “public interest, public morals and order”, or “partial information”. However, the law provides insufficient clarification on what constitutes an infringement, and also allows journalists to be forced to give up confidential sources in cases involving vaguely-defined “national security”.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – who was able to push the legislation through Parliament with the support of his Fidesz party, which controls two thirds of the body’s seats – has rejected criticism of the law, arguing that it is modelled on existing laws in other EU countries.

Hungary’s Parliament in March passed amendments intended to defuse criticism, narrowing the law’s scope against foreign media reporting from Hungary, and eliminating a requirement that on-demand services such as Internet sites and blogs provide balanced news coverage. Parliament also threw out a requirement that news outlets register with authorities, and softened a ban on offensive content.

However, the OSCE and other observers said the amended law still violated OSCE press freedom commitments.

“The legislation can still be misused to curb alternative and differing voices in Hungary despite modifications adopted following a request from the European Commission,” Dunja Mijatovi?, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, commented in March.

“Several problems remain…,” she continued. “The law vests unusually broad powers in the politically homogeneous Media Authority and Media Council, enabling them to control content of all media. The legislation regulates broadcast, print and online media content based on identical principles. It leaves key terms undefined. It requires all media to be registered with the Media Authority. It punishes violations with high fines. It fails to guarantee the political independence of public service media.”

Critics have accused Hungary of postponing application of certain parts of the media law until the country concluded its six-month rotating presidency of the EU at the end of June.

Reports indicate that, since 1 July, a number of websites have terminated or imposed tighter controls on readers’ comments sections in the wake of a media council enquiry into remarks that appeared on the website of the pro-Socialist daily Népszava.

The website www.politics.hu
Index.hu was quoted as announcing that it had removed its comments section because the changed legal environment means “we have to play safe” and the website was unable to hire additional personnel to monitor readers’ comments around the clock.

When he met with the SEEMO/IPI delegation, Koltay, of the Media Council, said that the comment on the Népszava website “clearly does not fall within the new media regulations,” implying that the news outlet would not be sanctioned.

During the meeting, Koltay responded point-by-point to a list of concerns raised by the SEEMO/IPI delegation.

In response to the suggestion that the Media Council remained under the influence of the government he challenged observers to identify instances of alleged political bias, and reiterated his belief that the Council is independent.

Answering allegations that the wording of the new legislation remained, in many cases, vague and open to interpretation, he argued that in his study of the UK media, he found what he called equally-vague wording prohibiting “offensive and harmful” content, although he acknowledged that this applied to television and radio only, and not, as in the vague wording in the Hungarian media legislation, to all media content, including print and online. In effect, this means that for print and online media in Hungary, the powerful, statutory Media Council is doing work that critics argue should be the responsibility of a self-regulatory body like the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in the United Kingdom.

He reiterated, in response to concerns about the independence of the newly-structured public media, the suggestion that in its prior form Hungary’s public media was in catastrophic financial straits, and was open to “direct political influence”.

He said that a tendering process for the renewal of an expiring license owned by liberal Klub Radio would not be unfair – as critics have suggested – and that “the best tender will win”.

Koltay sought to fend off criticism about the still-high fines envisioned under the legislation by suggesting that they were “not without example” in Europe, and that so far in Hungary the fines have been very low.

There is “no trace of self-censorship in Hungary” he said, in answer to the concern expressed by SEEMO Secretary General Vujovic that the legislation may be fuelling self-censorship.

Following the meeting, Vujovic said: “We are grateful for the opportunity to exchange views, again, with the Media Council. In our meeting, I noted that serious concerns remain, including the view that the legislation is fuelling self-censorship. We will be monitoring the situation closely in the coming months, and will return before the end of the year. We hope that there will not be a need for us to conduct an emergency mission to Hungary, in response to any specific cases.”

IPI Press Freedom & Communications Manager Mills said: “Although with Hungary’s handing over of the EU presidency to Poland one spotlight may have been dimmed, IPI and SEEMO, as well as other international organisations and institutions, will be ensuring that Hungary’s media legislation remains a focus of attention, particularly following the 1 July implementation of the portions dealing with online and print media. Serious concerns remain. We would invite the Hungarian government to consider the possibility of further amendments, and of broadening the associated social dialogue.”

Vienna, 12/07/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is concerned over the latest media related developments in the Republic of Macedonia / Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in particular the closure of critically-oriented media outlets. Currently, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski can count on friendly coverage by the majority of the country’s national print and broadcast media. However, journalists face increasing pressure from politicians and media owners, and independence and pluralism are seriously endangered.

SEEMO believes that a healthy democracy can only function properly if there are critical media and public broadcasters that serve the public interest.

Since the beginning of 2011, critical voices in the Republic of Macedonia / Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have been silenced through media closures, selective tax-related investigations against media owners, the selective allocation of government-sponsored advertising, pressure by companies, labour disputes, self-censorship, fear of job loss and other forms of pressure.

On 3 July 2011, three dailies – Shpic, Vreme and Koha e Re – closed down. The newspapers allegedly owe one million Euros in unpaid taxes. The revenue office closed their accounts, which left them with no means to pay wages and basic printing costs.

In addition, A1 TV, the popular critically-oriented private television station, has already reduced its programming as a first step towards rationalizing operations and possible closure. A1 TV allegedly owes nine million Euros in unpaid taxes. The owner of A1 TV, Velija Ramkovski, was detained in December 2010 and accused of tax evasion and financial irregularities.

As a result of international pressure on the authorities in Skopje, several media outlets supportive of government policies jointly signed an open letter calling on the authorities not to bow to pressure exerted by the European Commission, OSCE and Amnesty International, among others. These institutions had urged the government to allow the indebted media companies to pay their bills in instalments, so they could continue to work. The government earlier ruled out letting them pay their debts in instalments.

Another form of political pressure on the media is exerted through the selective allocation of government advertising. In small and fragile economies, public institutions tend to be major advertisers and therefore important contributors to companies’ revenues. Where governments place their ads is of major importance for media outlets and government-friendly media are often favoured over others.

The recent closures prompted Macedonia’s Journalists Union and the Journalists Association to stage a joint protest on 4 July 2011.The goal was to remind state institutions and media owners of repeated breaches of journalists’ rights.

“SEEMO calls on Prime Minister Gruevski and all state institutions to guarantee press freedom and abstain from indirect pressure on critical media outlets. Democracy cannot be constructed with an obedient media and uninformed public,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

Vienna, 12/07/2011

Today the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the Vienna- based South East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed their deep concern over the wave of dismissals that started in Hungarian public broadcasting.

“This looks like a real purge taking place literally days after the end of the EU Presidency of Hungary and as the new media law is now fully effective,” said EFJ President Arne König. “We are alarmed by the number of jobs concerned and also by the suspicion that some of these lay-offs may be politically motivated”.

Last week over 570 of the total 3,400 staff members at the four state-run media companies – Magyar Rádió, MTV, Duna TV and MTI – were sacked. In some cases entire teams were laid-off without any agreement or even serious talks with the unions was carried out. The lay-offs were made public between the 6th and the 8th July, and will be continued this week in the regional studios in five major cities. Hundreds more dismissals are foreseen in the autumn.

Amongst the dismissed people are widely acknowledged, well known and very popular, iconic personalities (reporters, commentators, editors) of the Hungarian public service media, especially those involved in news editing, political and/or cultural issues such as those covering the Houses of Parliament. In general, most affected journalists are those over 50, which may lead to a loss of expertise and experience.

According to the President of the board of trustees of Hungarian public broadcaster, there are many well-paid employees at state run media who have not produced any programmes for one or two years. Journalists’ organisations reject this argument and demand a transparent process of redundancies if the financial context of the public media in Hungary does not allow secure and sufficient financing of human resources and programming.

“Things should go the other way round: instead of cutting resources and complain about declining programmes, it is the responsibility of the authorities to guarantee the financing of public media precisely to support quality journalism as a public good,” said König. “The EFJ calls on journalists and civil society groups across Europe to support Hungarian journalists in their struggle.”

Journalists’ organisations, including the EFJ members MUOSZ and the Press Union, are holding a solidarity strike tomorrow 13 July.

The EFJ represents more than 250.000 members in over 30 countries
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists from South, East and Central Europe.

For more information, please contact EFJ on + 32 2 235 22 00 or SEEMO on +43 1 513 39 40

Vienna, 13/07/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), welcomes the decision of the Montenegrin government to amend the Criminal Code and delete provisions pertaining to the criminalisation of libel and defamation. As of 9 July 2011, Montenegro is one of the few countries in Europe where defamation is not a criminal offence.

On 15 April 2011, the Government of Montenegro approved the decriminalisation of defamation, while the parliament adopted the amendments on 22 June 2011 during its Seventh regular session. The Official Gazette published them on 1 July 2011. Eight days after this publication the law entered into force.

SEEMO believes that defamation and libel should be decriminalised. Journalists in Montenegro have been frequently sued for defamation and consequently many media outlets prefer self-censorship to pursuing sensitive issues. With these amendments, the media environment in Montenegro has improved, and it is now up to the journalists to make sure that self-regulation is implemented, quality journalism pursued, and international standards met.

SEEMO believes that in defamation cases, civil rather than criminal laws should be used. However, abuses can happen, even if civil code is implemented. If journalists are subject to investigation and violate civil code provisions, sanctions should be commensurate with their income. Excessively high fines, which have occurred in several countries monitored by SEEMO, have a repressive effect: media outlets face closure and journalists abstain from writing about sensitive issues. Disproportionate fines hamper the freedom and independence of journalists. While positive legal changes are welcome, SEEMO considers the implementation of laws to be equally important. In this respect, SEEMO urges Podgorica authorities to train judges in media-related matters.

“I am pleased with the amendments to the Criminal Code,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

“However, I would like stress that the decriminalisation of defamation does not mean that journalists should relax. On the contrary, they should be motivated to observe international standards, check their sources of information, abstain from publishing unproven facts and pursue quality journalism. They have to establish their credibility. On the other side, the courts should intervene when standards are breached, but they should not use disproportionate fines to stifle media freedom.”

Vienna, 14/07/2011

Your Excellencies,

We are writing to you regarding the unsolved cases of attacks against journalists in Croatia.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) express their joint concern over the fact that three years after the brutal beating of the Croatian journalist, Dusan Miljus, the police have been unable to find the perpetrators or those who ordered the attack.

Miljus, an investigative reporter with the Zagreb-based daily newspaper Jutarnji List, was severely beaten on 2 July 2008. Two individuals with helmets attacked him with baseball bats. Miljus suffered a brain concussion and a broken arm.

After his recovery, Miljus was assigned round-the-clock police protection. Since then, police authorities have promised a quick solution to the case. Croatia’s minister of the interior, Tomisalv Karamarko, reiterated on several occasions that the police were on the right track. In fact, in December 2010, 12 people were detained for their alleged involvement in the attack. Ten of them were released and two were kept in detention for six months. In June 2011, the Public Prosecutor withdrew all charges against the two detained individuals due to lack of evidence.

As a result, three years after the attack, the investigation is back to square one.

SEEMO, HND and EFJ maintain that attacks on journalists cannot go unpunished. The three organisations urge the Public Prosecutor and the police to step up their efforts to track down those who attacked Miljus as well as those who ordered the attack.

In addition, the circumstances surrounding the 2008 assassination of high-profile Croatian journalist and editor of the weekly Nacional, Ivo Pukanic, have not been completely clarified. While those who planted the bomb which killed Pukanic and Niko Franjic, marketing manager of Nacional, were indicted, the masterminds behind their assassination were never found.

As a future member state of the European Union, Croatia should step up efforts to demonstrate that attacks on journalists will not go unpunished.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General, SEEMO

Zdenko Duka, President, HND

Arne König, President, EFJ