04. 11. 2008

UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF MULTI-LANGUAGE MEDIA OUTLETS

Novi Sad, November 4, 2008 (Dnevnik) – Apart from four major national broadcasters, all other broadcasters are also facing the problem of survival in the media market, both those which broadcast in Serbian language, as well as multi-language media outlets, whose position is even more difficult and more than alarming – this is the conclusion of the seminar "Sustainability of Multi-Language Media Outlets" organized within the project "Broadcasting Legally" by the Novi Sad School of Journalism with support from the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

According to the counselor to the information secretary of the province, Kalman Kuntic, media outlets in Vojvodina can contribute to advancement of interculturality. - We should not just talk about Vojvodina being a multiethnic region, but instead work on creating a true intercultural environment, and the media can have a very significant role in this, says Kuntic. It was pointed out that the administration of the province supports media outlets broadcasting in minority languages, with the aim to maintain and stimulate interculturalism in order to promote all languages in the territory of the AP of Vojvodina, as evidenced by the Macedonian language, which is present in the Pancevo media, as well as the German language in Subotica media outlets.

The president of the Managing Board of the Novi Sad School of Journalism, Dubravka Valic Nedeljkovic, points out that it is necessary to find a solution for sustainability of multi-ethnic media outlets since they cannot be thrown to the mercy of market forces. In her words, stable financing of such media outlets can be achieved in several ways – from the budgets of local self-governments, partly from the fee paid for public services, partly from commercial services and partly from projects.

Director of the "Media Art Service", Rastislav Durman, points out that Serbia is "the worst pupil" in the region when it comes to privatization of the media since, in his words, 95 percent of the commercial TV advertising market is held by four major national TV stations. - It means that this market is monopolized by big TV stations and that small media outlets are at a disadvantage. The situation is more than dramatic, and not only for multi-language media outlets, says Durman.

Apart from legal obstacles, which require mandatory privatization of all media outlets founded by institutions of local self-government, survival of multi-language radio and television stations is further hindered by the lack of public support to these programs. Marketing expert and the editor of the radio station "Roadstar", Vladimir Ceh, states that "in the world, media business is very lucrative, since not less than eight out of 30 richest people in the world are media magnates". He points out that the media situation in our country has changed a lot since the nineties, when the average Serbian family could consider "a purchase of a radio station for a kid's 16th birthday, but not a car – because for a radio station you don't need a licence".

- More than 400 broadcasters with valid licences are active at the moment, and only the biggest will survive since there is a fierce struggle for each advertising dinar, says Ceh, and suggests networking of "small" media outlets as one of possible solutions for their survival. - Only networked radio stations, which will cover larger regions with local programming, can jointly win their place in the market and commercially strengthen their programme, says Ceh, adding that advertisers themselves, i.e. the companies which are advertising themselves right now, will pay much more attention to the economic interest in advertising in the future, and that they will have to realize that the media does not sell seconds or square centimeters of newspaper space, but a certain number of viewers, listeners and readers.