17. 09. 2005

STOSIC APOLOGISED

VRANJE, September 17, 2005 – Editors of Radio OK from Vranje decided to end special crisis program broadcast introduced yesterday at 11.55 a.m. The station resumed its regular program scheme after receiving a press release from the local council of the Democratic Party of Serbia, in which the Council apologized to the radio station for the inappropriate and impulsive reaction of the president of the Vranje Municipal Council Nenad Stosic. “We hope our future cooperation will be more than good”, said in the statement of the local DSS. Radio OK responded to the statement saying that DSS had acted conscientiously, realizing how serious this incident, created by Nenad Stosic, was. The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) called on the appropriate authorities, particularly the Interior Ministry and the Culture and Information Ministry, to protect the journalists and editor of Radio OK. For the last few days the staff of this Vranje radio station has been exposed to brutal threats from the highest officials of the town’s local authorities. On September 6, the current affairs editor of Radio OK, Sasa Stojkovic, was verbally attacked and threatened with physical violence by two Serbian Radical Party members of the Vranje Municipal Council. This was followed, just days later, by a telephone call from the president of the Council, Nenad Stosic, who threatened him with arrest because of an opinion poll, the results of which had not been broadcast but which Stosic believed to be malicious. On Monday September 12, the Radio OK editor and other journalists held a press conference to inform the public about the attack and sent an open letter to the president of the Council, asking him to explain his threatening behaviour. Stosic subsequently denied having called Radio OK. The editor and journalists then called a new press conference and informed the public that, because of the increasingly frequent threats they were receiving, all telephone conversations in the radio premises were recorded and that this included a recording of Nenad Stosic’s call. The recording, which includes obscene language in addition to the threats, was played at the press conference. Stosic then called the station again, now fully aware that the conversation was being taped, and threatened the journalist to whom he first spoke, saying that he was in for “suffering and pain” and that friends of his would “be paying a visit”. ANEM points out that no one, not even the president of the Vranje Municipality, is entitled to impose limits on the freedom of public information, and particularly not by abusing the authority of local government bodies. Any pressure exerted on journalists through threats of arrest or physical harassment is absolutely unacceptable in any civilized society. ANEM calls on media and journalist associations and the entire democratic public to show solidarity with the journalists and editor of Radio OK and urges the appropriate state institutions to use their authority without delay to guarantee the safety of these journalists and ensure that Radio OK is able to work without hindrance. The Association also demands that the president of the Vranje Municipality be made answerable for this unprecedented pressure on the media and on freedom of expression in general. South East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) is deeply concerned about the continuing pressure on journalists from local government in the Serbian town of Vranje. “Behavior of the local officials is a direct violation of press freedom and the rights of journalists because all authorities must treat journalists equally and allow them access to information. The number of threats on journalists has increased in recent months and SEEMO has been informed of several serious threats in Serbia against journalists and editors from RTV B92, Danas daily and Vecernje novosti daily. Now we have threats from local politicians against OK Radio and Vranjske newspaper. This is very alarming”, said in the statement of this media organisation. The Association of Serbian Journalists protested against the proposal of the Prosecution to prohibit the editor of weekly Tabloid Milovan Brkic to practice journalism. “The association believes that the proposal to prohibit practice to any journalist is utterly dangerous and unseemly act. Court’s ban to practice journalism is equally dangerous for journalists as threats and physical assaults on them. A journalist is responsible for his work and behavior before his conscience, public, courts and courts of honor if he fails to respect the rules of the Code of Journalism, however, he must never be forbidden to practice journalism”, said in the statement. Brkic is charged for committing a criminal act of damaging reputation of a foreign country by publishing the article “Laurence is not from Arabia, but he’s loaded”, in weekly Tabloid on June 30, 2005, and for claims regarding the USA Ambassador in Serbia and Montenegro, Michael Polt.