Kostunica and Djindjic in Serbian Media:

A Tempest in a Glass of Water

By Vladan Radosavljevic

            After a careful evaluation of the political situation, but without doubt also under the fierce pressure of an upcoming donors conference, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and his cabinet decided to end several weeks of wrangling and dilemmas: news on Milosevic’s extradition to The Hague-based International Tribunal was announced when he was already on his way to the Scheveningen detention unit. After the initial shock, the former Yugoslav president’s most ardent supporters, the always agile Seselj’s Radicals, gathered in the center of Belgrade and vented their rage on several journalists and cameramen, most of them from foreign television stations. A few hours later, Federal President Kostunica appeared on all domestic TV stations and announced in a dramatic voice that not only was he opposed to the extradition, especially at such speed, but that he was informed about the whole thing through the media and no one had asked him about it! A coalition partner in the Serbian federal government, the Montenegrin pro-Yugoslav bloc SNP, announced that it would walk out of the Government, thereby practically announcing a near end of the federal state.

            Things seemed to be developing at unstoppable speed, and Milosevic’s departure to The Hague threatened to become yet another violent event related to him. It was feared, namely, that police controlled by Djindjic and the federal army loyal to Kostunica may have the last say.

            Fortunately, it turned out that the final chapter of the tragedy which featured the same main hero for ten years cannot excite anyone enough to really make them do something. Except for declarative opposition to the ‘unconstitutional act of extradition,’ not even Kostunica himself insisted too much on the whole story, while the Federal Prime Minister Zoran Zizic and his party – the Montenegrin SNP, decided to expressly return to positions from which they had resigned in the previous days.

            Local media used Milosevic’s departure to The Hague for sky-high circulations, but also to illustrate, more than before, their inclination towards one of the two main and opposed concepts: Djindjic’s pro-European, practical and fast political option, and Kostunica’s traditional, national, moral, but in modern politics rather useless political stand.

            One should, however, bear in mind that despite the evident political divide between the two leaders and the two stands, the newspapers, radio and television did not go too far. In other words, everyone reported everything, they showed visible effort to do their job professionally, there were no media outlets that could be labeled as being completely on one or the other side, and only a detailed several-day analysis could give some result and indicate how things would develop if the political divide becomes even more evident and turns into a political conflict.

            The most noticeable difference in the daily press can be seen in the case of the papers ‘Glas javnosti’ and ‘Danas.’ While ‘Glas,’ on one hand, publishes articles almost every day which – true, with a certain reservation – talk affirmatively about the successes of the army and Kostunica’s favorite General Pavkovic, or occasionally prints a commentary saying that The Hague really is a false court, in the meantime ‘Danas’ frequently slams the federal president’s traditionalist political concept and his ministers’ national orientation. Still, it is not easy in either case to prove that one paper cheers for Djindjic, while the other supports Kostunica.

            ‘Politika,’ supportive of the state and its institutions in all previous regimes, has maintained its old form and reporting style. This newspaper, unlike in the previous 10 years, does not conceal any news, but its somewhat servile attitude towards anyone who glorifies the authorities is still evident. On the other hand, a mildly national orientation does not allow ‘Politika’s’ editorial concept to feature on the front page the unpleasant story of almost everyday exhumations of bodies from mass graves. Such issues are usually published on the paper’s inside pages, in the form of official statements and without desire to approach them in an investigative manner.

            The high-circulation ‘Vecernje novosti’ is putting effort into maintaining the essential balance and trying to completely minimize the importance of the clash between the two concepts. The highest-circulation daily newspaper in Serbia, ‘Blic,’ does its job with highest professionalism, sticking just to information, reporting it in its original form and trying to stay away from commentaries or any sensations, but also from journalistic investigation of the most important issues. But if we must qualify this newspaper, we would say that the modern, European, hence Djindjic’s concept, is somewhat closer to ‘Blic’s’ editorial concept.

            As for weeklies, there is no doubt that there is a difference among them. ‘Nin’ is traditional and often national, although in this newspaper, as in a general store, one can find completely opposing views in a single issue. On the other hand, ‘Vreme’ still holds the position of an independent magazine, modern oriented and ready to openly analyze all political events, without insisting on advantage for any side.

            The broadcast media in Serbia, among which many radio and television stations also produce news programs, have for a long time been competing in how fast and dynamically they can report crucial political events. Of course, in this line of business mistakes are possible and frequent. A mistake happened even to the most professional and best quality broadcast media outlet, the radio and television station B92, which announced on April 1 that Milosevic was already in Central Prison while he was still sitting in his house, and then – in order to deny this – he appeared before his supporters who were demonstrating in the street. On the other hand, only three months later B92 was absolutely the first to announce the accurate information that Milosevic had been handed over to Tribunal in The Hague.

            Radio and TV stations are generally trying to be objective. Even if inclination towards Kostunica’s policy can be noticed among some of them, there is no doubt that Djindjic appears on air much more often. The reason for this are his almost everyday several-hour propaganda activities – from opening economic fairs, visiting sports games or pop concerts, to giving frequent interviews in which he or his ministers explain the government’s decisions and intentions.

            Due to all this, it seems that the Serbian media are no longer a political “crystal ball.” Namely, past experiences drawn from media analysis in the region indicated that the immediate political future could be “read” without error in the media. At this moment, however, this is not so.

            Either the conflict between the two leading political figures in Serbia and the clash between their two opposing policies is still marginal or is skillfully being hidden for practical reasons, or perhaps its escalation is not bringing anything particularly dramatic, but in any case the media are not suggesting that a big division is in sight which would have considerable influence on the future of the country. Perhaps it would be good to believe in what so far has been rather unlikely in this region: that the media are reporting professionally and honorably, without trying to give decisive advantage to either side.

            Let us hope that the current tempest in the glass of water will not overflow and soon turn into something bigger and more serious – not that this has not been seen before in Serbia.

Vladan Radosavljevic is an editor at the Media Center in Belgrade (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Translation by: K.H. ©Media Online 2001. All rights reserved.

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