HRT PLEDGES TO COVER ALL PARTIES IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONS EQUALLY

( Editorial: --> 5669 ) ZAGREB, August 24 (Hina) - Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) will not broadcast any reports about election campaign gatherings in Bosnia-Herzegovina in its main news programmes - the 7.30pm news and the "Motrista" current affairs show - starting tonight and lasting the next two days, the office of HRT director Ivica Vrkic said on Monday. The HRT will use this period to send letters to all parties and coalitions registered for the Bosnian elections and invite them to specify the terms of their gatherings, in order to have the opportunity of equally presenting them by the campaign deadline (which is 24 hours before polling stations are opened on September 12). Depending on the parties' response and their number, the HRT will organise a precise schedule and allot equal time to each presentation in compliance with the Media Experts Commission (MEC), a part of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the same source reported. Meanwhile, Mostar firm EROTEL Ltd, the HRT's business partner in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has also issued a statement which says it approves of the broadcaster's decision to organise on August 25 at 8.30pm a public ballot of parties registered on time for the pre- election appearance in the programmes of the HRT in Bosnia- Herzegovina, with equal conditions of presentation. EROTEL Ltd said it had such a ballot for a programme it broadcasts from Mostar, and presents all registered parties regularly and equally. The company promised to continue obeying the Independent Media Commission (IMC) Code as well as the OSCE rules. EROTEL rejected a request from the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) to stop covering pre-election gatherings in its broadcasts, which would be a violation of the rules regulating representation of political parties, the statement said. (Hina) jfk /mbr 242155 MET aug 98