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VREME NEWS DIGEST AGENCY
No. 287, April 7, 1997
Media
ARGUED OUTCRY OF CITIZENS' PRINT
Are the elections coming? Yes, everyone is publishing
newspapers Those who publish newspapers in Serbia are well aware
that it's tedious and thankless work whose only reward is
cardiovascular illness. There is only one newsprint factory in
the entire country, and it is persistently working on effecting
an importing ban on newsprint; printingworks are disinclined to
``print'' independent papers, their services are expensive, while
their outdated, low quality equipment is prone to malfunction,
and ``operators'' are prone to drink and frequent ``spontaneous''
refusals to print papers that ``publish anti-national and
anti-state material;'' print sale monopolies are ``slapping
everyone around'' (Politika's kiosks only recently began charging
40% sellers' rebates) and holding onto funds for several months;
Serbs do not know how to, or do not like to read (only 22% of the
population reads regularly), and those who have the desire to
read, lack the money...
Despite all this, the impression of recent weeks is that everyone
is in a rush to publish newspapers; in Belgrade there appeared
(or are soon to appear) four new papers. Admittedly, the weekly
``Argument'' is not all that new, as it is a mere continuation of
the biweekly under the same name that went out of circulation
last year because of financial problems associated with
Politika's refusal to pay out its dues, being the sole
distributor of the bankrupted paper. Like many papers justly
upset with Politika's unprofessional and insolent conduct, the
new ``Argument'' will not be sold in this distribution ring. The
editor of ``Argument,'' Ratko Dmitrovic, explains the change to a
weekly rhythm of publication as a desire to deal with more
up-to-date topics because ``as a biweekly it was destined to
so-called dead, long range texts, analyses, important discussions
and such.'' At the time when this issue of ``Vreme'' reaches the
stands (Thursday, April 3), the weekly ``Pecat'' (Seal) should
also be sold along side of it. This is a ``DT Press'' publication
whose director, Slavko Curuvija (who is also the director and
editor in chief of ``Dnevni Telegraf''), says that this merely
represents the natural course of events: ``When a successful
daily is created, it is only logical that a weekly be the next
step. Production at the `Dnevni Telegraf' is such that the paper
cannot absorb everything it produces.
For this reason we first began with the weekly insert `DT
Magazin' out of two reason: to cover those topics for which there
is no space in a `short and fast' daily, and at the same time to
offer people something more for their money on weekends, so as to
give back something to our readers for having been paying all the
while for a paper that is, admittedly, of a very contained
format. The idea proved good as the circulation of `Dnevni
Telegraf', which was 30% lower on weekends, reached weekday
levels with the introduction of `DT Magazin'.'' ``In the meantime
many weeklys appeared and the market became crowded,'' Curuvija
stated. ``Many of those journals will most likely go bankrupt by
the end of the year, as the format is set and the general
circulation is dropping: `Nedeljni Telegraf' does not sell more
than 30,000 copies, `Svedok' (Witness) is at the level of 20,000,
`Argument' at 10,000... I simply have no financial worries. I can
even allow myself the luxury of a small loss on a weekly that is
backed by a developed, successful daily.'' The halls were ringing
for some time now with the rumors of a possibility that Slavko
Curuvija and Aleksandar Tijanic, an eminent journalist and former
republican minister of information, might begin publication of a
new journal. Judging by all the signs, cooperation did not occur
because of a conflict of interests. Noting that his demand is
that ``a paper come out every morning and evening'' (``Vreme''
no. 334), Tijanic insisted on a daily, while Curuvija, who
already owns a daily, naturally did not wish to create
unnecessary competition.
Thus, instead of one, two publications came out: Curuvija's
weekly ``Pecat'' and Tijanic's daily ``Gradjanin'' (Citizen),
whose trial issue, after several months advanced advertising on
BK Telekom, came out on Tuesday, April 1. In an interview with
``Vreme'' Tijanic noted that ``Gradjanin'' will be an
independent, liberal paper, ``equidistant as much as possible
from the government and the opposition.'' ``It will be a small,
drawing-room paper,'' says Tijanic. ``Technical equipment is
lacking, and there aren't sufficient funds for having an
editorial staff of 70 to 80 people. At the present there are only
30 of us, which is not sufficient for a daily. An added challenge
is that almost none of the journalists ever worked in a daily
paper before. I hope that the paper will proliferate in the
coming months. We are presently in a phase of adjustment and
optimization. If we reach a circulation of 20 to 30 thousand
copies sold by the end of the year, I wont be dissatisfied.'' The
news that the renowned photographer and former director of
``Duga,'' Vican Vicanovic, is starting a new publication, aroused
great interest. Vicanovic initially consented to talk to
``Vreme,'' but than reneged. As unofficial sources state, the
working title of the publication will be ``Krik'' (Scream). It
should be a biweekly; it should resemble the former ``Start''
from Zagreb, and should actively avoid politics - barring, of
course, the accidental appearance of the announced diaries of
Mirjana Markovic, who recently stopped writing for ``Duga'' and
all together ceased her public appearances. As Kosovo is (still)
part of Serbia, it should be noted that the Albanian language
weekly from Pristina, ``Koha'' (meaning ``Vreme'' or ``Time'' in
Albanian), is coming out these days, following lengthy
preparations, with a daily entitled ``Koha Ditore.'' It will be
appearing every day except for Saturdays and Sundays; it will be
printed at ``Koha,'' and will be sold in a self-run distribution
ring. Independent papers in the rest of Serbia can only dream
about something like that.
Uros Komlenovic
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