From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 14 Aug 92 09:55 PDT
Subject: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Press freedom in Sl
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700358:000:5202
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Aug 14 09:55:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Press freedom in Sl

/* Written 12:07 am  Aug 13, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Press freedom in Slovakia under threat


an inter press service feature

by david rocks

bratislava, aug 10 (ips) -- ivo slavik's job is to ask questions.
but when slavik tried to query slovak premier vladimir meciar
recently, he was not even allowed to finish his sentence.

''as a journalist you are not a trustworthy person,'' meciar told
slavik, a reporter for the prague daily 'mlada fronta dnes'. ''we
can only speak after you apologise for what you've written about
me''.

after three further attempts to question meciar were similarly
rebuffed, slavik and a half-dozen other reporters walked out of
the news conference in protest.   journalists are full of similar
stories.

such incidents can be seen at best as insensitivity to the
concept of freedom of the press. at worst they can be interpreted
as blatant attempts to control the media.

yet, since winning the elections two months ago, meciar's
government has made several attempts to restrict press freedom.

it has called for the end of the federal news broadcasting
services, based in prague, which meciar sees as unfair to slovaks.

the government has also requested that the licence of slovakia's
only private television broadcaster, which has not yet started
operating, be revoked and demanded a 10-minute block of unedited
television time every sunday evening for meciar to address the
slovak people.

the current law on broadcasting guarantees the premier television
time in the event of an emergency, but ''he can't demand to appear
on television just because it's sunday,'' said jan fule, head of
slovak television's news department.

the government has also withdrawn privatisation plans for
danubiaprint, the republic's largest printing house, which prints
more than half of the major newspapers in slovakia. ''a private
monopoly is more dangerous than a state monopoly,'' said lubomir
dolgos, slovakia's privatisation minister.

press conferences are increasingly becoming invitation-only,
excluding many publications critical of meciar.   ''there's an
atmosphere of fear here,'' says one slovak wire-service reporter.
''people are afraid to speak out and criticise the
government''.(more/ips)

czechoslovakia: press freedom in slovakia under threat(2-e)

czechoslovakia: press freedom(2)

the government has a plausible explanation for each of the steps,
but taken together they could seem to spell a pattern of
authoritarian rule that threatens the diversity of media voices
heard in slovakia since the 1989 revolution.

''during the last two years, there was complete freedom of the
press, almost to the point of anarchy,'' said robert kotan, a
commentator for the bratislava daily smena. ''now, there's a
certain way of controlling the access of journalists to
information''.

minister for the mass media ivan mjartan denies that the steps
represent any attempt to control what is written or broadcast.
rather, he says, anti-government journalists are using the issue
of press freedom to discredit meciar and his administration.

''some journalists criticise the government in a very unobjective
way, but i don't think the government has taken any steps to
pressurise the press,'' he said. ''i can guarantee that the
government won't try to control what journalists say.''

to some extent, any pressure that exists may indeed come from
other quarters. jana mjartanova, editor-in-chief of the daily
slovensky dennik -- which was until recently associated with the
opposition christian democratic movement -- believes there is
little doubt that meciar would like to control reporters.

but, she says, in many cases it is the reporters themselves --
and the historical legacy of life under a totalitarian system --
who are to blame for any reluctance to criticise the government.

''for the last 40 years journalists were forced to submit to
either censorship or self-censorship,'' mjartanova said. ''now the
reflex of self-censooorship endures''.

for journalists willing to take a few risks and who work at one
of a handful of independent newspapers, however, there appears
little the government can do or is willing to do to control them.

kotan says that while slovak journalists may face an uncertain
future if the republic wins independence from the czech lands, at
present he is free to write what he sees as the truth.

''there's something unhealthy here, but is it un-freedom of the
press? i don't know,'' kotan said. ''today i don't feel any
political pressure. i write what i want to write''.

slavik, who since being rebuffed has covered several meciar press
conferences without incident, says that after independence the
premier's desire to control the press will be balanced by his need
to attract foreign investment.

''he'll have more power, but he'll be more dependent on foreign
aid,'' slavik said. ''he'll have to be more aware of opinion
abroad''. (end/ips/ci/dr/rp/92)