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TOL 9 - 15 October 2001
Yugoslavia: TV Tussle
The appointment of a Vojvodina television chief
generates a violent reaction from one local politician.
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia--A year
after the collapse of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s regime,
the authorities in Belgrade are still finding difficult issues on the horizon.
One task is defining the relationship between the region of Vojvodina in the
north with the rest of the country. Although Kosovo has certainly received more
press, Vojvodina had also been an autonomous region until Milosevic, in effect,
revoked the constitutional status of both provinces in 1989.
Vojvodina has undoubtedly been more diplomatic in seeking a status change, but
last week the issue was radicalized when Nenad Canak, the speaker of the house
of the Vojvodina Assembly, behaved in a most undiplomatic manner--on camera. The
problem that sparked the current crisis relates to the status of Vojvodina’s
local branch of the main state broadcaster, Radio and Television Serbia (RTS).
The crisis had been brewing for some time while the RTS board of directors
deliberated over the appointments of new editors and directors. On 9 October,
the board announced the appointment of Bojana Lekic, former editor of the
independent B92 broadcaster, as the RTS news programs editor. Earlier this year,
Lekic left B92 after a row over her decision to accept a media award from the
Karic company, a firm that had been quite close to the Milosevic regime.
Journalists still harbor resentment that Lekic accepted the award from a group
that many consider lacking in ethics.
But it was another RTS appointment that enraged Canak--that of journalist Petar
Jovanovic as the director of the RTS Vojvodina office. Minutes after the
information was made public, Canak--who is also the leader of the League of
Social Democrats of Vojvodina--headed toward the RTS offices in the Vojvodina
capital of Novi Sad and tore down the RTS sign, all the while using colorful and
blunt profanity. “RTS was the symbol of the deepest darkness in Serbia, under
which Serbian kids died in Vukovar,” Canak said in a reference to RTS
propaganda during the 1991 Serbian siege of the Croatian city. Canak promised
that “Belgrade will step on Vojvodina no more.” The RTS logo was removed
from the programming that night and a special broadcast was put on the air.
Canak’s move proved popular among local Vojvodina viewers with many live calls,
some originating from Belgrade as well as other Serbian towns in which the
program transmits. Canak explained that the governing Democratic Opposition of
Serbia (DOS), of which his party is a member, had agreed that the Novi Sad
branch of the RTS would have an autonomous status. According to him, the
controversial appointment had been made in violation of that agreement. Another
DOS official, Mile Isakov, who leads Vojvodina’s Reformists, stated that the
Vojvodina authorities would not implement Belgrade’s decision.
RTS Director Aleksandar Crkvenjakov denounced Canak’s moves as “illegal and
politically motivated.” In an interview with Beta news agency on 10 October,
Crkvenjakov stated that Canak had been aware that there were two candidates and
voiced no objections. Crkvenjakov pointed out that the unsuccessful candidate,
Aleksandar Kravic, is a member of Canak’s party.
Since DOS ousted Milosevic last October, Canak has exerted continuous pressure
on the Serbian government to reinstate Vojvodina’s autonomy. The Vojvodina
parliament has sent many proposals to the Serbian parliament, but Belgrade has
yet to vote on a single one. Canak was one Vojvodina’s three influential
politicians who threatened to internationalize the question of Vojvodina if the
Serbian parliament didn’t return the province its self-governing rights, and
he has openly accused Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica of blocking the
process.
While Canak’s demands concerning state television received public support, his
methodology was less than popular with his colleagues. The Coalition Vojvodina,
a DOS member led by Serbian Agriculture Minister Dragan Veselinov, said in a
statement that while Vojvodina has the legitimate right to determine who will
run Novi Sad television, the “primitive, hooligan behavior of Nenad Canak does
not contribute to the peaceful restoration of Vojvodina’s autonomy.”
Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) called for Canak’s removal from
the speaker position. In another press release, DSS accused Vojvodina’s
parliament head of attempting to “disintegrate and break up the state.”
Journalists’ associations from Serbia supported the demands to let Vojvodina
choose its television editors, but also chided Canak for his behavior. Even
Jozsef Kasza--the leader of the Union of Vojvodina’s Hungarians and a Serbian
deputy prime minister--who has always worked closely with Canak, accused him of
creating a political crisis with his “verbal terrorism” and “violent
behavior.” “We can’t agree with such a move or with the words he used,
because it is neither a reflection of our policies nor of the majority of
Vojvodina people,” Kasza told the Novi Sad daily Gradjanski list.
Vojvodina’s parliament decided on 11 October to form a special commission to
investigate not only the RTS appointment, but also Canak’s public appearance
after the decision.
--by Dragan
Stojkovic
source: Transitions Online
published by: Roland Brunner rbr@medienhilfe.ch
date of release on this site: 16-10-2001
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