27 May 1999

Rebroadcasts of Serbian state television suspended

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - The following is an RSF press release: Reporters sans frontières deplores the 26 May 1999 decision by member states of the telecommunications organisation Eutelsat to suspend rebroadcasts of Serbian state television, RTS, even if this station has transformed itself into a propaganda tool and weapon of Slobodan Milosevic's regime. This measure represents an attack on the free circulation of information which must be condemned.

RTS presents actual goings-on in a biased, deformed, even false manner. Representing the main news source for Serbs, this television station systematically broadcasts doctored reports on Kosovo, while NATO and the international community are called "fascists" and "degenerate criminals". On several occasions, RTS has been purged of its critical journalists: as an example, in January 1993, 1,500 of its employees were dismissed for having expressed their disagreement with the station's editorial stance.

Reporters sans frontières recalls that according to precedents of the European Human Rights Court, freedom of expression and information, which are guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Covention on Human Rights, is valid not only for information or ideas which are favourably welcomed or are considered inoffensive or of little interest, but also for information which collides with, shocks or worries the State or certain segments of the population.

Reporters sans frontières believes that silencing Serbian propaganda media is an unsatisfactory response to the urgent need for pluralistic information in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Western democracies have an obligation to put into practice a true policy of support for independent information: by expanding the distribution, of information in Serbian towards FRY through international media and by massively supporting Serbian, Montenegran and Kosovar independent media which continue to resist the state of censure imposed by President Milosevic.

For further information, contact Alexandre Lévy or Ludovic Brun at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: europe@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org (fixed 3.4.2003) The information contained in this press release/alert is the sole responsibility of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.

DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/