SUBSCRIPTION

No 58, Vol I 

* Copyright Conference in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Authors Unprotected – Pirates Rule

* A View of Media in Croatia

Croatian journalists are still not satisfied with freedom of media in their country. Not even the historic turnabout and the end of the Tudjman era following an opposition coalition election victory have significantly contributed to bringing about a change in the poor media picture. One hundred days of the new government have passed without anything happening, and the dissatisfied Croatian journalists on May 3, World Media Freedom Day, held five minutes of thundering silence.
And really, on that Wednesday of May 3, from 1155 to 1200 hrs. in all media organization across Croatia, even in former strongholds of media conservatism, journalists stopped working and were thunderously silent. The protest attracted a lot of public attention, and the organizer, the Executive Board of the Croatian Journalist Syndicate, tested professional solidarity in practice. The general evaluation: excellent! Journalists after a long time had forgotten about partisan, ownership, professional, ideological and other differences. It is obvious that journalists had come to the end of their tether. Public support did not fail to come through, but politicians lukewarmly noted the protest, unlike the International Federation of Journalists which wholeheartedly supported the Croatian journalists’ fight for media freedom.

What About Election Promises?

What had made Croatian journalists decide to hold their thundering silence? The main reason is that “thousands of journalists, media workers and associates today fear for their bare existence due to hidden political and economic ties, outside the reach and influence of officials,” according to a protest letter of the Croatian Journalist Syndicate.
How is it possible that in new conditions, when the chains of the Tudjman era which had impeded media have been broken, such a rigid and fierce opinion is made? Have the new democratization waves in Croatia completely by-passed media? What about election promises, and where has support for independent media disappeared which the former opposition turned government had promised so enthusiastically? Is media freedom, which was one of the international community’s key conditions for Croatia’s admission to European integrations, not “on the table” any more?
These questions are not simple to answer, and it is even more difficult to assess in which direction the relationship between the new government and media is developing. The new government is faced with a very difficulty legacy: an empty treasury, unpleasant surprises in almost every drawer or cabinet which they open in the offices of the former government, accumulated problems, dissatisfied workers who have had enough of waiting and promises, while at the same time it is hard to find solutions in emptied pockets, and unresolved relations in the presidential triangle, in which it is unknown where exactly the competences of the state president, government and parliament start, and where they end…
Still, despite having a lot of understanding, journalists could no longer wait, like the workers of Vukovar, Split, Vrbovac and Zagreb, who are hitting the streets and demanding their rights.
What, then, is the status of Croatian media? Is it really that bad? Let us again use the Journalist Syndicate Executive Board proclamation, which offered a good inventory of difficulties in Croatian media:
- “Vjesnik” and “Slobodna Dalmacija” have been brought to the brink of disaster;
- “Vecernji list,” whose tradition and enviable market success cannot be denied, is being undermined;
- At Croatian Television, thousands of employees are fearing for their jobs, as well as an equal number of outside associates who have worked for this organization every day for years;
- At Croatian Radio, a series of well-run regional centers, which have been contributing to radio program diversity for decades, are now questioned;
- At “Glas Slavonije,” the management is threatening to cut the already low salaries of its employees, which are lower than those of any other media workers, without trying to cut back on their own luxury;
- At HINA, for reasons of economy, long-term associates are threatened with dismissal or drastic cuts in fees, although without them this news agency would not be able to cover all events that it needs to cover;
- At EDIT, collective negotiations have been delayed for years;
- At “Jutarnji list,” “Globus,” “Arena,” “Mila,” “Glorija,” collective negotiations have been suspended;
- At Radio 101 collective negotiations have also been suspended;
- The position of employees in small local media is even more unstable and dependent on the self-will of owners and local strongmen;
- Freelance journalists in a number of media, big and small, are not receiving fees for their work, which deprives them of the fundamental human right to be paid for one’s work.
Is this dramatic enough? Only one media organization, Radio 101, has corrected an incorrect declaration. In their company, negotiations have resumed. However, this does not diminish the seriousness and dramatic character of the message. We can only add darker tones to Croatia’s media landscape: the Law on HRTV still has not entered parliament procedure. An opening has been announced for a new editor-in-chief, a new team of editors has started working, but Mirko Galic, general manager, at a news briefing several days ago painted a very difficult situation at HRTV, announcing an increase in the subscription fee, because its resources are so depleted that the station cannot even buy new movies and series, let along produce its own program. “Vecernji list” became the subject of a first-rate sensation when a transcript of a conversation between the late President Tudjman and his internal policy advisor Ivic Pasalic was made public, in which they discussed agreements on the purchase of this highest-circulation daily for the HDZ party. The scandal led to a major debate, which went so far that some politicians, such as Drazen Budisa, publicly asked whether the president has the right to publicize confidential transcripts found in his predecessor’s cabinets and whether he can give them to the media. Namely, in the last 10 days there was almost not a single newspaper which did not publish at least one confidential transcript from Tudjman’s offices.

Lack of a Government Strategy

Croatia has feverishly started to deal with confidential transcripts and secret services, for which media have been used in all possible and impossible ways. Scandals are appearing as if on an assembly line. The latest is an interview given by the head of an association of invalids of the homeland war, who threatened with a coup d’etat. The interview was given to “Globus,” which announced it on the front page and produced the political news of the week.
Meanwhile, important matters remain on the sidelines, even those concerning the fate of media.
The Croatian Journalist Society back in December went public with its “New Media Agenda,” in which it made a detailed inventory of the state of media and offered possible solutions. Journalists did not want to spoil straight away the historic victory of the democratic forces with their demands, but in April they held a gathering at the International Journalist Education Center in Opatija, where once again, calmly and with arguments, they presented the state of media and what should be done. The name of the gathering was “The new government and media,” but it was held without the most important factor: the new government. Namely, one deputy minister and a highly-ranked ministry official who did attend, had come more out of solidarity with colleagues as they are former journalists, rather than relevant representatives of the government. Meanwhile, prominent officials simply ignored the gathering. The situation, in the meantime, has deteriorated. Now the government was faced with thundering silence on World Media Freedom Day. The government is expected to respond.
In the meantime, Austria’s “Styria” will probably become the new owner of “Vecernji list,” despite all commissions and transcripts on the scandalous sale of “Vecernjak.” “Tisak,” the biggest press distributor, is bankrupt, and new strategic partners are now sought. It is unknown who will buy “Vjesnik” and when, and until that happens, the government will set aside large funds each month for the once most prominent Croatian paper. Potential buyers wonder where this solution will lead. “Slobodna Dalmacija” has touched its bottom, and the solution is nowhere in sight. The potential, new management of HINA was faced with political games even before the elections, which threaten to undermine any solution…
Many problems, and the solutions are nowhere in sight. What is most alarming is the lack of a government media strategy, which would at least indicate the directions in which the accumulated difficulties should be solved. What the government is doing reminds a lot of the all too familiar old political solutions. The government started to solve the burning issue of HTV only when it was painfully faced with the unacceptable editorial criteria of Obrad Kosovac, editor-in-chief, after which it wanted to replace him overnight. The quickness then turned into a farce, which inflicted most damage on the newly-appointed general manager Galic, who threatened to resign before he had even started to work. The lack of a strategy resulted in poor solutions. Instead of changing the law, appointing a new HRTV Council under the new law, and announcing openings for a new management, the new government did what the HDZ party had been doing before it. It appointed its own people. What we saw was only a colorless re-run of well-known solutions against which these same politicians had once protested. Such solutions will hardly take Croatia into European integrations because they do not correspond with the international understanding of media freedom.
And, finally, what do journalists have to say? Young students of the Croatian Journalist Society’s Journalist Workshop asked the other day Jasna Babic, journalist of “Nacional,” when the situation, in her opinion, will change. The answer was laconically precise and condensed: “When the present generation moves out.”

* Serbia

The authorities in Serbia are planning to launch another war, this time against their own people, which raises the issue of potential introduction of totalitarianism in Serbia, concluded the Press Club held at Belgrade’s Media Center on May 10. Freedom of press is threatened in Serbia, as well as freedom of public association, and since recently also freedom of basic movement of citizens.
The most drastic example of repression on the part of Serbian police is the arrest of journalist Miroslav Filipovic, correspondent of the “Danas” paper, Agency France Press and IWPR in Kraljevo.
Filipovic was suspected of committing the criminal act of espionage and circulating false information and undermining the defensive system of the country, which is punishable by a prison sentence of three to 15 years. Nevertheless, on May 12, and due to the lack of evidence, prosecutor of the Military Court in Nis ordered the release of Mr. Filipovic.

*May 3, World Press Freedom Day

Last year 36 journalists were killed in the line of duty. Most were killed in Sierra Leone – 10, followed by FR Yugoslavia – six. This tragic figure is an enormous increase compared to the previous four years when the number successively decreased and in 1998 fell to 19. Since January 1, 2000 another five journalists were killed, and 84 are in prison.
These are the key figures from the Reporters Without Frontiers Annual Report published in the form of a book on May 3, World Press Freedom DayMedia Privatization

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina launched a “Journalist Help-Line” to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.
In a move to help promote journalists’ rights throughout the country, two media outlets have already linked their homepages to OSCE’s Incident Report Form on its website at www.oscebih.org. The OSCE Mission intends to link the FreeMedia Help-Line to all Bosnian-Herzegovinian media house websites in the country.

* The Internet

Bosnia-Herzegovina has around 25,000 Internet users, while for example Slovenia has around 250,000, with a constant rise of 25,000 new users each month! This picture of computer stagnation of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian population is completed by the fact that access to the Internet in this country is still a privilege, not a right as in the rest of the developed world.

* Awards

Ozren Kebo, journalist of “Slobodna Bosna” magazine, was proclaimed best journalist in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999 in an event organized on May 5, 2000 by the Association of Journalists of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which gathers journalists from the Federation.

At a ceremony organized in Banja Luka by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway on May 3, 2000, the director and editor-in-chief of “Nezavisne novine,” Zeljko Kopanja, was awarded for highest achievements in freedom of expression in 1999.
 

If somebody interfere with your professional, journalistic work call SOS – open line for journalists - 078 213 442 Media Plan Banja Luka

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).