The influence of journalists in the 1990s war is indisputable and should be examined, not only by the judicial system, but also in professional circles and the public, said participants at a March 23 round table on the topic "The Role of Media and Journalists in War Conflict in the Area of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

Vojin Dimitrijevic, director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, said neither international nor Yugoslav law at the time required linking cause and effect between encouragement to specific events in order to prove journalists' responsibility in war crimes. "Any statement that can be interpreted as a call for those crimes (war crime and genocide) is sufficient for establishing criminal accountability," Dimitrijevic said.

War crimes prosecution spokesman Bruno Vekaric said the case of reporters' participation in war crimes had only just been opened, but certain media companies had not responded to requests for access to their archives and files.

Republika newspaper editor in chief Nebojsa Popov said journalists' responsibility for the way they reported during the wars was great, but that establishing it should not be only the job of journalists and prosecutions, but that of the professional and scientific public.

BETA director Ljubica Markovic said the undivided public opinion was that journalism had made a key contribution to spreading hatred and spurring hostility on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Journalist Drago Hedl said warmongering journalism had existed in Croatia, but that no judicial proceeding nor public debate on its role had been broached.

The round table was organized by the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, which in July 2009 filed a criminal report at the war crimes prosecution against persons unknown and the responsible parties in the Vecernje Novosti and Politika newspapers and Radio Television Belgrade for inciting war crimes and genocide.