By a journalist in Belgrade Television has long been the most powerful medium in Serbia. During the past month and a half of war, it has also proved to be the most vulnerable. NATO bombing, the destruction of transmitters and intermittent electricity supplies have taken most television stations off the air, if not permanently, then at least for several hours at a time. The largest television stations, with many studios and large numbers of employees, have fared the worst. Since the Aberdareva Street headquarters of Radio Television Serbia was bombed, most of the station's employees have been on enforced vacations.
News broadcasts are now prepared in several different locations in improvised studios.
The first, second and third channels of state television have effectively ceased broadcasting. However, state television's flagship evening news programme still goes out at the usual time on private stations linked to the regime, such as Studio B, Palma, Pink, and Art, though these stations also now broadcast with weakened signals. State television continues to broadcast via satellite, but only the minority who possess the necessary dishes can watch it. The news invariably reflect the message which the state wish to convey to the population. In the past two weeks, the diplomatic initiatives of Russian special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and prospects of a negotiated settlement have merited special attention.