Journalism in Serbia

Strike in Nasa Borba

The atmosphere in an editorial office of a daily on strike can be compared only with that in a train unexpectedly stopped in the middle of a desert. Instead of the rhythmical clatter of wheels, suddenly it is possible to hear all the previously muffled sounds: conversation of the passengers, babies' crying, opening and shutting of doors, steps in the corridor... An unnatural situation, in both cases.

AIM Belgrade, 27 March, 1998

The editorial team of Belgrade daily Nasa borba was on strike again a couple of days ago. On 23 March, the employees demanded to be paid, but the management failed to respond. Three days later, on 26 March, the daily did not appear on news-stands. On Friday, 27 March, the strikers decided to continue work because they received their salaries for February. In this way, judging by experience, the opportunity for a serious conversation about the destiny of Nasa borba has been postponed for an indefinite time.

The story about certainly the best known of the nowadays existing 13 Belgrade daily newspapers begins with demonstrations of 9 March 1991, because of which tanks of the Yugoslav people's army (JNA) were sent to the streets of Belgrade, and along with them, the then newspaper of the Socialist League of the Working People of Yugoslavia, Borba, appeared at the newsstands in new apparel and smaller size and, which is much more important, with new contents which made it in the following days the incomparably most popular daily. Reports on dramatic developments - and not their preparation or stirring up which had already been established as the official editorial policy in most of the electronic and printed media by Milosevic's regime in Serbia - made Borba the most reliable source of information on developments in the country whose dissolution had already begun.

Ever since - regardless of how busy it was in the years that followed with the national and historical affairs of "defence" of Yugoslavia, "cradle of Serbdom", one or the other border - the regime has never diverted attention from the disobedient Borba, nor from other independent ("opposition", "mercenary", "treacherous" and "non-patriotic") media. In the by now already famous ownership transformations

• most intensely directed towards the Independent TV Studio B and Borba - the state of Serbia has suddenly revealed mistakes in calculation of share-holders' investments, so it overnight appeared as the majority owner despite and against all laws and regulations. In 1994, the destiny of re-establishment of the status of a party newspaper was planned for Borba, this time of the newspaper of the Yugoslav Left founded by Mirjana Markovic, wife of Slobodan Milosevic. In February 1995, a large part of the editorial teal of Borba refused to accept the fact that Dragutin Brcin, the imposed editor-in-chief, had "taken over" by breaking into the premises in the manner similar to operation of police anti-terrorist units.

That is when Nasa borba was created, the reputation of which as the reliable source of information continues to grow in the domestic and the international public, including the respect of colleagues and professional associations. But the problems the editorial team is faced with are also growing. Dusan Mijic, businessman from Novi Sad, became the owner of Nasa borba. Those who were on strike last week because of unpaid salaries do not deny his merits. "Mijic should be given credit for having accepted Nasa borba, for having been - along with the trade union Nezavisnost - the only one who helped us and for never having interfered with the editorial policy of the paper", says Dragisa Stankovic, president of the independent trade union of Nasa borba. "But", he adds, "he is a man who believes that we are all his property, who tends to ascribe all the merit to himself for what Nasa borba is".

Since September 1997, developments in Nasa borba begin to accelerate: discontent of the employees with the employer was publicly stated to the readers on 28 October by printing the "white page" with the information about the previous unsuccessful attempts to resolve the question of salaries, fees and basic conditions for work in order to "preserve the professional level of the daily and meet high demands of our readers". The bleak information on the strike of warning concealed the fact that a large number of journalists and contributors (part-time employees) had left Nasa borba, that the network of correspondents was greatly reduced and that the main cause of all that was a few-month long delay of fees and salaries. Finally, the entire board of editors of Nasa borba submitted resignation on 5 February this year, believing that not even the minimum of conditions for pursuing the editorial policy of the daily existed. Two weeks later, the management board of Fininvest - enterprise which is the publisher of Nasa borba - accepted the resignation of the team of editors and nominated Ivan Mrdjen acting editor-in-chief.

The following day, on 19 March, the independent trade union of Nasa borba informed the manager of Fininvest that the strike of the employees had nothing to do with the lack of confidence in the owner and the management, but with the fact that constant putting off the problem of salaries caused much damage for Nasa borba including - among other, if not primarily - the decision of Slobodan Pavlovic and Mirko Klarin, two for a long time best Yugoslav correspondents from abroad to leave the daily, along with those who had previously already done it:

"For more than a year the owner of the journal Dusan Mijic has not had the 'guts' to tell us that there is no money", says Dragisa Stankovic, "so that practically at least once a month the employees are on strike or have to threaten they would go on strike in order to achieve their fundamental rights".

Two editors-in-chief and two teams of editors of Nasa borba have submitted resignation in the past three years, powerless to resolve the question of salaries, conditions of work and circulation with the owner. Milos Vasic, president of the Independent Union of Journalists of Serbia - which on the occasion of the latest conflicts contacted the owner of Nasa borba - says: "Dusan Mijic, as a businessman, bought the newspaper, and if he now thinks that he was sold a pig in a poke, it is his problem. If he has got Nasa borba, as he says, 'with a certain personnel ballast', he should have resolved it pursuant his owner's rights. The fact that he did not wish to interfere with the editorial policy was not exactly a wise business move. Now it is too late for correcting all these mistakes. However, it is not late for one thing: to realise that investing in a daily newspaper is a longterm investment".

A longterm investment, but also a risk. It is easy to ruin the reputation acquired during a long time and with great pains, about which there are hardly more qualified witnesses than journalists. The question whether Nasa borba has already crossed the line remains open for the time being, which is in any case - the worst possible solution.

Aleksandar Ciric

(AIM)