CJA condemns Ivan Zvonimir Čičak’s inflammatory lies about N1 and Nacional journalists

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27/04/2018

ZAGREB, 27.04.2018. – CJA strongly condemns lies Ivan Zvonimir Čičak said about journalists Ivana Dragičević (N1) and Zrinka Vrabec Mojzeš (Nacional Weekly) in „Otvoreno“ show at HTV 1 yesterday, April 25, 2018.

The topic was relationship between Serbia and Croatia and Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, without any proves, denounced our colleagues Dragičević and Vrabec Mojzeš. He insisted that they were sent to Finland by the Finland Embassy in Croatia to interview Finland president Sauli Niinistö prior to his visit to Croatia and they did it in a way that damaged Croatian reputation.

„They tried to convince the Finland president not to come to Croatia because of expanding Ustasha atmosphere. Among other things they embroiled him into discussion about Croatian emblem. Because of its first white square it is said to be Ustasha’s emblem. They reproached it to the Croatian President. I have studied that topic. People saying that Croatian emblem starting with white square is Ustasha’s emblem are saying that Croatian people is genocidal.“
That shameless attack against two journalists is additionally severe as Ivan Zvonimir Čičak is non-parliamentary member of Parliament Board for Information and Media and that he has been on several occasions special representative of Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, the Croatian President.

We want to point out once more the fact that public figures, including those in power or close to it, dare to insult journalists who do their job professionally. Not rarely they use inflammatory lies like ones Čičak said in „Otvoreno“ show the last evening.

Leading Croatian politicians do not react accordingly; on the contrary, those who lie and instigate against journalists they recompense by making them their delegates and appointing them at important positions.

CJA does not want to keep those actions from the public and will do the same in the future.

Media strategy by year’s end, Serbian official says

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IJAS

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27/04/2018

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BELGRADE, 27.04.2018. – The new national media strategy could be drawn up by the end of the year, Culture and Information Ministry official Aleksandar Gajovic said on Thursday.

Gajovic, a state secretary in the ministry, told the Beta news agency that he expects the new draft to be an improvement on what the now disbanded working group did. “I am not dissatisfied with this strategy or working group but everything can be better,” he said.

“The new national media strategy can realistically be expected by the end of the year and then Serbia will get a better opinion from the European Commission than the latest view which is a little worrying,” he said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic decided last week to stop work on the strategy because representatives of the two major organizations of journalists walked out after disagreements over some its parts. Brnabic said they decided to appoint the president’s media advisor Suzana Vasiljevic to lead the new effort to draft the strategy while Vucic called for more openness in the process and invited the OSCE to join in.

Stopirana medijska strategija, vlada ne otkriva kako dalje

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IJAS

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27/04/2018

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BEOGRAD, 27.04.2018. – Tri dana nakon što je medijska strategija stopirana iz vlade još ne stiže jasan plan ko će, kada i na koji način pristupiti izradi nove. Za to vreme iz OEBS-a nude pomoć. U toj organizaciji za N1 kažu da su spremni da okupe sve zainteresovane za pisanje medijske strategije.

Mesecima se čekalo na novu medijsku strategiju, a onda je na čekanje stavljena ona. Jer tek što je vladin dokument o medijima završen, na njega je stavljen stop.

“Mislim da se ništa dramatično nije desilo, mi nastavljamo sa radom u nekom drugom obliku, sa nekim drugim ljudima”, kazao je Aleksandar Gajović, državni sekretar Ministarstva informisanja.

Ipak, u vladi ne otkrivaju konkretan plan – ko, kada i kako će medijsku strategiju učini boljom.

“Dakle, da probamo da nađemo neke zajedničke sadržitelje, a ne od početka da nalazimo razlike oko toga ko treba da bude državni sekretar, ko ne treba da bude državni sekretar i da ulazimo u mikromenadžment samih ministarstava. Čini mi se da treba da govorimo o suštini, a ne o formi”, kaže predsednica Vlade Srbije Ana Brnabić.

Za OEBS koji je vlada pozvala da se uključi u izradu medijske strategije forma je i te kako bitna. Šef Organizacije za evropsku bezbednost i saradnju u Srbiji za N1 kaže: “Uloga misije će biti da uključi i pomiri sve zainteresovane za pisanje dokumenta i organizuje rasprave”. Suština, tj. sadržaj strategije, kako misle u OEBS-u, zadatak je autora.

“Uloga države u medijima će svakako biti jedna od tema, ali je mnogo važnije od samih tema da diskusija o strategiji bude otvorena. Važno je da imamo dobru metodologiju, da budu uključeni svi zainteresovani. OEBS će rado upravljati izradom strategije, a teme, predlozi i rešenja moraju doći od medija”, rekao je Andrea Oricio, šef misije OEBS-a.

U Asocijaciji medija, čiji je predstavnik napustio staru radnu grupu, misle da je izrada strategije resetovana kasno. Da li će to ipak uroditi plodom – u asocijaciji bez optimizma. Kažu: “Videćemo”.

“Jasno mi je da je dalji proces medijskih reformi neizbežan bez ekspertize, asistencije i podrške i Evropske unije i OEBS-a, ali se nadam da ovaj dokument kao i popravljanje generalno medijske situacije u Srbiji nećemo morati da rešavamo u Ujedinjenim nacijama”, kazao je Zoran Sekulić, iz Asocijacije medija.

Kada će nova medijska strategija ugledati svetlost dana – precizno se ne zna. Iz ministarstva informisanja nagađaju – do kraja godine.

Naprednjaci vode žestoku, prljavu kampanju protiv Kikindskih

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IJAS

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27/04/2018

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KIKINDA, 27.04.2018. – Glavni odgovorni urednik Kikindskih Željko Bodrožić izjavio je za Cenzolovku da je danas po drugi put bio u kikindskoj policiji kako bi dao izjavu u vezi sa, kako tvrdi, lažnom prijavom za napad, koju je protiv njega podneo član Gradskog veća Milivoj Linjački.

“U pitanju je lažna prijava, nije došlo ni do kakvog napada, ali ja sam, za svaki slučaj, i sinoć i danas bio u policiji kako im ne bih dao povoda da po mene šalju ‘maricu’, kao što su to radili nekim ljudima u prošlosti, rekao je Bodrožić, navodeći i da je tužilac odbacio prijavu.

Bodrožić je juče na svom Fejsbuk profilu napisao da je lokalna Televizija Rubin objavila vest pod naslovom “Željko Bodrožić napao člana Gradskog veća Milivoja Linjačkog”, u kojoj Linjački, inače član SNS, navodi kako ga je Bodrožić verbalno napao i pretio, te da se brine za svoju bezbednost i da je slučaj prijavio policiji.

“Novinari ove televizije nisu me pozvali da dam izjavu, kao što to nisu učinili ni u prethodnih mesec-dva, koliko svakodnevno izveštavaju o mojim „zlodelima“. I umesto da se prepustim navijanju za Liverpul, ja sam otišao do SUP-a da se prijavim, da ne bi sutra naprednjački propagandisti puštali buve kako me je policija proganjala po gradu, ali i da prijavim Linjačkog za lažno prijavljivanje. Dežurni komandir mi je rekao da dođem sutra ujutru i dam izjavu”, napisao je glavni urednik Kikindskih.

On za Cenzolovku podseća na to da se protiv njega poslednjih nekoliko meseci, u sadejstvu lokalnih političara i lokalnih medija, vodi žestoka i prljava kampana, a da su napadi počeli da stižu i sa pojedinih Fejsbuk naloga, neretko lažnih.

“U poslednjih mesec dana lokalni odbor SNS objavio je o meni 12 saopštenja, što je u proseku tri nedeljno, dok su u poslednja tri-četiri meseca Nove kikindske novine uvećale produkciju tekstova u kojima sam isključivo ja tema. Primetni su, takođe, naročito otkako smo prošle nedelje pokrenuli crowdfunding kampanju za opstanak Kikidnskih, i raznorazne uvredljive fotomontaže na Fejsbuku, sa naloga od kojih su neki utvđeno lažni, naveo je Bodrožić.

NUNS OSUDIO KAMPANJU PROTIV KIKINDSKIH

Nezavisno udruženje novinara Srbije najoštrije osuđuje orkestriranu kampanju koju Srpska napredna stranka poslednjih dana vodi protiv nedeljnika Kikindske i glavnog i odgovornog urednika tog medija Željka Bodrožića.

NUNS poziva sve demokratski opredeljen građane i organizacije civilnog društva da iskažu solidarnost sa redakcijom Kikindskih i pomognu da prebrodi novi talas napada čiji je cilj da se uguši još jedan nezavisni medij u Srbiji.

Kampanja koja se vodi putem društvenih mreža i lokalnih medija u Kikindi bliskih SNS usledila je odmah nakon što su organizacije civilnog društva okupljene u Grupi za slobodu medija i brojni prijatelji Kikindskih organizovali akciju solidarnosti sa tim nedeljnikom. Akcija je inicirana kako bi se Kikindskim finansijski pomoglo da taj slobodni i nezavisni nedeljnik nastavi redovno štampanje i posle svog hiljaditog broja. Hiljadu i prvi broj Kikindskih obeležen je 20. aprila veoma posećenom tribinom organizovanom u beogradskom Centru za kulturnu dekontaminaciju.

Pojedine funkcionere SNS u Kikindi očigledno je zabrinula masovna podrška Bodrožiću i njegovoj redakciji koja od prvog broja novina 9. oktobra 1998. godine profesionalno, objektivno i kritički informiše javnost o svim najvažnijim temama, a posebno o zloupotrebama i manipulacijama vlasti. Od tada do danas novine su preživele zloglasni Zakon o javnom informisanju koalicione vlasti SPS-a, JUL-a i radikala, i uz Vranjske postale najkažnjavaniji lokalni štampani medij krajem devedesetih. Novinari Kikindskih su prvi koji su zbog takvih politički montiranih sudskih odluka dobili spor protiv države pred Komitetom Ujedinjenih nacija za ljudska prava u Njujorku (2005.), kao i dva spora pred Evropskim sudom za ljudska prava u Strazburu (2009.)

Announcement: seminar “Protection of the public interest and the right to privacy in media contents” (Ilidža, May 10th and 11th)

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BHJA

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26/04/2018

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SARAJEVO, 26.04.2018. -BH Journalists Association, Regulatory agency for Communications and Council of Europe are organizing a two day round-table “PROTECTION OF PUBLIC INTEREST THROUGH MEDIA CONTENT AND THE ROLE OF REGULATORS IN PROMOTING PUBLIC INTEREST” for jurisdiciary and media actors within the JUFREX project of CoE – Reinforcing Judical Expertise on Freedom of Expression and the Media in South – East Europe

The objectives of this workshop are primarily to address the seemingly conflicting issues of the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression. These issues will be addressed through a review of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, jurisprudence in BiH, and media and regulatory practices on this issue.

Seminar will be held in Hotel Hollywood, Ilidža (Dr. Mustafe Pintola 23), May 10th and 11th and will gather representatives of The Regulatory Agency for Communications, electreonical media, judiciary and international experts from the media law area.

Press statements are scheduled for Thursday, May 10, at 2 pm, at Hollywood Hotel Ilidža.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media called for the strengthening of the independence of public service broadcasters and the protection of journalists

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BHJA

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26/04/2018

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SARAJEVO, 24.04.2018. – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir spent last week in an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina and stressed the need to strengthen media pluralism, respect for the independence and viability of the public radio and television service and the need to improve the security of journalists in the country.

During the three day official visit, representative Désir met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Crnatak, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Semiha Borovac, chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Borislav Bojić, chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Sašom Dalipagić, as well as the representatives of media and journalists associations.

“I had very open and constructive debates with representatives of the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We talked about the crucial role of the press and independent media in democratic processes, as well as the responsibility of the authorities to foster media pluralism and to improve the safety of journalists”, said Désir, as states in the public announcement of OSCE.

At meetings with government representatives, Désir emphasized the need the need to guarantee an independent and sustainable public broadcasting system, which includes efficient implementation of relevant laws and establishment of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of BiH, with the aim to harmonize their activities.

Journalists safety was one of the elementary questions Harlem Désir talked about. “Any attack on a journalist is an attack on a society’s right to be informed”, he said , adding that this attacks have to be prevented, publicly commanded when they happen and detailed investigated.

The need for greater transparency of media ownership and public funding of media at all administrative levels was expressed, as well as the need to improve the general conditions of journalist work.

Representative Désir also met with the representatives of the Regulatory Agency for Communications, Press Council, BH Journalists Association, Media Center and few media, including the visit to the daily newspaper Oslobođenje. He also met the representatives on the international community in BiH.

Protection against defamation can be improved by harmonizing judicial practice in BiH

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BHJA

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26/04/2018

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SARAJEVO, 23.04.2018. -At the conference “Observing and Equalizing the Judicial Practice in the Field of Defamation”, which was held today in Sarajevo was concluded, inter alia that defamation lawn in BiH need to be expertly analyzed in coordination with the Ministry of Justice BiH and suggest amendments on these laws with the aim to harmonize laws on entity level and level of Brcko Distrikt. Besides, Judiciary content management system (CMS) can be improved by creating technical terms for insight into cases in which one party is a journalist or media.

At the intersectoral meeting organized by the Ministry of Justice BiH, it was pointed out that defamation laws in BiH are most harmonized with the European standards in comparison to other countries in the region. However, unauthorized laws on the entity level and the level of Brcko Distrikt cause unequal judicial practice.

„The Ministry of Justice strongly supports independent and critical journalism, as well as independent judiciary system. Harmonization of court practice would bring all journalists to the same position before the courts“, said Milana Popadić, assistant of the Ministry of JusticeBiH.

Dragiša Jokić,representative of the Department for Information and Communication Technology of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighted that there is no possibility to record journalism profession while entering data into CMS.

„The proposal should be considered for consideration by the Working Group on Strategic Planning and Development of the Automatic Case Management System in Courts and Prosecutors’ Offices“, said Jokić and added that if this improvement of CMS would be adopted than all courts and prosecutors offices in BiH should be informed about this. .

On the conference the need to improve and harmonize court practice in defamation cases, through continuing education of judges, prosecutors and attorneys on the application of standards of the European Court of Human Rights was also highlighted. “Legislative provisions are not detailed and leave space for a rundown interpretation. It is therefore important to improve court practice in accordance with the practice of The ECHR, “said attorney from Banja Luka Oleg Knežić.

General Secretary of the BH Journalists Association pointed out the importance of the willingness of judicial institutions for law harmonization and harmonization of judicial practice at all levels. „There is also a need to consider the method of conducting the expertise or the way of checking the mental pain since there are some illogical opinions of the expert witness“, said Rudić.

Besides, it was noted that for the advancement of court practice it is important to distinguish the value court from the fact and that it is necessary to promote mediation and non-judicial resolution of libel cases.

The conference gathered about 20 representatives of the executive, judiciary, civil society and the media. Association of BH journalists participated in advocacy activities envisaged by previously adopted strategic documents.

We recall that the Council of Ministers BiH tasked the Ministry of Justice of BiH to continuously organize thematic conferences to invite academic community representatives, judges, lawyers, experts from this field, journalists and other interested persons, with a view to reviewing and harmonizing past law enforcement practice in the area of defamation, durring the 116. session that was held in September last year, by recommendations from the report of teh Institution of Ombudsmen for Human rights BiH.

Klan Kosova and the YIHR organization to appear court

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AJK

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26/04/2018

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PRISTINA, 26.04.2018 – In the Pristina Basic Court, a trial was held between Klan Kosova, ri specifically its director Baton Haxhiu, and the organization “Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR)”.

This civil case is connected to a lawsuit filed by Haxhiu, the director of Klan Kosova television channel, Baton Haxhiu in June 2010 against YIHR, accusing the latter of slander after it published in May of the same year a reporta which presented Klan Kosova as a medium that “favored the Democratic Party of Kosovo”.

In The fourth court hearing of the case, defense witnesses invited by YIHR, testified in front of the court in relation to the allegations that this organization faces.

On May 24, 2010, YIHR published a report titled “State of Constriction” whose purpose, according to the representatives of YIHR, was to measure human rights and freedom in Kosovo.

One of the main paragraphs of this report discussed the limitation that media reporting faced in particular the media landscape of 2008-9. In this paragraph, the author of the report, Alex Anderson, stated his opinion on the political preferences of media subjects in Kosovo, and in which he assessed Klan Kosova as a medium that organized debates and panels that “favored the Democratic Party of Kosovo” during the 2009 election campaign.

“My conclusion on the preference for the PDK was as result of the fact that on prime time during e panels and debates organized by this television channel, analysts who have expressed positive opinions about the PDK were invited. Other facts also support my conclusion, such as the fact that only a few months later, those analysts from those debates joined PDK, “Anderson said in front of the court.

Anderson states that this report was a reflection of his opinion and judgment upon analyzing television shows for about six months, and after conversations he had with citizens – viewers of these television programs.He stated that after the publication of the report, Klan Kosova and its director reacted to the content of this report, sending a written remark, which upon being received by Anderson, was then added to the report as the footnote no.81 by Anderson, who believes that such a note meant that it was an t elaboration of what was said in that paragraph concerning the freedom of the press.

According to Anderson, the elaboration had to with a compliment he made to Klan Kosova, for being an innovative television, and secondly, according to him, clarified why he had presented his views about f Klan Kosova’s favoritism of PDK.

Meanwhile, the second witness in this case was YIHR’s former executive director, Sara Maliqi, and stated in the court that the “State of Constriction” report was one of the best reports that the organization had drafted and that the purpose of this report was to explore the issues related to human rights and the effort that institutions make in respecting these rights.

On the other hand, the legal representative of Baton Haxhiu, lawyer Nora Veliu, objected to witness testimonies claiming that the respondent party did not meet the burden of proof to prove the veracity of contentious content of the report nor did they act responsibly in the drafting of this report, and according to her, YIHR has published a false statement in the report.

Meanwhile, the legal representative of YIHR, , Merita Stublla, said that the purpose of this report was public interest and that the claims of the plaintiff do not stand. She has asked the court to treat this case as unfounded and to reject the filed lawsuit.

The judicial review of this civil litigation case was also done during this court session, as well as the administration of evidence was done by Naime Ahmeti, the judge presiding the case.

Judge Ahmeti obliged both legal representatives to file the final statements n written form to the court and the decision on this civil case will be submitted to the parties in written form within the deadlines set by law.

Serbian PM says media working group not legitimate

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IJAS

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26/04/2018

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BELGRADE, 26.04.2018. – Work on the new national media strategy was stopped because the working group does not have full legitimacy, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday.

Brnabic said that she and President Aleksandar Vucic decided to stop work on the national media strategy because none of the relevant media organizations had representatives in the working group.

The Serbian President’s media advisor Suzana Vasiljevic has been put in charge of creating a climate of dialogue which will allow work to continue on the strategy, she said. “We agreed that Suzana Vasiljevic, a person with very much experience in working with the media and who personally knows all editors and most journalists as well as representatives of media associations, should help in further communication in which we don’t have to be in agreement all the time but we have to remain committed to dialogue,” Brnabic said.

According to the Prime Minister, the important thing is for the media organizations to stay with the dialogue.

“I don’t think we have to start from scratch but from the point when the media organizations quit the working group,” Brnabic said and added that the Ministry of Culture will remain the umbrella organization for the development of the media strategy.

Representatives of the major media organizations in Serbia quit the working group drafting the new national media strategy to express their dissatisfaction over certain parts of the draft.

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NUNS OSUDIO KAMPANJU PROTIV KIKINDSKIH