Radio-Television Serbia:

Servant Without a Master

Snezana Stefanovic

RTS as a service for all citizens is one of the campaign promises of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. According to some electronic surveys, at least “104 percent” of respondents, just like in the elections from the no-so-long-ago “good old days”, would agree that state television will in fact serve that function. The problem is how to realize that ideal, and how the DOS would define the idea of a “citizens’ service.” It seems that almost every party has its own vision of this service. That was how the decision on who was to be appointed editor of informational and other programs—as well as who was to be director of Radio-Television Serbia—fell apart before it even got underway. The process fell apart in July, and a new race has yet to be announced. The broadcaster’s general director Aleksandar Crkvenjakov claims the candidates didn’t get enough support from political parties and from the reporting staff. But is that the real reason?

How the Race Was Run

In order to start fulfilling the campaign promises, it was necessary to choose a general director. Then followed yet another, perhaps more difficult task: choosing the top staff at RTS. The job openings were announced July 11, but just when the results should have been announced, objections were heard from some of the job candidates. First the editor (now ex-editor) of Dnevnik RTS Milorad Petrovic tendered his resignation and withdrew his candidacy for editor of informational programming. He explained his decision saying that “Political parties from DOS have been putting the pressure on for the whole ten months to regain control over television.” Others claim he got wind that he wouldn’t be offered the job he was after.

Then Gordana Susa, who had also been competing for the spot, made a harsh announcement. Susa, who is president of the Independent Society of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) and editor of the independent TV network VINS, accused the two largest and most influential political parties of pressuring and lobbying.

The debate culminated in Crkvenjakov’s deciding that he would offer no one the position, that a new race would be announced. Clearly, regardless of Petrovic’s motivation in withdrawing from the race or Susa’s in her indictments of it, these critics have something in common: they each lay the cause of their problems at the feet of political party interference.

Susa, DS, and DSS

Gordana Susa even sent an open letter to the Democratic Party, claiming the democrats hadn’t thought she was pretending or acting when they invited her to speak at public demonstrations, and when she participated with NUNS in resisting repression. The Democratic Party retaliated, demanding that she publicly announce the names of the party members who had allegedly opposed her appointment as editor, to which Susa responded by calling a press conference. There she spoke about something she had until then kept silent on: that on July 27 she had been called before the Government of Serbia for a conversation with Prime Minister Zoran Dindic and Vice President Zarko Korac. She said they told her she “had every right to state her opinions, but that the situation was such that a certain consensus had been reached inside the DOS, which would have to be respected in order not to further widen the rifts between the two main forces of the leading coalition in Serbia.”

            Speaking about pressure, she said the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) was against her, and that not even the Democratic Party (DS) supported her. The old days had returned, she said, when political parties influence everything. She promised she would announce her candidacy for the next round. The only thing that could stop her would be an announcement that only DSS candidates need apply.

            And while Dindic’s Democrats denied their involvement in choosing an editor, siting the fact that not one member of DS sits on the Administrative Committee of RTS, the storm continued. Journalists connected the DSS’s objections with the desire that “their” candidate would be Bojana Lekic, the editor until recently of Television B92, who had never announced her candidacy. Lekic resigned (or was fired) from the station due to a disagreement about accepting a journalism award from the Braca Karic Foundation.

            The latest information points to the position certainly being reopened, since the DSS party commissioner has spoken recently with Lekic, and she has decided to announce her candidacy. She is ensured the support of Kostunica’s party.

Crkvenjakov’s Agreement

During this time Crkvenjakov had been first quietly, then ever more loudly justifying the fact that no one had been appointed to the key position of editor of informational programming. He emphasized that his primary motive was that no one had received the support of any party. He had therefore decided not to present the Administrative Committee with a name, since he didn’t want it to come down to a re-vote. The more he explained, the more he fumbled, demonstrating his own lack of opinion and his hopes that someone else would make the important decision for him.

            We will set aside the fact that an attitude of general reserve toward one individual might be evidence that the person could be right for the job of Editor of Informational Programming. Has it occurred to anyone at all that the person who will be chosen for this and the remaining editorships in RTS need not appeal to the political elite? It doesn’t seem that Crvenjakov has thought much about this. Constantly reiterating that one must take into account that the Serbian Council founded RTS, he says he considers it normal that parties negotiate and bring their opinions to the table when choosing an editor.

            The way things look now, party approval should be the guiding star in the decision of whom to appoint editor, the star by which Crvenjakov can be sure to make the right choice. This does not mean Crvenjakov has any clear and firm opinions about what he wants, such as a major TV station serving citizens.

            It quickly became evident that Crvenjakov (or someone above him) does not want to work with Susa. Speaking against her, he said that the editor should be someone who spends all of his or her time on programming, not someone who has numerous functions, tasks, and independent networks. Susa’s autonomy,[ which has lasted for the almost ten years since her excommunication from RTS], became another strike against her, or as she puts it, “the problem was that I was nobody’s and that I was only my own.” These contradictory objections, put together, lead to the conclusion that all of the fault lies with Gordana Susa.

            But Gordana Susa’s problem or the problem of any individual plays a minor role in this story. What is much more worrisome is how clear it is becoming that political parties want to get their paws on this national broadcaster, and put it into the service of the party, not the citizens.

“Big”  TV

            The foregoing case demonstrates the fragility and non-independence of big television stations. They are big only perhaps in the numbers of people they employ, or maybe in the size of their ruins. Until yesterday the servants of RTS, now searching for a clear direction. It’s not hard to see the too-repentant, too-friendly, too-polite and [udvaracko] behavior of the political talk show hosts when an important guest from the political inner circle is in the studio. The small amount of air time alotted to opposing views is obvious, too, as usual.

            Before the “gentle” October Revolution, the notorious instrument of the leading regime of Slobodan Milosevic, television served one function: to be the voice of those in power.

            Hate speech spread for over a decade, and TV Bastille became a symbol of closed-mindedness. We see a prime example of a party mouthpiece spreading “patriotism” in a case that is still being talked about, that of Tatjana Lenard, the former editor of foreign affairs for RTS who said, “Let Clark shoot, we are waiting in Takovska Street 10, the coordinates he can find by himself.” A few days after this “invitation” the RTS building was bombed and 16 people were killed. Tatjana Lenard was in Budapest at the time. Of course, the remaining journalists and pets of the regime were told to leave the building some twenty minutes before.

            A month later Lenard explained that the invitation was only a figure of speech, but after this “figure” the space and technical capacity of RTS became a great deal more limited. What the planes didn’t destroy, “bands of hooligans” set fire to on October 5 last year. At that time the fate of the national broadcaster changed. Ever since the drummers led by Dragoljub Duricic entered their courtyard, RTS has symbolized freedom. But only symbolized.

            That same evening, Gordana Susa was called in to help get the program going. She arrived with people and equipment from VIN. Right then and there she asked those reporters who during the preceding period had shown their true colors to leave RTS, and told them that the program would now be run thus and so. For many, this was where the real panic set in. How to function in these new social and political circumstances? Until yesterday they had had the right political or family ties, now fearful and disoriented, unsure of what to do, they assumed an attitude of “let’s hope there won’t be any retaliation, since we were only doing our jobs.”

            In fact, out of everything that’s gone on from October 5 to the present, only two events have the look of retaliation. First is editor of news programming Milorad Komrakov’s withdrawl from the public eye, although it’s said he still works for RTS, and second is beating that RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic received in the streets on October 5, which landed him in prison, where he is today. And that’s it. When the staff realized with time that nothing bad would happen to them, their old familiar faces started showing up again in front of the camera. The explanation was that there was no one else. Even though the broadcaster employed over 8,000 people last year, and 7,300 this year, it’s hard to find a young new face.

'Acting' RTS

With time, as the political tension eased, the number of problems that DOS couldn’t agree on grew. Thus, after the attack on the crisis headquarters and the 'conquest' of state-owned companies, a long period began of calling in old debts. This was because in the 18 parties that make up DOS you can always find one with objections. The DOS Personnel Commission wrangled for months,therefore, over the makeup of Adminstrative Committee to choose a new director for RTS. And in spite of an enormous excess of staff, the government encouraged a huge deficit of professionals, especially journalists, while the faces of the announcers, anchors and editors still seem a bit too familiar. No one can avoid the impression that broadcaster has become anemic, with an unclear strategy for its own development and not particularly worthwhile programming. When you add to the mix the failure in choosing top administrators, the real fragility of both RTS and the leading party comes into relief.

            Influence on the media exists; that’s clear to everyone. What some people may not see, however, is that any editor, but especially the Editor of News Programming, has a hard row ahead. He or she will have to start from the ground up, solving problems ranging from finances to professionalism. The job is so demanding that it requires the most serious, decisive, knowledgeable, and unimpeachable people that can be found, and even then there is no guarantee that the job will be done well. But only when such a team is in charge, we can se whether at least a portion of this ideal of 'service for the citizens' is being realized.

Snezana Stefanovic is a Belgrade journalist who works for Blic newspaper. Translation by: N.H. ©Media Online 2001. All rights reserved.

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