Awaiting the media strategy

While we are witnessing the ongoing debate on the media strategy, which varies from amusing to serious, and which can be both heated and inspiring – while at the same time taking place behind a closed door – we should analyze some of the main problems facing the media in Serbia, especially in Vojvodina. Previous interference of the state with the media scene has created more problems than benefits to the media and journalists. It seems that many of them – for various reasons – would agree that difficulties were easier to overcome during the omnipresent chaos of the nineties. At the time, some of them were able to sell their "patriotism" for a good price; some managed to avoid paying any taxes and fees; others could count on direct donations to the media. Also, some claim that during this period it was easier to find media outlets willing to publish something, which is not the case today... All these opinions are mostly subjective but, on the other side, the current situation in the media offers a lot of reasons for concern.

According to some data, no less than 70 percent of media outlets in Vojvodina are threatened by bankruptcy. Some will say that this is to be expected due to the fact that there are 1,100 media outlets in Serbia, which is probably a world record per capita. On the other side, it is advisable to consider the circumstances surrounding these closures that have left many journalists out of work. It is certain that market forces have not worked in the same way as in the developed countries, which means that selection has not worked in favor of the best participants while at the same time removing others from the media scene. This scenario has not happened due to the simple fact that the state has not managed to create fundamental preconditions for successful functioning of the media scene in accordance with free market principles that would offer equal chances to all market participants. If there is no market, while at the same time media outlets are being closed down, it is obvious that greatest responsibility for such state of affairs lies on the state. There are two possible motives or causes of government's action or non-action in the media, which are not mutually exclusive: the first one is negligence, which is evident in many other areas as well, and the other one is a deliberate effort by Serbian political and business elite (aided by the state) to destroy the media in order to easier achieve control over them. The second theory may sound paranoid, but it does not mean that it is not true!

The huge number of media outlets indicates a lack of sound economic foundation for their existence, i.e. it proves that there is no media market with clear rules. Suspended privatization of the media has put at a disadvantage those media outlets that are not owned by the state and local self-governments anymore. On the other side, the state is perhaps truly dedicated to fighting pirate radio stations, but its efforts have not achieved success. These pirate radio stations threaten not only other radio stations, but all legal local and regional media outlets as well due to their low advertising prices. Regardless of the fact that legal broadcasters and various associations have frequently appealed to relevant ministries and state agencies to stop the activities or illegal broadcasters – and despite all the promises given – the number of pirate stations has increased. There have even been cases of legal broadcasters returning their broadcasting licenses and continuing their broadcasting in pirate form. According to the new Law on Electronic Communications, the Ministry of Telecommunication and IT Society will have monitoring service that would deal with this issue, but for the time being there are no indications when this service might be established. At the moment, the authorities keep pointing fingers and shifting the responsibility on someone else's shoulders.

The list of problems does not end here. Although during the summer there has been a lot of debate about the adoption of very strict amendments to the Law on Information, and although the Supreme Court has recently ruled that some of its provisions were unconstitutional, it is safe to say that media laws in this country are being enforced only sporadically. Or at the very least, enforcement of their provisions is being delayed as much as possible. Actually, it seems that the media scene is being regulated by a completely different set of laws. Privatization of the media has been postponed several times due to so-called summer amendments to laws, only to be suspended by "non-media" laws, i.e. the laws that regulate activities of local self-governments, councils of national minorities and the capital city. At the same time, the Broadcasting Law does not recognize the widely-announced digitalization of electronic media in Serbia and is not harmonized with European parameters. The Law on Advertising is much more restrictive than international laws regulating this area. Changes in the Criminal Code have worsened the position of journalists because reporting on judicial proceedings has become problematic: there is a great degree of uncertainty and vagueness due to the ban on reporting on "judicial secrets". The Law on Forbidden Media Concentration has also been neglected lately...

It is also worth remembering the huge moral and professional damage inflicted on the media scene in Serbia during the nineties. Low collection rate of the TV fee should be viewed from that angle as well, and not only from the aspect of citizens' poverty. Many people do not consume the media anymore since the nineties, at least not the traditional media platforms, because they have become fed up with evident political and other influences. Unfortunately, the period after the year 2000 has not been much better in that regard.

If we factor in the global economic crisis, which has shaken the media market in Serbia, and the fact that new technologies and new media have threatened traditional media platforms, it certainly seems logical that Serbia and Vojvodina cannot avoid a huge reduction in the number of media outlets. It seems that regional and local media will take the hardest hit since they will be opposed by powerful political and other proxies of the big media capital from Belgrade.

Due to centralization of money and power, Vojvodina is dominated by Belgrade media outlets. Vojvodina has not managed to find an adequate response to this fact, while the authority of the provincial authorities in this area is very limited. All the contradictions of the Serbian media scene have yet another dimension in Vojvodina because of the existence of many media outlets in minority languages. Is the state capable of protecting these media outlets and respecting the national minorities' right to information, while at the same time providing conditions for adherence to professional principles of journalism? Decisions to transfer the right to establish print media outlets to councils of national minorities, and to suspend the privatization of media outlets of minorities, have proven to be only a short-term solution for survival of these media outlets, but with their own set of problems.

Will the media strategy solve at least some of these problems? Let's hope it will.

Nedim Sejdinovic

About the authors

MC Newsletter, September 24, 2010