OSCE concerned about the new Serbian information law

VIENNA, 21 October 1998 - Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, is seriously concerned with the adoption of the Law on Public Information by the Serbian Parliament. This Law envisages the banning of re-broadcasting of foreign programmes, already in force, it also allows the authorities to arbitrarily decide what media are undermining the state. There are a number of other provisions in the Law that are highly contentious and are in contravention with numerous international conventions.

This Law basically institutionalizes a state of war that the Belgrade authorities have been waging against the independent media since early this month. Already several newspapers and radio stations have been banned in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This Law makes it very difficult if not impossible for the banned media to re-open.

In the current climate of co-operation between the OSCE and the Belgrade Government with the deployment of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission proceeding as planned, this Law is highly discriminatory against those journalists that report on the developments in Kosovo in a fair and professional manner. Freimut Duve believes that this Law should be abolished and that freedom of the media should be ensured by the authorities. A free media is essential to the peace process in conflict-ridden Kosovo.