PressNow

[henk vreekamp]

     Censuur sluiting radiostation Joegoslavi! Servi! Belgrado
1999 tijdens Kosovocrisis, kritische omroep, organisatie
persvrijheid Nederland, hulpactie -
Date:         Sun, 4 Apr 1999 15:29:14 -0600
Subject:      FYI: Radio B92 closed down
To: H-SAE at H-NET.MSU.EDU
From: "Allen Feldman Ph.D." <afeldman at mindspring.com>
From: helpb92 at xs4all.nl
Dear All,
     Radio B92 is now banned from broadcasting its independent
news. The Yugoslavia government closed their studio and office.
     A group of people from Europe and from around the world are
staging a campaign to help B92 continue to provide news updates
about the situation in Yugoslavia as it develops. The campaign
is centred in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, through the internet
service provider, XS4ALL and the cultural organisation, De Balie.
The group aim to achieve this through the establishment of a
fundraising campaign, a website and a Real Audio service.
     The current crisis situation in Yugoslavia means that the
potential for B92 continuing its independent news service is
limited.  The recently founded support group intends to take
measures to distribute news by and about B92, from Amsterdam.
For this purpose a special website has been established:
http://helpB92.xs4all.nl
B92 is the backbone of the independent news service in
Yugoslavia.  Without immediate support this last source of
independent news for the inhabitants of this region is
endangered. A campaign has been started by the support group,
with the objective of sending money and equipment to B92 and
other independent radio stations in Serbia and Kosovo.
     There are four key ways that you can assist the group in its
support of B92.
1) Link to our website:
http://helpb92.xs4all.nl
by using the logo from the website and promote the spreading of
this logo in any way you can. This logo is also attached to this
email.
After you've added our logo to your site you can list yourself
on our buttonpage.
Also link to the B92 website:
http://www.b92.net
2) Help us raise funds for B92 and other endangered independent
news services from Serbia and Kosovo. The special accountnumber
that has been  opened for donations is 7676 (Postbank,
Netherlands).
by international money order payable to:
Press Now
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10
1017 RR Amsterdam
Netherlands
or by international bank transfer to:
Postbank Amsterdam
Swift address:  INGBNL2A
Accountnumber:  7676
in the name of: Press Now (adress above)
Please specify "Help B92".
3) Distribute the press release about the fundraising
campaign to your local media and politicians. You will
find the press release at the end of this email.
4) Sign the guestbook on the website if you want to express your
individual support or, if you represent an organisation that
wants to become part of the support group, mail us more details
about the organisation and nature of the support offered,
preferably accompanied by a small logo in gif-format to include
on our website.
The Help B92 Team:
B92:                            http://www.b92.net/
De Balie:                       http://www.balie.nl/
De Digitale Stad:               http://www.dds.nl/
Next 5 Minutes:                 http://www.n5m.org/
Press Now:                      http://www.dds.nl/~pressnow/
radioqualia (Australia):        http://www.radioqualia.va.com.au/
De Waag (MONM):                 http://www.waag.org/
XS4ALL:                         http://www.xs4all.nl/
Please Note that the following is the new link for B92 internet
audio stream:
http://play.rbn.com/?b92
====
Press Release
April 3 1999
THE FREE VOICE OF B92 BANNED: THE STRUGGLE GOES ON
Latest news: http://helpb92.xs4all.nl
The last message from Yugoslavia's most prominent independent
broadcaster -B92 - as government officials and the police moved
in on April 2, 1999, to take over the station and silence the
last vestiges of free speech in Serbia was -  'Keep The Faith!'
HelpB92 was launched on March 25, 1999, to do just that. The
support group uses Internet technology to enable  B92 and all
other banned independent media in Yugoslavia defend their right
to speak freely, and the pivotal role of free media to regional
stability.
The action against B92 comes at the end of a week of intense
media repression against independent media in Yugoslavia. On
March 24, government officials confiscated B92's transmitter,
cutting off direct radio broadcasts to Belgrade. B92 responded
by harnessing the power of the Internet and Real Audio,
satellite, medium wave broadcasts and solidarity rebroadcasting
across the world to its struggle for free speech. B92 supporters
responded in record number - the B92 web site had 15 million
visitors in just 7 days.
At the same time, in the past ten days, ten rebroadcasters of
B92's news from the Association of Independent Electronic Media
- ANEM have been closed down by the government. Other ANEM
members have the either taken themselves voluntarily off the air
rather than re-broadcast the propaganda of state radio and TV,
which they must do by law when the country is in a state of war,
or have been taken over by the government.
In Kosovo, the offices of the two most important alternative
Albanian language media - Koha and Radio 21 - have also been
destroyed and their staff have fled the country.
The closure of B92, on April 2, 1999, means that the only source
of information left for audiences and viewers in the region is
the state-controlled Radio Television Serbia.
All the journalists from these banned independent media are now
in dire straits and money is urgently needed to help assist these
journalists to find new means to get news out.

We therefore ask people to please express their involvement and
support this cause by donating money to the special HelpB92 fund,
bank account number 7676, Postbank Amsterdam, Swift address
INGBNL2A, in the name of Press Now. Please specify 'Help B92'
In the last week, HelpB92 has received an enormous amount of
support from around the globe. In Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan
and Australia supporting web sites have been established in their
national languages. Hundreds of people and organisations have
placed the HelpB92 logo and link to the web site on their home
pages and signed the interactive guest book.
Future actions include benefit concerts, global rebroadcasting
initiatives and Internet Real Audio actions.
HelpB92 was founded by: B92, De Balie, De Digitale Stad, Next 5
Minutes, Press Now, Public Netbase (Austria), radioqualia
(Australia), De Waag (MONM) and XS4ALL Internet.
B92 Website: http://www.b92.net
HelpB92 campaign: http://helpb92.xs4all.nl
E-mail: helpb92 at xs4all.nl