{
  "id": 84,
  "slug": "1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines",
  "title": "Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger",
  "occurred_on": "1998-10-20",
  "occurred_on_precision": "day",
  "ended_on": null,
  "jurisdiction": "RS",
  "country": "RS",
  "continent": "europe",
  "level": "national",
  "type": null,
  "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
  "leader_slug": "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",
  "outcome_on": "2001-01-01",
  "outcome_note": "The law was suspended after Milosevic lost power in October 2000 elections and a change of government in Serbia.",
  "granularity": "anchor",
  "era": "1990s",
  "summary": "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.{c:323}{c:324}{c:325}{c:326}",
  "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.{c:323}{c:324}{c:325}{c:326}",
  "stated_justification": "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.\"{c:325}{c:326}",
  "effect_on_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.{c:323}{c:324}{c:325}{c:326}",
  "unknowns": null,
  "status": "historical",
  "status_updated_on": "2026-09-22",
  "external_ids": {},
  "illustration_key": null,
  "pub_state": "published",
  "published_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:25Z",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22",
  "next_review_on": "2026-12-22",
  "revision": 5,
  "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:19Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-23T00:11:30Z",
  "stage": "punish",
  "ladder_note": null,
  "country_name": "Serbia",
  "tactics": [
    "insult_and_defamation_laws",
    "funding_and_ownership_pressure"
  ],
  "leader": {
    "slug": "slobodan-milosevic",
    "name": "Slobodan Milosevic",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/slobodan-milosevic"
  },
  "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines",
  "page_meta": {
    "published": "2026-09-22T23:10:25Z",
    "reviewed": "2026-09-22",
    "sources": 1,
    "status": "historical",
    "statusAsOf": "2026-09-22",
    "unknowns": null
  },
  "actors": [
    {
      "slug": "slobodan-milosevic",
      "name": "Slobodan Milosevic",
      "kind": "person",
      "role": "ordered",
      "role_at_time": null,
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/actors/slobodan-milosevic"
    }
  ],
  "outlets": [],
  "journalists": [],
  "cases": [],
  "related": [],
  "events": [],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": 323,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 84,
      "field": "action",
      "value": "Law requires respect for private life",
      "statement": "The law required published material to respect human dignity and the right to a private life.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 254,
      "evidence_quote": "Public information must respect the inviolability of human dignity and the right to a private life.",
      "evidence_date": "2000-05-01",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:20Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 254,
        "url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "final_url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "title": "Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and Media",
        "publisher": "Human Rights Watch",
        "published_on": "2000-05-01",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/323"
    },
    {
      "id": 324,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 84,
      "field": "action",
      "value": "Law bars rights-violating untruths",
      "statement": "The law barred publishing untruths that violated the rights of individuals.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 254,
      "evidence_quote": "untruths which violate the rights of the individual.",
      "evidence_date": "2000-05-01",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:21Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 254,
        "url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "final_url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "title": "Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and Media",
        "publisher": "Human Rights Watch",
        "published_on": "2000-05-01",
        "link_state": "live",
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        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/324"
    },
    {
      "id": 325,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 84,
      "field": "stated_justification",
      "value": "Milosevic dismisses critics as foreign-controlled",
      "statement": "Milosevic said critics of the law's enforcement were under foreign control.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 254,
      "evidence_quote": "under foreign control",
      "evidence_date": "2000-05-01",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:22Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 254,
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        "final_url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "title": "Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and Media",
        "publisher": "Human Rights Watch",
        "published_on": "2000-05-01",
        "link_state": "live",
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      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/325"
    },
    {
      "id": 326,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 84,
      "field": "stated_justification",
      "value": "Ruling party calls for decontamination",
      "statement": "The ruling Yugoslav Left party called for the decontamination of the journalistic profession.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 254,
      "evidence_quote": "decontamination of the journalistic profession",
      "evidence_date": "2000-05-01",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
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      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:10:22Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 254,
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        "final_url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
        "title": "Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and Media",
        "publisher": "Human Rights Watch",
        "published_on": "2000-05-01",
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        "wayback_url": null,
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      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/326"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": 254,
      "url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
      "final_url": "https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/serbia/Yugsrb00-05.htm",
      "title": "Deepening Authoritarianism in Serbia: The Purge of the Judiciary and Media",
      "publisher": "Human Rights Watch",
      "published_on": "2000-05-01",
      "link_state": "live",
      "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
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  "revisions_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines/revisions",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  },
  "cite_as": "Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger. The War On News, thewaronnews.com. https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines. Retrieved 2026-09-23."
}