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SUPPORT PROGRAMME FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAV AREA IN 2001

 Table of content

 I  WHY TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA

II  KEY PROBLEMS AND NEEDS IN THE FIELD  OF MEDIA SUPPORT

III  STRATEGY, AIMS AND PRIORITIES 

IV  REVIEW OF MEDIA TO BE SUPPORTED IN 2001

V  ABOUT MEDIENHILFE EX-JUGOSLAWIEN

I        WHY TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA

During the year 2000 changes on political level happened in most of the countries in the former Yugoslav area, finally providing the preconditions for economic development, social recovery and political stability. The elections in Croatia and Serbia, but also in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosov@, broke the almost absolute dominance of hard nationalist parties and gave way to a more moderate leadership.

 These political changes also ended the worst direct oppression and threats towards independent journalism and media and opened the road towards professionalism also in the state controlled media scene. The new governments have all committed themselves under the Stability Pact to build a framework to ensure free and democratic media. We see today an unprecedented opportunity and obligation to help these countries to resolve structural problems of the media in line with their international and constitutional commitments. The establishment of a transparent and democratic controlled legal framework for the operation of all media, the transformation of former state controlled media, the construction of a public broadcast sector in the electronic media, the redefinition of the role private media play under new circumstances and many more tasks are awaiting the local political and media bodies. This process of transition needs substantial professional, political and material support and backing also by the international community.

 As a strategy for the media field to be applied in support of a sustainable change in these countries, we suggest to walk on the two legs of media transformation:

• Support for the transformation of state media and the construction of public broadcasts built up on the experience of professional journalism;
• Ongoing support for independent and professional private media as guarantee for media pluralism, accountability towards the new leadership and to keep the process of changes go on.

Following the political changes last year, journalists are less often exposed to threats of violence. Political pressure, however, has not diminished and the recently elected leaders are all too often using their predecessors’ methods to influence public opinion. For too many new political leaders the problem was not the political manipulation of media in general, but just the fact that the wrong party exercised this control. Real professional independence of media is also for the new leadership often more seen as a danger to their rule then a democratic obligation of the country.

Irreversible democratic progress cannot be provided by any government, however well intentioned it may be. Development of a strong and autonomous media sector, including public-service and private broadcasters, is the only way to ensure accountability of those in power. To keep the process of the last year going, to see democratisation proceeding, to see a real change of system and not only the replacement of political leadership, the political backing of the media transformation and direct investment into social awareness and political participation of the citizens stay crucial for at least five more years.

 Independent private media – not as an alternative to the transformation of state media, but as an needed partner for pluralism – are important for the process of transformation:

• As an independent watchdog on the new leadership and on the process of transformation;

• As a crucial part of pluralism in the public affairs and as examples of market oriented and therefor sustainable media;

• As a guarantee for media professionalism and transfer of skills in management, techniques, programming etc. towards the new public sectors;

• As an important tool to address key public issues as corruption and blackmailing, guilt and responsibility;

• As main motor for citizens awareness and participation in the democratic process, the state and institution building and the construction of fundamental constitutional rights;

• As an efficient tool for facilitating regional co-operation and integration through cross-border exchange of information and open public debates.

 In the present and foreseeable economic conditions, few if any independent media will survive without assistance. There is a real danger of the local state structures and the international support focussing after the changes in government only on the transformation of state media, as the independent private media - having proven during the last ten years their professional independence – keep an independent stance also towards the new elected leadership, often so being seen by them as too critical, too negative, too independent. If the gains in media pluralism and professionalism, achieved in recent years with international support, are not to be lost during the transition of state broadcasters to public service networks, then continued funding for independent media of proven quality and influence will be essential. The international community would be misled by the temptation to follow the intention of the local political leadership to marginalise media out of their control, as very soon we might face new media manipulation and propaganda by these new leaders for their own sake and interest – against the interests of the citizens, of democracy and stability and against the interests of the international community. For a real process of transformation, not just changing the faces, but the very backbone of the system itself, we see an active support on both levels needed. Only walking on the two legs, these countries will overcome the ten years of economic, social and political destruction and develop towards real stability and peace.

II       KEY PROBLEMS AND NEEDS IN THE FIELD OF MEDIA SUPPORT

Media scene, key problem and priority needs of media organisations vary from country to county or region in the area of the former Yugoslavia. As media make an integral part of a society, a political and social framework, as well as a level of economic development and key specific political and social problems, inevitably form a ground for major problems media face with in a process of their development. However, there are some problems and needs in the field of media support, which are common for the entire area. As such we would define the following:

1.      All media in the area are faced with quite serious infrastructure problems. Many of them have very poor and outdated equipment, which seriously reduces technical quality as well as capacity of their production. Besides, they also lack technical facilities which would enable their efficient networking. Accordingly, equipment and other infrastructure upgrade is top need for many media in the area. Also broader usage of new media technologies is very much needed. 

2.      All countries and regions of the ex-Yugoslav area are characterised by inadequate legal framework in media field. None of existing information codes and regulations on allocation of licences and frequencies for broadcasters fulfil democratic standards. Also regulation defined by some other laws, but which is indirectly connected to media issues (e.g. obligation of state bodies to make their work transparent to public) is still quite undemocratic and restrictive. All this enables mechanisms of various pressures still be pretty strong and thus creating of a legal framework which will enable existing and development of really free media is an outmost need. 

3.      All countries in the region lack market-economy conditions developed to a level which would enable self-sustainability of media. The expectation is that this would be changed in years to come. Adapting to market-economy conditions represents a very painful process and the biggest challenge for all media in the area. According to expert analyses, building up organisational and business structures, as well as a well-thought marketing strategies which will provide self-sustainability, will need a period of 4-6 years. Many media will not manage and will be forced either to fully commercialise or to seize their operation. 

4.      Level of professional standards in media coverage very much differs among media in the area: a few media practice a really high-quality journalism, some are on a decent level of professionalism, while the majority does not fulfil even basic professional norms. Private independent media with serious coverage (i.e. not commercial and entertaining) have comparatively higher professional level than state media. Variety of education and training courses are still a big need, especially in fields of investigative journalism and economy journalism. 

5.      Public broadcast system (PBS) does not exist.[1] Lack of political will is the main reason in Croatia and to a grater extent in Montenegro. It is, together with serious lack of knowledge and public awareness about the issue, the reason in Macedonia. On the other hand, in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosov@ (both actually protectorates), lack of strategy on behalf of the international community is the main responsible. Serbia is on the way to joint Croatia and Montenegro. Process of transformation of formally named PBS into real ones is an extremely complex task and will take many years ahead. For the beginning, before starting pumping enormous sums of money, detailed assessment of problems to be solved (sufficient staff, huge depths, lack of business planning and management, extremely low professional level, etc.) should be done, strategies for solving the issue (building up of PBS is a part of long-term process of building of democratic institutions in one society), and the most suitable concepts of PBS need to be developed. 

6.      Pretty high level of fragmentation of media space is still present. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosov@ and Macedonia the fragmentation goes along ethnic differences, with existing separated media sub-scenes addressing solely their respective ethnic audiences. Besides, inter-state relations in the region are burdened by unsolved consequences of the wars, which keeps the region divided on all levels. However, in order to provide their audiences better informing and to facilitate processes of regional integration, independent media need, and some of them already do so, to establish and develop a cross-border exchange and co-operation.

III         STRATEGY, AIMS AND PRIORITIES

1.      Approach

• Being aware that media, in particular state and state-controlled broadcast media, were used as a powerful instrument for laying a ground for the recent wars and conflicts by creating hate, generating fear, producing enemies, and spreading extreme nationalism, which left long-term consequences on people’s attitudes towards neighbouring nations that hamper creation of a common sense and need for regional co-operation and integration;

• Acknowledging the very diverse ethnic and national structure of the societies in the area of the former Yugoslavia and knowing that most of conflicts, crisis and wars did not happen because of, but along these ethnic and national identities and being aware that conflicts - latent or manifested - among various ethnic groups remain one of the key threats for peace and stability in the region;

• Bearing in mind that political structures in the countries of the region, although formally proclaiming their compliance with developing a concept of free professional media, still in reality do not give up practises of (mis)using media as instruments to manipulate public in order to strengthen their rule;

• Knowing that independent, professional and responsible media, and cross- border, cultural and ethnic/national media co-operation, can be strategically important tool for peace- and democracy-building in the region;

• Based on the strategic aim to support establishing and development of democratic institutions in the counties of the region as well as of comprehensive mechanisms of regional co-operation and integration as a long-term policy to achieve peace and prosperity both in SEE region and Europe as a whole;

we address the issue of support to independent media in the former Yugoslav area as follows:

 2.      Aims

Support to media in the former Yugoslav area is aimed at achieving the following:

• Existence of highly developed professional and responsible media who will operate free of any state or political structures, as the best guarantee for social and political plurality, freedom of expression, protection of human and minority rights, and governments’ accountability;

• Reaching of media self-sustainability, estimated as possible within a period of 5-7 years;

• Facilitating of integration processes through enabling a better understanding of processes and problems of the countries in the area and thus contributing to acknowledgement of various interests, rise of mutual respect and need for regional co-operation;

• Influencing cross- border, cultural and ethnic/national public debate on commitments related to respect of human rights and democracy- and peace-building as a precondition to achieve prosperity and peace in the region;

• Creating links and facilitating new cross-border initiatives, in particular in civil society sector, enabling citizens to perform free cross- national/ethnic and cultural communication and collaboration;

• Rising a level of openness, understanding and tolerance among various ethnic and national groups within a society and (re)-establishing and strengthening of a cross-cultural communication as one of a basic precondition for existence and functioning of a multi-ethnic society;

• Strengthening participation of minorities in social, political and cultural processes and thus contributing to their better integration into a society

• Promoting of cross- border, cultural and ethnic/national conflict preventing programming;

3.      Strategy

In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, we recommend the following strategic guidelines:

• Structural support for parallel development of all sectors of media scene: 1. broadcast (both radio and TV), 2. print (including infrastructure printing and distribution facilities), 3. news agencies, 4. specialised training institutions, and 5. media organisations in the field of media monitoring, research, analyses, legal issues and similar activities;

• Support for media transition projects, with a focus on:

  • legal transformation and protection;

  • education and training of media professionals, including journalists/editors, technicians and management staff;[2]

  • transition of the current state national broadcasters into public broadcast systems;

  • re-structuring and re-organisation of private independent media in order to enable them to successfully operate in market-economy conditions;

• Building-up and development of strong media networks, both in particular countries and regionally;

• Peace-building and conflict-prevention media projects should be specially supported, like:

  • Media in regions with a latent conflict potential or openly manifested conflicts;

  • Media in minority languages, as well as multi-ethnic and multi-lingual media;

  • Cross-border and cross-cultural media projects (radio and TV co-productions or exchange of productions);

  • Media projects promoting civil society values and social diversity;

  • Media projects dealing with issues related to education in the field of human and minority rights protection; diminishing of ethnic and other stereotypes and prejudices; promoting of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect;

  • Media projects dealing with the burden of a recent past – reasons that led to the wars; war crimes committed; issues of truth, guilt and responsibility.

IV         REVIEW OF MEDIA TO BE SUPPORTED IN 2001

We propose to support 50 projects (a few consisting of several sub-projects) throughout the region: 2 in Croatia; 4 in Bosnia Herzegovina; 7 in Montenegro; 8 in Kosov@; 21 in Serbia (14 in central Serbia, 4 in Vojvodina and 1 in Sandzak) and 8 in Macedonia. They include 141 different media organisations, while realisation of some of them would fulfil some of basic needs of all independent media in their respective countries. All in all, with approval of this support, Switzerland would give a substantial support to further development of the entire media scene in the region.

The biggest share of support would be allocated to media in FR Yugoslavia (68.3%), as it actually includes three countries/areas – Serbia, Montenegro and Kosov@ - each needing specific support. Besides, Serbia alone takes a significant portion (46.3%), as it really does have much more developed and diversified independent media scene than any other country in the region.

V         ABOUT MEDIENHILFE EX-JUGOSLAWIEN

Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien was founded in the end of 1992 as a Swiss non-governmental and non-profit organisation, with the aim to support the independent media and freedom of press in the area of the former Yugoslavia. Since 1993 Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien has established permanent contacts and co-operation with a number of independent media organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia. Totally 46 different media organisations have been supported, among them 4 network projects composed of a number of particular media or infrastructure projects used by more media.

 Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien has been the implementing organisation of the Swiss Government, i.e. of two departments within the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 1. Political Division IIIb, Section for Global Peace Policy and 2. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Besides, Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien started in 2000 to operated as the implementing organisation of other governments (Irish Government). We also receive support from Swiss cantons and towns, private foundations, companies, media houses and journalist associations, bigger NGOs, church organisations, and a number of individuals.

Fields of our activities include the following:

1              Support to independent media organisations in the area of the former Yugoslavia, which includes:

·        financial and material support; accompanied by a close follow-up reporting and evaluation of all supported projects;

·        moral and political support (e.g. in cases of attacks and pressures);

·        counselling;

·        facilitating partnerships with Swiss media.

2              Research and analytical work, consisting of:

·        reports and analyses of media issues in the region as well as a position and a role of media in a broader social context;

·        action research on specific issues related media (e.g. media role in social integration, conflict de-escalation and transformation, and peace-building);

·        reports and analyses of alternative sector (NGOs), strategy papers and counselling (for Swiss NGOs operative in the area of the former Yugoslavia).

3              Activities related to Swiss public and policy- makers, which include:

·        Regular issuing of a bulleting (quarterly), which is sent to Swiss NGOs; journalists, media and journalist associations; politicians and individuals interested to be regularly informed on issues related to media situation in the area of the former Yugoslavia;

·        Maintaining website with a variety of information in regard to media in the region;

·        Organising special meetings with prominent media and NGO representatives from the area and representatives of the Swiss state bodies;

·        organising public events with media and NGO representatives from the area of the former Yugoslavia;

·        presence in Swiss media (placing articles from journalists from the ex-Yugoslav area; publishing own articles or through interviews).

Our criteria to choose local partners are as follows:

1.                  Media who are not owned or controlled by a state or para-state structures;

2.                  Media whose editorial policy is not controlled or influenced by any political party;

3.                  Media whose coverage complies with professional criteria and journalist ethics;

4.                  Media who have engaged against nationalism and have promoted dialogue, understanding and peaceful cohabitation of people with different ethnic and religious background;

5.                  Media who have been promoting civil society and democratisation processes;

6.                  Special attention is given to cross-border and network media projects.

Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien is a member of a closer group of donors who have permanent co-ordination of support activities. This group form: Open Society Institute (offices in Brussels and Budapest, as well as national offices in the area of the former Yugoslavia), Swedish Helsinki Committee, Press Now, Norwegian People’s Aid, IREX ProMedia and Media Development Loan Fund.

Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien was in 2000 a member of the pool of implementing organisations for realisation of the quick support package for independent media in Serbia initiated by the Stability Pact. We will continue and strengthen this activity in 2001.

Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien is member of the expert team currently working on a strategy and policy papers for the EC support programme for independent media in the SEE in the next 6 years. The team includes representatives of NGOs, governments (e.g. USA and Denmark), private foundation (OSI), Stability Pact and EC.

The strategy elaborated in this paper is complementary to those to be implemented by international players we have co-operation with, which may additionally contribute to strengthening of the position of Switzerland (DEZA/AZO) within the international donors community. Each particular project proposed for support has carefully been evaluated, both in single assessment missions and donors joint project-travels and co-ordination meetings. Each of them will be supported by some or all of above specifically named donors.

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