Press Now. The early years - Independent media and Yugoslavia

World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2006

In 1993 the organization Press Now was established to promote free, independent, and professional journalism in former Yugoslavia.
In addition to being a constitutional right and ideology, freedom of the press requires having paper, a working telephone service, and other types of practical and valuable infrastructure available.
In the early 1990s the Balkan wars gave rise to Press Now, an initiative with broad Dutch journalist and government support. Press Now provided both ideological and material aid to the free media in former Yugoslavia. The initiative was adopted and funded by the European Union. Dozens of newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations in former Yugoslavia were thus able to publicize dissenting opinions during the depressing years of armed conflict and civil war. Following the end of the Balkan wars, Press Now extended its operations to other war zones and is now a professional NGO.

The IISH holds the Press Now archive.

• Introduction by Huub Sanders:
  - Media in Yugoslavia
  - The Dutch press and Yugoslavia
  - Press Now
  - Sources
• Organisations participating in Press Now
• Periodicals at the IISH from former Yugoslavia in the 1990s:
  Bosnia-Herzegovina | Yugoslavia after Tito | Croatia | Macedonia | Serbia-Montenegro | Slovenia
• "Joegoslavische oorlog schreeuwt om actie Europese burgers"(pdf, 19Kb), article by Anet Bleich and Ewoud Nysingh in de Volkskrant, 31 December 1991
• Press Freedom Links