OFFICE OF HIGH REPRESENTATIVE DEVELOPING STRATEGY TO FREE BOSNIAN MEDIA OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE

MEDIA OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE SARAJEVO, Oct 6 (Hina) - The Office of the High Representative is developing a strategy for solving the issue of political influence on the media in Bosnia-Herzegovina, spokesman Simon Haselock said on Monday. Haselock was quoted by the Bosnian Croat news agency Habena as saying that the strategy would not focus only on Serb radio and television (SRT), which is currently the office's major concern, but on the overall transformation of the media. Recommendations and changes will be made public after the signing of an agreement with the assistance of the Steering Committee of the Council for the Implementation of the Dayton Agreement, Haselock said. He said that High Representative Carlos Westendorp had met several times with the Serb member of Bosnia-Herzegovina's collective presidency and chairman of the SRT management committee Momcilo Krajisnik, demanding that he come to Sarajevo for talks on restructuring SRT. Since Krajisnik refused to come to Sarajevo, SRT, based in Pale, will continue to be disconnected from the network of transmitters in the Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, he added. (hina) vm 061854 MET oct 97