The Guardian Hundreds of journalists working for state-controlled broadcasters and newspapers in Yugoslavia are demanding the right to report the news impartially, as Slobodan Milosevic's strangehold on the media begins to loosen. Their rebellion follows the failure of the state election commission to recognise the outright victory claimed by opposition presidential candidate Vojislav Kostunica in last month's presidential poll. The chief of Radio Yugoslavia, Ivan Markovic, is the minister of telecommunications and the spokesman for Ms Markovic's political party, the Yugoslav United Left. But I'm a professional and it is my job. There's a big amount of repression.
People are scared.
Despite his concerns for his job, he agreed to sign the journalists' written request. The petition is saying that we journalists of Radio Yugoslavia ask our general manager and editor to change the editorial policy, and to admit an alternative point of view. When Mr Pavlovic went into work yesterday a security guard at the door confiscated his identity card. Six employees working for RTS in Novi Sad, the second largest city, who circulated a petition calling for objective reporting have been sacked. A number of local radio and TV stations that were within the RTS system have been boycotting the state news, which serves as the biggest television propaganda outlet for the Milosevic regime.