For most north Europeans, the Eurovision Song Contest is little more than a joke. For citizens of the former Yugoslavia, however, it is a chance to revisit all the hatreds of the Balkan conflict.

Once seen as Serbia's biggest foreign foe, the United States is now spearheading its economic revival.

Few Serbian Roma put much faith in official promises to tackle their lousy conditions.

Pro-union opposition says secret footage supports its claims of foul play.

Bosnian and Albanian parties in Montenegro are trading on their position as masters of "swing votes" on key issues in order to promote their own agendas.

Bosnian and Albanian parties in Montenegro are trading on their position as masters of "swing votes" on key issues in order to promote their own agendas.

An influx of Serb refugees and pensioners has made this ancient resort town a bastion of pro-union feeling.

An influx of Serb refugees and pensioners has made this ancient resort town a bastion of pro-union feeling.

Albania's foreign minister, Besnik Mustafaj, has been summoned to appear before a parliamentary commission to explain controversial remarks concerning possible changes to regional borders.

Slobodan Milosevic is dead but parts of his legacy may outlive him. It is a historical irony that he should die in the same year that both Kosovo and Montenegro are set to go independent, marking the final, crushing defeat of Serbian nationalism.

At the headquarters of Slobodan Milosevic's party in the centre of Belgrade, portraits of the former president are still prominently on display.

For years now I have been suffering from Milosevic fatigue. Ever since the moment that I saw his pathetic figure, leant slightly forward, defeated, walking through the prison yard in The Hague, just after his arrest in 2001.

For the first time, the public will be presented with evidence of how Miloševic Junior built a business empire worth millions of euros. Results of the last police investigation on smuggling cigarettes from 2003. held secret to this day are also indicative of that.

Political experts say the changes reflect the political instability that has gripped Kosovo since the demise of Rugova, an established political figure who lead passive resistance to Yugoslav rule in the Nineties.

The state union with Serbia was set up under pressure from Brussels in 2002. At the time, Montenegro had to agree to postpone its drive for independence for a three-year period, which has now passed. The coalition now plans to go ahead with the referendum on May 21.

With Serbian officials dreading the immediate suspension of the talks, the postponement of the decision for more than a month lifted some of the pressure on Belgrade. However, the decision to delay suspension of membership talks with Belgrade may backfire if misinterpreted.

Notwithstanding the views of local Serbs, the signs are that talks on the future of Kosovo due to begin on Monday will almost certainly lead to some form of independence.

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement SAA may either be postpone or individual members may refuse to ratify it, which is the step Britain and the Netherlands took with Croatia over Zagreb's failure to arrest Gotovina.

Economists hail Europe's call for a Balkan free trade zone, but many Croats see in the proposal the ghost of Yugoslavia.

Foreign aid donors have made a valuable, if somewhat flawed, contribution to media-development in the Balkans.

Some money was wasted, but it's also thanks to donors' aid that some of the best independent media in the Balkans are alive today.

The Montenegro Railway marks its ninety-fifth year of existence this year, but there are not many reasons to celebrate – Privatisation: yes, but how and when?

If the cornerstone of every civilisation is knowledge, then taking a look at what is not currently happening in Serbia would give you the impression that Serbia is a nation lacking a cornerstone. All of us can simply turn on the TV and see what is being considered as Serbia's priorities in the 21st century: the status of Kosovo and Montenegro, BK transactions, The Hague, Karadzic and Mladic, resolving differences between Chetniks, Partizans and all the other factions of the Second World War and so on.

The government's crackdown on Mobtel boss Bogoljub Karic is motivated by politics, not a desire to end corruption, critics say. Serbia's government is fending off accusations that it failed to investigate the dealings of tycoon turned politician Bogoljub Karic until he allegedly tried to buy the loyalty of the ruling party's parliamentary deputies, threatening its majority.

Distance learning via the internet has been implemented at Serbian universities this year as well. The new Higher Education Law has included distance learning as a medium of viable study programs. However, in the recent experiences from experimental programs with such modes of learning at the Economics and Organizational Education Universities, it has been seen that these types of course have encounter setbacks typical of the Balkans.

B92 journalist Brankica Stankovic, the author of the Insider TV show, has been voted the journalist of the year in a traditional New Year's survey of over 100 journalists and editors from a large number of Serbia's prominent media outlets.

While Serbia is not the "tiger of the Balkans," as one minister of the current Government constantly predicts that it will become, the Serbian company "Tigar" has announced that it will turn all of its focus to the international market, stating that it does not want to turn its leading position on the Serbian market into a monopoly.

This new report by the Souteast European Media Journal, based on research conducted by the Belgrade Media Centre, shows that little has changed for journalists and journalism since the last research in 2003. In fact, it may have become worse.

Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Centre has responded to the latest wave of threats and violence against dissident voices in Serbia with this report on attacks on non-governmenal organisations.

August 22, 2005, Paris - Most venture capitalists follow the progress of their investments through stock markets or financial reports, but for Sasa Vucinic, it is usually human rights watchdogs who provide him with his first heads-up that there may be problems.

Source: The International Finance Corporation (the private sector investment arm of the World Bank).
A paper aimed at providing information for international financial institutions, private investors and professionals on the state of the IT sector in Serbia.
[download zip, 310kb | word, 770kb]

The media working groups of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe have reported on standards and conditions in the media sphere in nine different countries in the region. The report which focuses on legislation, professionalism and associations in each of the countries is available here in full.
[download word document 168kb]

October, 2003 - Despite the almost three years which have passed since Serbia opted for democracy, there is no sign that the Serbian Government has a strategy on developing the media sector. The adoption of new media legislation is well behind schedule while the government ignores the outcome of public debates on the draft bills. This has left media exhausted as they struggle with an irregular market environment and inequitable business conditions. Nor have the authorities responded to demands from the public to review media operations under the previous regime. This raises the legitimate question of the degree to which Serbia has really rid itself of the heritage of an oppressive regime, what real improvement has occurred in the status of media and the government’s attitude to the sector.

It was only four of us time, Women in Black from Belgrade this time driving in a small car towards Bratunac/Srebrenica, compared to forty of us in a bus only two months ago at the 8th anniversary of the massacre of Srebrenica, July 11 2003. Now we were heading towards Republika Srpska for the memorial opening, because we were invited by our Bosnian girlfriends.

September 2002 - This special report presents a comprehensive overview of all the cases in which acts of war crimes and genocide against the civilian population, as defined by the applicable law in Kosovo, have been charged or prosecuted by the court system established under the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) after June 1999. It represents the first complete survey of prosecutions for violations of international humanitarian law that have taken place in this court system. These trials are of crucial importance for the evolution of the society in Kosovo towards reconciliation and acknowledgement of the truth. However, public information about the manner in which these trials have been conducted and about the verdicts has so far been scarce and inconsistent, leaving both the public and most part of the local and international legal community with an incomplete image of the materials and processes of these cases. Download the zip document [130k, 56 pages]

July, 2002 - Ebart Consulting's Media Documentation division conducted new research on facing the past in Serbia's print media from June 20 to July 19 this year. During that time a total of 707 articles on this topic were published, twice as many as in the previous month. As in the previous study, crime was the topic most frequently addressed, with an increase of ten per cent compared to the coverage of other topics.

As in the previous period analysed, the most covered topic was crime, there were even 10% more articles respecting articles on other topics (the previous month common percentage occurrence of such articles were 35,now it is almost the half 45 %.

The complete text of the Broadcasting Law adopted by the Serbian Parliament on July 18, 2002. The law provides for the establishment of a media regulatory body and the transformation of Radio Television Serbia into a public service broadcast network.
[word document - 208k]

Research: Facing the Past
Ebart / Media Documentation, May 20 - June 20, 2002

The phenomenon of "facing the past in Serbia", at least where the media environment is concerned, assumes the characteristics noted in other East European countries where the defeat and collapse of the communist system resulted in a resolute split with and the "disclaiming" of the past. What causes concern in this respect is not this "blindness" for things of the past, but rather the link of the left and right radicalisms with nationalist resentments.

The report documents how little attention has been paid, in general, to the subject of reparations in the former Yugoslavia. There have been few public apologies for wartime responsibility made by leaders in the region, and even fewer examples of monuments and memorials to civilian victims. In terms of material reparations, there are of course cases on point that have been submitted to the International Court of Justice, but there may not be an outcome in the near future. Download the ICTJ report in full [word 140k, zip 47k]

The drafting was undertaken within the joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Commission for assistance to Yugoslavia in changing media legislation. This project ran from April 2002 to June 15, 2002.

Three years after its establishment, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has not established a safe and secure environment, the rule of law or a meaningful civil administration in north Mitrovica. The ICG report proposes that it adopt a multi-track approach that combines pressure on Belgrade to honour its obligations in Kosovo with vigorous action to ensure the rule of law in Mitrovica and an innovative offer to the city's Serbs of integration into local government structures. Download the full report (Zip file 990Kb)

This study, conducted April 20-May 20 2002, analyses data from the most important print media in Yugoslavia and the media climate with regards the phenomenon of facing the past. All texts can be browsed and analysed with the help of a special program in the electronic archive Ebart / Media documentation (total: 248 texts). This research is carried out by Ebart / Media documentation and the results will now be published monthly. Contact: ebart@ebart.co.yu

In a state of crisis, a computer-mediated service became an important communication channel, enabling social interaction. Virtual space was not a bridge between geographically dispersed individuals, but an alternative gathering place in circumstances which disabled physical contact.

One of the first immediately noticeable results of the political changes of October 5, 2000, was opening up of the state and quasi-state broadcasters and print media in Serbia to the representatives of former opposition bloc and NGO sector. High hopes raised in the aftermath of the October changes – that the media field would be efficiently and swiftly reformed in a just manner, that political influence on the media would be largely eliminated – have nonetheless proved to be overly optimistic

A joint study by Southeast European Initiative of One World International and the Information Program of the Open Society Institute. The study covers six geographical areas (Yugoslavia - Serbia, Montenegro and Vojvodina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) with roughly 20 NGOs per each, except for Yugoslavia whose size and scope require a larger sample. Download the study (English, pdf format, 49 pages, 1.29 Mb)

Our research indicates that during those two years the Ministry permitted the use of a total of 98 television and 65 radio frequencies, without once releasing the information to the public. The minister for telecommunications was exercising his discretionary right with great discretion. The criteria for doling out these channels were always the wishes and personal interests of the former regime, rather than any sort of technical assessment

Broadcast Act / Seventh Draft

The present Broadcasting Act regulates broadcasting activities pursuant to international conventions and standards, aimed at securing the freedom of expression to citizens and other entities in the Republic of Serbia. This Act is particularly focused on establishment and competencies of the Serbian Broadcasting Council (SBC), public broadcasting service, procedure of and prerequisites for granting broadcasting concessions and on other issues relevant to the broadcasting sphere
[Download Word doc 185K]