Veran Matic, editor of Belgrade's Radio B92 and chair of ANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in SR Yugoslavia, will be in New York, U.S.A., on September 12-16.

The International League for Human Rights has arranged three public meetings for Matic with the support of the Open Society Institute.

Serbia's independent broadcasters: reporting under fire ; league briefing for NGOs and press; the role of independent broadcasting in Milosevic's Yugoslavia are the topics of the three meetings with Veran Matic that will be held In New York, on September 15.

According to Anitra Pavlico, an official of the International League for Human Rights, Veran Matic will speak about his struggle against the odds to successfully establish one of the most important independent news operations in Eastern Europe. B92 and its radio and TV affiliates in ANEM broadcast daily to thousands of people throughout the region, providing objective information which can counter Milosevic regime's news blackouts and hate propaganda. Matic will bring fresh information and analysis from his reporters, who have courageously revealed the other side of the story to the Yugoslav public in the recent Serb assault against Kosovo, reflecting the suffering of an estimated 412,000 internally displaced persons.

Radio B92 was awarded this year's Solidarity Prize by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) at its Seventh World Conference of Community Broadcasters, which was held in Milan, Italy from August 25 to 28. AMARC dedicated this year's Conference to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the promotion of human rights via local radio stations worldwide. AMARC gave Radio B92 the award to acknowledge the station's ability to survive so long under "extremely difficult circumstances" in its efforts to promote freedom of expression.

Copies of a new report, "Restrictions on the Broadcast Media in Yugoslavia," issued on behalf of a coalition of 17 press freedom and human rights organization, will be available at the meetings that the International League for Human Rights has organized for Veran Matic.

For more Information contact Anitra Pavlico or Cathy Fitzpatrick, International League for Human Rights Tel. (212)-684-1221. Fax (212)-684-1696. E-mail: ilhr@perfekt.net or Web: http://www.ilhr.org/