[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             KATI MARTON ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN BOSNIA

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 5, 1996

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring my colleagues' 
attention to a superb op-ed in Friday's Washington Post which discusses 
the importance of freedom of the press in the former Yugoslavia. The 
author, my good friend and prominent journalist Kati Marton, has for 
many years been one of the leading spokespersons for press freedom and 
for open societies.
  Freedom of the press in the United States was enshrined in the very 
first amendment to the Constitution, as it was recognized as the 
cornerstone of a true democracy. Indeed, it was the circulation of 
revolutionary literature that spurred the War of Independence and 
rallied popular support for democracy.
  A lasting democracy in Bosnia, where violations of freedom of the 
press are most acute, is only possible with a free press. Such freedom 
is necessary in the upcoming elections there so that Bosnians can make 
an informed choice.
  Kati Marton's observations during her 10-day trip to Bosnia reveal 
the importance of United States support for such freedom. Kati chairs 
the Committee to Protect Journalists and possesses many insights on the 
Bosnian situation. Her husband, Richard Holbrooke, was the chief 
negotiator of the Dayton Accords. Mr. Speaker, I ask that her article 
be included in the Record, and I urge my colleagues to consider her 
insightful remarks.

                [From the Washington Post, May 31, 1996]

                    Key to the Balkans: A Free Press

                            (By Kati Marton)

       They don't shoot reporters--or even jail them anymore--in 
     postwar former Yugoslavia. Today the authoritarian 
     governments of the Balkans use more subtle measures to 
     control the media.
       After a 10-day fact-finding trip to Sarajevo, Belgrade and 
     Zagreb and talks with the leaders of all three countries, I 
     am convinced a healthy democratic opposition will not take 
     root here without stronger Western pressure on Serb, Croatian 
     and Bosnian leaders. All three leaders--Slobodan Milosevic, 
     Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic--promised to uphold the 
     right to free speech and free press in Dayton, but all three 
     are falling far short of delivering on that promise.
       The Balkan media's plight goes much further than the issue 
     of the population's legitimate rights of free speech and free 
     press. It was the media in Belgrade, Zagreb and, to a much 
     lesser degree, Sarajevo that fueled the ethnic passions that 
     unleashed the war. It is now essential for the security of 
     Europe and the United States that we insist on the 
     establishment of free media in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.
       The situation is most critical in Bosnia. In September, 
     nationwide elections will be held that will anchor the 
     fragile new entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina to a new central 
     government. Without a free press, the dream of reviving a 
     multi-ethnic society after years of savage violence will 
     fade. Although the guns that killed 45 reporters during the 
     war are quiet now, it is still too dangerous for Bosnian 
     journalists to cover more than a sliver of the country. The 
     brave ones who try come back shaken from the experience, with 
     stories of being pulled off the road when Serb militia loyal 
     to the indicted war criminal who still heads the Bosnia 
     Serbs--Radovan Karadzic--spotted their Sarajevo plates and 
     hauled them in for ``questioning.''
       In Bosnia, as elsewhere, television is how most people get 
     their news. What limited television there is (only one of 
     nine transmitters survived the war) is under the control of 
     President Alija Izetbegovic's ruling party. This makes it 
     difficult for opposition candidates such as former prime 
     minister Haris Silajdic to get their message out in the 
     election campaign. Ironically, Radio Free Europe, deemed a 
     relic of the Cold War elsewhere and never before heard in 
     Yugoslavia, has become the most popular radio in Bosnia--as 
     close as most people think they'll get to the straight story.
       In Belgrade and Zagreb, independent media are controlled by 
     the use of ``financial police'' government accountants who 
     swoop down on opposition press and find their bookkeeping 
     wanting. On April 25, such ``accountants'' swept into the 
     office of the Croatian weekly Panorama and ordered all staff 
     to leave in 25 minutes. The magazine remains shut. The 
     reason: alleged ``failure to meet technical, health and 
     ecological standards necessary for operating.''
       When I asked President Tudjman why his government is suing 
     another independent paper, Novi List, for a ruinous sum, 
     Tudjman ordered an aid to fetch the cover of the satiric 
     weekly, Feral Tribune, which featured Tudjman's face atop 
     Rambo's body. ``Would any other world leader put up with 
     this?'' he asked. ``All leaders in democracies,'' I replied; 
     but without much effect on him.
       Another technique both Milosevic and Tudjman use to quiet 
     the voices of dissent is to claim that formerly state-
     controlled media were ``improperly privatized.'' Using that 
     device, Serbian police entered Belgrade's Studio B and pulled 
     the plug. Now all Serb television is under Milosevic's 
     control. But Milosevic assured me, revealingly, that he has 
     instructed the media to tamp down their former anti-Muslim 
     and anti-Groat fervor and get behind the Dayton Accords.
       Milosevic also controls newsprint, the life blood of 
     newspapers, and thus manipulates the independent dailies' 
     circulation. Nasa Borba, the only major independent daily in 
     Serbia, struggles to reach more than 10,000 readers, whereas 
     Politika, the pro-Milosevic paper, never suffers from a 
     newsprint shortage and reaches 300,000 readers. To go from 
     Nasa Borba's shabby offices to Politika's high-tech home, 
     bristling with security men, is to understand the effective 
     uses of press control in Serbia. Politika's colorful editor, 
     Hadji Antic, who described his editorial policy as ``inclined 
     toward the official story,'' said if the other papers have 
     circulation problems it's because they're no good.
       But the Balkan leaders are not the implacable dictators of 
     the past. There are many pressure points. Serbia badly wants 
     the remaining sanctions lifted. Bosnia, the real victim in 
     the war, as well as Serbia and Croatia, need Western 
     investment, IMF loans, European Union membership and 
     respectability. In their need is our opportunity. A price 
     must be enacted for all those things, and part of that price 
     should be the one ingredient that separates a democracy from 
     every other form of government; a free press.

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