SUBSCRIPTION

No 61, Vol I 

*  Threats to Freedom of Press in BiH 

The renowned American Association for Research in Human Rights, Freedom House, in its 2000 report on media, listed Bosnia and Herzegovina among the countries with partly free media in 1999. In view of the unsettled situation in BiH, characteristic for development of a society in the aftermath of the war, ownership transformation, ethnic divisions and existence of variety of political forces on the political scene – from pronounced extremist ones to moderate ones, such qualification of BiH media can not be taken as being off the mark. 
The media scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina is subject to quite specific pressures, exerted both by international protagonists and domestic authorities. Lack of appropriate media laws apart, there are considerable political pressures in play, as well as other pressures that result from the difficult material situation the media are in and the inexistence of media market. In 1999, there was a bomb planted in one radio station, while the editorial board of a TV station was attacked by a group of demonstrators. After publishing an article about war crimes, a journalist was seriously injured by bomb planted in his car. One media outlet was suppressed by force on the part of the international community.
It is obvious, especially if comparing the situation with one in Serbia, that the state does not use the traditional ways of pressure upon media in the sense that it suppresses the refractory ones or that it denies or restrains the freedom of work in some other way. However, there can be seen numerous forms of pressures and threats coming from individual persons in the government – mainly local officials, certain nationalistic extremists, entrepreneurs or corrupt public servants.
It is necessary to emphasise that the international community takes a great interest in the BH media. The general opinion that prevails is that a significant number of media of former Yugoslavia were the generators of war and were used throughout the conflict in BH as strong instruments of propaganda by the three warring sides, while immediately after the war, many media interfered with the process of inter-ethnic reconciliation. The international community, by investing enormous amounts in independent and open media succeeded somewhat in changing the media pattern in these parts. A number of media was created, which, by showing tolerance in their programmes and by broadcasting objective information, inaugurated the process of ethnic and political co-operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, first, the interim media commission of OSCE, and later on the Independent Media Commission, sanctioned the occurrences of the “language of hatred” in media and dissemination of all other untrue or utterly non-objective information. At this moment already, we can state as a fact that about 500 of the existing media in BH do not use any more the language of propaganda or ethnically inflammable vocabulary, adhering to a considerably degree to journalistic standards regarding the professional reporting. This is a success of immeasurable value. Also, on the initiative of the international community, the prison sentence for libel was abolished, and there is a Law on Freedom of Information under preparation, which is to pave the way to journalists being able to access the information from the domain of work of the government authorities. On several occasions, the representatives of the international community (OHR) took very firm steps in protecting the journalists. The mayor of Zenica received sharp warning because of his threats to Radio Zenica, while the leading persons in Livno Canton were removed, among else, because of the threats they issued to the journalists of Studio N. Apart from this, the OSCE Mission to BH opened a Help-line for the protection of journalists. In full confidentiality, the journalists have the opportunity to report the threats through the Internet Web page http://www.oscebih.org. There is no doubt that the OSCE will investigate all the reported cases and undertake measures against those who harass the people working on public information.
 

*  Transition in IMC

Within the Independent Media Commission (IMC) there is now in course a process of transfer of powers to domestic people. They did constitute the major part of the staff up to now, but, formally at least, they did not hold the senior positions. There were 70 people employed in IMC up to now, of whom two thirds were Bosnian citizens. After this process of transition, there will be only four foreigners remaining in IMC. The General Manager is still Krister Thelin, a Swede, and his Deputy is also a foreigner. However, the Heads of the departments that constitute the Commission will from now on be domestic people.
This was an expected transition in IMC. From its very establishment on 1 August 1998, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), as the main founder, stressed that the Commission would be headed by foreigners only in the beginning, with the domestic staff gradually taking over the senior positions. “From the very beginning we had domestic human resources who knew that gradually a transition of powers would be effected”, said Zinaida Babovic, the Head of the Public Affairs Department. According to her, during this two-year period the domestic staff underwent continuous training, so that now all the conditions are set for their full involvement in running the Commission. 
However, regardless of the step forward in regard to making the Commission a domestic one, it will still remain under the supervision of international actors. At this moment, political conditions in BiH are not set to enable a domestic institution at the level of the entire state to hold authoritatively under control such a significant area as the electronic media broadcasting. Would “Erotel” ever have given the frequencies and transmitters over to the Federation TV, had the IMC not been backed by the SFOR and the whole international community? Would the radio and TV stations in Republika Srpska ever pay the fines for non-compliance with media rules imposed by a domestic institution from Sarajevo?
Of course they wouldn’t. Finally, the Independent Media Commission shares in common the fate of all other spheres of life in partitioned Bosnia, in which the international actions, however rightfully they might be criticised at times, provide the driving force for the functioning of the state.
 

*  Region

Media in FRY operate in situation of devastated economy, very low living standard, economic instability, legal insecurity and complete impossibility to plan any development– reads the economic analysis of Serbian media, made by Media Centre from Belgrade.
The average salaries of journalists in Serbia amount to about 100 DEM and are irregularly paid. In order to survive and sustain their families, many journalists are forced to engage in additional jobs outside their profession. Media are mainly government-controlled, and this year they are subject to a strong campaign, manifested mainly through a continuation of drastic sanctioning under the Law on Information. Apart from the imposed penalties, which are draconian for Yugoslav conditions, the media are also exposed to other more ”subtle” methods of pressure, including suppression.
The key problem of the print media is the unrealistically low price of the papers, conditioned by the extremely low living standard in FRY. In order to reach the European standards, according to which the price of a daily newspaper equals the price of one kilogram of the newsprint paper, the price of the dailies should be 28 instead of the present 7 Dinars, and the price of the weeklies should be 70 instead of the present 30 Dinars.
The extremely low standard of living radically reduced the number of people buying the newspapers, and this was one of the reasons why the publishers maintained the low prices. According to one of the surveys, one copy of the newspapers is read by five to ten people. With the existing prices, the print media are practically operating with losses.
At this moment, there are about 350 private radio and TV stations in Serbia, plus additional 150 ones which were founded by the municipal assemblies (previously by Socialist Alliance). However, the majority of these media outlets are located in some adapted business or housing premises in the high-rise apartment buildings on the roofs of which the aerials were simply planted. It was the cheapest solution at the time. The first phase of capitalism, which came after the dissolution of SFRY, was a time of semi-professional standards (Super VHS was mostly used), so that 100,000 DEM sufficed to open a TV station, and five times less to open a radio station. From 1994 to 1996, one new radio or TV station would appear on the air every week. 
In urban areas, there are about 10 percent of such stations and they are obliged to pay a charge for radio and TV signals which is several times higher than the one paid in rural areas, where broadcasters mainly broadcast advertisements and “music wishes”. Practically, there is no difference been made between a socially necessary and a commercial programme orientation. To the contrary, the dues imposed on stations which broadcast information programmes are much higher and their business operation is frequently the target of inspection and auditing services.
 
 

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).