Yugoslav opposition struggles to be heard

Adverts for Serbia's ruling Socialists precede the news

Campaigning for the leading opposition candidate in Yugoslavia's presidential election was largely confined to a whirlwind tour of the towns as the state media pumped out support for President Slobodan Milosevic.

Vojislav Kostunica told a rally of 2,000 in one town that Radio TV Serbia (RTS) would probably report in its news that he had been met by "five or six local drunks".

But Mr Kostunica was lucky to get a mention at all in the state media outside the official party political broadcast slots.

Frustrated, infantile and inferior individuals from the opposition parties... are belittling the efforts of the builders of this country...

RTS viewer

After one of his allies, Nebojsa Covic, was allowed to debate freely on TV, RTS broadcast a stream of protests from "the viewers" protesting at airtime for "parasites".

Mr Milosevic and his Socialist Party, by contrast, received blanket coverage, with election adverts preceding news bulletins.

Satellite boom

For Serbs wanting proper access to the opposition's platform, there are still some independent newspapers such as Blic and Vreme, but these are under heavy pressure after being named in an official state electoral committee warning against political bias.

The media are obliged to refrain from... belittling or favouring certain political parties.

Yugoslav state electoral committee

Several pro-opposition websites, such as Free B92 and FreeSerbia, carry news and information on the election.

But those without internet access or who cannot pick up local broadcasters such as Radio Index, have to rely on satellite dishes - which have flourished in Serbia.

Along with state TV from Montenegro, which officially boycotts the elections and is beyond Belgrade's reach, Radio B2-92 reports on opposition campaigning as well as the colourful student movement Otpor's frequent tangles with the Serbian police.

B2-92 has been rebroadcasting from neighbouring states such as Hungary since it was evicted from its relay station in Serbia.

There is concern, however, over the independent media's election coverage too.

Woman tackles TV crew with umbrella

One Belgrade-based monitoring group, the Media Centre, said the independents had effectively rallied behind Mr Kostunica while ignoring rival opposition candidate Vojislav Mihailovic.

TV violence

While the actual polls will be the judge of the media war, there are signs that Mr Milosevic's strong-arm tactics are paying off.

The way we were attacked is a reflection of what is fed into their heads by the state media.

Novi Sad reporter

Hungarian TV has shown footage of a Serbian camera crew in the city of Novi Sad being abused by shoppers queuing for sugar.

In what appeared to be a completely spontaneous outburst of rage, the shoppers shouted "opposition rubbish" and jostled the crew, who were from a local TV station.

One of the reporters commented afterwards that the shoppers had become "identical to RTS" in their thinking.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.