It would be required and necessary to have criteria precisely defined regarding the state help to the media

21/03/2018

SARAJEVO, 21.03.2018.-Without monitoring of media financing from public budgets, it is difficult to make conclusions regarding the legitimacy of these procedures and final effects in the context of communication required by citizens and the general public.

Interview with Sanela Hodžić, researcher and editor of media reports, Mediacentar Sarajevo

What kind of existing legal regulation regarding media financing from public budget funds and what law provisions are included at different governing levels in BiH?

There is no particular legal framework for media financing, although there are different legal law provisions that partially relate to media financing, especially in terms of transparency of these relations. Additionally, transparency budget norms are, for instance, defined through Entity legal and law provisions regarding budgets, and transparency issues and questions regarding public enterprises budgets (including local media houses) are partially defined through law and legal provisions applied through public enterprises. Transparency norms are related to public budget announcing, they are also related to reports on budget implementation, use of reserve means and funds, decision on loans etc on official web pages of certain governing bodies (Law on Budgets of FBiH), that is, Official Gazette (Law on Budget of FBiH and Law on Budget System in RS), and they also related to announcing the information regarding financial structure for public media houses (pursuant to laws of public enterprises). However, the governing institutional budgets do not allow us to have the clear view regarding what specific amounts are granted to media houses, taking into consideration that these budgets are often designated and outlined under the “miscellaneous” items. These budgets are also often listed under the cumulative budget lines (such as “other services”, “subventions”, “grants” etc) and the names of media houses using these budget funds are even less visible. Legal norms related to public procurements are also important in terms of media financing context.

Is there a difference in procedures and allocation/distribution of public budget money to private and public media houses? Are there more précised, more thorough and detailed researches and surveys conducted and implement- ed, indicating to malignant trends and failures in-laws?

There are different forms of media financing from public sector, starting with regular public media budget financing, including Entity level press agencies, municipal, city and cantonal media houses, through grant allocation / distribution for private and public media houses, to different contracts with media houses regard- ing the covering of local governments and their work, including the promotion of local issues, commercial advertising and similar financial relations. In general, there are no substantial and mutual and commonly defined norms and procedures in these financing forms and these decisions are mostly considered a matter of discretion for each and every individual governing authority, which is entitled to grant particular financial means. Transparency of individual procedures of separation is even more questionable in this sense. Decisions on media financing are normally passed by political bodies that necessarily withdraw the questions of eventual in- instrumentalizing and manipulation of these funds for particular interests. Speaking about public media financing is actually speaking about pre-determined and pre-defined procedures under the competences of local governing authorities and most of the time, similar budgets grants are approved for further allocation and distribution for given public media houses from year to year. However, emerging of certain fluctuations is possible as well in cases where budget cuts are introduced but also fluctuations occur during dissents on the political basis. For the latter, we had a recent case at RTV Zenica when the budget amount for this particular media house was reduced, followed by a complete financial cut, deriving as a result of disagreement of city mayor regarding the re-appointing of a female general manager in this media house. Naturally, on one hand, we have problems related directly to political manipulations in terms of appointing the management members in public media houses, however, it is humiliating that such financial conditioning (or to some extent even blackmailing) of public media house is even possible in reality. Aimed provisions, provisions regarding criteria and conditions for allocation and distribution of state help in FBiH, define criteria for allocation and distribution of public media help, but these criteria are not precisely defined according to general requirements such as “public interest service”, “national program representation” and the existence of an independent body that follows the public service providing. We cannot find similar criteria in the Republic of Srpska in regard to state-level allocation and distribution to private media houses. In reality, forms and financial criteria are different and in rare cases, when specific rules are passed as far as this issue is concerned, these criteria mostly comprehend technical criteria (including the registration on the territory of community, adequate capacities etc); while, on the other hand, program criteria are defined such as “business and entrepreneur affirmation”, “moral values”, “civil society”, “strengthening of critical consciousness”, “community promotion” in different areas, so the quantity of information regarding local administration and local governing level announced in previous year. These kinds of rules, applied at governing levels where they had been passed, altogether represent a crucial step forward in regulating media financing issue, even though the criteria included here are not precisely defined and media valuing pursuant to these criteria remain questionable either.

To what extent do public institutions respect legal regulations predicting allocation and distribution of financial means and paying media houses for services they provide?

Taking the deficiency of these procedures into consideration, it is difficult to talk about to what extent legal procedures are actually applicable and can be implemented in reality. Available secondary sources point out to eventual and possible formal interpretation of the above mentioned criteria for state help for public media houses, where, for instance, the fact that media regulator does exist (and operates in its full capacity), namely Communication Regulatory Agency (CRA) is used as sufficient tool in order to make conclusion that there is a supervising body which can decide whether certain media houses operate to the benefit of general public interest. In terms of public procurements, audit reports, and analysis, indicated and outlined the occurrence of excessive use of direct contracts, negotiating procedures and agreements on coproduction which as a result appeared in order to avoid open procurement procedures thus diminishing transparency system in general. Therefore, it would be required and necessary to have criteria precisely defined regarding the state help pursuant to well – the planned concept of public interest and enabling the excessive use of exceptions deriving from public procurement procedures related to media services.

To what extent can selective treatment in decision making and in regards to public funds allocation and distribution damage society, public interests, media and particularly media professionals?

All of the above-mentioned media houses suffer from serious lack of transparency, unclear criteria in regard with general public interest, lack of protection of instrumentalizing and manipulations, lack of independent decision – making institutional and official bodies and finally, lack of monitoring of legitimacy to such practice. Finally, biggest damage as far as this issue is concerned may emerge from the fact that no efforts had been made in order to make these assignments public interest instruments and the final effect of these assignments, upon the quality of journalism and public requirements for communications, consequently still remain questionable. The state is disabled to apply and implements regulations according to its obligations towards international conventions, that is, to prevent excessive domination of individual interests and to ensure and provide conditions for effective pluralism. Besides, citizens are not provided with sufficient, proper and adequate information regarding financial interests in the media sector, particularly regarding allocation, distribution, and effects of public means. In networks of different interests and relationships whose legitimacy and transparency is questionable, media professionals are left with limited space for journalism autonomy.

What are the official stand and opinion of BiH judiciary system regarding the allocation and distribution of public means to media houses in comparison with neighboring countries and wider? How can we create new conditions for the fair market where all media houses should have equal treatment?

Many international recommendations are directed towards the increasing of transparency and legitimacy of media financing, including for instance, Resolution 1636 on indicators for media in democracy systems, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (2008), stating clearly that media ownership and economic influences on media must be made more transparent and additionally, implementation of the regulation against the monopoly-based concentration, including the measures promoting media pluralism. EU guidelines supporting media freedoms and media integrity in joining countries 2014 – 2020 also encourage the announcing of scope and share of public means in every single media houses involved. In developed democracy systems these issues and questions are solved in different ways, but in reality many efforts are made to advance transparency (for example Law On Transparency on Media Support and Advertising in Austria), advance criteria of state help – usually where the tendency is to support printed media houses that face certain difficulties in their work, but also a non – profit media houses and alternative platforms assuming that particular functions of public interests and that criteria should be defined more precisely, minimizing arbitrarily decision making in return. The establishing of expert commissions and/or an attempt to develop the system of parity of different interests, as part of bodies that make decisions in media financing, represent yet another significant step towards the guarantee of the legitimacy of financing procedures. In neighboring Croatia, we had attempts of advancing the responsibilities of media receiving state help, in terms of media houses applying for state help, where they had been required to introduce their Status regulating the relations between journalists and media and the guarantee of their complete autonomy, including the designation of media contents whose producing is supported by co-financing from public sector. In the end, without monitoring of media financing from public budgets, it is difficult to make conclusions regarding the legitimacy of these procedures and final effects in the context of communication required by citizens and the general public. All of the above-mentioned elements are considered important as far as the advanced financing policies are concerned, and some of them may be applicable and implemented in BiH as well. The discussions regarding these issues are crucial for the media sector, but for the wide public as well, and to find best possible ways to, through the development of the legal and regulatory framework, conduct and implement these financial forms since they should be serving public interests by all means.

This text is a part of E-Bulletin– fourth edition of special serial of BHN online bulletin implemented through the “Media and Public Reputation” (origin. “Mediji i javni ugled”) project, also representing a contribution to public debate regarding the transparency of media ownership and upholding and encouraging the passing of set of laws aimed to advance media field and information market in BiH.

AJK condemns death threats to Insajderi team

AJK

20/03/2018

Pristina, 20.03.2018 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo condemns the death threats against the team of online newspaper “Insajderi” by the owner of local company that was involved in a recent ‘meat scandal’.

Recently, Insajderi published an article claiming that “Euro Ida” is the company in Kosovo that imported a rotten meat from Belgium. The so-called ‘meat scandal’ has caused great attention of the public.

Insajderi presented customs documents that show ‘Euro Ida” is the company that imported rotten meat from company “Veviba” in Belgium.

Authorities in Belgium said that “Veviba” has functioned in unacceptable sanitary conditions and has manipulated the meat content as well as misusing the deadline stamps.

After the article was published, Insajderi received a telephone call from the owner of the company “Euro Ida”, Anton Jupa who threatened the team.

“Problems are very serious. If I would know who the first (journalist) it was, I would not kill him, but I will just chop him in pieces with an ax, and I will chop him and commit a massacre. Remember what I am telling you,” Jupa said in the telephone conversation.

Insajderi has published the threatening recorded telephone call.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo demands from Kosovo Police and prosecution to investigate the case and bring the threatening person in front of justice.

AJK calls on all respective institutions to treat with priority the cases of threats and attacks against journalists and media.

In the evening hours, Kosovo police told AJK that police is aware of the threat through media and it is treating it.

Splitski aktivist preko Facebooka prijetio novinarki ‘Slobodne’ i pokrenuo javni linč, prijeti mu novčana i zatvorska kazna

CJA

20/03/2018

SPLIT, 20.03.2018. – Zbog komentara koje je prije dva dana u Facebook grupi “Vrijeme je da narod kaže dosta” objavio njen osnivač, Splićanin Robert Pilipović, DORH-u i policiji su protiv njega podnesene kaznene prijave za sramoćenje i za prijetnju.

Naime, osvrćući se na članak novinarke Katarine Marić Banje objavljen u Slobodnoj Dalmaciji u kojem se, bez navođenja imena i prezimena, govori o splitskoj policajki koja je na facebooku javno pozivala kolege policajce na kršenje, odnosno selektivnu primjenu zakona i bojkot izručenja malog Cesarea ocu Talijanu, Roberet Pilipović se na svojoj “facebook stranici” uvredama i prijetnjama obrušio na autoricu članka. Njegov facebook-post ohrabrio je i druge članove ove društvene mreže da se, ne skrivajući vlastite identitete, pridruže uvredama i novim prijetnjama cijeloj redakciji Slobodne Dalmacije koju bi “nakon sanacije Karepovca trebalo sljedeću očistiti”.

‘Zločesta novinarka’

“Kada novinarski štakor iz “Slobodne” Dalmacije pokušava teško bolesnoj majci četvoro djece uzeti i zadnju koru kruha iz usta, radi fejs komentara i drugačijeg mišljenja! Kada novinarka izvuče iz konteksta samo mali dio tog komentara koji njezinoj podmukloj priči odgovara! Pa ta žena unatoč teškoj situaciji i bolesti, ima muda veća nego 99% svih nas, ali umjesto da takvi budu primjer da ima još ljudi koji se ne boje, takve se u ovoj državi gazi! Kada ovakvu novinarku nazoveš prodanom kurvom hrvatskog novinarstva to je udar na slobodu govora! Žali Bože svih poginulih koji su dali svoje živote da bi ovakvo smeće kao Katarina Marić Banje imala slobodu govora! Ovakvi narodu prikazuju današnju stvarnost, zato jesmo u govnima do grla!!! Danas sve ima granice osim ima bit ljudskog šljama! Ova prodana kurva hrvatskog novinarstva ima sa Robertom Pilipovićem intervju, a da to i ne zna! Pa koliko ima ovih ljigavaca i gube na sve strane! Pa odakle više izlazite, iz kojeg kamena je ova ispuzala !??? Kako ova fukara izvuče samo mali dio iz statusa i iz konteksta koji njoj odgovara, pa dokle više ide ta ljudska zloba!” – dio je onoga što je Pilipović objavio u svojoj facebook grupi, a zbog čega je prijavljen.

Njegov post izazvao je lavinu reakcija članova navedene grupe, a ima ih više od 36 tisuća, koji su se svim žarom, osim nekolicine, uključili u blaćenje “zločeste novinarke”. A upravo novinarka Slobodne Dalmacije već mjesecima, od kad se u javnosti počelo pisati o slučaju Splićanke Nine Kuluz i njenog maloljetnog sina, trpi na tisuće najgorih i najgnjusnijih uvreda koje se ispisuju na društvenim mrežama. Bez ikakvih posljedica! I to sve samo zato jer taj slučaj prati profesionalno, koliko god se nekome ne sviđalo to što Slobodna Dalmacija daje prostor i drugim stranama ovog slučaja.

Nikoga od tih “hrabrih” komentatora koji bi se rado, kako često pišu, i uživo s njom obračunali ne zanima što proživljava ona i njena obitelj. Naravno, udobno je iz kućne foteljice vrijeđati novinare i slične ljude koji svoj posao obavljaju u javnosti. No, pisanje po izrazito utjecajnim društvenim mrežama treba biti jednako odgovorno kao i pisanje u klasičnim medijima. Uostalom, danas se brojem mrtvih jasno može izraziti utjecaj društvenih mreža u nekim društvenim i(li) političkim kretanjima.

Bez komentara

– Nemam nikakvih komentara za Slobodnu Dalmaciju, kratko nam je kazao Pilipović kada smo ga zamolili za izjavu.

Kazneni zakon u svom članku 148. propisuje sankcije za kazneno djelo sramoćenja. U njemu se navodi da se onaj “tko pred drugim za nekoga iznese ili pronese činjeničnu tvrdnju koja može škoditi njegovoj časti ili ugledu, kazniti novčanom kaznom do sto osamdeset dnevnih iznosa”. Nadalje, onaj tko “djelo počini putem tiska, radija, televizije, računalnog sustava ili mreže, na javnom skupu ili na drugi način, zbog čega je ono postalo pristupačno većem broju osoba, kaznit će se novčanom kaznom do tristo šezdeset dnevnih iznosa”.

Što se tiče prijetnje, a Pilipović je za prijetnju prijavljen zbog rečenice “ova prodana kurva hrvatskog novinarstva ima sa Robertom Pilipovićem intervju, a da to i ne zna!”, Kazneni zakon u članku 139. regulira da će, ako je prijetnja počinjena prema službenoj ili odgovornoj osobi u vezi s njezinim radom ili položajem ili prema novinaru u vezi s njegovim poslom…..”, počinitelj biti kažnjen kaznom zatvora od šest mjeseci do pet godina.

Vidjet ćemo u kojoj će se mjeri pravna država osvrnuti i na stav da treba pristupiti čišćenju Slobodne Dalmacije, čim se sanira smetlište na Karepovcu. Ako u tome bude prva, Slobodna sasvim sigurno neće ostati jedina “očišćena” redakcija, pa bi slučaj trebalo uzeti ozbiljno.

President of RTCG Council dismissed

TUMM

20/03/2018

PODGORICA, 20.03.2018. – Vladimir Pavićević was dismissed from presidential position of Radio-Television (RTCG) Council. Ivan Jovetić, a new member of the Council, was elected to this position.

The initiative came from RTCG Council member Milo Drašković, and was supported by Igor Tomić and three new Council members – Ivan Jovetić, Goran Sekulović, and Slobodan Pajović.

Pavićević’ s dismissal was supported by six RTCG Council members, while three opposed it. Voting was secret.

“It’s fascinating to me that you insist on the discussion about the program-production plans that have failed. I believe that you have contributed to decline of RTCG Council credibility and I propose voting for dismissal of the Council President to be the first issue on the agenda”, Drašković said.

RTCG Council member, Goran Sekulović, said that the Public Service should not make any visible mistakes, such as the recently broadcasted release on fascism, with tendentiously chosen interlocutors from Montenegro and Serbia.

“As a representative of NGOs dealing with human rights, my obligation is to raise voice against human rights violations. Under the cover of democracy, citizens are being manipulated and presented that Montenegro has not been endangered by Chetniks”, Sekulović said.

Pavićević, however, said that it was completely unacceptable to him to attribute to RTCG defense of Chetniks, as well as an attempting to connect the Public Service with some opposition structures.

In the past six months, two Council members were dismissed by an extremely controversial procedure (Goran Đurović and Nikola Vukčević), and Ivan Mitrović resigned after it was determined that he was in a conflict of interest.

Reaction against the public official decision to cease communication with a journalist

AJK

19/03/2018

PRISTINA, 19.03.2018 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo reacted against the decision of the director of the Air Navigation Services Agency to cease communication with journalist Ardiana Thaci Mehmeti.

Journalist Thaci Mehmeti understood that it was the director Bahri Nuredini that ordered the public institution to stop the communication with her. This was announced when the journalist recently submitted a request for access to public documents in this agency and she was refused access because of the director’s decision.

These actions of the director of the public institution present violations of the principles of respecting transparency and it is a direct violation of the law on access to public documents.

AJK demands from director Nuredini to withdraw his decision and we encourage him to create professional relations with media, in this case with journalists Thaci Mehmeti too.

The association is also asking this and other institutions to respect the Law on Access to Public Documents and be open for journalists.

On November 24^th, 2017 AJK has reacted against a smear campaign against journalist Thaci Mehmeti by the director Nuredini because the latter did not like her investigative reporting’s.

Last year, Nuredini massively published information saying that no one from the agency should talk to journalist Thaci Mehmeti. The lynching information was published in a screen which is located in the main hall of the agency. Also, such information was published in the agency’s website for some time. The journalist was accused of spreading disinformation and it’s a journalist that works for other interest groups.

The information was removed from the screen and the website after the reaction of AJK last year.

Sekulovski: An attack on a journalist is an attack on the democracy of a country

AJM

19/03/2018

SKOPJE, 19.03.2018 – Dragan Sekulovski, Executive Director of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, spoke at today’s round table “Is there freedom in Macedonia” about the violence and attacks on journalists.

“This is a topic that the AJM is treating with special interest and in Macedonia, unfortunately, there is still a register of over 55 attacks on journalists, of which 18 occurred just last year. Of those 55, if you divide them in categories, most of them are physical attacks on journalists, then you have destruction of their property, verbal attacks, threats against the lives of journalists and against members of their families, along with harsh insults expressed by public figures”, stated Sekulovski.

He stressed that the AJM is intensively trying to raise awareness primarily among the citizens that an attack on a journalist basically means an attack on the democracy of a country.

“Here in Macedonia, unfortunately, there is still no final court resolution for those 55 registered cases, which refer to the last four years,”, said Sekulovski. He then made a comparison with Croatia, where recently a prison sentence was imposed for an attack on a journalist.

The round table was organized by CIVIL – Center for freedom, as a concluding event at which the findings and recommendations resulting from the five-month project “From understanding to defense” were presented.

This project is financed by the European Union through the small grants program “Protecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans”, implemented by the Croatian Journalists Association, as part of the regional project “Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety”, implemented through a partnership of six regional journalist associations – Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Association of Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists, Croatian Journalists’ Association, Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Association of Journalists of Macedonia and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro.

Suđenje za ubistvo Ćuruvije ponovo zatvoreno za javnost

IJAS

19/03/2018

BEOGRAD, 19.03.2018. – Zbog „interesa nacionalne bezbednosti“ suđenje optuženima za ubistvo Slavka Ćuruvije, vlasnika i urednika Dnevnog telegrafa i Evropljanina, nastavljeno je danas iza zatvorenih vrata predočavanjem pisanih dokaza.

Sudsko veće je na prethodnom ročištu odlučilo da glavni pretres održi bez prisustva javnosti, jer su dokumenta imala oznaku „državna tajna“, odnosno, kako je objašnjeno na prethodnom ročištu, pošto imaju veze sa nacionalnom bezbednošću.

Kako nezvanično saznajemo, radi se o tome da se među dokumentima koje je priložilo tužilaštvo nalaze i pravilnici o metodama rada Resora državne bezbednosti i njenoj unutrašnjoj organizaciji. Nije do kraja jasno zašto je njihovo obelodanjivanje zatvoreno za javnost, dok je u prethodnim slučajevima, za ispitivanje svedoka, koji su u najvećem broju bili bivši radnici Resora državne bezbednosti (RDB), sud odlučio da ih oslobodi čuvanja državne tajne.

Sudsko veće nije danas, kako su neki od advokata odbrane očekivali, odlučivalo o njihovim predlozima za dopunu dokaznog postupka. Veće o tome može da se izjasni do kraja glavnog pretresa.

Veći deo predloga odbrane odnosi se na osobe koje su u vreme ubistva Ćuruvije bile na važnim državnim funkcijama, kao što su bivši načelnik Generalštaba Dragoljub Ojdanić, ili aktuelni predsednik Srbije Aleksandar Vučić, bivši predsednici Tomislav Nikolić i Zoran Lilić, kao i bivši ministar Milovan Bojić.

Ćuruvija je ubijen na Uskrs, 11. aprila 1999. godine, u vreme NATO bombardovanja, u haustoru ispred svog stana u Svetogorskoj ulici u centru Beograda, kada se oko 16.30 časova vraćao iz šetnje sa Brankom Prpom. U optužnici se tvrdi da je ubijen po nalogu nepoznatih osoba iz najviših struktura vlasti zbog toga što ih je javno kritikovao zbog očuvanja njihove političke vlasti i moći, kao i ograničenja slobode medija.

Za ubistvo su optuženi visoki funkcioneri Resora državne bezbednosti – Radomir Marković, Milan Radonjić i Ratko Romić, kao i bivši pripadnik RDB-a Miroslav Kurak.

Suđenje će se nastaviti 24. aprila, takođe izvođenjem dokaza tužilaštva.

“International commission should deal with murders of journalists”

IJAS

19/03/2018

BELGRADE, 19.03.2018. – For the sake of journalists’ safety today, it is important to shed light on past murders and disappearances of their colleagues.

This is according to Veran Matic, president of the Commission Investigating Murders of Journalists.

Matic, who is also director of Fund B92, told the Slobodno Srpski talk show that in the following months, as a consultant to the OSCE Mission in Pristina, he would work on a proposal to form a commission that would deal with the cases of 14 journalists who were murdered or went missing in Kosovo in the period from 1998 until 2005.

“We agreed with representatives of the OSCE that in the next few months we will work on investigating the fate of missing and killed journalists and try to collect documentation,” Matic stressed.

So far, no one has requested this documentation, and according to Matic’s opinion, it must exist in certain cases with Serbian, or Yugoslav authorities and with international organizations: UNMIK, EULEX, the OSCE.

“The outcome of this process should be a proposal on how to continue investigating these killings. Whether it will be a commission modeled on the one we have in Belgrade, or somewhat modified because of the specific situation here, we will see. Most likely, this will have to be an international body with a serious authority from the world of journalism,” Matic said.

A year ago, at an OSCE-organized conference in Pristina dedicated to safety of journalists, Matic presented the Serbian commission and its results. Since then, discussions have been held between him and the representatives of the OSCE on how to make progress in shedding light on the cases of murders and disappearances of journalists in Kosovo.

One of the conclusions of this conference was to launch an initiative to form a commission to deal with these cases, which was then supported by journalist associations that gather Serb and Albanian journalists.

“I have the mandate to prepare this proposal in the next ten months. After presenting the proposal to media associations, international organizations, we will see to what degree serious a pressure can be applied for such a body to be formed. It should be an international body that would have the authority of both the United Nations and the European Union, but also of all local authorities in Kosovo, with a mandate to carry out a certain type of control and assist investigating authorities in the process of these investigations. The basis of this commission should be made up of the representatives of the media community, both domestic and international. Also, members of the commission should be people from those institutions who are in charge of solving (the cases), therefore, from the police and from other institutions that can help,” Matic assessed.

He said it was very important also for the sake of the safety of journalists today to shed light on the cases of the murdered and missing journalists.

“If you permit impunity at any time, in a way you open up the door serious cases of violence or murder happening today. This is in a way an invitation to those who want to stop journalists, stop the freedom of speech, that this is cheapest way, that they will go unpunished, because nobody will deal with it very much. It is important to first have consensus within the media community, and then this consensus has to be achieved with the political community of a society, in this case Kosovo, and of course, broader than that,” Matic said.

Matić: Uskoro istraživanje sudbina nestalih i ubijenih novinara na Kosovu

IJAS

19/03/2018

BEOGRAD, 19.03.2018. – Direktor Fonda B92 i predsednik Komisije za istraživanje ubistava novinara u Srbiji, Veran Matić, rekao je da će narednih meseci, kao konsultant misije OEBS-a u Prištini, raditi na predlogu za formiranje Komisije koja će se baviti slučajevima 14 ubijenih i nestalih novinara na Kosovu u periodu od 1998. do 2005.

“Sa predstavnicima OEBS-a smo se ovih dana dogovorili da ćemo u narednih nekoliko meseci raditi na istraživanju sudbina nestalih i ubijenih novinara i pokušati da prikupimo dokumentaciju,” rekao je Matić u emisiji Slobodno srpski.

Do sada tu dokumentaciju niko nije tražio, a po mišljenju Matića, ona mora da postoji u određenim slučajevima kod srpskih, odnosno jugoslovenskih organa i kod međunarodnih organizacija – UNMIK-a, EULEX-a, OEBS-a.

“Rezultat tog procesa treba da bude predlog na koji način će se nastaviti rad na istraživanju ovih ubistava. Da li će to biti komisija po uzoru na onu koju imamo u Beogradu ili će biti nešto modifikovana zbog specifičnosti sutuacije ovde, videćemo. Najverovatnije će to morati da bude međunarodno telo sa ozbiljnim autoritetom iz sveta novinarstva,” rekao je Matić.

Pre godinu dana, Matić je na konferenciji o bezbednosti novinara u Prištini, koju je organizovao OEBS, predstavio Komisiju za istraživanje ubistava novinara u Srbiji i njene rezultate. Od tada traju razgovori između njega i predstavnika OEBS-a oko toga na koji način bi nešto moglo da se pomeri kada je u pitanju rasvetljavanje slučajeva ubijenih i nestalih novinara i na Kosovu.

Jedan od zaključaka te konferencije bio je pokretanje inicijative za formiranje komisije koja bi se bavila slučajevima ubijenih i nestalih novinara, što su tada podržala i novinarska udruženja koja okupljaju srpske i albanske novinare.

“Imam mandat da u narednih deset meseci pripremim taj predlog. Posle predstavljanja predloga medijskim udruženjima, međunarodnim organizacijama, videćemo koliko se može izvršiti ozbiljan pritisak da se takvo telo i formira. To bi trebalo da bude međunarodno telo koje bi imalo autoritet i Ujedinjenih nacija i Evropske unije, ali i svih lokalnih organa i na Kosovu, sa mandatom da vrši određenu vrstu kontrole i da pomogne istražnim organima u procesu ovih istraga. Osnovu te komisije treba da čine predstavnici medijske zajednice, i domaće i međunarodne. Takođe, članovi komisije bi trebalo da budu i ljudi iz onih institucija koje su zadužene za rešavanje, dakle, iz policije i iz drugih institucija koje u tome mogu pomoći,” istakao je Matić.

On je ocenio i da je veoma važno i zbog bezbednosti novinara danas rasvetliti slučajeve ubijenih i nestalih novinara.

“Ako nekažnjivost dopustite u bilo kojem vremenskom periodu, vi ste otvorili na neki način vrata tome da se dogode teški slučajevi nasilja ili ubistava i danas. To je na neki način poziv onima koji žele da zaustave novinare, da zaustave slobodu govora, da im je to najjeftiniji način, da će proći nekažnjeno, jer se niko time naročito neće baviti. Važno je da imamo prvo konsenzus medijske zajednice, a onda taj konsenzus mora da se napravi sa političkom zajednicom jednog društva, u ovom slučaju Kosova i naravno šire,” istakao je Matić.

Ubistvom novinara na Kosovu i Metohiji novinari redakcije Insajder bavili su se u emisiji Insajder bez ograničenja „Spomenik istini“.

Matić o ubistvu Ivanovića: Danas je teško prikriti atentate

Govoreći o ubistvu Olivera Ivanovića, Veran Matić je rekao da je zabrinjavajuće i nedopustivo da dva meseca nakon ubistva javnost još uvek nije upoznata sa bilo kakvim rezultatima istrage. On smatra da mora svakodnevno da se podseća na to ubistvo i na potrebu da se ono razreši.

“Svakim danom posle ubistva se gubi po pedeset odsto mogućnosti da bude razrešeno, jer ako se ne razreši u roku od nekoliko dana onda je kasnije sve to teže. Naravno, pošto su ovo kompleksne stvari, moguće je da dođe i do nekog rešenja, ali očigledno je da se mora dogoditi određena vrsta političkih promena ili nekog diskontinuiteta tu, da bi se nekako stvorio neki prostor, da neko progovori nešto. Mislim da je danas jako teško prikriti atentate tog tipa. U situaciji u kojoj nam sateliti gledaju u sobe, meni izgleda gotovo nemoguće da nije zabeleženo puno toga, na primer satelitima. Takođe, ovde je jako puno ljudi koji sigurno imaju ozbiljnu bezbednosnu kulturu i predstavljaju bezbednosne zajednice svojih zemalja na ovom prostoru,” ocenio je Matić.

“Unutrašnji dijalog – debata sa poznatim krajem”

Matić smatra da je unutrašnji dijalog o Kosovu koji je pokrenut na inicijativu predsednika Srbije Aleksandra Vučića trebalo voditi od onog trenutka kad su se pojavili ozbiljni porblemi sa Kosovom.

“Čini mi se da je ovo finiš i da se u finišu obavlja jedna debata koja ima određenu vrstu poznatog završetka. Dakle, da ta debata ne daje neke nove produktivne ideje koje bismo mogli da upotrebimo i sa njima da eventualno promišljamo šta dalje, na koji način komunicirati celu tu priču. Jasno je da ističe vreme za neki sporazum koji treba napraviti, koji bi bio dugoročnijeg karaktera. Mislim da je to nekakvo zadovoljavanje forme i pripremanje javnosti na nešto što se mora dogoditi – a to je nekakav čin, nekakav gest kojim će se završiti ceo ovaj briselski proces,” smatra Matić.

“Između ruskog i američkog uticaja”

Govoreći o političkim odnosima u regionu u trenutku obnavljanja tenzija između Zapada i Rusije, Veran Matić je ocenio da uticaj Moskve na Balkanu raste.

“Ne primećujem to kao neku određenu veliku strategiju, nego više kao popunjavanje ispražnjenog prostora. Dakle, u jednom dugom vremenskom periodu Zapad je nekako napustio prostor Balkana i jednostavno ruski uticaj se proširio. Na primer povlači se BBC na srpskom, a na taj prostor je ušao Sputnjik,” podsetio je Matić.

Uticaj sa istoka je uzrokovan kako ekonomskim faktorima, kao što je energetska zavisnost od Rusije, tako i političkim, strankama u vladajućoj koaliciji na vlasti koje imaju dobre veze sa Moskvom.

Sa druge strane, i američki uticaj na Balkanu je snažan, posebno u vezi sa situacijom oko Kosova.

“Siguran sam da su SAD svakako prisutne u Briselskom dijalogu, ali, naravno, ne institucionalno i mislim da će biti veoma teško da se to institucionalno sprovede i realizuje. Mislim da i EU nije baš zainteresovana za tako nešto, ali SAD imaju veoma ozbiljne interese i ovde na Kosovu i u regionu i mislim da će one nastaviti dalje da budu vrlo aktivne kada je reč o samom procesu i o samom Balkanu uopšte,” rekao je Matić.

“Završni dokument ne mora da bude priznanje”

Matić veruje da je moguće sklopiti pravno obavezujući dokument između Beograda i Prištine na kraju Briselskog dijaloga, na način koji to neće značiti faktičko i formalno priznanje Kosova, za šta će trebati dosta, ocenio je, mudrosti i spretnosti.

“Mislim da ima puno elemenata koji bi trebalo da naprave balans i da se niko ne oseća da je pobeđen i da je izgubio sve, a da u isto vreme ne bude i baš najzadovoljniji onim što je dobio. To bi mogao da znači okvir u kojem će građani Kosova živeti stabilnije i bolje u budućnosti u zajednici na način koji se postigne ovim sporazumom. Ne treba se vezivati za nešto što imamo kao teritorijalno i državno u svojim glavama, a da ono u realnosti ne postoji. Treba na neki način komunicirati sa realnošću u korist građana, a ne u korist nečega što mi zamišljamo da je Kosovo danas u našim glavama, nešto što je mašta. To znači da treba prihvatiti realne odnose snaga i iskoristiti to da građanima kroz čitav niz odluka bude garantovana stabilnost, bolji život, sloboda i ekonomski uslovi za razvoj,” smatra Matić.

Na pitanje da li je moguće da Srbija bude uslovljena priznanjem Kosova za ulazak u EU, Matić je ocenio da to od Srbije niko ne traži.

“Ja mislim da niko ne traži da Srbija to uradi na taj način na koji se to uglavnom zamišlja, da će jednog dana Vučić reći – mi priznajemo Kosovo i ono je ravnopravna država kao i sve ostale države. Mislim da će postojati neka odluka koja će to u realnosti značiti, ali se neće to tako zvati i neće imati sve elemente državnosti kao što neke normalne zemlje imaju u svetu. Postojaće, ne znam, određena vrsta međunarodnog nadzora i određeni vremenski period koji će sigurno ostati da se taj nekakav završni oblik državnosti možda poklopi sa vremenom u kojem će ceo Balkan biti integrisan u evropske tokove, u evropsku zajednicu i kada će, pretpostavka je, granice biti po malo besmislene, i da će pitanje suvereniteta biti više evropsko, nego lokalno,” rekao je Matić gostujući u emisiji Slobodno srpski.

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Matić o ubistvu Ivanovića: Danas je teško prikriti atentate

“Između ruskog i američkog uticaja”

“Završni dokument ne mora da bude priznanje”