Danish royal frame for the Serbian picture

The Media Study (prepared by authors Bent Norbi Bond, Alexander Benzek and Andrey Zmachek), as a basis for creation of the strategy of development of the media system in Serbia, offers a very useful overview of media legislation in the EU and a comparative analysis of certain characteristics of media systems in Serbia and some European countries. The Study clearly presents the regulatory framework and media practice in Denmark, Germany and Austria and offers recommendations for the media in Serbia based on their experience.

The Study's main focus on European regulation and experiences is at the same time both its strong and weak point. Comparative analysis of Serbian and European media scenes creates a very good insight into the differences between the situation in the local environment and abroad, and proves that Serbia needs wide-ranging reforms. The comparison also shows that certain countries of the EU have chosen different models in some parts of the media system, and that Serbia can select those that are most suitable for her. However, the Media Study has adopted a central concept which entails that the most efficient alternative for Serbia to develop its media sector would be to copy the existing European solutions. The downside of such strategy is that it ignores the specific characteristics of the domestic social and media context.

Among the researchers active in the field of analysis of the media systems of post-communist countries often believe that the strategy of imitation and copying of European institutions was the most suitable way of transformation. However, there is no agreement on the results and success of such "mimetic" strategy, as it was called by Karol Jakubovich, the leading analyst of media transformation. It has shown good results in later stages of the process of transition. Most of the observers agree that a mimetic orientation is always better than an "atavistic" one i.e. preserving parts of the old system whose reform is desired.

Domestic media system has many examples of such "atavisms". One of the goals of the media strategy should be to identify old and obsolescent solutions and to offer new ones.

New solutions do not need to be an imitation and a transplant of those that have successfully been developed in other countries. They have to take into account certain specifics of the local society and its media. If this is not the case, the framework of modern institutions combined with domestic impoverished and non-diversified economic foundation and undeveloped democratic political culture could lead to undesirable results that are completely different than the original reform ideas.

Serbia differs a lot from Denmark and Austria, even when there are geographic and demographic similarities, while it is also difficult to compare it with most of the post-communist European countries. Serbian transition began very late, it has not been completed yet and there is not a stable consensus on its direction, pace and methods. In Serbia, a state with clear boundaries and a stable democratic system have not been established yet, while the civil society and appropriate journalistic culture have not been sufficiently developed to allow successful transplant of European models.

The media in Serbia are still a very important engine of democratization and development of democratic political culture. Therefore the media strategy must find solutions for their efficient functioning as important factors in the democratic development of the country and affirmation of new values. Fully commercialized media cannot stimulate democratic changes. Their have a great role in sustaining already consolidated societies in which there is a strong consensus on the direction of movement, since they do not question the basic values of the social consensus.

The media in Serbia have developed as a response to special social and historic circumstances. Independent agencies, for example, have not taken the form of joint stock companies created by press publishers – which is the form best suited to satisfy their economic interests – like in the USA and Europe, but have been created as a result of initiatives of groups of journalists with intent to offer credible alternative information. High-quality press, although marginalized, has been very significant in its role as a watchdog in national and local communities. Journalistic ownership of the media, which is an archaic tradition in Europe, has proven to be a successful strategy to defend the freedom of the media in Serbia. This, together with other local specific characteristics, must be taken into account by the media strategy in order to create a new regulatory and institutional framework that would serve as a catalyst of media changes that would lead to harmonization with European standards.

Jovanka Matic

About the authors

MC Newsletter, September 10, 2010