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Medienhilfe Ex-JugoslawienProfessionelle
Solidarität gegen Nationalismus und Chauvinismus
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IWPR & MEDIA PLANMONITORING REPORTVol II/ No 8
THE B&H MEDIA IN REVIEW: 19 JANUARY - 2 FEBRUARY 1997
The election rules have finally been announced and the dates for local elections in BiH have been set. RTV BiH continues to search for "disguised" form P2, while Croatian and Serbian media are completely preoccupied with other topics. SRT is mostly concerned with "the intrusion" of Bosniacs into the zone of separation, and HR Hercegbosna with the internal federal dissension. Brcko is a topic equally interesting for all. Final arbitration for this city is kept at a safe Washington distance, where no radiation of local media propaganda can reach. In this issue we focus on:
A QUESTION FOR EDHEM BICAKCIC (PRIME MINISTER OF BH FEDERATION)There are no legal media regulations in the BH Federation. Most of the current laws are borrowed from the ex-Yugoslavia's legal system, but are not adapted to the new legal organization of BH, and are mainly inapplicable. This is the reason the media situation is so unstable, and any development plan is impossible. Mr. Bicakcic, is the Federation Government preparing suggestions of new media laws for the Federation? Are there any initiatives or proposals for detrmining the status of Radio Television BH in accordance with the organization of the Federation and the new BH constitution? ANSWER FROM MARTIN GARRODThank you for the opportunity to answer your questions in your letter dated 28 January 1997 (I do not respond to open letters). After the incident that occurred in the building housing the OHR's Regional Headquarters, I strongly condemned and deeply deplored this event in a press release published on 20 January 1997. I also informed that I had asked IPTF to take necessary measures in order to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future. We received assurances that this has been done. Therefore, my associate, Dr. Dragan Gašic, wrote a letter to the journalists concerned on 24 January 1997, informing them that there is no reason why they should not continue with their normal work in the seat of the Regional Office. I have to state that there is freedom of movement for journalists even if I know that many of them, for their personal reasons, do not dare to go to the other side. But I have to say that on many occasions Croat journalists have crossed over to the East, and Bosniac journalists have crossed to the West, and I hope this will continue to improve. As far as I know, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the members of the City Administration are giving journalists the opportunity to receive all important information. - Sincerely, Martin Garrod EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, BUT BRCKOMedia thunder around Brcko, caused by the arbitration in Rome, did not bring expected ozone cleansing. Media continue to assure its own part of audience in the justification of "our" requests, creating strong political alibi for their representatives in the arbitration process. Public opinion is no way being prepared for the case where the Tribunal could come up with a different or "partial" decision. Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina have already exiled word compromise long time ago. The fate of Brcko was one of the most frequent and hottest topics in the program of RTV BiH. Pathetic statement of Vice-President of the Federation, Ejup Ganic, before his departure to the USA, served as a motto: "I am going to ask for justice for Brcko" (Devnik, 24 January). All reports, information and commentaries related to Tribunal work had a common message: "Brcko must go to the Federation. Vocabulary that was used contained not such a small measure of exclusivity: "or-or", "to be or not to be", "question of all the questions" (Dnevnik, 1 January). TV BiH broadcast back to back to reports on Brcko that resonated threatening by its content (Dnevnik, 1 and 2 February). In both reports audio statements of Mayor Munib Jusufovic were used: "In case of unsatisfactory outcome, it will not be possible to control the situation" and, the next day, "I personally think that some other measures should be used." The fact that he did not mention what kind of measures he referred to is exactly that what sounded so threatening. Was it because it had started its war propaganda significantly earlier, with a number of war cries, that the Srpska TV lessened its propaganda intonation and softened up its aggressive vocabulary after the conference in Rome. Even the last statement coming from Biljana Plavsic, after her meeting with the American mediator John Kornblum, sounded fairly conciliatory: "There is no chance of any negative solution for us" (Novosti, 2 February). Restraining itself from its own commentaries Srpska TV chose to quote "Politika ekspres" that writes about some kind of alleged genocide on Serbs in Brcko in the second world war. "That's the truth, and not that what these days Ejup Ganic, the second among Alija's fundamentalists, is saying in Washington that the Serbs are thieves regarding Brcko, and Muslims the landlords of the city and its surrounding," was the closing punch line of the article in "Novosti" (2 February). KARADZIC IN ARCHIVESFormer leader of RS, Radovan Karadzic, who was accused of war crimes, is experiencing media reincarnation thanks to Srpska TV. In a documentary program (31 January), dedicated to tragically deceased Nikola Koljevic (former Vice-President of RS) the viewers could see and hear Karadzic, whom the reporter addressed with "Mr. President..." In the announcement, it was said that it was a re-run of a program taped two years ago when Koljevic's book "Homeland topics" was published. Editors of SRT obviously evaluated that the Dayton prohibition of media appearances by R. Karadzic does not relate to archival material. Is Karadzic's portrait also included into the archive, where he could be clearly seen on TV recording behind the back of Minister Nedeljko Laic while he was thanking himself to the EU representative Kristina Taring (Novosti, 31 February)? That is happening at the same time while in Banja Luka court a case is being presented against the Bosniac leader Alija Izetbegovic, whom the Serbian side accuses of " war crimes on civil population, something Srpska TV had regularly and thoroughly informed about. FAILED VISIT TO GERMANYThe activities of common bodies in the last period are mostly obvious in the work of the Council of Ministers of BH, who regularly met with unknown output. Media sparks lit the fire for the first time when the announced visit to FR Germany was canceled. That was done at the request of Haris Silajdzic, one of the co-presiding, because the Serbian delegates decided to travel separately on their own. "Muslims continue to play dirty games," said the enraged commentator (Novosti, 27 January). In his words, the visit was canceled because "Boro Bosic, as the presiding this week, had to lead the delegation, and that did not suit Haris Silajdzic at all. He has right to that." Similar explanation was given the following day by Bosic, almost repeating the same words journalist said the previous day. RTV BiH reacted without any dramatisation to the first unsuccessful international visit of government delegation. Broadcast was only the statement of Haris Silajdzic that it was a certain attempt to give some recognition to RS as a state. ??? I u ostalim vijestima vezanim za rad zajednickih organa nije dolijevano ulje na vatru.??? Not the media on one nor the other side considered their obligation to broadcast the opinion of "the second" failed Co-Presidents' trip. Media divisions are legalized long time ago and, as it seams, are not debatable, controversial. HRT MEDIA INVASIONContrary to TV Serbia, that lately pays more attention to the events in Bulgaria rather than in BH, Croatian TV is deeply involved in the BH media space with its program and distribution of its signal (three channels on earthly network). All the messages which they want to direct to public or their federal partner, Croatian representatives in BH (HDZ party) does that through the media in Croatia. Is that the consequence of Sarajevo media inaccessibility for political options of its federal partner (as it is often being pointed out), or is some kind of media paternalism in question? The focus of HRT programs was the crisis in the establishment and the functioning of federal governmental bodies on all levels. Member of Presidency, Kresimir Zubak, explained the reason why the crisis came about: "We have entered the phase of concrete realisation of Dayton agreement, but the federal partner is not ready for it. They did not inform their public on time about the content of this agreement, they made it look more appealing that it actually was, so the public would accept it" (Motrista, 22 January). The crisis in the federal relations was also addressed in the program called "U krupnom planu", that usually tackles the internal political conditions in Croatia. The highest representatives of HDZ in BH specifically accentuated the (non)-functioning of federal bodies, establishment of the local self-ruling units and the issue of the refugee return. The statement of the HDZ President, Bozo Rajic, shows the best how unbridgeable the gap of mistrust is between the federal partners: "We have come up with the irrefutable evidence that the politics of SDA, and the Bosniac parties in the Federation overall, are going for a time exhaustion, and that he idea of "reserved homeland" is not completely unfounded." Namely, postponing the solution to questions of vital interest to Croats in BH has one goal, and that is, as it is said in jargon, that the Croats leak out of BH (like water). Hercegbosna chronic, broadcast on HRT's third channel from the Siroki Brijeg studio, focuses its programs exclusively on the regions under the HVO control, but also on the regions where the Croats are in significant numbers among the population. In the period that it was monitored it often one-sidedly made the Bosniac-Croat relations problematic (Serbs have not been mentioned in any of the chronicle). Exclusively Bosniacs, and very often also their media, are being accused/blamed for all the problems that the Federation is not functioning. Most often, they talk about the hard position of Croats in Bugojno, Fojnica, Travnik and Mostar (stoning of buses, preventing the return to their apartments, setting up of "lying policemen", etc.). In the editorial commentary (23 January), it was said: "And while the Federal House of Representatives meets without Croats, and Edhem Bicakcic seeks the resignation of Croatian Minister, the citizens of Mostar ask themselves whether they have at least the right to await one peaceful morning." Newly started weekly program "Croatia and the BH Federation" (first channel, Mondays), after four broadcasts shows inclination to non-critical propaganda of HDZ politics, and it focuses its attention superbly to federal problems. The third, Serbian side, or the other entity, is completely out of the vision on HRT programs. OPENING PANDORA'S BOXCounting on the public's "short-term" memory, TV Serbia does not get into the analysis of the reasons for opposition and student protests, that now last for already two and a half months on ever tighter and tighter streets of Belgrade. Declarative support of Serbian authorities for the OSCE Commission report is accompanied by daily TV messages that the problems should be solved at the level of "legal institutions." Endless insisting on solving the problems in the system institutions seems almost as some kind of invitation to accept those institutions the way they are, without any changes. The was best illustrated in a Ping-Pong set between the City Election Commission, that confirmed the results of November elections with some delay, and the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, that revoked that same decision. Even some positive political steps do not get the expected media support. In Nis, the second largest city in Serbia, the opposition finally took over the authority. SPS representatives did not participate at the constituting meeting of City Parliament "because the winners had wanted to make a political and media spectacle out of it" (Dnevnik, 27 January). This kind of evaluation "covered" the whole event which did not get a chance to live up to its catharsis, but was presented in a rather meager media light. The SPS leaders rarely enter into personal confrontations with their opposition counterparts. That task had obviously been assigned to TV Serbia. The target of its concentrated attacks are still opposition leaders Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Dindic. Occasionally, the TV broadcasts original sound bites of their speeches, addressing the demonstrators. These sound "bites" are usually used when the editors evaluate that their message compromises sufficiently their authors. So, for example, the words of Vuk Draskovic were broadcast in Dnevnik, 30 January: "The police has to withdraw from the streets of this city. If I were Tesla, I would invent a vacuum cleaner and vacuum them all up. I cannot see a single man among them" (Dnevnik, 30 January). The meetings of Zoran Dindic with the German Minster Klaus Kinkel and the former Austrian Minister Alojz Mok, "once known for their anti-Yugoslavian approach" (Dnevnik, 28 January), the state TV presented as an attempt to open the Pandora's box, called Kosovo. The three consecutive Dnevnik broadcasts (27, 28 and 29 January) analyzed "the hypocrisy of Dindic's statement that in the last three months nobody in the world talks about Kosovo." Contrary evidence can be found in French press, publishing the statements of Albanian leaders "that the Serbs first have to get into fight among themselves," and the Kinkel's statement that Kosovo should again have its autonomy. With an adroit switch of topics, TV Serbia makes it seem as if the problem of Kosovo exists only for opposition traitors and destroyers, and besides them for nobody else. The opposition is in advance blamed for everything that could possibly happen in Kosovo in the future. CLASH OF GOALS AND MEDIA STANDARDSIn this issue we are publishing the analysis of NTV Studio 99 informative program. Monthly monitoring (6 January through 2 February) of TV program "Oko 22" confirmed the basic assumption that there is a high level of editorial independence and commitment of this station to defending the unique and multi-ethnic BH, as well as the affirmation of civil values. The persuasion of such impression is only accentuated by the multi-ethnic composition of the station's staff. The second important remark is that the station did not manage to build out professional editorial standards that would, by the power of its media impact and quality, naturally support the highly set program goals. Overall, program "Oko 22" is one of the most informative and the most committed programs in the whole array of Sarajevo TV broadcasts. The station is out of reach of political parties influence. "Oko 22" mainly contains all politically relevant news from home and from abroad. The news from Sarajevo are usually prepared by its own reporters and the international news are mainly agency reports. It is a real shame that this studio does not have a wider network of correspondents from all around BH. In the period that it was monitored, the key topics were: Brcko, relations in the Federation, return of refugees, the work of the Council of Minister BH and demonstrations in Belgrade. They talk about the Belgrade tumult in each broadcast. It is mostly some sort of combination of news and the reports of their own correspondent from Belgrade, where they mainly show the activities of opposition and students, and very rarely or almost never the activities "of the other side," or the current authorities. They broadcast almost daily brief agency news about the work of Brcko Tribunal in Rome. The most important political and party representatives from the Federation have also talked more extensively about this sensitive topic. Two foreigners were among them. While the participation of Carl Bildt is quite understandable, somewhat confusing was the real motivation and commitment to this topic of Iranian Ambassador Muhamed Teheranij. Sometimes "Oko 22" broadcasts reports about topics and issues that the other media based in Sarajevo mainly to not address or explain to their audience. In its programs (26 January and 2 February) "Oko 22" talks about pressures on non-Bosniac population under the control of SDA, and on the example of Dobrosevic, it shows the unbridled elements that still reign in the reintegrated parts of Sarajevo. Some journalistic and editorial deficiencies can be noticed in the program realisation. That is understandable if we take into consideration that the program is prepared by young and inexperienced authors and by the editors-anchors without sufficient journalistic experience. Besides, the editors do not always have a clear and in advance defined concept of the program, so that its content and duration often depend on daily events and the ability of the anchor to articulate them. The conduct of the editors/anchors sometimes gives away an impression that they do not have a sense of measure. So, for example, in the report 8 January, they talk about the death of President Tudman unethically ("remained only few months of life"). With the names of accused of war crimes, they often skip the word "accused" (17 January). Program broadcast on 9 January is an example of bad professional taste and immodesty. Even in addition to direct TV broadcast, the celebration of the fifth anniversary of RTV Studio took up a half of "Oko 22" program. Director and the chief editor were complemented at the celebration. MEDIA NEWS IN BRIEF* The fire that 23 January morning spread over to the building of the independent radio station AB in Visoko destroyed all radio equipment, and, among other things, some of the equipment received from the Soros Foundation-Open Society Foundation BH, said the AB Director, Amra Bukurevic, for ONASA. "For now, the cause of fire is unknown, and the investigation is on its way," said the Director Bukurevic, adding that the AB, that has been broadcasting for already three years, is the most listened station in Visoko region. When will this private radio station start again with its work, it really depends when (and if) the new equipment will be obtained and the assistance received from the organizations supporting the work of free, independent media. (Oslobodjenje, 25 January) * Within the equipment assistance package for the independent media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, FR Germany gave "Oslobodjenje" computer equipment valued at DM 25,000. For the occasion when the equipment was presented to the chief editor of the paper, Mehmed Halilovic, the Press Attaché of German Embassy, Dr. Claus Miler, said that with that present FR Germany wants to emphasize its support to independent and free journalism in BH, as well as to give its credit to a large contribution of "Oslobodjenje" during the war. (Oslobodjenje, 25 January) * The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, with the headquarters in New York, condemned the recent attack on a group of journalists in Mostar. In the CPJ letter, it was stated: "As a non-party organization dedicated to protection of rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ condemns the attack on journalists as the most serious threat to media freedom in Mostar and BH." Letter was directed to the President and the members of BH Presidency, as well as the President and the representatives of OSCE and NATO. (ONASA, 2 February) * Independent Union of Professional Journalists BH strongly protested rowdy intrusion into the offices of magazine "Dani" and the mistreatment of its journalists. This is one more in a series of attacks on journalists in the Federation. The Independent Union of Professional Journalists BH adds that the police reacted quickly, but that they "ask the authorized state bodies to conclude urgently all of their investigations of previous attacks on journalists and the media. Contrary, that will, as in the case of "Dani," only encourage all those who plan to take justice in their hands." (Oslobodjenje, 3 February) * Promotion of Sarajevo magazine "Svijet" was held in Banja Luka 1 February in the organization of Media Plan offices in Sarajevo and Banja Luka. Journalists from Banja Luka, Belgrade and Sarajevo, including the representatives of international organizations and a considerable number public personalities also took part in the promotion. Perica Vucinic, journalist of "Vreme" from Belgrade, announced the founding of a magazine in Banja Luka with the orientation similar to "Svijet." (Safax) * New radio station "The Best" started its operation in Sipovo 4 February. The founders are Radio club "Iskra" and the Association of radio amateurs from Republika Srpska. Slavko Soloja was selected chief editor. USAID offered its support, providing radio equipment. Radio "The Best" is the first radio station from RS that will join in the project of news exchange with other radio stations, now being prepared by Phono service of Safax news agency. (Safax) MISSING RESPONSEMinister of Civil Affairs and Communications in the BH Council of Ministers, Spasoje Albijanic, even after a month, failed to give the promised answer to Monitoring Report question what will he do to eliminate the communication blockade between the two entities.
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