Who is Pressuring the Media?

Regime and Power Wielders Taming the Media

AIM Tuzla, 7 July, 1999

On the whole territory of Bosnia & Herzegovina media and journalists, especially the independent ones, are exposed to different forms of pressure, such as threats, physical assaults, blackmail, criminal persecution, sacking from work... The highest pressure is exerted by representatives of political and financial centres of power, officials by abuse of power, and the ruling parties. There is also the international community which by its donations favours certain media and which is insufficiently efficient in removing negative trends noted in this field. Journalists are exposed to pressures exerted by owners and editors-in-chief, even some of their colleagues because of giving preferential treatment of certian political and financial interests of small groups, such as petty ownership interests, as it was concluded at the round table discussion organised by the Democratic Alternative of B&H held in Tuzla in the end of June on the topic "Who is Pressuring the Media?"

From the standpoint of this "diagnosis" of the situation, for the sake of freedom of the media, participants of the round table expect from the authorities political reforms and improvement of the judiciary, as well as laws which regulate the status of the media according to European standards. They demand deletion of penalties for slander and insult from the laws, and determination of responsibility of journalists in civil law suits. It is suggested to journalists in B&H to express a higher level of professional solidarity and establishing of firm links within associations of journalists, and intensified activities of trade unions when protection of the public word and journalists are concerned. In this connection, they appeal for consistent respect of journalists' codex, protection of their dignity with the truth and professionalism in order to pull themselves out of the influence of the authorities. Representatives of the international community are invited to continue helping the media in B&H, primarily those which respect democratic standards and contribute to development of civil society. It was insisted that all financial flows in the state - including financial assistance to the media from the budget - be completely transparent. Participants of the mentioned gathering believe that some of the media in B&H could play a key role in promoting the objectives of the Stability Pact in South-Eastern Europe. The mentioned conclusions and demands were defined after a two-day debate in which journalists from both entities of Bosnia & Herzegovina took part, as well as James Ferguson, representative of OHR, and Ditter Loren from IMS.

By formulating the thesis that media were the "fourth" power - after the legislative, judicial and executive - which operates freely in democratic societies, James Ferguson drew a counter parallel: "Kosovo is an example of what danger the media are threatened by when the regimes fully control them. In Kosovo, there was a brutal suspension of the alternative voices".

What is the situation like in Bosnia & Herzegovina? All the participants of the round table discussion were explicit in the assessment that majority of the media were under constant - latent and manifested - influence of the regime, from the state to the local level. The strategy of the ruling parties is present in all the segments. There are alternative voices, but creators of such messages are under constant pressure of the authorities. One of those who gave introductory speeches, Pejo Gasparevic from Mostar, claimed that "there is drastic pressure of chauvinist structures on the media. An example of that is identification of lies and freedom of the media by a high state official" (Alija Izetbegovic). Gasparevic gave a series of other examples of attacks, intimidation, blackmail and judgements passed against journalists in both entities.

"The regime and the ruling parties are exerting great pressure on the media. But the regime is not the only one. There is also the international community which gives donations to the media which are not free. People come here who do not understand what is going on. It can even be said that things are getting worse. Practically best journalists in B&H - Senadi, Pecanin and Avdic - are threatened that they would go to jail because it is necessary to "soften" them. The attack on the journalists of Dan took place in 1996, but their appeal has never been up-dated. When journalists are indicted, however, cases are solved with express promptness. The regime is such that it is useless wasting one's breath talking about its behavior. There is no freedom of the media, there are no exceptions in this sense. There is just a few courageous journalists. There is just a group of frightened individuals who expect donations from international communities. There is no market competition. Instead of competing for readers, media are competing for donations. One of the crucial problems lies in the fact that most of B&H is practically occupied. There is freedom of the media in Sarajevo, some in Banja Luka, but there is not any in Western Mostar", claims Ozren Kebo, journalist from Sarajevo.

Zoran Markovic from Doboj described control of the media as follows: "If I want to see what the government of RS did wrong I will read independent media. If I want to see what the local authorities are doing wrong, I will take Srpsko Oslobodjenje, but if I seek for something in between, then I reach out for the press from the Federation, but I still do not know which".

Sasa Pazarac from Bijeljina believes that there are three kinds of media in RS - ones which are controlled by the central authorities through which they exert their influence, the others on the local level which are influenced by the Radicals and the SDS, and between the two there are the independent media. The latter are under terrible pressure of the local authorities, and as an indicator of such conditions he mentioned incidents in Radio Dzungla and Radio Prnjavor. There is also the suspended sentence to six months in jail pronounced by the court in Zvornik to journalist Ivana Micic for her articles in independent media.

At the gathering, examples were also given of pressure on the media in Tuzla canton. Jasna Subotic - editor-in-chief of Soli Radio station in Tuzla (media which belongs to HDZ) - was discharged and the former technician, volunteer Josip Vujnic, was appointed instead, as the cadre of the HDZ. To make things even more absurd, Vujnic is a teacher of machine-building in a secondary school, and he became the "director" of the Radio. In the TV station of Tuzla canton, the post of the assistant editor-in-chief is vacant, but cadre of HDZ is expected to get it. The canton government finances the Radio-Television station of the canton from the budget, but it allocates hundreds of thousands marks more than ratified and finances Radio Hyatt (SDA) and Radio Soli (HDZ) along with it, although no funds had been planned for them. An apartment was even bought for Radio Hyatt from the budget.

Ditter Loren (IMS) defined the situation as a "cloud of poison above the media", and he characterised the situation in which courts are pronouncing suspended sentences and sentences in jail to journalists as disturbing.

Vehid JAHIC

(AIM Sarajevo)