Public Services:

A Fear of Dismissals Spreads Through Radio Television BiH

Zoran Udovicic, ©Media Online 2001

There is practically no country in transition in which intrigues, scandals and conflicts have not appeared during the privatization of state-owned into public radio television stations. Confusion and manipulation with the terms ‘state’ and ‘public,’ a heavy legacy of management habits from the socialist period, lack of transparency in expenditures, confusion regarding the role of management, journalists and syndicates in the new system – all these are problems that people working on media transition are faced with.

Czech TV journalists for two whole months refused to recognize their director who was appointed by an independent, but actually controlled radio and television board. Transformation of Croatian Radio Television (HRT) is still entangled in problems. Forum 21, a group of critically oriented journalists formed back in the time of Tudjman’s rule, says the HRT informative and documentary program is in chaos. The new democratic forces are trying to maintain their political monopoly in the new public RTV. Belgrade radio and television has been engulfed by the whirlpool of changes following Milosevic’s removal from power. It is ‘neither public nor state-owned,’ as its journalists would say. Even the RTV license fee was abolished and this media mastodon, the largest in the Balkans, is now funded from the state budget. It took eight months since political changes for this house to start getting its first regular directors and editors. Slovenian RTV, which is said to have successfully completed the privatization process, is shaken by scandals, first regarding the election of the new director, and then regarding financial management.

And so it is, from one country to the other, all the way to Radio Television Bosnia-Herzegovina, which cannot seem to complete its reorganization into a public service started almost three years ago. Namely, decisions handed down by the international community’s High Representative and the public service founding board envision the transformation of the present single organization into two organizations – RTV Federation BiH (covering one of the two Bosnian-Herzegovinian entities) and Public Service RTV BiH (covering the whole country). So far, only the radio program has started working according to the new reorganization. The start of the new TV stations keeps being postponed due to many personnel, programming, technical and management problems, as well as various intrigues and rigged scandals.

The transition administration recently decided to speed up the process and invited all workers employed with the present TV to apply for new positions at federal television. However, it only offered short-term positions. Knowing that the television is overstaffed as it is, the employees rebelled. The syndicate spearheaded the protest and said it could not accept for any present long-term employee to work with less legal protection. The protest turned into a scandal when the High Representative's RTV BiH Transition Agent John Shearer, an experienced BBC journalist and producer, was labeled an ignoramus, profiteer and dictator, and the transition board, consisting mostly of people employed with the organization for many years – a group of incompetent poltroons.

RTV BiH is evidently in a deep crisis and no one from the outside or inside can make good or rational moves any more. There is practically no authority to make a good management decision directing the house to the proclaimed public RTV track, or a compact management team to come up with a program, in line with contemporary trends and new media technologies, to capture the interest of all citizens of this country. Political backroom deals (which are still going on) and manipulation of employees for a long time obstructed the idea of a public service. They used the arguments of ‘Bosnia’s endangerment’ and ‘employees who built and defended the house and who will now be thrown out into the streets.’

Thanks to contradictory moves, ‘promised speed,’ and even its simplified understanding of the depth of the crisis shaking RTV BiH, the international community itself contributed to destroying the authority of the project. Vacillating between a hot potato – coming to grips with state-owned media fortresses – and a simpler task – developing alternative media systems, OBN and FERN – the Office of the High Representative lost pace and ran out of steam. Its first partners in this task, the nationalistic leaders and journalists and directors loyal to them, obstructed all serious work. And when they were removed, what was left behind was a creatively unambitious organization, frightened of anything new and waiting on the sidelines of changes spreading through Bosnia, with out-dated equipment and a mastodon building running at staggering cost.

Is there a way out of the situation and how can the project be revitalized?

The Office of the High Representative should critically evaluate its decisions and tactics in implementing the project. Anyone can be accused – journalists, syndicate, press, international community – for the flood of uncontrolled statements made lately, but the present RTV crisis cannot be overcome by the transition board with its hands tied and frightened by any move it tries to make, or the High Representative’s agent who has been put in the position of the most notorious person in this country’s media scene and whose only option left in the isolation he has been placed in is to issue orders from his office.

Radio Television has had enough transition administrations. Those who are responsible for its transformation, whether they are foreigners or Bosnians but who certainly are not underpaid, should find and appoint an authoritative manager with all the usual powers and responsibilities. The international community, that is to say the people it appoints, should be the manager’s partners, and in operative work – his advisors.

Only a manager with full powers can enter into negotiations with the syndicate. The syndicate has the legitimate right to fight for the employees’ fate, and even to demand that no one be fired. But the management and syndicate must together seek a solution to overemployment. Dismissals from work – a fear spreading through Radio Television – is the main obstacle to the transformation process and it constitutes a deadly tool for those who are opposed to the process. The management and syndicate should therefore work in cooperation to come up with alternative employment projects within the organization’s main and side activities, inside and outside the organization, which should be activated at the moment when job vacancies are announced for the organization’s main activity. Without a vision of this solution, RTV BiH transition will keep hurtling toward disaster.

Zoran Udovicic is editor in chief of Media Online and president of Media Plan Institute. ©Media Online 2001. All rights reserved.

go to top

P.O. Box, CH-8031 Zürich, Switzerland
Phone +41-1-272 46 37,  Fax +41-1-272 46 82, email: info@MEDIENHILFE.ch