24/11/2011: SERBIA – SEEMO CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON LOCAL TELEVISION IN SERBIA

Vienna, 24/11/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute, condemns the series of attacks against the property of Radio-Television Prima in Bajina Basta, a town 170 kilometres southwest of Belgrade.

During the weekend of 15-16 October 2011, the studio of Radio-Television Prima was pelted with stones. Several windows of the building were broken and three tires of their company car slit. Radio-Television Prima said that this was third attack on the company’s vehicle in the last three months.

SEEMO is informed that TV Prima has been under increasing political and economic pressure during the past four months. In fact, local media in Serbia are continuously pressured by politicians, business leaders and religious figures, as SEEMO has reported over the past months.

“I strongly urge the police to find those who destroyed TV Prima’s property and call on the authorities, both national and local, to protect journalists and enable them work in a free environment,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

Vienna, 01/12/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Oragnisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), condemns death threats against the investigative reporters Blaz Zgaga and Matej Surc, which appeared on 19 November 2011 on a political web portal. Numerous anonymous readers insulted, and physically threatened, the two journalists – who are the authors of three books on the arms trade in Slovenia.

The trilogy authored by the duo focuses on the weapons trade during the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The name of the trilogy is: “In the Name of the State”. The first volume appeared in June 2011, under the title “In the Name of the State: Selling” (V imenu države: Odprodaja) and the second was released in October 2011 under the title: “In the Name of the State: Resale” (V imenu države: Preprodaja). The third is scheduled to appear in 2012. It will be called “In the Name of the State: Cover-up” (V imenu države: Prikrivanje). The investigation revealed, among other things, the alleged role played by some Slovene politicians in weapons deals.

In November 2011, the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) awarded Zgaga and Surc with a special investigative journalism diploma for their trilogy.

In September 2008, Zgaga received a death threat related to an investigative project focusing on a corruption scandal known as the ‘Patria’ affair. Finnish Television cooperated in the research. Although the death threat was reported to the police, the perpetrators could not be found due to a lack of proper technology, according to police sources at the time.

SEEMO Secretary-General Oliver Vujovic said: “I urge the Slovenian police authorities to find those responsible for these death threats. Freedom of expression cannot exist with death threats. On the other hand, I urge the web portal administrator to adhere to international standards. The making of death threats is a criminal offence.”

Vienna, 02/12/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media organization (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the Kosovo Force (KFOR) authorities, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, to investigate alleged attacks against several journalists in Northern Kosovo. According to the Belgrade-based Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), several journalists and cameramen covering clashes involving KFOR soldiers and members of the Serbian population who had mounted barricades in Northern Kosovo, were targeted with rubber bullets and tear gas.

On 29 November 2011, KFOR soldiers shot rubber bullets at two journalists from the Belgrade–based dailies Kurir and Press as well as at TV crews. Reporters could be distinguished from the rest of the crowd that confronted the soldiers, according to both journalists’ associations.

A KFOR representative told SEEMO: “KFOR does not target journalists under any circumstances.” However, he added that on 29 November the level of violence was very high and that he could not rule out that some journalists may have been among people whom the international forces tried to disperse.

Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary-General, said: “I do recognise that it is very difficult to operate in violent and volatile situations, both for international soldiers and for journalists. However, journalists do not carry weapons and I do hope that KFOR authorities will investigate the allegations that the media was allegedly shot at during the recent incidents.”

Vienna, 02/12/2011

Vienna, 05/12/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the authorities in Vojvodina, northern Serbia, to protect journalists from political pressure.

With general elections approaching in spring 2012, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) has registered a growing number of journalists’ complaints regarding political pressure.

The complex media ownership structure – a combination of public, private and local ownership, in addition to the lack of transparency – contributes to the media’s vulnerability to different forms of pressure and threats.

In Apatin, a town 200 kilometers northwest of Belgrade, critical journalism seems impossible, according to a NDNV statement. The municipality plays one media against another. It uses the media outlets financed from the municipal budget to attack the others.

In Srbobran, 100 kilometers north of Belgrade, the web portal srbobran.net has received death threats; its photographer was physically attacked during a recent basketball game; and its journalists are not allowed to attend the press conferences in the municipality.

In a conversation with SEEMO, Nedim Sejdinovic from NDNV said: “There is no understanding of the role of media in a democratic society. Most journalists do not report threats,” he added.

“I call on the authorities in Novi Sad and Belgrade as well as the political parties to guarantee and respect media freedom. There is no democracy without press freedom. Media are not instruments of political parties,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

Vienna, 12/12/2011

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute, condemns the physical attack against a Publika TV crew in Calarasi, a town of 16,000 inhabitants in central Moldova, approximately 50 kilometers from the country’s capital, Chisinau.

The incident occurred on 7 December 2011, when the TV crew arrived in Calarasi, to report on a decision by the local church to switch allegiance from the pro-Russian Moldovan Metropolitan Church to the Metropolis of Bessarabia, a branch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

While local citizens gathered to watch the filming, a man who was alleged to be the lawyer of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church, pushed reporters around and tried to impede the filming while a policeman watched without intervening. When the journalists asked him for assistance, the policeman said that he could not do anything in such situations, according to the video shot at the scene.

Policemen in small towns do not know how to deal with camera crews, according to a Moldovan NGO consulted by SEEMO. Journalists filed complaints with the Calarasi Police Commissioner.

Reacting promptly, an advisor to the Ministry of Interior said that the policeman’s alleged inaction would be examined, while representatives of the Bar Association declared that they would examine the behavior of their alleged colleague.

A group of Moldovan NGOs – the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Electronic Press Association, the Committee for the Freedom of the Press, the Journalistic Investigations Center, Acces-Info Center, and the Journalists Union – signed a joint statement demanding punishment for those who intimidate journalists and calling on the Ministry of the Interior to hold an internal inquiry into the behavior of the police officer who witnessed the incident. “The incident happened in a public place, in the presence of several police officers, but they did not intervene,” the statement read.

“I call on the authorities in Chisinau to investigate this incident, sanction the alleged aggressor and make sure that the police, even in small towns, guarantees security for journalists,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “In a democratic country, media freedom should be guaranteed in every corner of the country. Journalists cannot be attacked with impunity.”

Vienna, 14/12/2011

One day after receiving an award for defending human rights from Croatia’s president Ivo Josipovic and one month after receiving the Dr. Erhard Busek – SEEMO 2011 Award for Better Understanding in South East Europe, Croatian journalist and author Drago Hedl has received death threats. On 8 December 2011, the Commission of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference “Justitia et Pax” asked President Josipovic to withdraw the award because they were not satisfied with Hedl’s reporting. They cited an article published 30 years ago. This announcement was followed by death threats against Hedl.

Due to his balanced reporting and investigations into war crimes committed during the 1990s, Hedl has been targeted by law suits and was criticized by Croatian nationalist politicians. He received numerous death threats. SEEMO has reacted on several occasions when Hedl was threatened; the latest protest dates back to July 2011, when death threats allegedly came from the top military officials.

“I call on Croatia’s authorities to investigate the latest death threats against Hedl and pressure against his family. In a country that is about to join the European Union, death threats against journalists are not acceptable and a free media environment has to be guaranteed,” said Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General of the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO).

Vienna, 14/01/2010

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a regional organisation of editors, media executives, owners of media and leading journalists from South East and Central Europe, and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), strongly condemns the murder of Andis Hadjicostis, CEO of the family-controlled Dias media group and Sigma TV in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Information obtained by SEEMO indicates that Hadjicostis was killed on Monday, 11 January 2010, in the evening, in Nicosia’s diplomatic neighbourhood of Engom, as he was leaving his home.

The 41-year-old Hadjicostis created the Sigma TV station, and also worked on modernising the Dias media group, which includes newspapers, magazines and radio stations.

Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General said: “Our heartfelt condolences go out to Hadjicostis’s family, friends and colleagues for their tragic loss. ” Vujovic added that he was alarmed about the heinous crime and that “it is important to find as soon as possible the person or persons responsible for this killing of a media owner.” He added: “SEEMO asks the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus to do everything they can to solve the case.”

Vienna, 14/01/2010

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is worried by political interference at “Radiotelevizija Bosne i Hercegovine (BHRT) – Javni radio – televizijski servis Bosne i Hercegovine, the national public broadcaster in Bosnia – Herzegovina. It is cause for alarm that political and financial pressure is being applied to public service journalists, editors and managers. These pressures are preventing journalists and media executives from carrying out their work professional and independently.

Under political pressure, Mehmed Agovic, General Director of BHRT, resigned on 30 December 2009. This was not the first time that he has had to resign. Agovic lost his position for the first time, also under political pressure, more than a year ago. A court decision subsequently ordered his reinstatement as the General Director of BHRT. Through his work, Agovic has defended BHRT as an independent broadcasting service offering public information and representing the whole of the country’s population.

SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said: “It is worrying that politicians are trying through all means to use public broadcasting as a mouthpiece, and for propaganda – particularly as this is happening in a country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is ravaged by national conflicts. SEEMO will continue to strongly monitor the situation of public broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Vienna, 21/01/2010

The South-East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns a wave of violent attacks against journalists in Greece. The attacks were reported to the SEEMO office.

Attacks on sports reporters have been common in recent years. In the most recent incident, sports reporters covering the AEK-Olympiakos Championship football match in Athens, on 6 January 2010, were violently beaten.

A wave of attacks since October 2009 – when the offices of the daily “Espresso” were stormed by a gang of 20 masked and armed youths – has targeted prominent journalists and publications. Most notably, at the end of November 2009, the office of Moschos Makis Voitsidis, President of the Journalists’ Union of Macedonia-Thrace Daily Newspapers (ESIEM-Th), was attacked with an explosive device, and a similar explosive device was found in front of the home of Panayoitis Nestoridis, former Vice President of the same organisation and current Vice President of the Journalists’ Health Fund (EDOEAP).

Commenting on the wave of attacks, SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said: “SEEMO is alarmed by this wave of violence targeting journalists in Greece. SEEMO calls upon the Greek government and officials to help the media to practice their work free from aggression and attacks. Journalists must be secured to work without any pressure.”