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Media News Media News is a fifteen-day service which speaks about the media situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the most important media events, media legislation, relations between the media and the state and international community… D I G E S T No 53, Vol I Sarajevo, March, 6th 2000. If
you subscribe
to Media News, Issue
53
- You can read about: ¨ Monitoring The Media’s Vicious Circle: Dull Programs, Lack Of Professionalism, And Harsh Structural Conditions In
the previous issue of Media News, published on February 21, 2000, we have
presented the results of our monitoring project considering the position
of press releases and press conferences in major Bosnian broadcasting
media. According to that analysis, there is clear dominance of these items
in news programs on domestic affairs. The most significant percentage of
such non-journalistic categories was registered in newscasts of the
Radio-Television of the Republic of Srpska (RTRS), reaching 56,38% of time
dedicated to domestic affairs. The second was the former EROTEL
broadcaster with 28,63% and the third position was that of Television of
Bosnia-Herzegovina (TV BiH) which broadcasted press releases and press
conferences as individual news items in 19,11% of time dedicated to
domestic affairs in its evening news program. As a consequence of such
conduct, these broadcasters have largely ignored topics and actors
originating out of institutionalized political landscapes, thus failing to
feature items on NGOs, artists or topics such as human rights, education
or culture in general. On the other side of this ‘scale’ stands OBN
with only 2% of time dedicated to conferences and releases and with more
relevant and interesting program in general. It
is more than clear that such practice has extremely negative impact on the
quality of programs. The time and space for significant topics and actors
is reduced and program is flooded by irrelevant items. Consequently,
public discourse is over-politicized and over crowded. Hence, instead of
being the arena for evaluation of different opinions, positions and
political options, these media act as mere promoters of diverse political
actors and perspectives. This perhaps contributes to the plurality of
political landscapes and discourses but it subsequently removes attention
from responsible actors and important topics toward the insignificant
ones. Moreover, such practice also make journalists and their media
organizations take rather passive position, acting according to the
inertia of mere transmission of variety of statements, proclamations and
general political marketing. Another interesting trend we have noted is
that through such practice, press releases and press conferences have
received status of specific journalistic genre and are not treated as mere
sources of information. In other words, instead of using conferences,
press releases and statements as basis for, or integrative element of,
some further developed stories and news items, these media are
broadcasting them as independent news items. In effect, both the media and
the audience loose in such situation. On
the basis of these findings, we have decided to take more thorough insight
into the underlining processes and conditions, which determine above
described media practices. In this context, we offered four basic
proposals that provided the framework for this research: 1.
First of all, we assumed that above presented practices could be
consequence of general lack of professionalism among journalists and
editors. 2.
Second assumption was that legacies of communism, i.e. previous
transmissive character of the media, still have significant influence on
the practices of presentation of political actors. We considered that it
is reasonable to assume that some journalists and editors still feel
obliged to uncritically publish anything political actors say. 3.
As third possible reason we depicted the lack of transparency of
major state institutions and thus reduced access to the information
sources. In other words, we assumed that perhaps lack of access to
relevant information forces journalists to primarily turn to the press
conferences and press releases as alternative sources of information. 4.
And finally, the fourth possibility we thought of is the general
lack of media regulation in Bosnia, and in particular, the lack of basic
guidelines for the selection of sources and actors to be allowed access to
the media. This problem can have particular importance if we consider
extreme fragmentation of political scene in Bosnia with dozens of
political parties among which only 7 or 8 are of any political relevance. Thus,
we have conducted interviews with editors and journalists from Bosnia
media in order to acquire more thorough insight into this problematic and
to test and discuss our assumptions. Interviews consisted of 10 questions
that closely reflected above listed proposals, and the answers were
received either through direct conversation or via fax. In
this way we were able to identify sets of causes and underlining
conditions for above described negative practices. Firstly, it has become
clear that one of the causes is the general lack of professionalism in the
media as well as in the public communication as a whole. Secondly, we were
able to partly confirm our assumptions and detect additional structural
conditions that significantly determine the conduct of the Bosnia media. Public Communication Needs Skills and Knowledge All
interviewees have marked domination of press conferences and releases as
radically damaging for the quality of news programs. The overall
impression is that such practices place the media into rather passive
position toward the political actors and are thus misused for purposes of
political marketing. Nevertheless, one journalist observed that generally
low quality of such program damages both the media that broadcasts it and
the political actors whose statements and conferences have been
broadcasted. In other words, dull and repetitive program produced in such
a way is the result of two factors: On one side it is produced due to the
general lack of professionalism among journalists and especially among
editors. On the other hand, it results from amateur approach to the public
relations by featured political actors. Although these political parties
obviously think that they will benefit from permanent presence in the
media, total absence of PR skills can only produce the opposite. Hence,
both the media and featured parties are victims of low professional
standards. Thus
we may say that all interviewed journalists and editors were clearly aware
of negative aspects of programs overloaded by press conferences and press
releases. Nevertheless, such rather critical attitude leaves us with one
crucial question: How come that they cannot change it? It is here that a
distinction between responsibilities of journalists and editors has to be
made. Journalists are forced to work within established framework and the
largest part of responsibility rests on the side of editors. After all,
editors are those who choose tasks, direct journalists, and finally select
what enters the program. Therefore, we should not blame journalists for
they are the most exposed and the least protected ones in the whole
system. Journalists do receive tasks and perhaps want to be inventive but
they have to fit the system. And the system does not accepts horizontal
inputs and is managed through exclusive vertical chains of command with
minimum if any freedoms on the lower end. Within
this context, a set of additional questions has to be raised: What are
general values and norms within which journalist work? To what extent are
journalists able to see and experience different perspectives and options
which are available in other societies? To what extent they experience an
intellectual and material stimulus for active engagement and investigative
work? What is the wider social environment within which journalists and
media in general are forced to operate? And finally, what kinds of
education journalists have access to? All these questions are of crucial
importance if we want to investigate the position, conduct and the role of
journalists and media in contemporary Bosnian society. It is necessary to
talk about the context if we want to understand any particular problem. In
other words, the answers are to be found in deeper structural problems
upon which Bosnian media system(s) actually operate, thus focusing on
media regulation, economy, political system, and culture. Incomplete Regulatory Framework as Confusing Factor One
of the crucial factors that clearly has significant impact on the conduct
of media as well as of political actors is the way they interpret existing
media regulation. Whether the media will be put in passive and
subordinated position in respect to the flood of political statements,
press releases and conferences depends largely on the media itself.
Indeed, the media regulation as developed by the Independent Media
Commission (IMC) promotes equal access to the media but it does not say
that everything political actors say has to be published. The media, i.e.
its editors, have unalienable right to select sources and actors along the
criteria of news value and relevance, and this is especially so in periods
without electoral campaigns. Nevertheless,
one of the problems that clearly have to be taken into consideration is
that of transparency. Although the opinions on this issue have been
divided among interviewed participants, there exists an impression that
the lack of transparency puts pressure on the media by forcing them to
turn to press conferences and press releases as primary sources of
information. The IMC and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) have
recognized this problem and adequate regulations are on the way. Another
crucial problem that yet has to be resolved is the relation between
publicly owned media (on national as well as on local levels) on one side
and ruling political structures on the other side: this is the field where
real questions on independence and editorial freedom are to be answered.
This points to one negative aspect of the policies of international
community: until recently they were focused exclusively on the problems of
media conduct in electoral campaigns while totally neglecting
non-electoral periods. As a consequence, general problematic of the access
to the media, access to information and transparency, issues of obligation
of the media toward audiences and ruling structures remained unresolved.
Hence, it is no wonder that in such blurred environment, and within
extremely volatile political developments, editors (and journalists) have
had extremely difficult time when trying to make decisions on the
principles of access and selection of sources. In most cases the easiest
way is to decide not to make any decisions and to act according to the
inertia of political scene. Media and Authoritarian Political Culture Additional
aspect that has to be seriously considered is the general political
culture that significantly shapes media scene as well. This problem
supports our assumption that communist legacies still play important role
in media conduct but only when taken within much wider perspective:
Centuries of authoritarian rule, five decades of communism and a decade of
radical nationalism(s) have depleted the capacity of Bosnian society to
function properly. Authoritarian ideological structures and practices
exercise significant impact on the media conduct, and this impact is
visible both within media as individual institution and in relations
between the media and diverse political actors in society. Hence, it is
the media professionals that still operate within specific authoritarian
codes of conduct, but also, and above all, political actors and societal
mechanisms of control in general. In such circumstances, publicly owned
media are caught in the most difficult situation: It is common practice
for political actors who hold offices on local or national levels to
consider those media as their own property. Political actors frequently
request unconditional right to access the medium. Under such
circumstances, journalists and editors are inevitably forced to choose an
easier way if they want to distance themselves from pressures and eventual
problems. How
deeply rooted these authoritarian practices are we have encountered while
trying to get interviews from journalists and editors from one publicly
owned media organization: Editors were not allowed to provide as with
answers without green light from the higher levels of the ‘chain of
command’. In other cases we were kindly asked not to put names in this
article. These facts are indicative of conditions in which editors and
journalists work in their companies, and puts question mark on actual
editorial freedom as exercised under such circumstances. In other words,
apart from obvious constrains from political environment, the media as
organizations also operate according to authoritarian principles of
control and subordination. This in effect reduces decision-making capacity
of such organization, subsequently reducing its sensitivity toward
environment. The result of it is partly visible in uninventive and dull
programs. Difficult Economic Conditions as Major Obstacle Nevertheless,
despite clear importance of issues such as political culture, media law,
and professionalism, one problem has received the most prominent position
among all others: General economic situation. The material conditions are
extremely harsh and this is particularly so in the field of the media.
Thus, it is the easiest way for any media institution to simply focus on
daily events and not to involve too much in any kind of investigative
journalism because it takes time, money and skills - extremely scarce
resources in contemporary Bosnia. This situation is further exacerbated
because the media organizations are forced to employ young journalists
without experience and education since they are the cheapest ones. Hence,
there is general lack of material and human resources within local media,
what necessarily has negative impact on the quality of programs. Moreover,
without internal capacity to educate its personal, majorities of the media
are in specific ‘educational vacuum position’; incapable to generate
needed skills and knowledge. Here we see how financial difficulties and
lack of professionalism reinforce each other, jointly forcing the media to
abandon quality for the sake of mere survival. If
seen from the position of individual journalists and editors, the
situation becomes even more complicated. First of all, low salaries are
rather bad motivation for editors and especially for journalists who have
no incentives to engage beyond necessary minimum. Second, high
unemployment rates put additional pressure on journalists whose highest
priority is to save their jobs. Thus, it would be totally irrational for
any journalist to confront existing principles of conduct in particular
institution and to work outside of established frameworks. As a
consequence, initiatives are restrained before even started and the media
lack basic preconditions for good program – individual action and
skills. Breaking the Circle: Initiative is the Responsibility of Editors All
in all, one may say that an issue of the domination of press releases and
press conferences is not a real issue. It is rather one of many
expressions of more deeper, crucial structural problems and conflicts that
have its background in general socioeconomic, political and cultural
conditions that characterize contemporary Bosnian society. First
of all, economic situation constrains initiatives on the sides of media
organizations as well as on the side of individual journalists and
editors. There are simply not enough resources, which are needed for the
improvement of the quality of programs. The second important cause for the
bad media performance is to be found in still partial media laws that did
not solve some crucial issues such as the problem of transparency or other
important questions dealing with relations and mutual obligations of
publicly owned media and governing political structures. The third reason
is general political climate and its accompanying culture that acts
according to most rigid authoritarian principles, thus radically
disturbing processes of political and public communication in Bosnian
society. When put together, these structural conditions immensely decrease
the capacity of the media to offer responsible, balanced and interesting
programs. This is especially so in the domestic affairs programs that
primarily deals with touchy political issues. The situation is
additionally complicated if we take into consideration low professional
skills of journalists and editors. Multiplied with total lack of PR
knowledge on the side of political actors, the picture we receive
necessarily has to be gray, if not black. Nevertheless,
this is not to take the responsibility from journalists, and above all,
from editors of news programs. Indeed, editors are focal point of
processes of mediated communications, they are the ‘gate keepers’ and
they still have obligation to perform their function best they can. In
other words, and despite the generally difficult conditions on all levels
of processes of mediated communication, editors are those who have power
to draw the line and determine the character of the program. Perhaps they
cannot compete against complex pressures from political, economic and
cultural spheres, but they can at least produce interesting news programs.
From where we stand now, it seem to be the only possibility for breaking
away from the vicious circle of repetition, dull programs, lack of
professionalism and harsh structural conditions. The chain has to be
broken somewhere. We hope. ¨ Slovenia Law on RTV – Unsuccessful Changes Legal regulation of the position of
radio-diffusion is an important condition for harmonious development of
this media system. Countries undergoing transition have dilemmas on how to
establish a harmonious relationship between public and commercial
radio-television, how to transform state RTVs into public stations, in
what way to avoid monopoly in the media market, what to regulate by law
and what to leave to self-regulation, what is the character of RTV
subscription… Most of these countries have tried to apply European
standards, some have adapted them to their specific conditions, while
others, such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, have political blockades and require
the international community’s assistance. Media News will in its next issues provide an
opportunity for prominent media law experts from countries that are
undergoing or have undergone transition to present experiences from their
countries and to state their opinions on certain issues. In this issue we feature M.S. Lenart Setinc of
the Institute of Media Law Ljubljana. ¨ Internet Control – Yes or No? (4) Media
News
is publishing articles featuring opinions of journalists, scientific and
other public workers, as well as Internet surf fans, on the topic – does
the Internet need special regulation. We were inspired by the Conference
on the Internet, held early December last year in Paris, in which one of
the most important conclusions was that Internet control must not be
allowed because it would be a kind of censorship which would particularly
suit totalitarian regimes in the world. On the other hand, the gathering
called for banning content that instigates people to commit so-called
generally accepted criminal acts, such as pimping, violence, theft… We
reserved this issue for a somewhat longer article written by Professor
Jelenka Vockic – Avdagic, who deliberated this issue in a wider context
of global communication flows. ¨ Media Legal Practice in the World Court
Battle Over Faithfulness of Trnopolje Camp Images Award-winning television pictures showing emaciated Bosniaks behind barbed wire at a detention camp have again captured world-wide attention – this time as the focus of a High Court battle that began on February 28. The
case, due to last three weeks, is expected to have far-reaching
implications as the credibility of media coverage during wartime comes
under scrutiny. (source: “2000 News 24” http://news.24.com/English/World/Asia/ENG_257241_1041626_SEO.asp) ¨ News Dnevni
Avaz and Belgrade Vecernje Novosti
Most Read Papers Upon
research of press read by citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slobodna
Bosna reached extremely interesting, but also devastating findings:
the average Bosnian reluctantly buys any newspaper, and even when he does,
he rather buys papers produced in Zagreb and Belgrade than those published
in Sarajevo and Banja Luka.
Listen with your ears! Look with your eyes! Think with your head!
Council:Media Plan Institute Prof. Dr. Muhamed Nuhic, Hamza Baksic (Sarajevo); Perica Vucinis (Banja Luka); M.S. Lenart Setinc (Ljubljana); Prof. Dr. Mario Plenkovic (Zagreb); M.S. Loius de la Ronciere (Paris); M.S. Aleksandar Todorovic (Montreaux); Prof. Dr. Slavo Kukic (Mostar), Prof.Dr. Miroljub Radojkovic (Beograd). |