BOSNIAN FEDERAL TELEVISION TO START FUNCTIONING SOON

MOSTAR, Sept 23 (Hina) - The OHR (Office of the High Representative to Bosnia) media department's head, Chris Riley, has announced the federal television in the Croat-Muslim entity will start broadcasting programmes in the coming weeks. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which should cover the entire Bosnia-Herzegovina is to be established by April 2002, Riley said on Saturday during a media seminar in the southern city of Mostar. Although last year the international community's High Representative to Bosnia formally set up television systems in both entities - the Croat-Muslim Federation and the Serb republic - and the Public Broadcasting Service for the entire country, the programme is still being broadcast under the logo of the not re- organised Bosnia-Herzegovina's Television, established in the war. The beginning of the broadcasting by the federal television is a matter of weeks, Riley said. He added that the European Commission had ensured financial funds for relaying the programme of the PBS via satellites. The OSCE mission's media department's head, Regan McCarthy announced that several newspapers would soon be published for Bosnian Croats and added that Bosnian Croats had no enough press. She asserted that Bosnian legal regulations hindered the media freedom. In addition, there is great political pressure on the media, she added. The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) official is worried by the problem of the corruption in this country. She called on journalists to address the problem adding that there was slim hope for Bosnia unless corruption was terminated. (hina) ms