Peaceful protest of Radio Yugoslavia’s employees in front of Serbian Government http://voiceofserbia.org/content/peaceful-protest-radio-yugoslavia%E2%80%99s-employees-front-serbian-government More than 70 employees of Radio Yugoslavia – International Radio Serbia have held a peaceful prot4est in front of the Serbian Government building due to the announced disbanding of this media house that has been working for 79 years and broadcasting in 12 languages. The representatives of the employees have asked for the reception and submitted a letter addressed at Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, which points to the detrimental effects of shutting down this type of media to the interests of the Republic of Serbia, as well as stressing the unfortunate situation for the employees who will lose their jobs, and without severance pays. If no reaction is shown from the government or the line ministry, another protest is scheduled for the next week. The media strategy and the new law on public information envisage the withdrawal of the state from the ownership in the media and their direct financing. Contrary to the earlier announcements, no option of transformation or rationalization has been offered to Radio Yugoslavia, even though the law identifies the public interest of informing the world public about the events in Serbia. The protest was covered by numerous other media.Director of the International Radio Serbia Milorad Vujovic has assessed it is intolerable to shut down on July 1 the only state service for informing the international public about the events in Serbia in 11 world languages, as it has been going on for 79 years. “This kind of autistic behavior is unacceptable, because there is the possibility within the public service, and in line with the Law on public media services, to let our radio keep doing its job,” Vujovic told the press. According to him, putting out the only short wave radio station in the country, whose programs are heard worldwide, would represent a great loss to the promotion of Serbia and hence leaving a gap in the information of the world public and Serbian Diaspora. Vujovic has pointed that opposite trends are noted in the region, and everybody strives to attain the greatest possible impact on the public opinion in the world, and he adds that 20 countries of the EU also have this kind of world service. The director of the International Radio Serbia has stated it is still uncertain what will happen to the employees, but there is trepidation that all 96 of them will be rendered jobless, without any severance pay or compensation. “There is no possibility for the privatization of this type of media, even though some forms of public-private partnerships are available, but at the moment it is not offered as an option,” Vujovic explained. President of the Union of IRS Journalists Jelica Tapuskovic has stated that the management and the union representatives had tried on several occasions to talk to the representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Information about the pressing problems. “We have not talked to minister Ivan Tasovac, but we had been received by State Secretary for Media Sasa Mirkovic, to discuss the possibilities of reorganization of our radio and its further work,” she specified, adding that the last conversation took place in December last year. Tapuskovic has said that afterwards, despite several letters and demands, there has been no response from the Ministry of Culture and Information, until two days ago, prior to the announced protest, when a letter arrived, reading that “the act is in the making, aimed at defining the legal consequences of extinguishing the radio”, without any further explanation on what it could mean. According to her, the further moves of the employees in the International Radio Serbia will depend on the outcome of the talks with the officials in charge. The workers of Radio Yugoslavia were holding banners with messages such as “Keep hearing the Voice of Serbia around the world”, “Where we cannot be heard – it must be the end of the world” etc. The protest was covered by the representatives of numerous media. _ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________
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