"Journalists: employees or a commodity?"

Round table organized by CrossXmedia and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Thursday, March 5, 2010
Media Center

"Journalists often make mistakes, especially in Serbia, but we keep forgetting an important fact – journalists are only human and they should be able to live from their work, to enjoy their rights and have them respected by others", said a journalist Tamara Skrozza at the round table held in the Media Center dedicated to the position of journalism, the media and media activities in Serbia.

"The position of media professionals in Serbia is unenviable and journalists are exposed to various influences, which makes it very difficult to achieve the kind of work that we strive to achieve", concluded Skrozza.

According to a research conducted three years ago, most of the journalists who were asked whether they would change their job replied positively. Citizens who were interviewed during the research placed journalism at the very bottom of their list of most respected professions.

Dejan Kozul, coordinator of the section of freelance journalists within the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, was of the opinion that "the decline of journalism began after the collapse of our country and finally led to the present situation where journalists have a very low or no awareness of the circumstances".

A research on the rights of media professionals in Serbia that was carried out within the Association came to the following results:

86% of interviewed journalists have concluded some form of a work contract with their employers and 73% of these journalists are permanently employed.

In 34% of cases the contracts do not specify the journalists' salaries and this state of affairs can be blamed mostly on the journalists themselves and their passive attitude towards the exercise of their rights from the Labour Law.

Regarding the 34% of the journalists who have a permanent employment, most of them have no other choice but to work for at least two other media outlets because more than 47% of employed journalists do not receive their salaries on time.

No less than 60% of employees in the media are not sure whether their employers are actually paying their obligations to the state's social security.

Out of this 60%, more than 34% are certain that these obligations are not being paid, but only 25% of them are independently taking care of their health and social insurance.

31% of journalists receive their salary in cash, while 54% of them receive half of their salaries in this way.

43% of employees work for a pay that is lower than the national average.

Many journalists have been a victim of some form of harassment at their workplace, but very few of them have asked for any assistance – 66% of them have never asked for help; 44% have asked journalists' associations for help, and 32% asked their employers. The research shows that 57% of journalists have never received the help that they asked for.

The trade union of journalists is the youngest trade union in Serbia, established in 2003 after the beginning of first media privatizations. The reason for this lies mostly in the "lack of journalists' elementary courage to form trade unions or exercise or defend their rights in any way. This is vividly demonstrated by the fact that there are no trade unions in private media outlets. Any attempt at forming a trade union is undermined by employers' threat that initiators will be the first to be declared redundant and laid off.

At the same time, we have to be aware of the fact that many employees who work in the media do not possess even a basic level of education that is necessary for journalism. It is no wonder that they are the ones who are most afraid of losing their jobs", said Dragana Cabarkapa, the president of the trade union of Serbian journalists.

Unions have called on journalists – via journalistic associations – to ask for assistance when their rights are violated and not to wait for dismissals from work when it is too late for any remedy.

More than 70% of interviewed journalists believe that the media in Serbia are not independent, but – on the contrary – extremely politically and financially dependent.

Professional activities of journalists are hindered by blackmails, lack of independence in work and being forced to report positively on tycoons, politicians and centers of power.

Adverse conditions that Serbian journalists are exposed to are evidenced by the information presented by an independent media consultant, Goran Cvetin:

"There are 840 officially registered media outlets in Serbia and 186 pirate media outlets, which amounts to 1026 outlets in total – or 1 per 7,000 citizens!

These circumstances have contributed to non-market conditions in Serbia that have been present for the last 20 years. Economic consequences are enormous: diminished possibility of achieving revenue and lack of donations, while only the public service broadcaster has the right to collect subscription."

After two decades, this policy must be changed by introducing harsher criteria for allocation and retaining of licenses for national frequencies and licenses for work, and by establishing a trade union that would deal with crucial issues of journalism and create a media strategy for future.

There are numerous problems facing media outlets and media professionals in today's Serbia, many issues that should be discussed and many solutions to be found. Judging by this information, the answer to the question – Journalists: employees or a commodity? is – a commodity, with a short expiry date.

MC Newsletter,
March 12, 2010