From the monthly archives:
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 33
June 2011
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
33
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
33
by CroatianTrips on
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 33
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 33
June 30, 2011
Though not normally gullible, the portents weren’t promising in the lead up to my participation in the Norwood bike ride in Croatia. Persuaded to sign up by a good buddy, my coaching consisted essentially of laps around Regent’s Park on the bike I received from my elders as a batmitzvah present.
Over 3 months, my brakes broke and I lost the key to my bike lock although it was chained. My man and coaching partner broke his hand and a bike he was due to borrow was thieved. But ignoring the warning signs, we joined twenty-five other riders on the cycle, which raised £32,000 for Young Norwood.
Also taking part were 2 Ravenswood residents - Richard Tooke, 52, who has Downs’s syndrome, and Jon Feuchtwanger, 62, who has a mild learning incapacity and dysphasia, which is affecting his speech.
The residents cycled on tandem bikes with Ravenswood sports experts Nigel Trumper and Michelle Bass and were a sustained inspiration.
Starting off in Makarska, southern Croatia, riders were transported by boat to the beautiful island of Hvar, where a nice morning cycle was followed by the major business of a 1,200 foot climb. Everyone was exhausted but the group mentality was a great incentive.
Makarska Riviera is part of Dalmatian coast of Adriatic, about 60 kilometers long and only several kilometers wide, squeezed under towering mountain Biokovo. Sunny climate and long pebbly beaches make this area a popular traveller destination. A chain of settlements along the coast from the border with the Omis Riviera on the northwest to the Neretva delta on the southeast. We are terribly proud to offer you the large number of quality accommodation facilities in all the places of the incredibly stunning Makarska riviera.
Makarska is a town in the Split - Dalmatia county of Croatia, population 13,716 (2001). It is located on the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia, about 60 km southeast of Split and 140 km northwest of Dubrovnik. It is a traveller centre, located on a horseshoe formed bay between the Biokovo mountain and the Adriatic Sea. The city is noted for its palm-fringed promenade, where fashionable cafs, bars and boutiques overlook the pretty harbour where many pleasure craft are berthed.
Arrival to Makarska over Biokovo, from Vrgorac offers a breathtaking wonderful view of riviera, from Drasnice, Podgora, Tucepi, Brela, all the way to the Split, and in front to the islands Brac, Hvar, Korcula and peninsula Peljesac.
Center of Makarska is an old city with narrow stone-paved streets, a main church square where there is a flower and fruit market, and a Franciscan monastery that houses a sea shell collection featuring a giant clam shell. Most of the city’s hostels are located just off the bay and their own non-public beaches.
In Makarska, one can find many hostels, bars, boozer, pizzerias, coffee bars, pastry shops and everything else needed for a tranquil and untroubled vacation in the sun-bathed shores of the Mediterranean. Tourism in Makarska began way back, even before the development of the hotel Osejava in 1914. The largest city square is located in the town center, close to the waterfront - the square of Andrija Kacic Milosic,where numerous cultural events occur. The square was named after the most famous dalmatian poet.
For some, the speedy descent was far more frightening with the dramatic drop of the cliffside just inches away. Ari Raymond, a 26-year-old marketing executive from Hendon, was riding in memory of his late cousin, a Ravenswood resident.
“Having seen the difference in my cousin whenever he came back for weekends with my folks, I knew there was good about the work Norwood do,” he announced. “But I could not quite appreciate how much and to what lengths they are going to give residents the highest level of care attainable. Seeing the tandem teams made me aware of how much I’m taking for granted in my life.”
Upbeat of a calm Saturday, partakers discovered that the leisurely walk along the promenade reported by last year’s group had been substituted by a difficult trek up a mountain higher than Ben Nevis.
Reaching the 4,600 feet peak was incredibly rewarding but the return journey on loose stones was even tougher than the challenging walk up. The trek took eight hours to finish.
On Sun., there was another boat journey to the island of Brac for a 1,700 foot climb by bike. Hurting bodies took some time to warm up but the entire group made it and were rewarded by 10 kilometres downhill and an incredible beach at the end of the 40 mile route.
The cyclists also included businesswoman Nina Forman, whose family were among the Ravenswood founders. The 36-year-old from Golders Green started out “really nervous” but ended up enjoying herself massively. “Whilst it was tough work, I am up for challenging myself.”
Leonie Gold, thirty, a helper reports editor from Borehamwood, said that “facing a relentless bike climb on our first day, I wondered how I was intending to make it. Then I turned round and saw Richard and Jon pedalling up the mountain on their tandems. This was all the inspiration I needed. It also helped being surrounded by some of the most beautiful shore I have ever seen.”
Norwood hopes to raise £800,000 from bike rides this year, writes tagza.com.
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
33
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in
/homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line
33
by CroatianTrips on
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 33
Strict Standards: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 19
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 28
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 30
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 32
Strict Standards: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'Europe/Berlin' for 'CEST/2.0/DST' instead in /homepages/15/d42780167/htdocs/croatiaholidayblog/wp-includes/functions.php on line 33
June 22, 2011
Serbias state-run television RTS says sorry last week to the publics of the previous Yugoslavia for serving as a propaganda tool of wartime Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
This move is probably going to be followed by apologies from other state broadcasters in the nations of the previous Yugoslavia as all of them share responsibility for enflaming ethnic animosity, even though RTS perhaps more pointedly served the interests of glad-handers.
It’s a significant development on an ethical level, though it is not likely to finish in any major effects for journalism or any major enhancements in the field : no editors or newshounds were held answerable for their fake and biased reporting, and indeed many of them stay active and influential.
The apology is the 1st ever issued by Serbias state broadcaster, which was one of the symbols of Milosevics time marked by wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The stations newly appointed handling board recounted its statement that during the sad events of the 1990s, RTS with its reporting on innumerable occasions hurt the feelings, moral integrity and dignity of the Serbian citizens, intellectuals, members of political opposition, journalists, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as certain neighboring peoples and states.
The statement further said the content of RTS programs at the time had been deliberately engineered to discredit the Serbian opposition and its leaders.
The apology will definitely represent a very positive step toward improved relations among the states of the Western Balkans “across the area media played a firm role in the violence. The big issue is whether the RTS apology “or the likely future apologies by state broadcasters in Croatia and Bosnia “is sufficient ; whether the key players in those media outlets should be tried for war crimes, as their rhetoric encouraged many murders.
When he came to power in the late 1980s, Milosevic appointed trusted associates to head the national broadcaster and turned it into his regimes tool all till two thousand when he was toppled. From the beginning of the conflicts in 1991, RTS management and hacks portrayed Serbs as the sufferers of ethnic attacks in the previous Yugoslavia. This rhetoric led many Serbs to volunteer for the frontline, looking for vengeance.
In 1991, while reporting from the Croatian frontlines, RTS correspondents fueled anti-Croatian hysteria by mentioning that Croatian fighters were cutting off Serb childrens fingers and making necklaces out of them. They also reported that Croats were suffocating Serb babies with plastic bags in a nursery in eastern Croatia. The reports were later proven to be fake, but the damage was done.
One witness, a Serb paramilitary volunteer, testified during the Vukovar war crimes trial that he had joined Serb paramilitary forces in Croatia after watching a news programme in Serbia. When Vukovar fell to the Serbs, paramilitaries grabbed captives, taking some 2 hundred of them to a pig farm in Ovcara where they were beaten, tortured and finished. Their bodies were later found in mass graves.
In 2009, Serbian prosecutors began inquiries against a couple of reporters and editors from pro-Milosevic media for inflaming reporting during the 1990s.
Serbias Special War Crimes Prosecutors Office has launched an initial inquiry into the task of journalists in inciting war crimes in the previous Yugoslavia in the 1990s, concentrating on reporting on atrocities in Vukovar in Croatia, and the Bosnian town of Zvornik. While prosecutors announced they would have initial results inside 2 months, in late 2009, the job proved harder than expected. The Serbian Prosecutors Office said the target wasn’t to persecute correspondents, but to establish whether there were components of criminal activity in reporting.
Of course, it wasn’t only RTS that made a contribution to the spreading of ethnic hate ; several media outlets such as daily newspapers Politika and Vecernje novosti, and the Tanjug reports agency served as the as mouthpieces of the Milosevic regime. They enjoyed all the privileges of the regime, including the exclusivity of reporting from war zones.
Neither was Serbian media alone in this practice.
Though no debate has been launched on this issue in Croatia and Bosnia, there’s no doubt that the wartime media outlets in both states will also need to answer some tricky questions. With the RTS apology out there, the international community will expect others to follow. Serbia is working hard to win ECU candidate standing this year and is under pressure to show it is heading away from the patriot impulses that drove those wars.
Most likely, ex-Yugoslavian media won’t face any war crimes probes at the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the previous Yugoslavia (ICTY), as media did in the case of the genocide in Rwanda. It would be tricky for prosecutors to establish firm links between wartime reporting and war crimes, and the issue of establishing that reporters intentionally incited atrocities in previous Yugoslavia will probably go unmet.
Most lately, a Bosnian investigative hack was sacked after footage was released on the internet of him reporting for the Bosnian Serb radio station from Srebrenica on the day the town was engulfed by the Bosnian Serb army. In the photos, Slobodan Vaskovic and his comrades were interviewing an old Bosnian Muslim captive, compelling him to say the Bosnian Serb army was liberating the town from the mujahideens and therefore the Bosniak armed forces had committed atrocities against Serbs in the towns surrounding Srebrenica.
It would be arbitrary to accuse Vaskovic and other correspondents for the Srebrenica massacre, but such reporting certainly could have influenced members of the Serb regular and paramilitary forces to seek revenge and escalate the conflict. Many of these wartime reporters and editors remain public figures, some working in media outlets as writers, columnists and trainers of a younger generation of reporters, while the others are professors and even ambassadors. The enquiry into the extent of their role in the conflicts definitely should be conducted in full , and the general public must be aware of who they are. This is very important as public broadcasters in all three states continue to supply biased, unsourced and highly discriminating reporting, particularly when it comes to issues of war crimes and their neighbors.
Excerpts from previous Yugoslav wartime media :
-”It appears that Muslim extremists invented the most horrific crime on the planet. Last night they fed Serb children to the lion at the Sarajevo Zoo.” RTS broadcasted this story by their Bosnian correspondent, Rada Djokic, in 1992 after a tipoff from Bosnian Serb infantrymen from the frontline.
-”Muslims are still in Makarska.” Bosnian Croat Smiljko Sagolj reported this for Croatian television after many Bosnians sought shelter in the Croatian resort town after the beginning of the Bosniak-Croat war. One day after the story was broadcast, a bomb exploded in a Bosnian refugee camp near Makarska.
-”Every Muslim should pick a Serb to kill when the time comes.” A Bosniak ( Bosnian Muslim ) correspondent wrote this in the mag “Zmaj od Bosne,” which is connected with the primary Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA).
-”Turk girls claim that we rape them, but just latterly in a refugee camp one of the rape victims gave birth to a black child.” Bosnian Serb anchor Risto Djogo related during a Bosnian Serb TV (SRT) reports broadcast as reported tagza.com.
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