27. 01. 2006

BETWEEN MONEY AND POLITICS

The BiH Parliament House of Peoples confirmed the decision of the House of Representatives (the BiH Parliament has two houses), meeting a requirement for opening stabilization and association talks with the European Union. The requirement indicates a clear stand of the international community, which believes that media in the former Yugoslavia, particularly in BiH, are considerably responsible for generating the conflict and that former state broadcasters must be organized in line with modern European public service modalities. In any case, this has been done, formally and legally, although long and certainly painstaking implementation of each letter of the law is still ahead. What will smooth the completion of true transformation of the state system into a public broadcasting system is the fact that it has already been operating for almost three years and that the new law is just supposed to correct the system’s structural and organizational foundation. It is precisely this area that contains the main novelty brought by the law. Up until now, the BiH public broadcasting system consisted of Radio-Television of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BHRT), as the main public broadcasting system for the whole country, and the entity broadcasters, Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (RTFBiH) and Radio-Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS). The new law stipulates the creation of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting Systems of BiH, which, in a way, will be a framework body in charge of international representation in the name of all three services, defining development strategy, and coordinating the technical and human potentials of all three broadcasters, among other things. Also, the law establishes a Board for the system, which will run the Corporation and whose members will be delegated by the broadcasters’ steering boards. To put it simply, the new law unifies the three public broadcasters into a single legal subject, but still gives each one considerable autonomy. This is a political compromise that acknowledges the reality in BiH, but also enables some kind of order and cooperation among broadcasters that were adversaries until recently. However, a serious problem is the fact that the law was passed by ethnic outvoting. Namely, Croat political parties in the BiH Parliament walked out of the session when the vote was made in deep disagreement with such organization of the broadcasting system, that is to say because their proposals were not accepted. The main demand made by Croat political representatives in BiH was to set up the public broadcasting system in such a way that it consists of three radio and television channels – in the Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian (Bosniak) language each. However, they were essentially advocating three ethnic channels which would, as has often been pointed out, objectively present the stands of the ethnic groups in BiH. This demand results from the fact that most Croats are dissatisfied with how the media now present Croat political views. However, the international community and the Bosniak side, and after that also the Serb side, rejected the demands. Most media analysts and international officials in BiH believe that three ethnic channels would fall under strong political control and stir ethnic intolerance. After Croat representatives realized their amendments would not be accepted, they invoked a constitutional provision on protection of national interest and stopped the passing of the law at the level of the House of Peoples, where decisions are passed by ethnic consensus. However, after the BiH Constitutional Court ruled that the Law on the Public Broadcasting System of BiH does not jeopardize national interest, the House of Peoples passed a decision by outvoting. None of the Croat delegates voted for it. The fact that a considerable number of Croats are deeply dissatisfied with how the country is organized, and now with how the most powerful media outlets are organized, is a problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible. Unfortunately, since fulfillment of Croat demands requires serious changes in the present solutions, there is no realistic strategy that could reconcile deeply opposed interests. Hunger in the RTV Headquarters However, the political problems in restructuring the broadcasting system are also causing serious economic disturbances. BHRT and Federal RTV employees staged a 20-minute warning strike on November 23 due to the extremely grave economic situation of employees of both public broadcasters. The strike took place in prime time and lasted from 19.20 to 19.40 hrs. Practically, primetime evening news programs, the most viewed programs on these TV stations, were cut 10 minutes short (the BHT evening news program is on at 19.00 and the one on FTV at 19.30). In this period, syndicate statements were read out, which describe the grave financial situation in these outlets and put their conditions to management for normal operation of the public broadcasters. The main reason for the strike is the fact that employee salaries at these two broadcasting services are already four months late. Most employees are in an extremely grave social situation. The writer of this article found out from talking to employees that some of them, mostly those who cannot find freelance work on the side, do not even have money for food (!!!). The syndicate has the names of people for whom money is being raised to feed their children. They say they are not publicly disclosing the names to preserve the journalistic dignity of these persons. The employees’ position is also made difficult by the fact that their healthcare and retirement contributions are paid with delays, as a result of which most of them do not have medical insurance. It sounds utterly unbelievable that journalists in these outlets, i.e. people with university degrees who in any country, including BiH, are considered creators of public opinion, are at the bottom of the social ladder. How is it possible that salaries at the public broadcaster with national coverage are four months late!? This happened in an indirect way. At the very beginning of the year, payment of salaries was moved from the 1st to the 10th day of the month, and then next month to the 20th day. And so, each month the move was another 10 to 15 days. By accumulation of changes in the course of 10 months, a delay of four months was made. Of course, this caused disturbances in payment of medical and retirement insurance, as well as payment of installments for credits, resulting in a real social shipwreck for most employees. As Drago Maric, General Director of the public RTV BiH, once said in a program, 1.9 million marks (approximately 850,000 euros) is needed for salaries at this outlet every month, while its total revenues are around four million marks. This means that the remaining half has to cover production costs – program production, buying film rights, sports events…, as well as regular maintenance costs, such as electricity, water and heating. RTV BiH has 960 employees, 700 of whom work in production. As Maric says, this is not too much considering that HRT from Zagreb, for instance, has 3,200 employees. As far as Federal RTV is concerned, it has 390 employees. However, since both televisions are situated in the same building in Sarajevo, some of the staff is complementary for both outlets. Two years ago, a reconstruction plan was adopted for the public broadcasting system, called by employees the “BBC plan,” because it was created in consultation with experts from the powerful British public broadcaster. The document outlines development of financial stabilization of the public service. Among other measures, it envisions dismissal of 360 people. True implementation of the plan has not yet started because of strong resistance from within the outlet. However, fear of dismissal is still hovering over employees’ heads, which is certainly a reason why there is not too much opposition to the current situation and the management. It is interesting that Radio Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS) is not involved in current problems at the end of 2005. No strike is planned there for the time being and management enjoys a bit more trust of employees. The Banja Luka-based entity broadcaster has started reform, resulting in reduction of employees by 150, or by one-third of the previous staff. Expenditures have also been placed under control and evident effort is made to improve collection of broadcast license fee and boost the advertising share. As General Director Dragan Davidovic has told us, RTRS is doing everything so that salaries would not be late and, with great effort, all financial dues are paid on time. An absurdity that makes employees’ struggle for their rights more difficult is that there are three syndicates in Sarajevo within the two broadcasters. They are: syndicate of the public broadcasting service in transition, which has the most members and which led the strike, syndicate of RTV Federation BiH, and syndicate of BHRT. All three syndicates agree only that salaries need to be ensured and the system needs to be stabilized economically. However, there are major differences with regard to the previously-mentioned BBC reconstruction plan. The two former syndicates are opposed to it, believing that some of its solutions are inapplicable and that it does not envision taking care of dismissed employees. The BHRT syndicate, on the other hand, supports the plan and believes that unless it is implemented, the entire broadcasting system will continue to choke in financial difficulties. As the president of the latter syndicate, Mirsad Bajtarevic, has told us, resisting the plan can only further deteriorate employees’ position. In his opinion, the Office of the High Representatives (OHR) and European Commission have promised to ensure collection of broadcast license fee, but the BBC plan must be implemented in return. Bajtarevic has also told us that editors’ salaries at BHRT are 1,200 to 2,500 marks, while a director’s salary is 3,500 marks (1,800 euros). By Bosnian standards, this is an extremely high salary, which directors of many successful firms do not have. However, this is a legacy of a situation of two years ago when the international community used its own funds to stimulate high management salaries in order to make sure that competent people are brought in. However, when its donations stopped, the high salaries remained as a burden. The basis for funding the public broadcasting system, i.e. all three broadcasters, is the broadcast license fee, which is six marks (three euros) a month. The second important source of revenue is advertising. From the advertising point of view, the most successful is RTV Federation BiH, which has almost twice as high revenue as the other two broadcasters. However, according to the adopted Law on the Broadcasting System of BiH, it is stipulated that advertising revenue, as well as license fee revenue, is supposed to be split, so that BHRT as the BiH-wide broadcaster gets 50 percent, while RTRS and RTFBiH are to get 25 percent each. This legislative solution is a source of much dissatisfaction of two of the three syndicates, which maintain that it destroys Federal RTV and favors RTRS and BHRT. However, if we consider the fact that the new law now defines a single legal subject, which has three sub-systems, by analogy it turns out that this is redistribution within the same house. Thus, these stands lose strength. Radio and television employees are yet to become used to this. In any case, the international community, which had considerable influence on solutions in the law, in this way wants to strengthen the state broadcasters, not the entity ones. Federal RTV Director Jasmin Durakovic publicly supported the syndicate demands, emphasizing that he sees a solution in redistribution of revenue “according to merit,” rather than according to automatism in line with the new law. However, the syndicate of the broadcasting system in transition has disassociated itself from his support, saying that it constitutes manipulation because he just supports one demand selectively. Anyway, Durakovic is not supported by the majority of employees of his broadcaster. In the media and also off the record, he is reproached for directing huge amounts of money into very expensive private productions. According to Communications Regulatory Agency rules, public services must contain 10 percent of programming from private production. However, employees claim that expensive production companies are hired as a result of various “deals,” while small, but quality production is supposedly ignored, as well as programs made in the framework of various donor projects, which are offered to Federal TV and which can also be used to fill the specified 10 percent. Durakovic has rejected these accusations, claiming that what is good requires money and that it is not possible to direct all money into salaries. If there is no quality programming, there will be no salaries, he says. However, what the director does not have a valid answer to is the fact that he himself is also involved in production and directing, which could constitute a conflict of interest. Durakovic has just finished a feature film, in which Federal TV was a co-producer. Both the employees and the syndicates are “screaming” over this, believing that this is the reason why salaries are late and also that a system cannot be well run if a long feature film is directed at the same time. Now to return to the broadcast license fee. Its collection by way of fixed telephone lines is not complete. At the level of BiH, the collection rate is 53 percent. In the Republika Srpska, a little more than 60 percent of households pay the fee, while in the BiH Federation there is a disproportion resulting from ethnic and political disagreements. Collection of license fee via BH Telecom from Sarajevo is 65 percent, while via HTP from Mostar, which mostly covers Croat majority areas, the collection rate is only 19 percent. Many lawsuits in the whole country have been filed against those who are not paying, but court proceedings are slow or under political pressure. BHRT Steering Board member Plamenko Custovic has said in many media outlets that the economic situation of public services will stabilize when collection of broadcast license fee improves. However, the BHRT syndicate claims that even if the pre-war collection rate of 88 percent is reached, it would not be enough for positive business results. It says expenditures must be placed under control, advertising efforts must be stepped up, some of the space in the huge RTV building in Sarajevo should be let out, and the BBC reform implemented. However, the fact is that the present political and territorial organization of the country is costly and that its product is a costly public broadcasting system, consisting of three broadcasters (before the war there was just one, seated in Sarajevo with bureaus across the country). Without considerable cuts and extreme commitment to work, this system will hardly have a perspective. It is evident that a considerable number of Croats do not want to pay the fee because they maintain that RTV BiH and Federal RTV are “not theirs.” However, there is also a considerable number of Bosniaks and Serbs who believe that the “public RTV is against their people” and who do not watch it, or so they say. In relation to these accusations, in September and October Media Plan Institute did a content analysis of public service news programs. The general assessment is that primetime news programs on BHT, FTV and TVRS in the monitored period had a consistent professional approach to the issues covered. But monitoring showed that Croat majority areas were infrequently covered. Sarajevo as the largest city and the capital where all state institutions are seated objectively affects agenda setting, but one may say that primarily BHT and FTV must put more effort into covering the Croat majority parts of BiH. Basically, nothing should be forced, because it would be unprofessional and irrelevant to the audience, especially people not from these areas, but there should certainly be more sensitivity to certain issues and events happening in this part of the country, which Croat parties insist on. However, regardless of this, unfortunately the real situation in the country is such that there are different political views on every issue, which are reflected in different walks of life and the population at large. For instance, the BHT evening news program Dnevnik really does try to cover every part of the country, to present different views on modification or preservation of the Dayton Constitution or introduction of a third entity, to see and hear different unitary and separatist groups, to tell the stories of ordinary people from different parts of BiH, to have enough Croat program hosts and enough Croatian language… This effort is evident in all three evening news programs, especially on BHT which must cover all of Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, is this enough to attract the majority audience to the primetime news program? As painful as it may be, this “audience” often has extreme views which are insufficiently followed and covered in news programs. Did, for instance, BHT cover tens of thousands of Serbs from the Republika Srpska who were awaiting and preparing to watch in coffee shops and on squares in large towns a game between Serbia & Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. And who, of course, rooted for Serbia. It did not! Or, it did, but only through a prism of absurdity and negativity. Was there a news crew with the thousands of people in Banja Luka who celebrated Serbia’s victory? There was not! Did it report at all that a significant number of people in the Republika Srpska do not want to have anything to do with the state of BiH? It did not! Did it report about people who are denying the crimes in Srebrenica, who believe that The Hague is a politicized institution, who are strongly against BiH’s lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro… It did not! Did it give enough airtime to Croat politicians and Croat citizens who insist on a third entity, who complain that Bosniaks want a unitary state, to western Herzegovinians who would be happy to have their region annexed to Croatia… It did not! Was enough airtime given to that part of the Bosniak population which considers BHT to be “anti-Bosniak”, which asks that Alija Izetbegovic and his merits be spoken about, at least on the second anniversary of his death, at the top of the evening news program, which notices that even on FTV there are more Croat and Serb program hosts than there are Bosniak ones, which says that “Serbs are a genocidal people” and that the “international community is giving in to them at the expense of Bosniaks”. No, it was not! Let’s not kid ourselves; this, unfortunately, is the majority public opinion in BiH. Politically, ethnically and economically frustrated. BHT, as well as the two entity evening news programs which are very similar to it, do not favor these views. Even if they wanted to, they could not, because especially that would be scandalous. Bigger presence of the above views would be even more irritating for the constituent peoples in BiH. Imagine a BHT news program that starts with the celebration of Serbia’s victory among thousands of football fans in the Republika Srpska, with interviews with them in which they glorify the victory of “their players” and predict how they will fare in the World Championships, and all this presented by journalists as the real situation, showing it as people’s happiness, rather than as our painful present. Although such an item would faithfully portray the reality, as this television station is called “Bosnian-Herzegovinian” it would be unnatural. Bosniaks and Croats after that would probably not accept it as a relevant program. Now, let’s go back to the monitoring. As Media Plan Institute assesses, primetime news programs on all three televisions are trying to move away from things in the past on which there is no national consensus, or else they cover them only in the form of “cold” items, refraining from making any comment. It is clear that the public service, in particular BHT, has a restriction (true, not publicly uttered): it can do anything, but in the framework of the system of the BiH state and using legal means. Otherwise, there will be anomalies. A legitimate theoretical mission of media is to create public opinion. BHT (as well as the other two broadcasters) must make it clear that it operates in the framework of a political system that must be respected. And it should not be ashamed of this. This is why most people who put state interests above ethnic ones truly support public service programming. This, of course, does not mean that it is particularly good, but the present foundation must be built upon. The author of this report honestly believes that it is not possible to humor the separatist and unitary tendencies that are present among the three BiH constituent peoples, but also that they must be presented in a professional way. With a bit more sensitivity to the specific political and cultural characteristics of various parts of BiH, a respectable pillar of the state could be created through the public broadcasting service. 187 Broadcasters According to latest data of the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), in charge of regulating the entire communication sector, including broadcasters, there are 187 broadcasters operating in BiH. Of this figure, 41 are television stations and 146 radio stations. The agency carried out research on coverage of major BiH cities by radio and television signal. Data shows that there are most broadcasters in Sarajevo, which is logical as it is the largest city. The population of this city is able to watch 16 TV stations, including three public service programs. It is interesting that second place by the number of available television stations is held by Kakanj, a relatively small town in central Bosnia, but evidently in a locality which allows diverse reception (15). Next is Banja Luka, with 14 stations, then Zenica with 12, etc… Along with the three public service televisions, the following stations also have national coverage: TV Pink BiH, owned by well-known media tycoon from Serbia Zeljko Mitrovic, and TV OBN, whose owner is now Ivan Caleta, businessman from Croatia, formerly owner of TV Nova from Zagreb. As for radio stations, in the lead is Sarajevo, with 27 available radio stations, and Banja Luka with 18. It is interesting that here, too, we have two towns which surpass, for instance, Tuzla, Zenica or Mostar; they are Bosanska Gradiska and Brcko with 17 radio stations each. If we add to this the fact that almost all cities have cable operators offering from 40 to 50 foreign programs, one can conclude that particularly the TV offer is extremely big. Most operators offer the pornographic channel SCT for free after midnight. Occasional citizens’ protests are absorbed by the much bigger number of those who insist on contents of this kind. CRA, whose rules contain a provision of decency and civility, says that it is important that operators respect the provision that such contents may be broadcast only late at night and that there is no dispute over this. As the head of the CRA information office, Amela Odobasic, has told us, the agency’s most important decision in 2005 was lifting a moratorium on new frequencies in effect since 2003. CRA announced a tender for a new frequency spectrum on two occasions. Turnout was not so high because relatively poorly populated areas were offered. Two entirely new radio stations got licenses and frequencies, while some expanded their territory of coverage. The greatest novelty is that the signal of Radio NES from Banja Luka, whose owner is Zeljko Kopanja, also owner of Nezavisne Novine, is now available in Sarajevo. It is interesting that with the exception of public radio services, no other station has national coverage. However, a large number of stations have regional coverage which crosses municipal, cantonal and entity boundaries. CRA is evidently benevolent to such requests because these radio stations, primarily due to market-driven reasons, must adjust to different ethnic and regional groups in order to get their share of the advertising cake. This builds tolerance and a culture of diversity because station owners, and with them editorial teams, want to be open to diverse ideas and economic and political views. We will finish the section on broadcasters with the information that TV Alfa from Sarajevo has not started broadcasting yet, although its long announced start of operation was September 1. This TV station was bought last year by the largest BiH newspaper publisher Avaz. Before that, Alfa had been a not too popular outlet with ethnic, sometimes even religious zeal. However, in late 2004, when it aired an interview in which an Islamic religious official made many insulting remarks about Jews, as well as other non-Muslims in BiH, the Regulatory Agency temporarily banned its work and fined it 50,000 marks for hate speech. Avaz used the opportunity to buy the outlet, which was staggering both financially and in terms of programming. After that, Avaz editions pompously started announcing that Alfa would become a strong commercial medium in terms of programming. The owner’s aspiration was to make Alfa the strongest commercial outlet in Sarajevo, then to go for a national concession and to stand side by side with TV Pink and TV OBN, which are each backed by Serbian and Croatian capital. TV Alfa started recruiting good journalists. The biggest success was bringing in Sanela Prasovic, well-known journalist from Federal Television, in mid-2005 to be Editor-in-Chief. Prasovic announced a strong TV station with diverse programming. However, very soon the news came that the editor had resigned. As she told the media, the reason was that Avaz management had not allowed her to create a strong news program and was insisting on light contents instead. Obviously, as a news journalist, she could not accept such a television concept. However, there is talk in town that there are other reasons as well, i.e. that Avaz managers do not like strong people with strong views. Internet Boom The Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) carried out a survey on the number of internet service users in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2004, but the results were released only recently. Results of the survey, carried out on a sample of 32 licensed internet service providers, showed that there are 168,937 internet subscribers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Of the total number of subscribers, 14% are legal subjects. Based on these figures, on the average number of household members and the average number of employees of legal subjects in BiH, the total internet penetration of internet services is 19.9% (770,898 users), which means that every fifth resident of BiH has internet access. As this article is being written, a similar survey is being carried out for 2005, but its results will not be known soon. It is assumed that the number of people who have internet access will be one or two percent higher, which means over 20 percent. One should bear in mind that this is a possibility of accessing the internet, not its actual use. By analogy of conclusions from western European countries, according to which the number of actual users is approximately 2.5 times lower, we may conclude that the number of internet users is eight percent. This result is very important in light of the fact that until recently, without referring to any surveys, it had been claimed that the number of internet users in BiH is only two percent. Therefore, there is a real internet boom in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which can be observed in all walks of life. For all job vacancies, use of computers is required, of course, but also internet use. Computer rooms with internet connection are being set up in schools. In all education institutions, internet and relevant contents from it are becoming compulsory reading. The quality of various BiH portals and specialized sites is improving and they have increasing numbers of visitors. Of sites focusing on media issues, the best known ones are www.mediaonline.ba and http://netnovinar.org. Also, computer sales people claim that 2005 is the most successful year so far by the number of computers sold. And there are 43 licensed internet service providers in BiH. Press: Into New Year under Burden of VAT Practically all newspaper publishers are shocked by the determination of the government and Administration of Indirect Taxation, which have been insisting for months on a single Value Added Tax rate of 17 percent, which will include newspapers, from the beginning of the New Year. It will be a heavy blow to all newspapers, most of which had a zero tax rate up until now. Publishers pinned their last hope on a November 30 session of the Administration of Indirect Taxation Steering Board. However, although Prime Minister Adnan Terzic had asked this body to exempt newspapers from the tax, the Steering Board stuck to the stand that no one can be exempted from VAT. A wave of price increases is expected in BiH in all areas because basic items had been exempted from turnover tax or were taxed only 10 percent. More luxurious items, cars and technical appliances had been taxed 20 percent. The 17 percent tax on newspapers is the only thing on which all publishes agree, calling it a disastrous move on the part of the government. Everyone is united – from the opposed Dnevni Avaz and Oslobodjenje, through to Glas Srpske and Nezavisne Novine. Owners claim they have no room in current prices to calculate an additional 17 percent because most are operating with losses. However, they agree that raising prices would be counter-productive and affect even more the impoverished readers’ decision on whether to buy newspapers. As Nezavisne Novine owner Zeljko Kopanja has told the Dnevni List, this is a lethal blow to newspaper publishers and the graphic industry. In his opinion, the decision to impose VAT on newspapers only favors press from Serbia and Croatia, which takes almost half of the readership in BiH. In the first three months of 2006, it is expected that publishers will see how much they can operate with VAT, if at all. It cannot be ruled out that many editions will shut down. Something like this has already happened in 2005. Let’s first show the daily newspaper situation through mathematics. At the beginning of 2005, seven daily papers were coming out, in mid-2005 two more appeared, but towards the end of the year two went bankrupt. Now, let’s speak specifically. Presently (end of December 2005), Dnevni Avaz, Oslobodjenje, Jutarnje Novine and SAN are published in Sarajevo. Nezavisne Novine, Glas Srpske and Fokus come out in Banja Luka, and Dnevni List comes out in Mostar. The two new papers that appeared in mid-2005 were VIP and Fokus. VIP was launched by Dnevni Avaz, the highest circulation daily in BiH. The paper started coming out on April 22, accompanied by thunderous announcements that its circulation would be 100,000 copies. The paper’s format was half that of the other dailies, but its price was lower too – only half a mark, or half the price of the other BiH dailies. Nezavisne Novine did the same thing, launching Fokus practically at the same time, with the same format and same price. In terms of concept, both papers were “light reading,” with large, sometimes sensationalistic headlines and with news and short articles. A lot of pictures and an odd assortment, readers would say. Anyway, two serious and highest circulation newspapers from Sarajevo and Banja Luka launched their satellites in which they could portray certain issues and problems through different viewpoints or angles. In principle, it was an attempt to copy the paper “24 hours” from Croatia, which also costs half the price of its sister Vecernji List. But, unlike the Croatian “model,” VIP did not succeed in positioning itself. After just five months, actually on October 1, it stopped coming out. The newspaper company Avaz simply made a decision, due to poor sales results, to shut it down. Fokus still comes out, although it cannot boast of a high circulation either. In November, Jutarnje Novine (formerly Vecernje Novine), the oldest daily paper in BiH along with Oslobodjenje, also stopped coming out. Although management and editors do not want to give the reason why it stopped coming out, it is clear that it is caused by financial ruin, as well as ruin of all other relations that require money. Many people had been predicting Jutarnje Novine’s bankruptcy for years because it had a small circulation and even poorer sales results. Thanks to funding provided by its wealthy owner Irfan Ljevakovic from his other business activities, the newspaper had managed to stay afloat. As we have found out from International Pages Editor Edis Mesihovic, Jutarnje Novine should reappear in the market soon, “as soon as some things are sorted out.” Strong competition for BiH newspapers is created by press from Serbia and Croatia with their special editions for BiH. Vecernji List from Zagreb is the most read paper among BiH Croats, while Vecernje Novosti and Euro Blic are the most read in the Republika Srpska. On top of this, the latter two papers cost half the price of the local competition in the Republika Srpska and it is clear why local publishers are horrified by VAT. Evidently, readers pick certain editions on ethnic ground. Serbs and Croats in BiH also rather turn to newspapers from their “center.” This is the reality of today’s readership in BiH. Another paper has disappeared from the BiH newspaper stage: the bi-weekly Valter, considered by the media community a very controversial and unprofessional paper. It had a pronouncedly pro-Bosniak orientation, often with dangerous stings against non-Muslims, and especially against Bosniaks who sympathize with the relatively strong left political wing. The reason why the paper stopped coming out is the tragic death of its owner Enver Causevic, who drowned in the Adriatic Sea early last summer. The paper with a small circulation did not have any economic reason to come out anyway, and in this way it lost is main driving force, which meant its end. BiH press employs the principle of self-regulation, like many western European countries. In numerous media analyses done by Media Plan Institute and other media centers, the fact is constantly repeated that self-regulation is not giving good results because deep ethnic and political division in the country is holding back an objective approach to problems and the raising of awareness of professional standards. As a result, outbursts on the verge of hate speech, insult and selection of facts can still be found in print media. What is encouraging is that newspapers have been covering more and more professionally the issues and dilemmas from the recent past, which had been a stumbling point both in politics and in the media up until now. In September and October, Media Plan Institute carried out a monitoring and analysis of BiH press on the subject of attitude to war crimes and war crimes prosecution. The general conclusion is that inflammatory and dirty language has mostly disappeared from the media, although its modified, sophisticated forms can sometimes be found. Generally speaking, progress is being made in the process of transformation of media from generators of conflict and distrust among people and ethnic groups to a factor of tolerance and strengthening a culture of peace. Professional improvement in writing about war crimes prosecution is a sign of encouragement. As the analysis concludes, lack of professional correctness, even manipulation, can be found in articles in which war crimes are used to comment on certain daily political situations. There is an evident practice of article headlines containing information or comments which cannot be read in the articles themselves or being pulled out of context and creating a different impression of a particular event or issue. Also, statements by some interviewees, sometimes entirely ephemeral, incompetent or without proof and arguments, are placed in the headline, without quotation marks and without mentioning the source, from which readers get the impression that the message from the headline is true, sacrosanct or the newsroom’s view. It is interesting that the study emphasizes that inflammatory language can no longer be heard from journalists’ mouths, but that interviewees are used who sometimes utter debatable and inflammatory things. The supreme press self-regulation body in BiH is the Press Council. In 2004, with the help of international community funding, thanks to intensive activities both towards the media and the public at large, it succeeded in imposing itself as a respectable body concerned with media professionalization and reacting to press code violations. However, towards the end of 2004, the Council was dealt a heavy blow by the highest circulation paper Dnevni Avaz which, after being criticized on one occasion for violating the code, announced that it does not recognize the Press Council, calling it incompetent and politicized (allegedly composed of journalists who are close to the opposition). But the real problem came a little later. In early 2005, Nermin Durmo, Council Director, resigned. It was heard that he was forced to resign as a result of pressure of the international donors who were dissatisfied with his work. Basically, the gist of the problem was that Durmo had been asked to make effort to make the Council self-sustainable, funded both by the media and by the state, and by various other partners as well. As he told us, in his opinion many of these things are not realistic for the time being. His resignation benumbed the body for a couple of months. A new director was elected in September: Ljiljana Zurovac, radio journalist and former Program Director of the Media Plan High College of Journalism. As this article is being written, she is working hard on Press Council projects for 2006, a year which should be crucial for this organization, as she has told us. Media Education of Roma Starts Media Plan Institute (MPI), a Sarajevo-based organization working on media development since 1995, launched a unique and very important project – media education of Roma. At the beginning of Roma Decade declared in all of Europe, Media Plan Institute received support from the BiH Council of Ministers and USAID. In December, 10 young Roma completed a 16-day training cycle to work as radio correspondents and fixers. The course participants, coming from all over BiH, were taught by experienced radio journalists who lecture at the High College of Journalism. They learned about news elements and writing, handling field radio equipment, conducting interviews and making radio items. The training cycle ended with the production of a 20-minute program speaking about problems and successes of Roma in BiH, the largest ethnic minority faced with numerous prejudices. The second phase of the project is supposed to focus on creating a relationship between the course participants and radio stations, as well as providing consultations on how to cover Roma issues in the media. The program “Roma life from one day to the next” was uploaded on the website http://obrazovanje.skolanovinarstva.ba/radioPrilozi.asp?modulID=4 and is free for downloading and broadcasting. Also, in cooperation with London-Based Media Diversity Institute, Media Plan Institute held a course for representatives of Roma organizations on how to communicate with the media and public. Leaders of Roma associations have increasingly been appearing in public and in the media and the course has provided them with practical skills essential to any PR appearance. Interest was huge. Along with MPI, which has a high reputation in all of BiH, the youngest journalist association, BH novinari, is also stabilizing its position. This is practically the only professional association operating in the entire BiH territory. It was created in December 2004 after fusion of the Independent Union of Professional Journalists from Sarajevo, Association Apel from Mostar and Association of Independent Journalists of the Republika Srpska. Borka Rudic, General Secretary of the association, told us that the whole year 2005 was a year of consolidation for the new association and that a campaign was conducted to animate the memberships of the three previous organizations to join the integrated association. In addition, the situation concerning media freedom was constantly monitored and violations were reacted to. Rudic says she considers it a great success that in three cases perpetrators of pressure against journalists, following the Association’s protests, publicly apologized. She said that had been unthinkable until recently because apologies had been issued only following strong protests by the international community. “We think that a local journalist association finally has authority,” says this journalist and official of BH novinari (more will be said about this at the end, in the section on “attacks and pressure on journalists”). The association BH novinari is currently conducting a campaign to get various price reductions for its staff. There is already a 50 percent reduction on journalist travel with the top bus companies and, as we have been told, talks are underway with the telecoms in BiH to give reductions for mobile telephony to the journalist members of the association. The association has organized professional and education seminars discussing Defamation Law, media freedoms and their violation, coverage of specific and rare issues, such as rights of women and children, etc. Attacks and Pressure on Journalists For already a couple of years there have been no serious attacks on journalists or continuous pressure on the part of the state. Media are relatively free, while lack of professionalism and various kinds of economic and political bias are more a result of self-will (self-censorship) of owners, editors and journalists, rather than pressure from certain parts of society. This is confirmed by the latest Reporters without Frontiers report on freedom of media in the world for 2005. BiH is 33rd and is the best placed of all South East European countries for the second year in a row. Of the former Yugoslav countries, only Slovenia, already a European Union member, is ahead. It is interesting that BiH, again for the second year in a row, is better placed than the United States (44th place), once a model of media freedom. According to the classification of the Journalist Help Line, which operates within the association BH novinari, most cases of pressure reported against journalists may be listed under “Threats and pressure” and there were 10 of them. As for labor dispute, i.e. conflicts and threats within media outlets regarding content editing, there were seven cases. One physical attack was reported and there were eight other cases of violation of media freedom. We need to stress that these are reported cases, i.e. journalists summoned up the courage to complain of pressure. There is no doubt that the actual number of cases of pressure is 10 times bigger, but we cite this data as a trend of the types of pressure. The situation would probably be the same percentage-wise if records of pressure were complete. Here are several characteristic cases of journalist freedom being threatened in 2005. The top Islamic leader in BiH, Reis Mustafa Ceric, during a religious service (Ramadan hutba) in Bey’s Mosque, slammed Federal TV, in particular the program “60 Minutes” and its Editor Bakir Hadziomerovic. “We thought TVFBiH would leave us to fast this Ramadan in peace, after refusing to broadcast the call for the evening meal,” the media carried Ceric’s words. “But, FTV would not be true to itself if it did not disturb us in the month of Ramadan. In the October 24 program, Bosnian Muslims are associated with an alleged international terrorist network. What FTV is doing in the Monday programs is spreading fear among Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina and inciting those who have not finished their killing to finish it,” said the Reis during the religious service in the mosque. What is problematic from a factual point of view is that Bosnian Muslims were not being associated with terrorism in the disputed program; Bosniak individuals were being associated, some of whom are close to the government. Also problematic is the assertion that nothing may be mentioned on TV during Ramadan which might allegedly insult Muslims. Dani magazine, in its November 4 issue, writes that the “psychological and propaganda context of Ceric’s words reminds of the fetva against Salman Rushdie.” The editor of “60 Minutes” was not frightened by what one would say is a call for lynch; in the next program he called Ceric “politicized” and “someone who mixes religious duties with politics.” Almost all dailies carried the news on November 2 that TV OBN Program Director Zekerijah Smajic had submitted an irrevocable resignation from his position. What sparked the resignation was the physical removal (by security guards) of a journalist of Sarajevo’s Gracija magazine who was covering Multi Talents Show produced by this television station. Smajic said he cannot back the station’s owner Ivan Caleta who supported this kind of conduct against a journalist and colleague, no matter what the reason. The saddest thing is that Caleta was supported by journalists from Croatia whom he brought to Sarajevo after buying TV OBN. On this note, Caleta was once the owner of TV NOVA from Zagreb. However, as Smajic told Dnevni Avaz, the fundamental reason for his resignation is deep misunderstanding with the owner whom he says does not want to accept the concept of a true professional program with quality people and contents. As Dnevni Avaz writes (August 19), its news crew was attacked in Cajnice while shooting a reportage. The paper alleges that a group of people in the Republika Srpska town, upon learning that the journalists were from Dnevni Avaz, starting cursing them and threatening to use violence, demanding they leave town immediately, which a local police officer nearby also recommended them to do. The journalists got into their car, not wanting to create further tension, but as they were leaving town they came upon a road barricade and a group of young men who lunged at them. The journalists ran to a nearby house, where they were given shelter by a Serb woman, as they say. She told the young men the journalists were her guests and threatened to call the police. After the group left, the woman got into their car and safely escorted them to the border with Montenegro, across which the Avaz crew then returned to Sarajevo. Glas Srpski writes on August 30 that journalists of Euro Blic, BN Television, Glas Srpski, RTRS and Srna from Zvornik sent a letter to the local authorities and international institutions in BiH, complaining of being hampered in normal journalistic work in Zvornik by frequent threats, coming from both the Bosniak and the Serb communities in the town. What sparked the public protest was a physical attack by the residents of a Bosniak village on these journalists for providing access only to favored media (media from Sarajevo). The journalists say police intervention prevented physical harm and destruction of property. Two police inspectors in Tuzla on August 9 entered the bureau of the paper Oslobodjenje without a court order and asked to interrogate the journalist Avdo Avdic. What triggered the unexpected visit was his article speaking about the involvement of Tuzla police in human trafficking and illegal transfer of people to France. As Avdic explains in an item published in Oslobodjenje on August 10, the inspectors asked him to get into their car, which he refused to do, after which they took his suggestion and went to a nearby coffee shop. They asked him to reveal the source of his information, which he refused, after which the police officers left. When what happened was made public via public television and Oslobodjenje, the association BH novinari strongly reacted, calling the insistence to reveal the source of information a classical act of pressure on journalists. The association especially stressed the legal flaw – for an interrogation there must be a court order, which was missing this time. Tuzla Canton police said it was not an interrogation, but rather a “friendly” conversation, and that for the purpose of the investigation, the inspectors wanted to get more information on the case from Avdic as a citizen. Following the association’s protest, Cantonal Police Commissioner Ivica Divkovic publicly apologized both to Avdic and BH novinari, calling the whole matter a misunderstanding and promising full protection for journalists. In August we have another event that ended with an apology. The SDS Municipal Board and Caucus in Gacko declared Biljana Bokic, RTRS journalist, a persona non grata in the town and called on “all conscientious citizens to treat her as such.” In the elaboration, they stated that her reports contained a number of insults, defamations and lies aimed at toppling the dignity of Milan Radmilovic, Head of Gacko Municipality. The journalist called this a classical call for lynch. As Bokic said in Nezavisne Novine on September 1, those who signed the statement did not provide arguments for their stands and did not quote what was untrue in her articles. The association BH novinari and RTRS reacted promptly and condemned the pressure. Immediately after that, the Gacko SDS Municipal Board issued an apology saying that a “draft version” of the press release had been sent to the media by mistake, written in the heat of passion, and that the party does not stand behind the view on persona non grata. It said the dispute would be sorted out “by force of arguments.” On September 6, a hand grenade was hurled at the house of Rezak Hukanovic, owner and Editor-in-Chief of Nezavisna TV 101 from Prijedor. Material damage was made, but no one was hurt. As Hukanovic told Dnevni Avaz (Sept. 8), he is not sure why the crime happened, but he assumes it was either because of his journalistic work or his ethnic background. Oslobodjenje writes the same day that Hukanovic is a returnee in Prijedor who founded his own TV station. The paper says that his property has been under attack three times since 2001, but the perpetrators were never found. Dnevni List journalist Nermin Bise was physically attacked by police while trying to film a clash between football team Velez fans and police. As Bise told VIP on June 1, when he took out his camera to start filming what was going on, a police officer hit him on the back with a baton, although his press card was visible. Almost at the same time, Jazid Ahmetkadic, cameraman of the public broadcasting service, was attacked in Zenica while trying to film a mass fist-fight in the city. He says it was clear he was a cameraman at work, not a curious passer-by. The association BH novinari strongly protested against Mostar police officers for attacking a journalist and in Zenica for not protecting a journalist. Sandra Gojkovic, Nezavisne Novine journalist, received a telephone threat “that it will be bad for her safety and life” if she published an article on illegal activities going on at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Banja Luka, which she was writing that day. The journalist told Oslobodjenje on April 20 that the article spoke about the illegal election of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Dean who, according to information obtained by Nezavisne Novine, had embezzled 140,000 marks. March was marked by a sexual harassment scandal involving an RTV Gorazde Canton journalist and a politician. When she tried to take a statement from Cantonal Prime Minister Salko Obhodzas, the journalist Elma Kazagic was showered with cynical remarks, such as, “You are so pretty today, what have you been doing last night” and “You have eyes as beautiful as the shallow waters of the sea.” After being warned by the journalist that he was being filmed, the prime minister responded: “what does that matter.” The general opinion of the press community is that Obhodzas may not have had sexual aspirations, but that he had once again made it clear what he thought about RTV Gorazde and its journalist as a person. Namely, as they are not able to place this outlet under their control, SDA-led authorities have had a negative attitude toward it for a long time. The scandal was made public when the journalist gave the tape in mid-March to RTV Hayat, which broadcast it in its primetime news program. RTV Gorazde Director Ernad Metaj immediately resigned, saying it was primarily for moral reasons, because he had not been able to protect his employee. However, he added that he does not understand why he had not been informed after the case happened, but rather found out about it from another TV station. Elma Kazagic left Gorazde and got a job with TV Hayat in Sarajevo. When she spoke to the author of this paper, she said the situation in Gorazde is very difficult for journalists because they are subjected to constant pressure from the government. Radenko Udovicic, journalist and program director of High College of Journalism Media plan /taken from www.mediaonline.ba, Southeast European Media Journal/