State-owned media are subservient to Slobodan Milosevic. Independent media, frequently subjected to legalistic and bureaucratic harassment, may have relatively little impact because people cannot afford them. State TV is the main source of news reporting. Independent media suffer from financial pressure, and many are dependent on foreign donations. The distribution of frequencies denied operation rights to 178 TV and radio stations, and imposed exorbitant fees on those few stations granted frequencies.
Newsprint is also very expensive.
One of the most popular stations, Radio B-92, faced continued harassment and was forced to go on the Internet when its frequency was jammed. Press freedom violations increased, partly because of the outbreak of the conflict in Kosovo. Journalists have been squeezed between the warring factions, but most attacks on the media came from the Serb side. It prohibited the reprint or broadcasting in the Serbian language of international news reports on the crisis. Parliament adopted a new law on public information which bans broadcasts of Serbian-language programs by foreign media and introduces huge fines and ruthless trial procedures against media editors and owners who disobey the law.