Serbs Tighten Control Over Domestic and Foreign News Media

by Kurt Holden

Serbian authorities arrested a Bosnian Serb officer after he confessed in an interview filmed by a journalist for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) that he had taken part in the mass execution of thousands of Bosnian Muslims taken from the United Nations “safe area” of Srebrenica in the summer of 1995. Serb authorities prevented the departure from Belgrade of Drazen Erdemovic and seized the interview with him filmed by freelancer Vanessa Vasic-Janekovic for ABC.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said statements by Erdemovic suggested that he participated in or witnessed the deaths of nearly 1,200 men. Burns said the U.S. supported the request of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the extradition as witnesses of Erdemovic and another Serb officer, Radoslav Kremnovic.

Erdemovic’s arrest by Serb authorities followed a number of moves by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to tighten his political control in what remains of the former Yugoslavia. The moves included closing down an independent radio station, Studio-B, and jamming broadcasts of another radio station, B-92, when it covered opposition parties. The severest blow has been Serb closure of the Belgrade office of the U.S.-based Soros Foundation, which has been providing funds to independent news media in both Serbia and Montenegro.

Lebanese Government Closing Television and Radio Stations

Lebanon, once the home of the Arab world’s most conspicuously free press, is moving to reduce the country’s electronic media from 50 to about 6 television stations and from 150 to 10 radio stations. The pro- Syrian government of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri says that under a new media law, licenses will no longer be granted for political or sectarian considerations, but rather on “technical and material grounds and according to the requirements of national accord.”

Critics say the law is a government attempt to silence opposition voices, since the few prosperous broadcasting stations are owned by government officials and political parties. “The issue is not a matter of numbers but rather freedom of speech and diversity of opinions,” said former Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami.

More Journalists Jailed, Fewer Murdered in 1995

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit organization based in New York City, reported that 182 journalists were in prison because of their work at the end of 1995, compared to 173 at the end of the preceding year. The 1995 figure is the highest recorded by the committee since it began its annual count in 1986.

On the other hand, the number of journalists killed either deliberately or accidentally while covering wars or rebellions dropped to 51 in 1995, compared to 72 in 1994, the committee announced.

With 53 detained journalists, Turkey had the highest number in jail, while Algeria recorded the highest number of journalists killed with 24. After Turkey, countries with the highest numbers of imprisoned journalists were Ethiopia with 31, China with 20, and Kuwait with 18. After Algeria, former Yugoslavia had the highest number of journalist fatalities, with 45 killed while covering the fighting there.

Nightline’s Ted Koppel Apologizes For Pat Buchanan Coverage

“Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel apologized “to all the Buchanans” for a statement in a February broadcast that presidential candidate Pat Buchanan’s father “had been a regular listener to the radio broadcasts of Father Coughlin.” Koppel also expressed contrition for the fact that he had “made particular reference to Father Coughlin’s anti-Semitism.”

“That Pat Buchanan’s father was a regular listener had been reported in several publications during the 1992 primary campaign, and again in The Washington Post about a week ago,” Koppel said. “Still, we should have checked it out for ourselves. The Buchanan family insists the story is not true, and they, after all, should know. My apologies to all the Buchanans.”

Executive director Michael A. Ferguson of the Catholic Campaign for America responded to Koppel that while he had “appropriately apologized to the Buchanan family,” he also had “offended millions of committed Catholics and their deeply held beliefs.” Former Reagan administration national security adviser Richard Allen, who serves on the board of Ferguson’s organization, wrote Koppel saying his initial program had “quickly crossed the line with its incredible and blatant anti-Catholic bias...Beyond that, you stretched in an effort to forge a direct link between Pat Buchanan, Father Coughlin, the Church and anti-Semitism.”

Buchanan’s sister and presidential campaign manager, Bay Buchanan, called Koppel “a two-faced, anti-Catholic bigot.” In a news conference she added: “If this was about a Jewish family...Ted Koppel would be gone this morning. But Catholic-bashing, Christian-bashing, that’s in vogue.”