During Slobodan Milosevic’s years in power, wars raged in Yugoslavia that eventually led to its disintegration. Now Milosevic is on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at The Hague. See the photo essay on Milosevic’s battle with Yugoslavia’s independent news media.
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- Television Tune-Out
A man with a box over his head in the form of a television set with the words, "Turn off RTS and turn on your brain," participates in a 1996 demonstration in Belgrade against Slobodan Milosevic. Protestors, who viewed the state television station Radio Television Serbia (RTS) as largely controlled by the Milosevic regime, hit the streets after Yugoslavia's Supreme Court annulled municipal elections in which the opposition won. Photo: Petar Kujundzic/ Reuters
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- Under Siege
In order to bypass the government's crackdown on dissemination of information during pro-democracy mass protests in 1996, B92, Yugoslavia's largest independent radio station, used the Internet to continue broadcasting news. In June 1997, when this picture was taken, a network of independent radio stations across Yugoslavia was created, making B92, once heard only in central Belgrade, available in over 80 percent of Yugoslavia within a year. By June 1998, the network had an audience of 1.6 million, competing with state-controlled Radio Belgrade's audience of 2.4 million. Photo: Eileen Kovchok/ Getty News
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- Shutdown
Aleksandar Tijanic, a reporter for the independent Belgrade newspaper DNEVNI TELEGRAF (DAILY TELEGRAPH) and former Information Minister of Serbia, argues with a policeman in October 1998 who was closing the newspaper. Shut down during Milosevic's 1998 battle to silence the media during threats of NATO bombing, DNEVNI TELEGRAF moved its headquarters from Serbia to Montenegro. When the daily resumed distribution in Serbia, it was accused of calling for the overthrow of the government. Photo: Reuters
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- Protest
In November 1998, the weekly satirical magazine NASA KRMACA (in English, OUR SOW) printed and then burned one copy of its magazine to protest a new information law designed to curb press freedom by placing restrictions on what can be printed or transmitted on radio or television. The law restricted media from publishing articles that jeopardizes the territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Photo: Emil Vas/ Reuters
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- Death of a Journalist
Owner and chief editor of the leading independent Belgrade daily DNEVNI TELEGRAF (DAILY TELEGRAPH), Slavko Curuvija was gunned down outside his home by two masked men in April 1999. Observers believe that Curuvija's assassination was meant to scare independent journalists into silence. Here, family and friends throw copies of the newspapers where Curuvija worked, DNEVNI TELEGRAF and EVROPLJANIN on his coffin in Belgrade. Days before he was killed, the state-controlled newspaper POLITIKA EXPRESS accused Curuvija of supporting the NATO bombing campaign. Photo: Reuters
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- Photo Power
VECERNJE NOVOSTI, a Belgrade daily, published a photomontage on the front page of its September 21, 2000 edition depicting a gathering of Milosevic supporters at the pre-election town meeting in Berane. The same cluster of trees and people can be spotted on the right and the left of the photomontage. With only a week away from the presidential elections and Milosevic trailing behind the opposition, the newspaper made it appear as if over 100,000 supporters came to the meeting. However, independent media reported only 15,000 people were present. Photo: Art Zamur/Gamma
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- End of an Era
As Milosevic's power crumbles in October 2000, protestors beat up the Serbian state television's general director (in a blue shirt) outside the station's office in Belgrade. Protestors then took over the station, which had been under the control of the Milosevic regime to stop broadcasts. Earlier the same day, anti-Milosevic demonstrators had broken through police barricades to storm parliament. The next day, Milosevic conceded power to opposition member Vojislav Kostunica, finally acknowledging Kostunica's victory in the September presidential elections. Photo: Reuters
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