PEOPLE IN "FOKUS"

AIM, Skopje, September 19, 1995 This is the twelfth Friday in a row that the newly-founded weekly called FOKUS (Focus) has appeared in newsstands and in the streets sold by colporteurs. Its editors determine its profile ever since the first volume as "the weekly of internal, but the external enemy, as well"! Its design even reveals much of the conception of the journal. It is evident that Zagreb Globus served as a kind of a model for it. But, such a statement might at the same time be a simplification, because the attempt to attract readers with attractive, bombastic long titles which take a third of a page is just one side of the coin. The contents of the volumes of Fokus published so far undoubtedly reveals the editorial intention to write primarily about "simple", "small" matters which are such an important part of life and which other "serious" journals rarely bother to waste paper on, that is, to write about people and developments in small places from all parts of Macedonia where they are of interest to the people, but not neglecting the "general" attractive topics which are relevant for the state as a whole. It should also be added that Fokus consistently avoids the threat of the syndrome which is marked by the slogan "journalist - social and political worker" which is still predominant in Macedonian especially state-assisted media. The so-called "high state interests" are avoided, all kinds of questions are asked, direct answers are demanded, issues are opened which either the ruling parties or the opposition would prefer to pass over in silence. The backbone of the editorial staff are the people who played a significant role, as journalists of the former youth journal called Mlad borec at the time, in the "Macedonian spring" which marked transition to the multiparty system.

Of course, Fokus is practically just trying to work along these lines, for a very simple reason that there are not many people in Macedonian journalism who can or want to become part of professional and investigative journalism. The media here, especially the press, even if evaluated by the most lenient Western standards, could hardly prove with their products that any such thing as "means of mass communication" and professional journalism exist. The boom of electronic media in the first years of the multiparty system was the result of a lack of legal regulations caused by dissolution of the SFRY - it was simply possible to register a radio or a tv station in a local court and begin broadcasting immediately after that, because a Macedonian law on issuing permits for using channels simply does not exist to this day. The situation concerning the press is just the opposite - it is possible to register and begin publication of a journal only after obtaining all necessary papers following a strict legal procedure. The "Catch 22" for them was in low turnover and low reading culture in combination with high printing expenses, practically no income made by advertising and numerous problems with distribution. In the meantime, trying to cope with the problems on their own and with the help of certain foundations, numerous radio and several tv privately-owned stations managed to set up business for themselves, and which is even more important, acquired their own audience. The journals were given a chance of their life when rotary press "Evropa 92" in Kocani started operation, because prices of printing were lower over there than in Nova Makedonija which was the only newspaper which owned a rotary printing press so far. Announcements that problems with high-quality preparation and distribution would be resolved are therefore creating possibilities for survival of newly-established journals which are outside the system of media assisted by the state.

After October elections and the triumph of the three-party Alliance for Macedonia, the old-new authorities started introducing order first in broadcasting. Since not a single of the newly-founded radio and TV stations had a permit for use of channels, the ministry concerned began selectively closing them down. Lack of laws and clear criteria left a lot of room for political arbitration, which was shown quite obviously among other by the number of stations which broadcast in other languages and which were closed down in this action. At the time just before the elections, the influence of the Alliance for Macedonia on editorial policy of journals published by Nova Makedonija was also quite obvious. Although it tried to remain neutral at the time, recently the Macedonian Radio Television with its reactions to statements of Vasil Tupurkovski, or to the letter of three Albanian parties addressed to US President Clinton, and most recently to the Greek-Macedonian agreement, showed that it was fully controlled by the current authorities. Reasons for this, among other, should be sought in allocation of three million German marks from the state budget to publictions of Nova Makedonija or transformation of RTV subscription fee into a public tax.

In such circumstamces, on the one hand, it is very difficult to try to be different from the state media, but how ever absurd it may sound, it is also very easy. Namely, it is simply enough to remain open to information coming from all sides and in this way become attractive for all consumers. The audience is after all not so naive to simply swallow everything the "large" media serve it, and close its eyes to everything that is happening around it. In the case of the new weekly Fokus this has become quite evident. Ever since the first volume of this weekly, the process of privatization has been the target of Fokus, and not a single volume passes without its revealing a scandal connected to it. Local, municipal power-wielders and their "wheeler-dealers" are not spared either. There are interviews in it with politicians who are asked real questions, but who usually evade real answers. By speaking out loud about "small" and "big" issues without mincing its words, this journal which started publication in the midst of the summer which is far from being a perfect timing, with practically no promotional campaign, succeeded in reaching sales of six thousand copies. In comparison, one should say that the circulation of the dailies Nova Makedonija and Vecer, despite a game published in them with three-million-marks worth prizes and awarding two cars a week, hardly exceed twenty thousand sold copies, while the weekly Puls and the privately-owned weekly Delo which is close to the opposition, barely sell two or three thousand copies. Reactions to certain interviews published in Fokus show that the authorities are closely following what Fokus has to say. For example, the latest volume of the journal carried a statement of Drazen Miletic, leader of Macedonian Serbs, that after his interview for Fokus, he was summoned to a Skopje police station where he was interrogated about his relationship with the journal and the interview...

In all the volumes published so far, Fokus regularly covered an "Albanian" topic: in the first volume, six whole pages were devoted to the postion of the Albanians in Macedonia, the third volume gave some space to representatives of the Muslim community from Tetovo to publicize their opinion about the dispute with the republican Muslim headquarters from Skopje, a lawyer of three defendants in the "arms scandal" explained his view of it, several volumes covered extradition of Basri Bayrami to Belgium after he was deprived of his Macedonian citizenship, interviews were poublished with Abdurahman Aliti ("I put up with humiliation because I have to!"), Dr Fadil Suleimani ("The authorities will recognize the University soon"), with Bairush Myaku ("I do not want prizes from people who look up to Belgrade")... All this resulted in good sales of the journal in Western Macedonia, where the Albanians, if they buy any press at all, do not buy the one in Macedonian. But, publishing of the mentioned contents has a different effect, too. Macedonian readers who are certainly the majority among the audience of Fokus, got from it authentic statements, opinions of the "opposite" party which are in no way "selected", "filtered"..., which is not insignificant, because media in Macedonia have lately treated truth on ethnic foundations, so that each ethnic community seems to have its own "truth", which is as a rule contrary to that of the "others". Indoctrination through the media in this way stresses ethnic division, and therefore the attempt of Fokus to be a specific bridge between the collectivities which are divided and isolated on ethnic grounds is certainly valuable.

Fragility of media and professional journalism in Macedonia in the conditions of the election triumph of the Alliance for Macedonia and often expressed old-new attempts to discipline and control them according like in the old times do not offer much optimism. On the other hand,it has become quite clear that it is impossible to control and rule the media without it coming back as a boomerang at those who advocate such policy. The appearance, although modest, of media and journalism in accordance with the "new trends", and their survival will be one of the major tests of the direction in which Macedonia will be going in the future.

ISO RUSI