Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger

Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily than pro-government ones.¹²³⁴

Country

Serbia

Where

RS

Level of government

National

Tactics

Insult and defamation laws, Funding and ownership pressure

Head of government at the time

Slobodan Milosevic

Issue of the day

Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.

Outcome

Reversed, January 1, 2001. The law was suspended after Milosevic lost power in October 2000 elections and a change of government in Serbia.

Era

The 1990s

What happened

In October 1998, Serbia's parliament, dominated by allies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, passed the Law on Public Information, requiring media to avoid publishing material judged to violate "the inviolability of human dignity and the right to a private life" and barring "untruths which violate the rights of the individual," with courts empowered to impose large fines within 24 hours of a complaint and little opportunity to appeal before payment came due. By early 2000, independent outlets had received 31 fines averaging 420,000 dinars each, roughly three times the average fine on pro-government papers. Newspapers including Glas javnosti, Danas, Cacanski Glas and the magazine Vranjske were fined repeatedly. Milosevic said enforcement of the law had been "very weak" and that critics were "under foreign control"; the ruling Yugoslav Left party called for "decontamination of the journalistic profession," describing independent media as a "fifth column." The law was suspended after Milosevic lost power in October 2000.¹²³⁴

What reason was given

President Milosevic said the law's enforcement had been "very weak" and dismissed critics as being "under foreign control"; the allied Yugoslav Left party called independent outlets a "fifth column" and demanded "decontamination of the journalistic profession."³⁴

What changed for reporting

Independent newspapers received fines nearly three times larger, on average, than pro-government papers, payable within days of a court decision, financial pressure some outlets said threatened their survival.¹²³⁴

Timeline

Who acted

Sources

• Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and MediaHuman Rights Watch, 2000-05-01, reporting. Source record