Journalism in Serbia

Freedom

AIM Belgrade, Feb. 12, 2001

In the 13 years of Slobodan Milosevic's rule journalists who did not want to give up their profession could choose between obedience to the regime or working for publications and broadcasters run by "traitors." The first option provided those who wanted to avoid publicity with some form of income, as opposed to the more ambitious promoters of official policies who were awarded with incredible chances to profit in every respect. Among a number of such examples, Hadzi Dragan Antic and Dragoljub Milanovic deserve special attention as -- it should be hoped -- the last specimens of this type of professional. Before reaching the top of Serbian journalism overnight both of them were obscure individuals. Antic "covered" the power supply sector for the Politika paper (where he earned his nickname "Struja," meaning electricity), and Milanovic was an insignificant Politika Ekspres correspondent in the interior of the country. When the Milosevic era ended, they were the undisputed rulers of the two most powerful media houses -- Antic of the Politika publishing company and Milanovic of the Serbian state TV and radio network (RTS). As opposed to Milanovic who on Oct. 5 last year was beaten by angry demonstrators in front of the state TV building, engulfed in flames, Antic managed to wiggle out of the Politika building unscathed, taking refuge -- if the Belgrade rumor mill is to be trusted -- in Cuba.

The recipe for building such a successful career has always boiled down to the ability to access the powerful: Milanovic showed that skill with Slobodan Milosevic, and Antic did the same with the female members of the ruling family. The closer one is to the "source" of power, the smaller the risk of being let down the drain: during Milosevic's 13 years on top, whole squads of useful propagandists ended up becoming redundant overnight, when "the Balkan butcher" was miraculously transformed into "a guarantor of peace and stability in the region."

Milanovic and Antic were unfortunate enough to be on Milosevic's side at the moment of his fall. It can well be imagined that many felt lucky on Oct. 5 for having been removed by "the boss" in time: one of them is Milorad Vucelic, a man who led RTS' war cries at the beginning of the 1990s. The trouble, however, does not lie in the question of how "professional" news media directors, editors in chief, columnists and other champions of the Milosevic regime's "executive" branch were. The problem lies in the thousands of those who perceive the 13 years they spent doing such work as honest employment and sometimes even view themselves as "victims of the regime."

The true victims such as, for instance, the family of Slavko Curuvija, murdered in broad daylight in downtown Belgrade in April, 1999, or the journalists who served time in prison as "traitors" and "spies," or the media outlets that were closed, punished, and financially ruined for violations of information laws, today -- four months after the democratic revolution -- have obtained no satisfaction whatsoever. What is even worse, the "foreign hirelings" of yesterday can but helplessly watch Milosevic's media champions not only continue to do their former tasks but expanding them as well, this time around, however, dressed in the glittering robes of "democracy."

The federal authorities only in mid January announced they would review the status of media organizations in their charge: the TANJUG news agency, the daily Borba and the Yu Info TV station. According to Slobodan Orlic, federal information secretary, the plan is to transform them into public services capable of surviving regular market conditions. The trouble is that in addition to serious embezzlement, losses, and the technological and professional destruction of the past years, the media organizations in question never operated in the market nor have developed mechanisms to do so. In this they do not differ much from the majority of former opposition media outlets. As far as Yugoslav media organizations are concerned, it is interesting to note that the federal information secretary failed to mention Radio Yugoslavia in this context, whose program was always meant for foreigners. Some of the station's employees fear that stations and publications meant for "internal use" are more important to the authorities than the creation of a more favorable image abroad via shortwave radio. Meanwhile, the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and Free Europe, doubled the number of shortwave broadcasts intended for Yugoslavia.

As far as Serbia is concerned, the already mentioned professional disappointment with the manner in which the staunchest pillars of the Milosevic regime were "liberated" overnight, initially bordered on disgust. In October, the Politika demonstrated a capacity for fawning over the new authorities matched only by the war-mongering propaganda it used for the sake of "preserving (the former) Yugoslavia" some 10 years ago. This time around the cause of this shameful subservience was the situation in southern Serbia, not to mention the pitiful outbursts it published to glorify the victory of Vojislav Kostunica in presidential elections. The Politika Ekspres, Borba and Vecernje Novosti, without missing a beat, continued publication as "free" newspapers. This was true for all other pro-regime media as well: only the most prominent editors, signatures, faces and voices disappeared, and those ousted in the past took over. But the bulk of the staff remained unchanged.

This is most noticeable in the RTS, which since Oct. 5 has been managed by a striking committee, that is, by an interim management led by Nenad Ristic, former editor of the news program. After having its department for monitoring satellite broadcasts and its entire network of transmitters completely destroyed in a NATO attack in April 1999, the RTS building was looted and burned on Oct. 5, while Milosevic was still pondering whether to concede victory or not (at the same time the Politika lost just one window). The result was some US$400 million in damage, the value of its equipment was reduced to that of a small local TV station, the quality of the picture it broadcasts remains poor and its programs, despite containing better information, are miserable. An internal moratorium on TV appearances pertains to only 15 or so former managers and editors; 85 former "senior officials" were punished by pay cuts.

Given that the new Serbian government was only formed in mid January, after three months of virtual anarchy, it could not debate the issue of the Serbian state TV network seriously. The first step, announced to take place the following week, will be to repeal Milosevic's electricity meter fee, used to finance the network. This incredible way of collecting revenue -- through which the RTS nominally garnered from DM4.8 to DM5.4 million each month, but the sum ended up who knows where -- was introduced in 1993 as the latest in a series of measures undertaken by the regime to ensure complete control of the national broadcaster.

Before that and later, disciplinary methods, sadly recognizable and shamefully efficient, consisted of a series of other measures in which disobedient or insufficiently obedient journalists were removed, laid-off, or fired (in 1992-1993 alone some 1,300 RTS employees were sacked). Probably not planned, the appointment of wholly obedient people, willing to submit without asking any questions to dictatorial personnel policies, led to side effects that proved devastating for the regime itself. In October 1990 it could appear that 10 journalists' decision to leave NIN magazine in order to found Vreme Magazine was a hopeless endeavor; five years later, the existence of independent news media could serve as proof that Milosevic's rule was democratic; but since 1997, however, the rating of Vreme and other newspapers and TV stations formed in a similar fashion soared, if not in circulation and number of viewers, then certainly in regard to the trust they enjoyed compared with their pro-regime counterparts. When Dragan Antic and Dragoljub Milanovic realized that it was simply too late.

It cannot be said that "foreign hirelings," members of the journalistic "fifth column," "traitors" and "spies" are today profiting from the blood, sweat and tears of yesterday. In this respect, journalists supporting the winners in last year's September and December elections, have not shown much vindictiveness. The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia -- after weeks of haggling -- succeeded in occupying one floor in the building housing (Milosevic's) Association of Journalists of Serbia. The demand that the new authorities should not appoint politicians or former or current journalists who are active in politics to leading positions in the news media, that privatization should be suspended, and abuse of broadcasting frequencies by various stations or the expansion of certain news media should be prevented has failed so far in producing tangible effects. On the other hand, directors and editors who returned to their former places of employment can hardly be pleased with conditions existing there and tasks awaiting them in the future without any support, except moral, from the authorities.

To describe these conditions with the word "devastating" would be an understatement. This is why those colleagues of theirs who opted, like incumbent federal Information Secretary Slobodan Orlic, to abandon journalism in favor of politics should not be judged too harshly. Or those like Mihajlo Kovac, a former RTS journalist, probably Yugoslavia's future ambassador to Austria, or Biserka Matic, a former Politika journalist and a co-minister in Serbia's transitional government, probably future ambassador to Macedonia, or Maja Divac, the future press attache in the Yugoslav embassy in London... There are more reasons to worry not about those willing to offer their services to anyone, but about those who are willing to accept such offers. It appears that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has chosen as his media advisor Aleksandar Tijanic, a former journalist of NIN, a former giant of Yugoslav journalism, a former director of the pro-regime Politika, a former director of BK TV that was never too far from the former regime, a former Milosevic information minister, the former founder of the Gradjanin newspaper, a former journalist of the Dnevni Telegraf daily, and a future who knows what.

Aleksandar Ciric

(AIM)