BELGRADE, Monday - Journalists from Belgrade's Radio Television B92 have made a donation of 1,000 Euros to Split weekly Feral Tribune following their having been fined 200,000 Croatian kunas and the blocking of their bank accounts.

B92 sees this as an obvious attempt to crush critical opinion in Croatia and calls on other broadcasters and publishers to join institutions fighting for the freedom of speech in this solidarity action.

For societies on their way out of totalitarianism, the status of media is the most obvious test for democracy. The status of media in all post-war societies of the former Yugoslavia is proportionate to the quality of change and democratisation.

In Kosovo, international control has been established over the most influential broadcaster: Radio Television Kosovo. This had the unfortunate result of shelving the development of independent media. I recently had the opportunity to see the inadequate conditions under which Kohavision TV is operating, two years after the bombing.

Independent media have not even begun to evolve in Montenegro, having fallen into the trap of fighting for national independence, which has frequently taken priority over the professional development and independence of the media.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the international experiment with OBN TV has failed and this territory is in a constantly experimental phase with a negative attitude to independent media, which are kept at a disadvantage with respect to state media.

In Serbia, no single piece of legislation applying to the media field has been adopted. Instead, a moratorium on frequency distribution was introduced, which provided for protégés of the Milosevic regime to keep their privileges by relying on the laws of the market. It is more than obvious that these companies have close ties to the new authorities. The murders of publisher Slavko Curuvija and journalist Milan Pantic have not been solved. NIN editor Stevan Niksic has been sentenced to two years and five months' imprisonment. The fact that media no longer face astronomical fines has unfortunately not influenced their legal security and status.

A lack of tolerance for independent media and dissident opinion is also part of the continuity with the former authorities in Croatia. I have no doubt that Feral Tribune is a stumbling block for any authorities because of the high moral standards set by journalists and editors.

The inability to establish a process of facing our own past imposes the need for the independent media to continue their role as a public service, because no real public service media exist. Not only is this in direct opposition to the interests of the public, but the post-war governments, consisting mainly of broad coalitions often with contradictory programs, are thus the direct successors of wartime governments, nationalist, chauvinist and frequently criminal.

The refusal to critically consider the recent past and to establish the truth about crimes and responsibility for them is a common feature of these governments. The principle of communicating vessels still works today, just as in the time when Tudjman and Milosevic would occasionally help each other out by drawing attention away in crisis situations. Three Croats not delivered to the Hague Tribunal are an excellent excuse for not delivering five Serbs. Ignoring cooperation with the Tribunal in Bosnia works directly against legislation on cooperation in Serbia. The fact that there are no trials in local courts in Serbia slows down trials in Croatian courts and makes them meaningless.

The same applies to independent media. The lack of resolve to really free the media space in Croatia hinders this process in other parts of South-East Europe and vice versa. The former political domination of the media will be replaced by the domination of media moguls. Strong independent media are an obstacle because they insist on questioning democracy in societies which control truth and critical consciousness.

These new threats will be difficult to oppose, but we can make it a challenge for all of us. Now more than ever it is necessary to unite the forces in the region because a situation such as that in which Feral Tribune now finds itself could await any one of us tomorrow.

The international community too must learn a less from cases such as this. The international community must not make compromises with governments in the region for short-term interests in the matter of the state's attitude to independent critical voices. Every compromise costs us dearly because it results in the crushing of criticism, the slowing down of the democratisation process and prevents the public from prospering.

Veran Matic
Editor in Chief, RTV B92 Belgrade