IPIReport - univie.ac.at · 2006. 4. 13. · nal Airport has the second highest frequency of flights to Eastern Euro-pe ... Sarajevo Stjepan Malovic - Zagreb Georgios Papadakis -

4th Quarter 2005

hybrid issue including:n IPI Report 4th Quarter 2005n deScripto No.4 Fall 2005n News Agencies Supplement

IPI Report

Hundreds of delegations fromacross the world will meet inVienna during the Austrian EU

Council Presidency in the first half of2006. At the same time, the city will bea main stage in two important anni-versaries: 150 years since SigmundFreud was born, and the 250th anni-versary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.From his early days as a child prodigy,Mozart spent most of his life in Viennaand wrote many of his major workshere. He will be honoured with a va-riety of events for all tastes in 2006(www.wienmozart2006.at).

The city is well prepared for the politi-cal and cultural highlights of 2006.Combining traditional hospitalitywith an exemplary international repu-tation, Vienna is in perfect shape to ta-ke on the responsible task of being aninternational meeting place.

Excellent Quality of Life Vienna holds second place in aninternational ranking of congress ci-ties. As a leading business location itattracts many international corpora-tions, and bears great responsibilityas the seat of international organisa-tions like OPEC and UNIDO.Owing to its location at the centre ofthe European Union, Vienna increa-singly serves as a key hub for theCentral and Eastern European coun-tries. For instance, Vienna Internatio-nal Airport has the second highestfrequency of flights to Eastern Euro-

pe – even more than Frankfurt, andsecond only to London. Internationalstudies like the Mercer survey con-firm the excellent quality of life Vien-na offers.The Austrian capital is also praisedfor its benefits as a business location,including high-quality infrastructureand good access to Eastern Europeanmarkets. It is no coincidence thatover 300 international businesses –including IBM, Henkel and Generali –have set up their headquarters forEastern Europe in Vienna.

Welcome to Vienna Where tradition and modern timesform a harmonious whole, quality oflife goes hand in hand with hospitali-ty. Guests from all parts of the worldwill confirm: in Vienna, you are al-ways given a warm welcome!

Vienna – A City in Top Shape

2006: InternationalSpotlight on Vienna

Bez

ah

lte

An

z eig

e

Ph

oto

:Vie

nn

aT

ou

rism

/Wil

frie

dG

red

ler-

Ox

enb

au

er

With the EU Presidency, MozartYear and Sigmund Freud Anni-versary, international attentionwill focus on Vienna in 2006.And the city at the heart ofEurope is in top shape.

Metropolitan atmosphere and excellent quality of life: Vienna waits for you.

Facts and Figures on the EUCouncil:• Austria first held the CouncilPresidency in 1998.• Every six months, another EUmember state is in charge ofsetting the agenda and presi-ding over all Council meetings.• Austria will take over fromthe UK on 1 January 2006 andwill be followed by Finland on1 July.• 66 heads of state and 1,500journalists are expected tocome to Vienna for the EULatin America Summit atMessezentrum WienNeu inspring 2006.

Key facts

P

IPI Report 4th Quarter 2005 & deScripto Fall 2005

of the Media and Communication Department atthe Vienna University. This decision was made in thehope of creating a stable environment that will redu-ce the ebb and flow of students working on themagazine. We will, therefore, discontinue our coope-ration with Vienna Webster University.

At this point, I wish to express my sincere gratitu-de, particularly, to Dardis McNamee, the journalismteacher who represented Vienna Webster University,and to thank her for the competent support, the hel-pful advice - especially at the start of deScripto - andfor her cooperation in managing the content andenrolment of students. Dardis McNamee was extre-mely giving of her time and I thank her for her unsel-fishness.

The editorial management remains in the capablehands of Axel Maireder, who shares his position withKristina Benkotic. Axel and Kristina are passionatelycommitted to the project and have made significantcontributions to the success of this magazine. Bothare now affiliated with the study programme at theDepartment of Communication and Media Studies,University of Vienna, which I have the honour torepresent as the editor-in-chief of deScripto.

I hope you enjoy this special issue.Thomas A. Bauer

This is a hybrid publication of IPI Report Vol. 11 No. 4 anddeScripto - A journal of Media in SouthEast Europe No.4

Editor in ChiefThomas A. Bauer,Professor, University of ViennaExecutive EditorAxel MairederTutor, University of ViennaEditorial AssistanceKristina Benkotic, SEEMODaniela SüssenbacherAssistent, University of AppliedSciences, ViennaGraphic DesignAxel MairederPhotos & IllustrationsCover: PhotodiscOther: If not stated otherwise,by the editorsPrinted byDan Graf d.o.o., Belgrade in coopera-tion with Standard 2, Belgrade

IPI Reportresponsible for the content & publisher:International Press Institute (IPI)Spiegelgasse 2/29, A-1010 ViennaAustriaTel: + 431-512 90 11Fax: + 431-512 90 14E-mail: [email protected] D. Kiboro, ChairmanJohann P. Fritz, Directorwww.freemedia.at

deScriptoresponsible for the content:Thomas A. BauerDepartment of Media and Communi-cation Science, University of Vienna Schopenhauerstrasse 32,A-1180 Vienna, Austria+43 1 4277 [email protected] WritersHannes GoegeleJosef GeppPublisher SEEMO - South East Europe MediaOrganisation, Oliver VujovicSpiegelgasse 2, 1010 Vienna, [email protected]; +431 5133940SEEMO as an affiliate to the IPI - The International Press Institute Spiegelgasse 2, 1010 Vienna, AustriaPublisher’s BoardRemzi Lani - TiranaRadomir Licina - BelgradeSamra Luckin - SarajevoStjepan Malovic - ZagrebGeorgios Papadakis - AthensRisto Popovski - SkopjeOgnian Zlatev - SofiaSubscriptionStandard: EUR 24,- /yearStudents: EUR 12,- /yearorder by • email: [email protected]• Fax: +43 1 4277 48344Mission StatementdeScripto is committed to the enhance-ment of a climate of critical reflectionon media culture and communication,in and among the SEE countries.Published quarterly as a joint project ofthe University of Vienna, WebsterUniversity Vienna and the ViennaProfessional School for Journalism,under the auspices of the South EastEurope Media Organisation (SEEMO),deScripto is an independent, journal ofanalysis and opinion dedicated to thedemocratization of the media and thedevelopment of civic society in the SEERegion.The views expressed in deScripto areentirely those of the authors and do notrepresent the positions of SEEMO/IPI.

Dear Readers,The fourth issue of

deScripto is a special issueand may surprise you. Itfeatures three differentmagazines in one singleissue: the IPI Report, thedeScripto autumn issue,and a special section on pri-vate news agencies. Youmight consider this a rare, and perhaps unusual com-bination; however, as it has arisen out of a series ofcoincidences, we thought there were very good rea-sons to publish the magazine in this format. The rea-sons are as follows:

The IPI report forms part of the InternationalPress Institute’s (IPI) worldwide commitment to free-dom of press, while deScripto is published by theIPI-affiliated South East European MediaOrganisation (SEEMO), and there is a considerableoverlap between the readerships of both publications.This combined issue of our magazine offers readers aunique opportunity: Members of the global IPI com-munity will be able to see how SEEMO caters to itsown press freedom community in Southeast Europe.And, of course, deScipto readers will be rewardedwith a taste of the manifold global activities of IPI.

Meanwhile, deScripto will continue to be a maga-zine primarily focusing on issues relevant to theSEEMO member countries: Namely, media issuesfeaturing background information on the political,cultural and social role of media in transitional coun-tries. This focus, we believe, is becoming ever moreimportant. Especially as the European integration ofthe Southeast countries – in particular the WestBalkan countries – is slowing down.

It is precisely for these reasons that the argumentsfor this increasing mutual suspicion are becomingmore and more general in relation to daily events anddecisions made in the region. This has led to the con-clusion that the problems of mutual understandingare to be resolved at a much deeper level, namely inthe cultures and modalities of communication.

As far as public communication and public opi-nion are concerned, the media needs to become moreactively involved. However, the exact conditions ofthat involvement need to be reflected upon and criti-cally examined. deScripto will serve as an agency anda clearing house for this analytical reflection.

In trying to keep deScripto lively and topical therehave been some organizational changes. Previously,the editorial work involved several institutions,which led to logistical problems. From this pointonward, the magazine will form part of the researchand teaching agenda of the University of Vienna. Asa result, deScripto will be part of the study program

imprint

Editorial / Imprint

Table of Contents

IPI ReportNiger: Food Crisis Sparks Media ViolationsNepal: Democracy DeniedKenya: President Kibaki PromisesFreedom of Information ActIPI Letters of Concern

deScripto Dossier News AgenciesMaking News - Faking Views orFaking News - Making Viewsby Thomas A. Bauer

Gatekeepers in Stormy Timesby Joseph Gepp

Bridges for Regional Co-Operationby Hannes Goegele

Reports

Interview Brankica PetkovicCountry ReportsYour Excellencies! SEEMO ProtestReview

News Agencies SupplementIn the centre of this issue, you’ll find thespecial supplement on News Agencies.

04

0405

0607

09

10

14

16

1922

24

27

Letter from Editor

IPI Report

4

engineer who worked for Al-Iraqiyatelevision, was shot to death whiledriving with her husband, who wasalso killed. Their son was seriouslywounded. In the past, Al-Iraqiya hasbeen targeted because of its links tothe U.S.-supported Iraqi govern-ment.Lebanon, 2 June: Samir Kassir, acolumnist for the daily Al-Nahar,was killed outside his home inBeirut's Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoodwhen his car exploded after he star-ted the engine. The bomb had beenplaced under the driver's seat of thecar, police said. Kassir was known forhis strong criticism of Syria's presen-ce in Lebanon.Libya, 2 June: Daif Al Ghazal, 32, awriter and journalist, was founddead 12 days after he was abductedby unknown gunmen. Al Ghazal,who wrote articles critical ofMuammar Gaddafi's regime for the

London-based on-line newspaper,Libya Al-Youm, was kidnapped bytwo armed men on May 21. His body,which showed signs of torture, wasfound near the eastern city ofBenghazi.Nicaragua, 14 August: Rony AdolfoOlivas Olivas, 47, a correspondent forthe daily newspaper La Prensa, wasshot dead in the city of Estelí, 150 kmnorth of Managua. He had recentlywritten articles on drug traffickingand had received death threats.Philippines, 4 May: Klein Cantoneros,32, a radio broadcaster for DXAA-FM,

died after being shot at least seventimes by gunmen on motorcycles inDipolog City, Mindanao Island.Cantoneros frequently criticisedlocal officials for alleged corruption.10 May: Philip Agustin, publisher andeditor of the weekly newspaperStarline Times Recorder, was gunneddown in the village of Paltic, north ofManila. He was visiting his daugh-ter’s house when he was shotthrough an open window, policesaid. The murder occurred a daybefore the newspaper printed a spe-cial edition that linked the localmayor to corruption.3 July: Rolando Morales, 43, was shot15 times by gunmen while headinghome from work in General SantosCity, Mindanao Island. He had justfinished hosting his radio program-me, “Voice of the Barangay”, onRadio Mindanao Network's dxMDstation. Morales frequently exposeddrug trafficking and other illegalactivities on his programme.Russia, 28 June: MagomedzagidVarisov, a prominent journalist andpolitical analyst, was shot and killedin Mahachkala, capital of theRussian republic of Dagestan.Varisov, a columnist for Novoye Delo,Dagestan’ largest weekly, was retur-ning home with his wife, when uni-dentified assailants opened fire onhis car. Police believe that the attak-kers targeted Varisov because of hiscritical reporting.Sierra Leone, 27 July: Harry Yansaneh,acting editor of For Di People, died ofkidney failure, two months after hewas brutally attacked by six persons,allegedly on the orders of FatmataHassan Komeh, a Member ofParliament for the ruling SierraLeone People’s Party (SLPP).

Somalia, 5 June: Duniya MuhiyadinNur, 26, a journalist for HornAfrikRadio and TV, was killed by anunknown gunman while covering aprotest near a militia checkpoint onthe road from Mogadishu to Afgoi.Nur had reportedly gone to Afgoi tocover a demonstration by truckersagainst the proliferation of suchcheckpoints.Sri Lanka, 12 August: RelangiSelvarajah, 44, a popular Tamil TVand radio host, and her husband,Senathurai, were gunned down byunknown assailants inBambalapitiya, Colombo.

Afghanistan, 18 May: ShaimaRezayee, 24, a former presenter forthe privately-owned television sta-tion, Tolo TV, was shot and killed inher home in Kabul. Rezayee hostedthe daily music programme “Hop”until 24 March, when she was firedafter Tolo TV came under pressurefrom a government panel of reli-gious scholars, who condemned thechannel for broadcasting anti-Islamic programmes.Bangladesh, 30 May: Golam Mahfuz,39, editor of the daily ComillaMuktakantha, was stabbed to deathin his house in Comilla, 88 km east ofthe capital, Dhaka. The motive forthe killing was not immediatelyknown.Brazil, 1 July: José Cândido AmorimPinto, 45, an investigative journalistfor Rádio Comunitária Alternativa inCarpina, Pernambuco State, wasshot dead by two men on a motorcy-cle as he parked his car outside theradio station. Amorim produced andpresented an investigative program-me in which he frequently reportedon corruption cases.Iraq, 15 May: Najem Abd Khudair andAhmad Adam, correspondents forthe independent daily newspaper AlMada, were killed on a roadsidesouth of Baghdad. The journalistswere among some 13 passengers in aminibus that was stopped by anarmed group who picked out thejournalists and slit their throats. Therest of the passengers were freed.1 July: Khaled Sabih Al Attar, 43, a TVproducer with the Iraqi public televi-sion station, Al-Irakiya, was shot todeath in the northern city of Mosul.28 June: Ahmed Wael Bakri, a newsproducer for the local television sta-tion, Al-Sharqiyah, was killed by gun-fire as he was driving from work insouthern Baghdad. According to astation director, U.S. soldiers fired athis car after he failed to pull over fora military convoy.2 August: Steven Vincent, a U.S. free-lance journalist, was shot to deathby unknown assailants hours afterhe was abducted at gunpoint by fivemen in a police car in the southerncity of Basra. Vincent had been inBasra for several months carryingout research for a book on the cityand reporting for The New YorkTimes and the Christian ScienceMonitor. On 30 July, four days before

his death, The New York Timespublished an article in whichVincent voiced strong criticism ofBasra’s police forces, promptingsuspicion that his murder may havebeen in retaliation for his investiga-tive reporting.28 August: Waleed Khaled, 35, aReuters Television soundman, wasallegedly shot and killed by U.S. for-ces. He was shot several times in theface and chest as he drove withReuters cameraman Haidar Kadhemto investigate the killing of two Iraqipolicemen in Baghdad’s Hay al-Adildistrict.17 September: Hind Ismail, 28, areporter for the local daily, As-Saffir,was kidnapped in the northern cityof Mosul on 16 Sept. Police found herbody the next morning with a singlebullet wound to the head.19 September: Fakher Haider, 38, an

Iraqi reporter working for The NewYork Times, was found dead in thesouthern city of Basra after beingkidnapped several hours earlier byfour masked men. He was foundwith his hands bound and a singlebullet wound to the head.20 September: Firas Maadidi, 40,Mosul bureau chief for the Baghdad-based newspaper As-Saffir and edi-tor of the local daily Al-Masar, wasgunned down outside his home byunidentified gunmen in the al-Noorneighbourhood of Mosul.21 September: Ahlam Youssef, an

IPI Death Watch 1 May to 1 October 2005 by Diana Orlova, IPI Secretariat

Friends and relatives, many of them colleague journalists, carried the casket ofWaleed Khaled, a Reuters Television sound man, during his funeral procession inBaghdad on 29 August 2005. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)


IPI Report

5

Caught up in increasing tension between Maoistrebels and the constitutional monarchy, Nepal is fastbecoming one of the most dangerous places to prac-tice journalism. For three consecutive years morejournalists have been imprisoned in Nepal thananywhere else, and in 2005 hundreds of cases of inti-midation, harassment, prolonged detention and, attimes, torture and killings have been reported.

Restrictions imposed when King Gyanendradeclared a state of emergency on 1 February 2005delivered a shattering blow to an independent mediathat had flourished since democracy was restored inNepal in 1990. During that time the independentmedia, supported by constitutional guarantees forpress freedom did much to promote peace, develop-ment and good governance within the country.

The state of emergency, said to be a response tothe country’s deteriorating security situation, overro-de various civil liberties and granted the monarchyabsolute administrative powers. Their imposition ofdirect censorship meant that most journalists werebanned from reporting and security forces patrollednewspapers and FM radio offices to prevent produc-tion.

The state of emergency was officially lifted on 29April but full press freedoms were not restored. Tothe contrary, throughout the early weeks of Junemass arrests of journalists who were peacefully prote-sting for their right to report took place in citiesthroughout Nepal resulting in hundreds of arrestsand detentions. These protests were part of an ongo-ing campaign by Nepalese journalists and mediaworkers who continue to actively and vigorouslychallenge restrictions imposed by the state.

From 10 to 16 July, representatives from theInternational Press Institute (IPI) joined an interna-tional press freedom mission to Nepal to investigatejournalists’ treatment. Participants met with dozensof journalists and editors from the KathmanduValley and took part in meetings with governmentministers, senior officials of the Royal Nepal Army,civil society representatives and members of the IPINepal National Chapter.

Local journalists spoke openly about the harsheffects of government restrictions. Over 1000 jour-nalists, particularly those working in radio, have losttheir jobs while many others are working withoutremuneration. Those journalists who continue toreport face direct censorship from the state’s interfe-rence in editorial independence. The state imposedadvertising embargo on “non-cooperative” newspa-pers has also done much to compromise the econo-

mic viability of many print publications throughoutthe country.

Members of the media community have also beenaffected by more intimidating forms of pressure andhave been subject to killings, attacks, disappearances,intimidation, harassment, detention and displace-ment. While Maoist rebels, as well as state securityforces are known to be responsible for many of theseacts, the emergence of armed “vigilante” groups incertain districts also poses a serious and menacingthreat to media practitioners.

IPI representatives travelled outside the capital tothe cities of Butwal, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj whereconditions are even more unstable. District media areat a greater risk of interference from combatants andalso face greater challenges as they try to report fromisolated areas using limited infrastructure.

Despite pressure from the mission’s participatingorganizations, as well as interventionsfrom inter-governmental organiza-tions including the United Nationsand the European Union, Nepaleseauthorities have not moved to restorecivil liberties. Though the indepen-dent press in Kathmandu have madesome progress in creating an openspace from which to report, thedistrict media continue to be heavilycensored and threatened and the banon FM radio broadcast of politicalnews has yet to be lifted.

Journalists continue to report alar-ming tactics of intimidation andharassment used against them to pre-vent the free flow of information. On4 October, imprisoned journalistMaheshwor Pahari died of tuberculosis after authori-ties refused to treat him. IPI has joined a number ofpress freedom organisations in voicing outrage overPahari’s death and in calling for the immediate releaseof three other journalists still imprisoned in Nepal.

On 10 October, IPI issued a statement calling onthe Nepalese authorities to rescind a media ordinan-ce that included sweeping restrictions on press free-dom and the rights of journalists, editors and publis-hers. The Ordinance, promulgated by KingGyanendra on 9 October incorporates tighter provi-sions for content, ownership and penalties into thepress laws enshrined in the 1990 constitution. Theordinance is a clear attempt to further intimidatejournalists and media workers and consolidates ongo-ing efforts to silence the independent media.

Nepal: Democracy Deniedby Catherine Power, IPI Secretariat

For more information on Nepal,please visit IPI’s Website:www.freemedia.at


Picture: Nepalese journalistsprotest in the capital Kath-mandu in a campaign to forcethe royal government to liftrestrictions on media.June, 2005 (AP Photo/Binod)

IPI Report

6 IPI Report 4th Quarter 2005 & deScripto Fall 2005

The IPI World Congress and 54th GeneralAssembly, held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 to 24May, was a resounding success, with more than 450editors, media executives, leading journalists andtheir guests from 53 countries in attendance.

It was the third time, after 1968 and 1981, thatIPI held its annual general meeting in Kenya, andthe fifth occasion, after Cairo (1985) and Cape

Town (1994) that the IPI membership convened onthe African continent.

The four-day event focused on the challengesfacing Africa, as well as on issues related to press free-dom and the media industry in general.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki officially openedthe Congress on 22 May at the KenyattaInternational Conference Centre, announcing thathis government was drafting a Freedom ofInformation Act, which would enable all Kenyans toobtain access to official records. This was welcomedwith caution by the Kenyan press, which expressedconcern over President Kibaki’s reference to “neces-sary safeguards to ensure that [freedom of expressionand freedom of the press] are exercised responsiblyfor the good of the press and the general public.”

Kibaki’s speech was followed by an appeal by HisHighness the Aga Khan, founder of the NationMedia Group, who spoke on the potential of Africanmedia and his concerns about the “adequacy of jour-nalistic knowledge” in an increasingly complicatedworld. “The major issues in Africa today are complex

and elusive,” he said. “My central question is whet-her we have enough good journalists who knowenough about these subjects and can help Africanaudiences understand their African implications.”

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, opened thefirst panel session, “Reporting on Africa”. He urgedWestern media to stop portraying Africa as a “darkcontinent”, ravaged by disease, war and famine, andto also report about positive developments. However,he stressed that “Africa must take responsibility forthe sorry state of affairs on our continent, most ofwhich inform and generate the kind of reporting thatwe have witnessed.” He and the other African pane-lists said it was up to African journalists to highlightpositive developments, which would in turn lead togreater foreign investment needed for the continent’sdevelopment.

Panel sessions on “Africa’s Development –Attracting Investment” and “Press FreedomIssues/Africa”, which featured a keynote speech byNobel laureate Wole Soyinka (read in abstentia),rounded off the day’s events.

The second day featured a panel session on“Pluralism and Democracy – The AfricanExperience”, a heated discussion on “Reporting onthe Islamic World”, in which several panelists accu-sed Western media of ignorance, stereotyping andsensationalism in their coverage of Muslims andIslam, and a final session on “Terrorism and CivilLiberties.”

On day three, panelists discussed “Kenya: Hopesand Challenges, Vision and Reality” and “GoodGovernance and the Media”. This was followed bythe presentation of the 2005 IPI Free Media PioneerAward, which this year went to SW Radio Africa, aLondon, UK-based radio station. Launched inDecember 2001, SW Radio Africa is run by a groupof exiled Zimbabwean reporters and features a suc-cessful mix of music, news and interviews. SW RadioAfrica’s main aim is to give a “voice to the voiceless”by fostering a dialogue with its Zimbabwean audien-ce, who call in – often at great risk – to air their opi-nions and give first-hand accounts of the deteriora-ting situation in their country.

The Nairobi congress proved to be a great success,thanks in large part to the efforts of the Kenyan hostcommittee and IPI’s chairman, Wilfred D. Kiboro,CEO of the Nairobi-based Nation Media Group. Asin previous years, the IPI World Congress also provi-ded a valuable meeting place where delegates could

Kenya: President Kibaki PromisesFreedom of Information Act

IPI World Congress & 55th General Assembly

by Michael Kudlak, IPI Secretariat

Pictured from left to right are:Paul Kagame, President ofRwanda; Wilfred Kiboro,Chairman of IPI; Mwai Kibaki,President of Kenya; HH The AgaKhan; Johann Fritz, Director of IPI;Moody Awori, Vice President ofKenyaPhoto: IPI Kenya

IPI Report

7IPI Report 4th Quarter 2005 & deScripto Fall 2005

harassment and arbitrary arrests ofNepalese journalists.EU/China, 16 June: The EuropeanUnion’s ongoing failure to publiclyand consistently criticise thePeople’s Republic of China (PRC) forits gross violations of press freedomand freedom of expression.Zambia, 29 June: Post editor FredM’membe’s police summons.Ethiopia, 29 June: The arrest of foureditors in Ethiopia, and the conti-nued harassment of the media.Sierra Leone, 4 July: The seditiouslibel law under which Paul Kamara,editor of For Di People, is currentlyimprisoned.Russia, 5 July: The murder ofMagomedzagid Varisov, a prominentjournalist and political analyst, whowas shot and killed on 28 June inMahachkala, capital of Russia’s repu-blic of Dagestan.USA, 6 July: The pursuit of Timemagazine’s Matthew Cooper andThe New York Times journalist JudithMiller, who were held in civil con-tempt for refusing to reveal confi-dential sources.

USA, 7 July: The prison sentence han-ded down to New York Times journa-list Judith Miller.

Zimbabwe, 22 July: The refusal of theMedia and Information Commissionto grant Associated Newspapers ofZimbabwe an operating licence toresume publication of the DailyNews, which was shut down inSeptember 2003 for violating sec-tions of the 2002 Access toInformation and Protection ofPrivacy Act.

Sierra Leone, 2 August: The brutalbeating of For Di People editor HarryYansaneh, which is said to have cau-sed his death on 27 July.

Iraq, 3 August: The murder of U.S.journalist and author Steven Vincentby unidentified gunmen in Iraq.Belarus, 8 August: The continuedharassment of journalists, afterseveral Polish and Belarusian journa-lists of Polish descent were detainedin the cities of Schuchin and Grodno.Belarus, 23 August: The criminalinquiry opened by the Minsk CityProsecutor’s Office into the possibledefamation of the President ofBelarus in a series of satiricalInternet cartoons.Yemen, 25 August: The abductionand harassment of Al-Wasat editor-in-chief Jamal Amer.EU/China, 5 September: The summitmeeting between British PrimeMinister Tony Blair and representati-ves of the People’s Republic of China(PRC), which failed to properlyaddress the PRC’s need to respectpress freedom and freedom ofexpression.Niger, 16 September: The worseningpress freedom situation in Niger.

Poland, 20 September: The treat-ment of Grzegorz Gauden, editor-in-chief of the Polish Rzeczpospolitadaily, by the downtown WarsawDistrict Prosecutor's Office.

Slovenia, 27 September: The newbroadcasting law, which leaves theSlovenian public broadcaster, RTVSlovenija, vulnerable to politicalinfluence and pressure.Poland, 29 September: The recentlegal actions against the media,often seeking orders prejudicial topress freedom, which are threate-ning the financial survival of theseorganisations.

China, 9 May: The ban imposed onChinese freelance journalist andpoet Liu Hongbin. Liu, who has beenliving in the United Kingdom since1989 and is the London correspon-dent for the Chinese service of RadioFrance International, informed IPIthat a ban on his return to Chinawas renewed on 15 March.Kazakhstan, 10 May: The closure ofthe independent opposition weeklyRespublika. On 4 May, the appealscourt upheld the 25 March decisionof the Almaty regional court, whichordered the liquidation of Respu-blika’s owner, the Bastau company.On 5 May, Kazakhstan’s Ministry ofInformation, Culture and Sport orde-red the closure of the popular oppo-sition weekly.Slovenia, 12 May: The draft Act onRadio Television Slovenia (RTVSlovenia), which, in its present form,does not do everything possible touphold the independence and auto-nomy of the public service broadca-ster and leaves the organisation vul-nerable to political influence andpressure.Sri Lanka, 12 May: The death threatsreceived by two members of theFree Media Movement (FMM), anindependent group of editors andleading journalists, from a group cal-ling itself “Theraputtabhaya force”.

Kenya, 20 May: The decision todiscontinue criminal legal procee-dings against First Lady Lucy Kibaki.Nation cameraman Clifford DerrickOtieno filed the criminal procee-dings against the First Lady on 16May, alleging assault and maliciousdamage to property at the NationMedia Group’s newsroom.

Cuba, 24 May: The detention andexpulsion of foreign journalists fromCuba.

Sierra Leone, 1 June: The seditiouslibel charges against two SierraLeonean journalists, managing edi-tor Sydney B. Pratt and reporterDennis Jones of the independentweekly Trumpet.Botswana, 3 June:The deportation ofProf. Kenneth Good, a political scien-ce lecturer at the University ofBotswana for the past 15 years,which was a direct result of a speechthat Good had been prepared todeliver at a public meeting at theUniversity of Botswana.Lebanon, 6 June: The assassinationof Samir Qassir, a prominent colum-nist for the leading Lebanese dailynewspaper, an-Nahar.Uzbekistan, 6 June: The ongoingmedia crackdown in Uzbekistan,where journalists were barred fromcovering the unrest in Andizhan,eastern Uzbekistan, on 13 May.Nepal, 8 June: The mass arrest ofjournalists on 8 June in the capital,Kathmandu. The arrests came afterjournalists marched in protestthrough streets close to the royalpalace.

Ethiopia, 9 June: The continuedharassment of journalists reportingon violent street clashes in AddisAbaba between police and studentsprotesting over the 15 May parlia-mentary elections.Ethiopia, 14 June: The arrest of new-spaper distributor Fikre Gudu on 8June, which IPI viewed as an attemptto disrupt information flow.

Zambia, 15 June: The assault on new-spaper vendors working for The Postnewspaper in Lusaka. The vendorswere attacked by a group allegedlyclose to the ruling Movement forMulti-Party Democracy (MMD).

Nepal, 15 June: The continued

IPI Protests / Letters of Concern

exchange views and share their experiences. Post-Congress tours to the Masai Mara Game Reserve,Mount Kenya National Park and Mombassa, amongother destinations, provided further opportunitiesfor informal contacts.

In 2006, the IPI World Congress and 55th

General Assembly will take place in Edinburgh,Scotland, from 27 to 30 May. It is being organised inclose cooperation with BBC Scotland, among others,and promises to be a truly memorable event. Formore information, visit the official Website:www.ipiedinburgh.com

1 May to 1 October 2005 by Diana Orlova, IPI Secretariat

deScripto

deScriptoM edia in South Eastern Europe

No. 4, Fall 2005 eur 15,-A Journal of Media in South Eastern Europe

including:Media Reports

on SEE CountriesSpecial Supplement

on News Agencies

News Agenciesin South East Europe

Dossier News Agencies

There are essentially two approaches to considernews agencies. The empirical approach analyzes thenews agency’s central position in managing thedistribution of news within the societal or sociopoli-tical context. It emphasizes questions of media eco-nomy, media politics and media policy. News aremerely considered as goods – that is, economical,meritorious, and political goods. It dismisses anythoughts on symbolic or cultural measures of socie-tal, political or other discourses.

Conversely, the critical approach raises thequestion: What is the political or socio-politicalparadigm in making news or managing the flux ofnews? It highlights issues of power and domination,and, of course, the question of systemic interests.

The young democracies of East and SoutheastEurope are undergoing a process of radical transfor-mation – democratic-politically, socio-politically andmedially.

The era of state-owned news agency is not overyet. And the old journalistic practice of facing state-owned news agencies with a critical and, symultane-ously, a pragmatic attitude may no longer be envogue in the age of private-economies. What ismore, because of the Internet new possibilities andmodels of generating publics are gaining in impor-tance.

The political and economical idea of thenews agency

Let us begin by considering, first, the traditionalapproach to news agencies. For the most part, thecontent featured in newspapers, on television, andonline is obtained through news agencies. In a medi-ally-constructed world, news agencies are the primesource of information and public knowledge.Agencies do not simply collect data and information.Rather, they organize, edit, select data and informa-tion, and – for a “small” fee – distribute it to other

media companies, organizations, institutions,governmental agencies or private enterprises.

In that sense, news agencies are not just economicenterprises. They are primarily publicity enterprises.They are trading places for information and opinionsabout events as well as for opinions about opinions.

Their central grip on distribution endows agencieswith the kind of power that brings them into closeproximity to hierarchical interests, although – or pre-cisely: because – they principally symbolize themodel of provision of free access to information andknowledge.

Implications of the agency modelThe term agency as a designation for organizations

which provide the public flow of information may bemisleading. Media theorists often interpret agenciesas a locus of objective selection. These theorists pro-bably consider agencies as organizations which pro-vide information goods and serve in the financialinterests of other organizations rather than their owninterests.

This argument about the provision of (limited,scarce, and expensive) goods, by itself hierarchical,was established fairly early on, and has been exploi-ted shamelessly in the political context.

In the framework of dominant hierarchical para-digms in the economical, political and social realm,the argument of public provision was interpreted asa functional and moral obligation of agencies or as anorganizational and moral relief for single mediaenterprises and the journalistic practice.

Theoretically, agencies symbolize the public rightto obtain knowledge as well as the moral obligationto distribute knowledge, and the right as well as theobligation to selective confidentiality in order to pro-tect opinions and the people who hold these opi-nions.

This gate-keeping function is neatly captured by


Making News - Faking Views? or:Faking News - MNews agencies’ self-understanding under pressure of change due to radical transitions of systems in medias,politics and communities.by Thomas A. Bauer

News are merely considered as goods –

that is, economical,meritorious, and

political goods.

News Agnecies aretrading places for informa-

tion and opinions

the concept of agency, which was established byReuters and the Associated Press as early as 1848.Agencies, after all, obtain, edit, and distribute newsin the name of factual, technical and moral compe-tence.

News agencies may be conceived of, as well, con-trolling and regulatory models operating in the nameof political and, frequently, hierarchical interests. Inthat sense, they are objects of factual and public trustas well as a screen on which to project the moralnorms of how goods ought to be dealt with.

Changing and deepening the perspectivesof reflection of what is news?

If you consider the political development in East-and Southeast countries – that is the transition ofpolitical systems, the systemic transformation ofmedia, the structural change of technology in gene-ral and the revitalization of social structures of socie-ty – it becomes a demand to take into account theenlightenments of science and experience: every-thing that is connected to politics and society ismuch more complex than organizations of politicalor/and commercial interests may try to convince thepublic.

News agencies never have been just channels fortransmitting news. News agencies have always beenworkshops of political and societal reality.

News agents always have misused their position orhave been misused as mechanics in the symbolicconstruction of reality– no matter if this happens incommunist systems or as “embedded journalism” inconnection to the warfare reporting in Iraq.

News agencies in a globalized and medializeddemocracy are a concentration point of knowledge,experience and of organizational culture of societaldiscourse in a media-democratic environment. Inmedia-democracy and in societies with increasingcivil-social character news agencies have to find a

new role and a new self-understanding. At least theinternet teaches us the lesson that the constructionand the concentration of knowledge and opinion cango rather heretic and “heterarchic” ways.

Meanwhile it is not any more new, but yet, it hasto be remembered with emphasis: nothing is new justout of itself, things are considered new always incomparison.

News is not an absolute feature, it is a code of eva-luation, an expression and signification of learning tounderstand the world by comparison. Informationbecomes news by re-signification.


aking Views? - Making Views?

News agencies have alwaysbeen workshops of politicaland societal reality.

Picture: Photodisc


13

The Chance of new democracies and the fra-gility of “mediocracy”

The Eastern and South-Eastern European states arestill considered as new democracies. That term of“new democracies”, however, should not be taken asan euphemization of late-born democratization. Butrather, the term should be understood as declarationof learning and of taking the chance to realize allthose sustained conditions on which a novel demo-cracy can thrive in the beginning.

In my view, this seems to be particularly importantfor the relationship between democracy and themedia. In this relationship, news agencies have a spe-cial function due to their pole-gatekeeping-position.To put it differently, media democracy needs a creati-ve shot in the arm – in ecomical, medial and politicalpractice. Within this context, news agencies are partof particularly challenged and privileged institutions.Technologically and sociologically, news agencieshave their finger on the pulse of developments.

Generally, the situational assessment of mediademocracies swings between two poles: deep skepti-cism and far-reaching hope.

Skeptics argue that democracy is becoming increa-singly deintellectualized under the conditions of qua-litatively and quantitatively transformed, and highlycommercialized communications relations.

Pragmatics take a more optimistic stand. Referringto the Internet’s new possibilities, pragmatics counton the developments of participatory models andmethods, which democracies have not yet seen. Thesedevelopments, pragmatics assume, would provide thecivil society – the embodiment of modern democra-cy – with un-thought of opportunities of non-domi-nant and “de-hierarchized” communication and poli-tical participation.

Through new media, and, above all, through newmedia cultures, democracy is endowed with a civil-social legitimization, which classifies every govern-mental legitimization as an unnecessary and increa-singly undesirable intervention.

The catchphrase of media democracy is an intellec-tual as well as a pragmatic construct with a confron-tational impetus that is two-fold. On the one hand, itconfronts the media with a social-moral democraticpotential: participation, responsibility, authenticity,solidarity, etc. But it also, confronts the very under-standing of democracy with the communicativepotential of the media: publicity, transparence, acces-sibility.

There still remains enough play to re-interpret therole of news agencies in democracies that were esta-blished recently and those that were established along time ago.


Events are not new and not news-worthy by them-selves, they become newsworthy because of the envi-ronment of comparison and because of the compa-ring perspective they get considered by; they becomestories because they are considered as pieces withrelevance and compatibility to other pieces in thewhole puzzle of construction of reality.

News as codes with signifying powerHistorically, the production of news has always

been linked to hierarchical structures and systems.News-worthy stories are never ordinary stories. Theyare stories with political implications. That is, storiesby or for prominent figures with relevance to thepublic or public opinion.

Such stories simply could not be left to free or arbi-trary social exchange. Newsworthy stories havealways served to affirm and stabilize (political, social,and economic) systems. Especially, the countries ofEast and South-Eastern Europe know only too wellthat authoritory systems (ab)use news agencies toconstruct reality as they see fit. Quite possibly, theynow experience a similar, but decidedly different(ab)use of the system, even though – or preciselybecause – news agencies are privately-owned. Thedictate of ratings is probably just as dominant as thedictate of politics.

News agencies are not just organizations whichadministrate the flux of news. They are – what isnatural for organizations and companies – organiza-tions of their own interest, dealing and negotiatingwith information goods which are not theirs but eve-rybody’s own.

Seen from this perspective, news agencies are morethan just input-output organisations for the flux ofinformation. They are socially, politically and/or eco-nomically organized networks of sharing societaldiscourses.

News agencies socialize information and deal withfragile constructs of reality rather than with real newevents. In that sense, news agencies are making news.And news are making views.

Therefore, there seems to be hardly any doubt thatsocieties – as long and so far as they are institutional-ly framed in structures of national administrationsand politically organized in networks of power – alsoneed a system which rules the “flux of news”, thustaking care for political and societal viability of infor-mation and communication.

In an open and democratic society, but effectivelyorganized by economical structures of competition,there is no question that that the flux of news is bestbalanced by centres of competence – news agencies.But what is the competence of news agencies?

News agencies areorganizations of their owninterest, dealing and negotiating with informationgoods which are not theirs buteverybody’s own.



Times have changed in Eastern Europe. Wherethere was once a state-owned econ-omy and veryoften synchronised media landscape, there is now afree-market econ-omy and a dazzling pluralist medialandscape. News agencies are even more con-cernedwith this development than other media that cons-umers directly see. The reason: even in state control-led systems there are different kinds of newspapersfor different kinds of people. Nevertheless, there isonly one news agency, which is owned by the stateand represents it. If you want to control public opi-nion, the best thing to do is start at the news agencylevel. The news agency is the institution from whichall others get their information. Its business is todecide what is real and what is newsworthy. Afterthat it’s the business of the newspapers, magazines,TV and radio stations to interpret the real stuff. InMarxist terminology, one can compare the newsagency to the base and all the other media to thesuperstructure. News agen-cies decide which infor-mation goes into that wide network of discourse thatforms public opinion. In a figurative sense newsagencies are the gatekeepers of society.

Therefore, it is very interesting to look at the roleof news agencies in South East Europe. In a lot ofthese countries, private agencies have become deta-ched from the big, state-driven agency. Suddenlythere are several gatekeepers watching what in-for-mation comes in. Is money their only interest? Orare there also ideological, relig-ious or ethnic aspects?

One has to keep in mind that these elements play amuch bigger role in South East European societiesthan those of Western and Central Europe. Who arethe owners? Are they critical intellectuals who live inthe country? Are they Western companies who caremainly about profit? Or even ideological groups orpolitical parties?

DeScripto spoke with two news agencies to findout more about these questions: Serbian FoNetbelongs to Zoran Sekulic, a Belgrade journalist.Romanian Mediafax, located in Bucharest, is themarket leader in the country.

Mediafax is by far the biggest news agency inRomania – and it’s private. The owner is a Romaniancompany called Media Pro International, which alsoowns several pri-vate TV stations. Mediafax serves 90per cent of national newspapers and maga-zines, 70per cent of Romanian TV channels and radio sta-tions, 15 Romanian minis-tries and 990 companies.According to L?cr?mioara Cr?ciun, who works in thecustomer department of Mediafax, it has an overallreputation of being “very accu-rate and 100 per centimpartial”. Among its clients are as illustrious namessuch as Alcatel, Brau Union, Microsoft and KraftFoods. Founded in 1991 after the fall of Ceausescu,it soon became market leader.

All in all, the business methods and societal func-tion of Mediafax are comparable to that of Westernagencies: “There is no political or ideological pressu-re which plays a role in the work of Mediafax,” says

Gatekeepersin StormyTimes“”Compared to the Milosevic era, we do not feel that we are working in anenemy envi-ronment any more. We do not feel that we are working in a friendlyenvironment either, but we do not expect that. We want to be left alone,” saysZoran Sekulic, a Belgrade journalist and owner of the private Serbian news agen-cy FoNet. Private news agencies are growing rapidly in South East Europe:DeScripto compared two of them which are working under completely differentcircumstances.

by Joseph Gepp


Cr?ciun. We can believe her; Mediafax works in aprofit oriented way. Generally speaking, this way isthe reason for its success; its only interest is inmaking profit. It is not interested in influencinganybody, and it does not care about civil society andits well-being. Mediafax is just a business, a compa-ny like any other company in Central and WesternEurope.

The situation of FoNet is a bit more different.Founded in 1994, the private Serbian news agency isthe third behind state-driven Tanjug and the privateBeta news agency. Owned by Belgrade journalistZoran V. Sekulic, FoNet is self-financed and operateson market-oriented principles, but plays a role in thedevelopment of Ser-bian civil society. The currentgovernance is a mixture of revolutionaries againstMi-losevic and heirs to Milosevic, but it is gettingbetter. Sekulic explains that although FoNet facedhard times, nowadays there is no longer an “enemyenvironment”. “We want to be left alone. We want afair and clear legal framework for our work and anequal starting position in the developing media mar-ket.” As well, “There are much more sophisticatedmethods of influencing media and occasionalattempts at manipu-lating them [today in compari-son with Milosevic era]. They come from politicaland financial centres of power, but FoNet somehowmanages to reject or avoid them. That is why ourclients recognise FoNet as the most reliable and cre-dible news agency source in Serbia andMontenegro.” Today it seems that it is at least possi-ble to work undisturbed. However, working as acapitalist business with capitalistic goals is not as easyas in Romania.

Being a gatekeeper in times of transformation isnot very easy. Both examples show that the era ofstate-controlled, interpreted sovereignty in SouthEast Europe is over. Nowadays the goal of news agen-cies it to make profit within a capitalistic system.Sometimes this goal is clear and unchallenged – as inthe case of Mediafax in Roma-nia. Sometimes thisgoal still has to be wrested from powerful factions –as in the case of FoNet in Serbia. Nevertheless, itlooks like the time of the “enemy environ-ment” inSouth East Europe is over. This is a step in the rightdirection. The more gate keepers that exist, the morepluralistic a society can be. Even in stormy times.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate ofthe International Press Institute (IPI), is a regional non-governmen-tal, non-profit network of editors-in-chief, media executives andleading journalists from newspapers, magazines, radio and TV sta-tions, news agencies and new media in South East Europe. SEEMOwas founded in October 2000 in Zagreb, Croatia.

One of SEEMO’s main activities is protecting press freedom. Over60 per cent of SEEMO’s press releases and letters of protest togovernmental and other officials have had positive results in thepast. Every SEEMO protest is distributed to more than 12,000addresses: to leading regional and international media, nationaland international governmental and non-governmental organisa-tions, politicians, and also public persons and institutions.

During the last four years, SEEMO has assembled over 3,000 edi-tors-in-chief, media executives, leading journalists and public per-sons from the region in various meetings. Helping journalistsmeans also furthering their education. Several workshops andseminars were organised in the field of education, especially forinvestigative reporters and representatives of minority media.

SEEMO regularly publishes De Scripto, a quarterly media magazinefor South Eastern Europe, which is committed to the enhancementof a climate of critical reflection on media culture and communica-tion, in and among the South East European countries, and SouthEast Europe Media Handbook (SMH), an annual publication cove-ring media developments, which includes selected media contacts.

SEEMO also gives two annual awards for outstanding achieve-ments in the field of media: "Dr Erhard Busek - SEEMO Award forBetter Understanding" and the SEEMO Human Rights Award"SEEMO Award for Mutual Cooperation in South East Europe".

SEEMO Conferences Preview:1. SEEMO Dialogue Meeting between Editors-in-Chief and MediaExecutives from South East Europe, Vienna, Spring 20062. SEEMO Dialogue Meeting between Editors-in-Chief and MediaExecutives from Roma Media in South East Europe, Autumn 20063. South East Europe Media Hanbook 2005/2006 will be publishedin February 20064. Minority Media Handbook will be published in Spring 2006

The South East EuropeMedia Organisation


“It is disappointing that mainstream media provi-de work to Roma purely for ethnic balance amongemployees and representation towards the outsidepublic, without even giving them the chance to prac-tice their job as skilled journalists,” criticises EstherHolbrook, coordinator of the Roma Press Center(RPC) in Budapest. Indeed, the role of ethnic mino-rities in the media is more than controversial: mino-rity issues need professional and sensitive reporting,and at the same time, media institutions need to pro-vide the requested space for such coverage. Newsagencies play a crucial role in the struggle of ethnicminorities for effective social and political integra-tion, though programmes in minority languagesremain within the sphere of local media.

“Thanks to the exposure of minority issues, wesucceeded in raising the interest of the public, mea-ning that the recognition of rights in local commu-nities slowly became easier and more efficient,” con-firms Stojan Obradovic, editor-in-chief of privateCroatian news agency STINA.

In a similar way, the Slovakian Roma Press Agency(RPA) strives for the development of a democraticcivil society which integrates Roma communities.The agency’s aim is to reduce the social distance themajority population feels towards the Roma througheducating Roma journalists and presenting theirwork in the media to the benefit of both the minori-ty and the majority in society.

In Belgrade “BETA provides persistent reportingon ethnic minority issues,” says Djordje Zorkic,deputy director of the regional news agency. “It isour intention to provide full and objective coveragesupporting the best interests of minorities.” BETAnews agency continuously disseminates articles inSerbian, Albanian, Hungarian, Romani and Englishfree of charge on the Internet.

The European Union (EU) promotes the activeinvolvement of members of ethnic minorities inmedia institutions as well as the reporting of minori-ty-related issues in both public and private media.

European policy-makers visualise ethnic minoritiesas social bridges between countries, built upon theideals of anti-discrimination, mutual acceptance,inclusion and participation.

During the last three years, the involvement ofnews agencies proved to be essential in sensitisingsouth-eastern European society; through increasedreporting on political elections, on the work ofminority councils, on problems of proportionalrepresentation of minorities in public institutions,on education and housing, on cooperation in theregion, and on international protection obligations,minority communities gradually become part ofdaily life.

Informative and educational projects impro-ve minority coverage

“We recognise the role of minorities in the crea-tion of good neighbour relations among countries inthe region,” declares Obradovic, highlighting thegoal behind a regional project entitled “Educationaland information support to implementation andprotection of national minorities and strengtheningof inter-ethnic tolerance in Croatia”, implementedby STINA between May 2004 and April 2005.

The project enabled the concept of news agency tofurther develop and encompass work as a specialmedia institution undertaking educational and infor-mation work concerning the improvement of mino-rity rights.

“As a result of the project we should stress that over50 print and electronic media progressed in theirreporting on minority rights, minority politics andissues of inter-ethnic tolerance,” Obradovic explains.

A similar project is currently being put into prac-tice by the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) ofLondon: “Seeing the Roma without prejudice”brings together 11 news agencies from Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia andMontenegro. “The project aims at helping Roma

“Mainstream media provides work to Roma

purely for ethnic balanceamong its employees and

representation towardsthe outside public.”

“We recognise the role ofminorities in the creation

of good neighbour rela-tions among countries in

the region.”


Bridges for regional co-operation

News agencies are important for the dissemination of ethnic minority issues in national languages. By educating the public and allowing the minority community to be part of society, news agencies play a role in the improvement of inter-ethnic tolerance. deScripto talked to journalists and project managers working for privately owned news agencies and organisations in the region, revealing the challenges and potential of ethnic minority coverage.

communities overcome discrimination, marginalisa-tion and violations of their rights through a processof media education and empowerment, and byincreasing the fair representation of Roma voices inthe media,” states Lavinia Olmazu in the projectoutline. Concerned about the low impact of short-term projects, BETA fosters two long-term program-mes: the first is called “KosovaKosovo”, an Internet-based and interactive news resource in Albanian,Serbian and English; the second focuses on theRoma community providing news coverage inRomani, Hungarian and Albanian. “Reporting onminority issues is not a commercial business, there-fore we continued the programmes we had started,even after the funding was over,” reinforces Zorkic.

Minority coverage for majority audiencesThe Hungarian Roma Press Center was establis-

hed in 1995 as a non-profit, private news agencywith the aim of supplying mainstream media inHungary with unbiased coverage of Roma issuesseven days a week. The Roma Press Center has amulti-ethnic staff, but all journalists and editors areRomani. As a result of an agreement with the localmedia, journalists get a direct reward whenever theirarticles are published.

“While the production of news items and featurearticles remains our main activity, the RPC hasexpanded its programme to include several otheractivities which help to diversify the coverage of poli-tical, social and legal realities affecting the Roma,”explains Esther Holbrook. Sending out a weeklynewsletter to various subscribers - mainly NGOs,embassies and local media institutions, the RPC pro-duces about 80 to 100 articles in Hungarian amonth. This facilitates the strengthening of the ove-rall representation of Roma in the mainstreammedia, bringing issues of racial discrimination, segre-gation, and deprivation further into public cons-ciousness and discussion.

“Often Roma members or local Roma NGOs con-tact us directly and draw our attention to the storiesthat we report about,” Holbrook clarifies; “We thendecide whether to bring it as a story in our news. Weknow who to talk to, and who would potentially be

willing to buy the story; mostly local media acceptour offers.”

“Professional information is our rule,” Zorkic says,emphasising BETA’s keen and successful efforts in“persistently supplying articles on ethnic minorityissues using the online channel”.

In Croatia, STINA's “focus lies more within theRoma and Serbian communities. Nevertheless, whe-never there are news items concerning, for example,education or bilingual town signs, we also coverissues relating to the smaller Italian, Czech orMacedonian minorities,” says Obradovic. “We sellour articles to newspapers mainly in Croatia, but alsoin Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as to national andregional radio stations, among them Radio FreeEurope and Deutsche Welle.”

How to best spread minority voices?The above-mentioned STINA project showed that

radio proved to be the most suitable means of pro-moting minority issues to the general public.“Within the framework of the project, we had thepossibility or offering 26 promotional radio shows to

17

“Over 50 print and electronic media improvedtheir reporting on inority rights, minoritypolitics and the issue ofinter-ethnic tolerance.”


ration Private news agencies reporting onethnic minorities: development ofdemocratic values by Hannes Goegele

Picture: Young Journalists working at Roma Press Center (by Esther Holbrook, RPC)


local stations, which showed strong support. Manyof these stations lack staff and financial means toproduce such shows on their own. It was extremelyimportant for rounding out and improving theirprogrammes,” Obradovic elaborates.

The RPC also seeks to spread Roma voicesthrough a project with Hungarian Radio C, EstherHolbrook explains. “The main topics of the Decadeof Roma Inclusion - education, employment, healthand housing – are at the centre of four two-hourshows, during which we discuss potential improve-ment of the situations and their challenges withexperts and government representatives.”

Raising professional standards when repor-ting on minority issues

The systematic education of journalists coveringminority issues is essential both for mainstream andminority journalists working within news agencies.Raising professional standards when reporting aboutethnic minorities and training journalists to inde-pendently create programmes have proven essentialto the creation of a broad acceptance of minorityrights and inter-ethnic tolerance.

“We train our journalists within a RegionalEducation Development Programme. We had alrea-dy in 1996 started a Media Internship Programme,which was then carried out in cooperation with theCentre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)”,Holbrook says.

The activities of the MDI project focus on theprofessional training of Roma journalists on the basisof the MDI's “Media Relations Guide for Roma”,and the production of news and features on Romapeople for publication and broadcast.

In the case of Croatia, Obradovic emphasises that“via various publications and seminars, the STINAproject contributed to the education of over 3,000members of national minority councils, representati-ves of minority organisations, NGO activists andrepresentatives of local authorities.”

Cooperation across borders: regional newsagencies

“BETA’s management pioneered the offering ofcooperation in the region,” Zorkic says. Regionaltraining seminars for both majority and minorityjournalists such as one called “Minorities as bridgesfor regional cooperation”, organised by STINA in2004, further encourage the potential exchange ofexperience and contact, and build a common appro-ach to the issue. Comprehensive reporting providedthrough news agencies assists the western Balkancountries in their efforts to overcome conflict andfosters stabilisation.

“...the RPC collaborates on mutual story ideaswith other Roma agencies in the region, such as the

Roma Press Agency in Slovakia and Dzeno in theCzech Republic; we call each other for details, infoand story sharing,” explains Holbrook.

Funding The survival of private news agencies depends on

public funding. “Financial support is decreasing.However, through our publications and the develop-ment of a Strategy on Desegregation, we got somefunding from the Hungarian Ministry ofInformation, as well as some grants from specificinternational donors,” Holbrook says, explaininghow the RCP is able to maintain its financial posi-tion.

Likewise in Croatia, the Council for NationalMinorities will fund the further publication ofSTINA's “Minority Forum” in form of a newspaper,a great recognition for the news agency.

Conclusions: Lack of social responsibility Talking to journalists revealed that news agencies

are crucial to political and social stabilisation in theregion. Promoting inter-ethnic tolerance and mino-rity rights, news agencies contribute to the civil par-ticipation of minority communities.

Furthermore, news agencies should potentially beobliged to employ both majority and minority jour-nalists; through continuous education, awareness-raising and sensitisation, journalists should have theopportunity to cover both majority and minorityissues.

News agencies are responsible for bringing toget-her journalists from mainstream and minority, whileboth public and private media foster experience-sha-ring and aid in building a common understandingthrough tolerant and objective reporting. Newsagencies should adapt monitoring skills to suit themainstream media.Systematic education of journa-lists covering minority issues is essential both formainstream and minority journalists.

News agencies contribute to the civil participationof minority communities as well as to political andsocial stabilisation in the region.Being aware of allthis, we realise that news coverage does not stop atpolitical borders; news agencies should use theopportunity to report on minority issues in coopera-tion with similar agencies in other countries in theregion.

National governments, the European Union,international organisations and other donors shouldfeel encouraged to further support the work of newsagencies, especially those covering minority issues.

Up to now, only a few agencies have recognisedtheir social duty and started to build bridges betweenminorities and majorities, from nation to nationreleasing a variety of articles, newsletters, radio showsand research studies. There is still a long way to go.


Systematic education ofjournalists covering minority

issues is essential both formainstream and minority

journalists.

News agencies contribute tothe civil participation of

minority communities aswell as to political and social

stabilisation in the region.

SEEMO Award


deScripto: During your long years working in jour-nalism you got more and more involved in minoritymatters, especially those of the Roma. And you yourselfbecame engaged very much in improvements in the sta-tus of minorities in the south-east European medialandscape. What are the most important achievementsconcerning minorities in the field of media and mediawork in south-eastern Europe compared to the situationbefore the transformation period?

Petkovic: I can mostly talk about the situation inSlovenia, and only partly about the media integra-tion of minorities in other countries of South EastEurope. In Slovenia, some progress was made for theRoma community; the minority media until nowhas operated predominantly for Italian andHungarian minorities.

I have been engaged in the media empowermentof the Roma community in Slovenia, helping themto educate and equip themselves to run their owncommunity media service, and during this yearadvocating their right to become part of the publicbroadcasting service in Slovenia. Minorities fromother parts of former Yugoslavia (Bosnia andHerzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro,Kosovo and Macedonia) are completely excludedfrom the media system in Slovenia; this is connectedto a lack of normative and constitutional recognitionfor them in Slovenia. In other countries of SouthEast Europe minority programming is often part ofpublic service broadcasting and is sometimes impro-perly run by journalists from the majority commu-nity. However, there are some Roma broadcastingmedia outlets run by Roma and supported by dona-tions. The best-running station in my opinion hasbeen Multiradio in Novi Sad, Serbia, which broad-casts programming in different minority languagesand also has some joint programmes. Its operationhas been interrupted, but I hope Multiradio willcontinue to exist.

In light of your impressive work as the head formedia policy at the Peace Institute in Ljubljana and as

a trainer in courses for Roma journalists, what do youthink are the most important practical challenges for themedia-owning majority in the establishment of a socialand economic structure of communication fairness ?

Considering predominant and rather legitimatecommercial interests in the media I would opt formore self-regulation in the media industry, throughwhich the media industry could willingly make,respect and impose its own rules to provide socialvalues and cultural diversity which are properlyreflected and respected in the media.

It could be done through codes of ethics and presscouncils, through readers, editors and ombudsmenat newspapers, through transparency of ownership,business and editorial policies, through employmentpolicies and training programmes provided for jour-nalists, through the social and environmental repor-ting of each media enterprise, etc.

Citizens, especially children, youth, and minoritygroups, have to be empowered to critically use themedia, to produce their own media, and to requestmedia responsiveness to their needs, suggestions andcomplaints.

What is in general your opinion on the power ofmedia – especially regarding the many segregations bet-ween and inside societies? Do you believe in an integra-tive impact by media?

When I advocate citizen and minority engagementin the media field, and thus contributions to the esta-blishment of community media, I always need to saythat it is one job that needs to be done, but the big-ger job is to introduce a respect by mainstream mediafor cultural diversity in editorial, employment andbusiness policy.

We are facing fragmentation of the media marketand it will be even more fragmented with the digita-lisation of broadcasting. Therefore, it is importantthat each country have a strong and good public bro-adcasting service to contribute to social cohesion andalso at least few quality print media to play such arole.

Needed: Self-regulationin the Media IndustryBrankica Petkovic receievd in Nov. 05 the Dr. Erhard Busek-SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South East Europe 2005. Brankica Ptkovic is director at the Peace Institute in Lubljana and is mainly involved in researching and writing on minorities, especially on Roma, in Slovenia. By opportunity of the receiving ceremony in Vienna she gave the following interview to deScripto.

by Thomas Bauer

Brankica Petkovic(Photo: SEEMO)

The history of an institution can be fully under-stood only if we pinpoint and understand its context.That is exactly what we are trying to do, for definingthe 75 years that have passed since the RomanianRadio Broadcasting Corporation was founded. Thecentury started with the installment of the firstpublic phones in Paris and New York City, thenescience of Clarke Gable, the opening of the firstpersonal exhibition of Picasso and the awarding ofthe first Nobel prizes. The same century marked inthe year 1928 Trotsky’s expulsion from Moscow, thefirst telephone conversation between Paris and NewYork City, the sale of the first TV sets with 24, 36and 48 lines, in a store in New Jersey for 75 dollarseach, the premiere, in Berlin, of Bertolt Brecht’s play“The Threepenny Opera”, Alexander Fleming’sdiscovery of penicillin, the launching of the first fiveyear plan in USSR, the first big-screen adventure forMickey Mouse. In Romania, the century started withyoung Constantin Brincusi being awarded the bron-ze medal at the Arts School in Bucharest for one ofhis sculptures and continued with premieres in everyfield, from the architectural redefining of the cities,to the big operas in literature. Racovita created speo-logy, Persu invents the aerodynamic automobile andwrites a complex study on planes aerodynamics.

First signal, first day on the airIn line with all the big challenges in Europe,

Romania of the first decades of the 20th century waskeeping up in all the fields of contemporary civiliza-tion. Nothing of what was “en vogue” in Paris,Berlin or Vienna did not take long to arrive inRomania as well. Examples can be found in the orga-nizing of institutional structures, in cultural andscientific affairs. That is why in Romania there was atrue pro-radio movement even before 1928.

Radio was born a poetNovember 1st 1928. The first official Romanian

radio signal is transmitted on air. The poem “A NewSoul” was dedicated to the occasion, written and readat the microphone by writer Horia Furtuna, who

later on became editor and program director of thenew company. “A New Soul” appears to be the firstRomanian poem transmitted on air, a first in a longseries of lyrical moments presented by the publicnational radio station.

A university for everybodyAbout the role of radio, as it was thought of in the

third decade, the authorized voices from the begin-ning of the century confirmed the fact that radioprograms were well received by the audience andthey should be accessible to everybody. On February11th 1932, with the opening of the big studio situa-ted in General Berthelot Street, the minister ofPublic Projects and Communications gave in hisspeech a definition of the public radio:

“… a kind of university for everybody, where theuseful and informative things should complete eachother and the systemic education of the masses requi-res a constant evolution.”

The voice of national identityOf course, after the first program on air, on

November 1st 1928, and after the starting years,Romanian radio had in the following years a specta-cular and obvious evolution, in quantity and quality,editorial and technical, in equipment and audienceand especially in awareness.

The main periods in this evolution could be:1928-1937; 1938-1944; 1945-1989 and the oneafter 1990:

The first period is characterized by the necessity ofconsolidating actions, the changing of the law oninstallment and use of radio sets, diminishing importtaxes for radio sets and acquiring the necessary equip-ment for enlarging air time. Now takes place the firstbroadcasting of an opera from a studio of RadioRomania, the first studios are built in GeneralBerthelot Street, the legal framework is set for deve-loping the national broadcasting network, the firstbroadcastings in foreign languages and the first sportbroadcasting. In 1936, through a new organizing lawthe Radio-telephone Broadcasting Corporation

75 Years of RomanianBroadcasting

Advertisement

becomes the Romanian Broadcasting Corporationand a year later the corporation is subordinated atthe Ministers Council.

The period 1938-1944 is one of the most frustra-ting. Carol the Second, “king playboy”, instructedthe first censure in Radio Romania’s history. But, inspite of the royal dictatorship and the war,Romanian radio manages to maintain its initial role,that of informing and propagate culture. This can beproven by the percentage between the spoken part(22,37 %) and music (52,32 %).

What could be a paradox is the important rolegiven to local studios and the acquiring of shortwaves transmitters, meant to cover the whole of thecountry. During Antonescu’s dictatorship Romanianradio had an obvious psychological and propagandi-stic mission, that was evident also in the music,which promoted mostly traditional Romanianmusic. During the war, although the evacuation ofthe Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation star-ted on April 22nd 1944, program broadcasting wasnever interrupted, not even during the most difficulttimes, on August 23rd 1944. On August 23rd 1944,the Romanian radio broadcasts the King’s message tothe country. A day later, the Romanian RadioBroadcasting Corporation was destroyed by aGerman bombardment.

The third period in the history of the Romaniannational public radio is during the communist deca-des, when the structures and activities of the institu-tion have to follow the new organizatoric rules ofROR. Above from the existence of a general programdepartment, with a political, a cultural and a musicaldepartment, the political coordinate becomes decisi-ve for all the programs. On June 11th 1948 theRomanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation beco-mes controlled by the unique communist party andthe entire editorial activity is subordinated to thevarious points coming from the unique party, subor-dinated to the communist ideology and propaganda,whether we refer to the period before Ceausescu ofto his “golden age”.

Considered the most suitable mean of propagan-da, the voice of the radio entered the houses of mostRomanians, not only by family packages, but also bya big scale action that reached millions of speakerswith a single station. Of course, investments arebeing made, new buildings acquired, new studios,concert halls and the network of regional studios isconsolidated. At the beginning of the ‘80’s a newcensor is instituted, without any justification. By apresidential order the regional stations are dissolved,

the written press is verified word by word, televisionbroadcasts only two hours a day, after the NorthKorean model, and at the radio someone was alwayswith one hand on the “OFF” button. The professio-nalism of all the departments reaches an unimagina-ble level of performance for any journalist around theworld. People had sent, on air, even the slightest traceof hope, to make up texts from slogans and truthsfrom a puzzle of common places.

How we won the lost sympathyDecember 1989 was for Radio Romania and the

Romanian society a turning point and an examwhich they passed. With a serious attitude, prompt-ness and objectivity they tried to regain listeners’sympathy. After 1989, the Romanian RadioBroadcasting Corporation, like all mass media insti-tutions, went through a real freeing process, it wentout of isolation and through the redefinition of qua-lity. It is a time of development in editorial and tech-nical structures, a time of intense international coo-peration with prestigious institutions.

All of these put together define the new Europeanand international road of an institution placed at thetop of Romanian audiovisual market, by its profes-sionalism. Radio Romania managed to make up forthose journalistic matters that define public radio asthe prerogative of national culture and identity, inmost contemporary journalistic concepts.

Understanding the phenomenon ofNational Radio

Today’s listener of the programs broadcasted by theRomanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation can askoneself what was the connection between these peri-ods, connection which insured continuity and pro-fessionalism, even in the most difficult times. Forthose who were interested in the concept of the phe-nomenon of National Radio, for analysts and radioaffectionate, the answer if obvious – objectivity andpromoting real values, the educational dimensionand not least the artistic dimension.

All of these transformed the National Radio intoan audible voice, according to the characterizationgiven by a politician. But, above all, the cultural-arti-stic dimension presented, in front of the nationalmicrophone, a true history of Romanian culture, pre-senting famous writers, scientists and actors from thePantheon of Romanian culture. There is no impor-tant writer, artist or performer that existed since 1928until now and not be present in the journalist act ofthe National Radio.

21

Advertisement

Country Reports

Journalists working as correspondents for Turkishor Cypriot media in the “Turkish Republic ofNorthern Cyprus” were refused entry to the GreekCypriot part to cover a match between the Turkishteam Trabzonspor and the Greek Cypriot teamAnorthosis Famagusta on 26 July. Permission to tra-vel to Cypriot territory for professional reasons canonly be granted two days in advance. Internationaljournalists’ organisations expressed dismay at thedecision, even more so since Cyprus became a newEuropean Union member on 1 May 2004.

On 30 May, Goran Momirofski, a journalist forA1 TV station from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia– FYROM, requested a work permit for himself andtwo of his colleagues at the Greek Embassy inSkopje, in order to visit Northern Greece and do afeature.

They also stated that they would meet with thePresident of the Greek Member State Committee ofthe European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages(EBLUL) and leading members of the EFA-RainbowParty. On 2 June, Momirofski was told by theEmbassy staff that the permit request for all threejournalists had been rejected by Athens.

All three journalists already had visas for Greece,but needed to get the work permits, which are a pre-requisite for any foreign journalist who wants towork in Greece. There was no official explanation forthe refusal.

On 6 June SEEMO issued a press releases statingit is alarmed about this case and called upon theGreek authorities to treat all journalists equally andto allow them to move freely in order to be able toexercise their profession.


Cyprus: CanSports Unite?

Greece:WorkingPermits To ThreeJournalists Refused

On 1 June, the leadership of the Democratic Partyfor Macedonian National Unity (VMRO)/People’sParty sent an appeal to all owners of television andradio stations in Macedonia to ban the broadcastingof Serbian music for the next three months. This

appeal followed the decision of the SerbianOrthodox Church not to recognise the MacedonianOrthodox Church. South East Europe MediaOrganisation (SEEMO) issued a press release on 6June expressing ist concern about this attempt by aMacedonian political party to ban Serbian music inMacedonia (Republic of Macedonia - FYROM).SEEMO also condemned this call by theVMRO/People’s Party, because no party has the rightto influence the editorial policy of any media house.All politicians must recongnise the basic principles offreedom of expression and press freedom.

Between February and October 2005, MediaWatch Serbia Council (MWSC), independent rese-arch and analysis group, carried out scientific moni-toring to find out the degree to which major Serbiannewspapers and newsmagazines abide with com-monly accepted ethical norms and standards of jour-nalism. MWSC described the results of its work asfollows: “Serbia’s press is rapidly degeneratingtowards the level it was at in the late 1980’s and early1990’s”. The unlimited freedom of expression as abasic right for the profession carries no responsibili-ty. As a matter of fact, print media floods the publicwith best-selling imagined “scandals”, “criminalaffairs”, “sensations” and other sorts of “spectacles”.There are many cases of criminal accusations anddenunciations for personal reasons and politicalempowerment of politicians and leading figures inSerbian journalism. Nobody is ever held responsiblefor the massive number of “sensational crime” sto-ries. According to MWSC, the public must wonderwhether Serbia has enough police officers and publicprosecutors to investigate the massive number ofsupposed crimes being committed. The atmosphereof impunity in Serbia’s media is characterised byracism, misogyny, extreme right-wing nationalism,xenophobia, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and por-nography, says MWSC.

MWSC warns that the “factory of scandals” couldcreate an enduring bad image of Serbia and its mediaamong citizens as well as in the international context,and declares the need for a new system of ethicaljournalism in Serbia.

Macedonia (FYRoM):Serbian MusicBanned

Serbia: New Systemof Ethics Against theCancer of Journalism

Country Reports

With the constitution of two important mediamonitoring and regulating authorities, the Kosovoprocess towards the regulation of self-governingmedia has started. The development process followsthe Kosovo Standards Implementation Plan.

Towards ProfessionalismIn March this year editors signed a Press Code,

voluntarily agreeing to comply with a set of rules onjournalistic standards. The next prioritised goal inthe case of print media is the constitution of a multi-ethnic Press Council because of its importance in theKosovo process towards a self-regulating print mediasystem. The new Press Council agreed that mediarepresentatives will accept and adjudicate complaintsin an effort to provide a normal European form ofself-regulation within the print media.

In August, the OSCE renewed its offer to supportthe development of self-regulation and professiona-lism in this context. “The creation of the PressCouncil is a step forward in the normalisation andEuropeanization of media in Kosovo. Responsibilityfor self-regulation will lie solely with the localmedia,” said Cees van Zweeden, Senior MediaAdvisor for the OSCE mission.

Broadcasting on Its Way to IndependenceIn September, after approval by the Assembly of


The administration of TeleRadio Moldova (TRM)has initiated proceedings against the IndependentJournalism Center (IJC) based on its report from theJuly 10 mass media monitoring of early electioncoverage for the post of mayor of Chisinau. Thereport had been carried out in cooperation with theCIVIS Centre of Analysis and Sociological, Politicaland Psychological Investigations and featured themajor tendencies displayed by 10 newspapers, 12television and 12 radio stations. According to thereport, “TeleRadio-Moldova did not cover the activi-ty of electoral competitors in its news, demonstratedtendencies to favour the candidate of theCommunist Party of Moldova and to disfavour othercompetitors, so that the public broadcaster limitedthe access of electors to information during the elec-toral campaign.”

According to a declaration signed by TRM in July,“CIJ harms the professional fame of the company.”Sergiu Batog, General Manager of TRM, has accused

Moldova: Who Monitors Monitoring?centre experts of, ”gross mistakes made when prepa-ring the monitoring findings" and is convinced TRMwill win the trial. Whether it is the result of delibera-tion or error, “the data presented in the report - accu-sing the National Radio and the Moldova-1 TVchannel of ignoring all other candidates and of bak-king the ruling Communist Party's candidate - werebut an invention,” Batog stated. “I guess the courtwill reveal the centre's true colours and establish thereal state of things in the Teleradio-Moldova compa-ny.”

CIJ lawyer Olivia Pirtac said that CIJ now alsointends to sue TRM because it is trying to manipula-te public opinion in order to discredit CIJ. “We havesolicited the Centre of Analysis and SociologicalInvestigations to check the data from the monitoringreport and it confirmed their veracity. We have solici-ted video records from the archives of Teleradio-Moldova in order to check the data unveiled by thecompany,” Pirtac added.

Kosovo, the Independent Media Commission (IMC)was established and empowered by law. The IMCplans to follow the best European practices and ope-rate independently from political influence. With theconstitution of this agency, Kosovo marked animportant step towards the development of a normalsystem of media regulation. When the IMC comesinto force, it will replace the Office of the TemporaryMedia Commissioner (TMC). But before the newcommission can start its work, its governing seven-member council has to be appointed - a process thatwill go on for several months.

With a board of directors of seven (five fromKosovo and two international representatives), 24members (including the current staff of the OTMC)and a Media Appeals Board (with two Kosovo judgesand one international judge), the IMC will be morethan a technical agency. It will be a crucial tool for theprotection of freedom of expression and will ensurethe cultural diversity of the media in Kosovo. Thecouncil therefore holds all executive authority toissue, deny or revoke broadcasting licenses, and toissue and enforce regulations that pertain to broadca-sters, including cable broadcasting, but excluding theInternet. According to TMC, the transfer of respon-sibility for broadcasting regulation from the interna-tional community to the provisional institutions ofself-government has started.

Kosovo: One Step to Media Normality

SEEMO

PROTEST SERBIA, 19 Aug On 19 August, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO) sent a letter of protest toVojislav Kostunica, Prime Minister of the Republicof Serbia and to Zoran Stojkovic, Minister of Justiceof the Republic of Serbia, saying it is alarmed aboutthe insults and threats by a high-ranking Serbianpolitician and his advisor directed at journalists.According to information before SEEMO, on 15August, during a press conference in Kopaonik,Serbian Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilic

was answering questions about the court caseagainst Marko Milosevic, son of former YugoslavPresident Slobodan Milosevic. Taking exception tothe questions asked by the RTV B92 reporter, AnaVeljkovic, he started insulting the station's journa-lists and said they were sick and needed psychiatric

treatment. According to Veljkovic, after Ilic leftthe conference, his media advisor, Petar Lazovic,approached her and started insulting her. He toldher to tell Veran Matic, director and editor-in-chiefof RTV B92, that he would kill him. SEEMO statedthat these insults and threats are a very serious anddirect violation of press freedom and journalists'rights and requested an investigation into this case.

PRESS RELEASE SERBIA, 28 JulyOn 28 July, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO) issued a press release expres-sing its concern about the intention of the SerbianGovernment to amend the three-year oldBroadcasting Act and to sent the amendments toParliament without consulting professional mediaorganisations in Serbia. According to SEEMO sour-ces, one of the amendments would revoke the vetopower of the Broadcast Council member nominatedby the autonomous province of Vojvodina, whountil now has had the power of veto in all decisionsconcerning Vojvodina. With this amendment, theBelgrade government has displayed a singular lack ofunderstanding of the problems that are specific toVojvodina as a multi-ethnic province. In addition,SEEMO was informed that, instead of the ballotsystem that was used to randomly determine theterm of appointment of individual members of theBroadcasting Council during its first working peri-od, the new amendments propose a fixed length ofterm for each of the elected members that favoursthose members who have been elected byParliament. Thus, those nominated by Parliament asparty candidates would serve terms of six years, whilethose nominated by professional journalists organi-

sations and NGOs would serve only for four years. The amendments also extend the deadline for the

privatisation of media operated by local governmentauthorities until the end of 2008. According to theoriginal Act, the deadline for privatisation was thesummer of 2006. "Instead of speeding up the processof political independence, the Serbian Governmentis leaving the electronic media at the mercy of localauthorities until after the next local elections inSerbia in 2008," said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMOSecretary General.

Under the new amendments, the deadline for thetransition of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) from astate-controlled broadcaster to a public service bro-adcasting organisation has also been extended until30 April 2006. "We are alarmed over this develop-ment," said Vujovic. "Public service broadcasting isone of the most important mediums through whichdiversity and the public's right to know can be fulfil-led. It is therefore important for Serbia to finish thistransition process as soon as possible, in particularsince the original deadline was set for 31 January2003."

"SEEMO calls on the Serbian Government towithdraw the draft amendments to the Broadcast Actand to enter into a wide-ranging consultation withmedia and other civil society groups before any furt-her amendments are put forward," Vujovic added.

PRESS RELEASE ALBANIA, 8 JulyOn 8 July, South East Europe Media Organisation

(SEEMO) issued a press release about theattack by the Mayor of Korca on a journalist in

Albania. According to information before SEEMO,on 26 June, Robert Damo, Mayor of Korca and amember of the Democratic Party, physically assaul-ted Juliana Dhimitri, a journalist for Top ChannelTV, who was filming an electoral debate in Korcabetween Democratic Party and Socialist Party candi-dates. The actual incident took place after the deba-te in the street, where Damo and another candidatewere involved in a fierce discussion when Dhimitristarted filming them. When Damo saw her, he pus-hed her away and began to insult her.

SEEMO was also informed that Damo then tookher into a room of the hotel where the debate hadbeen held, escorted by some 20 staff members. Hetook away her camera and continued harassing her.He also threatened Dhimitri that she would haveproblems if she called the police. This is the secondattack by Damo on the journalist. The first incidenthappened three months ago. SEEMO strongly con-


Your Excellencies!Recent SEEMO Protests

SEEMO

demned this attack on a journalist by a high-rankingofficial and called upon the Albanian authorities todo everything in their power to prevent such inci-dents from happening in the future.

SEEMO PROTEST SERBIA, 16 JuneOn 16 June, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO) sent a letter of protest toVojislav Kostunica, Prime Minister of the Republicof Serbia, and Dragan Jocic, Minister of InteriorAffairs of the Republic of Serbia, expressing its deepconcern about threats against the editor-in-chief ofthe Serbian daily newspaper, Danas. According toinformation before SEEMO, on 11 June anunknown person called the office of Belgrade dailyDanas and issued a death threat against the editor-in-chief, Grujica Spasovic. The person identifiedhimself as "the security" of General Ratko Mladic,who is in hiding and being hunted because of hisindictment by the International Criminal Tribunalfor the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes inBosnia and Herzegovina. SEEMO asked the twoofficials to do everything in their power to urgentlyinvestigate this threat and to take all necessary stepsto protect the life of Grujica Spasovic.

PRESS RELEASE KOSOVO, 7 JuneOn 7 June, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO) sent a press release stating itis alarmed at the assassination attempt on a Kosovojournalist. According to information beforeSEEMO, on 3 June Bardhyl Ajeti, former journalistand editor for Bota sot daily from Kosovo, which isalso published in Western Europe and USA, was shotwith one bullet in the head and one in the backwhile driving through the village of Bresalc/Bresalce,some kilometres away from Gjilan/Gnjilane.Unknown persons have opened gunfire on Ajeti'scar, while driving by. His condition was critical, alt-hough he was immediately operated upon. SEEMOhas also been informed that on several occasionsAjeti claimed he was under threat, and therefore itstressed that this attempt on Ajeti's life is just one ina series of attacks on journalists in Kosovo. Only oneyear ago Fatmira Terdevci, a journalist for KohaDitore, was attacked by unknown men. The perpe-trators have still not been identified. SEEMO calledupon the international and local authorities inKosovo to do everything in their power to find thosepersons responsible for this assassination attemptand to bring them to justice.

PRESS RELEASE ALBANIA, 19 MayOn 19 May, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO) expressed its deep concernin a press release about an attack on journalists inAlbania. According to information from theAlbanian Helsinki Committee, on 8 May, two jour-nalists and two cameramen from local TV stations in

Korca were forbidden to film the activities of muni-cipal police officers, who were in the process ofsuspending activities at a private bar in the Korcadistrict. Furthermore, the chief of the municipal poli-ce of the Korca district exerted violence againstJuliana Dhimitri, correspondent for Top Channel TVand threw away one of the cameraman's equipment.Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General, condem-ned these attacks on journalists. "Attacks on journa-lists and destruction of their equipment are unaccep-table. It is particularly worrying if these attacks arecoming from high officials, like from a chief of themunicipal police. Journalists must be able to reportwithout fear of harassment and intimidation."

PRESS RELEASE SERBIA, 19 MayOn 19 May, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), issued a press release expres-sing its deep concern about the arrest of two journa-lists in Serbia. According to information beforeSEEMO, on 6 May, acting director of TutinInformation Center, journalist Albin Gegic andcameraman Tufik Sadovic were arrested and reman-ded in custody for 13 days. They were accused ofobstructing a broadcast and were arrested on suspi-cion of having destroy-ed public equipment.According to the TutinInformation Centre,the order for remand incustody was handeddown by the investiga-ting magistrate of themunicipal court inTutin. Both were relea-sed on 12 May, afterthe district court inNovi Pazar upheldtheir appeal and over-turned the custodyorder. SEEMO regardsthese arrests as a directviolation of press free-dom and journalists'rights. SEEMO belie-ves that cases such asthis could be avoided,if there were clearerregulations for thepublic and private elec-tronic media in Serbia.Therefore, SEEMOurged Serbian authori-ties to address pro-blems related to elec-tronic media in theRepublic of Serbia,especially followingissues:


SEEMO

• The Serbian government should appoint theManaging Board for the TelecommunicationsAgency, which should prepare the FrequencyAllocation Plan.

• The Broadcasting Agency should develop theStrategy for Broadcasting Development in coopera-tion with the Telecommunications Agency in Serbia.

• Clearer definition of the number of nationalcommercial coverage licences for electronic media.

• Urgent inclusion of all interested parties in con-sultations that must precede the adoption of theStrategy for Broadcasting Development and the pre-paration of the Frequency Allocation Plan.

PRESS RELEASE GREECE, 13 MayOn 13 May, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), wrote a press release sayingit is alarmed about the assault on KostasNikolakopoulos, a journalist for the sports daily Foston Sport and the radio station Super Sport FM.According to information before SEEMO, on 7May, Nikolakopoulos was attacked by four unknownmen in front of his wife and two young daughters,only meters away from his home in Ilion, Athens.The perpetrators hit him repeatedly on the head andbody using knuckledusters and iron bars. OnceNikolakopoulos had fallen to the ground, theydisappeared. Nikolakopoulos was taken to a nearbyhospital, where his injuries were treated. He left thehospital three days later. SEEMO has also beeninformed that the journalist had received anony-mous threats in the past regarding his articles andradio reports. Nikolakopoulos is a well known sportsjournalist, specialising on issues concerning the mostpopular soccer club in Greece, Olympiakos Piraeus.SEEMO used this oportunity to remind that inOctober 2004 sports journalist Philippos Syrigos wasattacked in the car park near Super Sport FM radiostation, while walking to his car after a radio show.He was attacked by two unknown men wearing hel-mets, who hit him on the head with a metal bar andstabbed him several times in the back. The two per-petrators managed to escape and have not beenbrought to justice. SEEMO called upon the authori-ties in Greece to find and bring to justice thoseresponsible for these attacks.

PROTEST SLOVENIA, 2 MayOn 12 May, SEEMO and IPI wrote a joint letter

of protest to Janez Drnov‰ek, President of theRepublic of Slovenia, and Janez Jan‰a, PrimeMinister of the Republic of Slovenia, in order tohighlight a number of problems with the draft Acton Radio Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia).

Before examining some of the provisions, IPIwould ask the Slovenian government whether thereis a real need to introduce an amended public servi-ce broadcasting law. In previous times, the Slovenian

law was considered to be one of the most advancedwithin the new EU member countries and it appearsto IPI that amendments might harm this reputation.IPI believed that the draft law in its form then didnot do everything possible to uphold the indepen-dence and autonomy of the public service broadca-ster and, quite to the contrary, it left the organisationvulnerable to political influence and pressure. Forexample, concerning the composition of theProgramming Council of RTV Slovenia (PCRS), inArticle 17 (5), 16 members are to be appointed bythe National Assembly based on suggestions "by theviewers and listeners of RTV broadcasts, universities,associations of societies or their organisations..."

Using this format, IPI expressed its worry that therelationship between civil society organisations andthe National Assembly merely pays lip service to theidea of negotiation and consultation but, in truth,gives the organisations little or no say in the finaldecision as to who should be a member of the PCRS.To avoid this problem, IPI would prefer to see eitheran independent board of civil society organisationschoosing their own representatives or certain nomi-nated organisations forwarding their own choices.

IPI also noted that the Roma community is notspecifically mentioned. On the question of thePCRS, IPI would like to see the Roma communityrepresented in this body. This is important becauseof the government's commitment to the SlovenianConstitution and the Public Media Act. Anotherimportant point is the question of the third channelthat is to be used for transmitting parliamentary andother National Assembly and National Council acti-vities. Given the special nature of this channel, IPIbelieved that funding should come not from thebudget of the public service broadcaster, but from aspecial source of funding.

In view of the above, IPI and SEEMO asked theSlovenian government to take the draft law and enterinto a rolling discussion with all interested parties asa means of making certain that the draft law meetsthe needs of the broadest possible spectrum ofSlovenian society.

PRESS RELEASE MONTENEGRO, 26 AprilOn 26 April, South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), issued a press release sayingit is alarmed about an analysis of the situation of themedia in Montenegro, which was presented by theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic ofMontenegro. According to information beforeSEEMO, the analysis, which was forwarded to theMontenegrin state institutions by the Foreign AffairsMinistry, criticised most of the local outlets as insuf-ficiently affirmative towards the Montenegrin inde-pendence.

Firstly, the analysis emphasised as problematic thefact that the private news agency, MINA, is financed


Review

Article

Transient Society: A Multi-Perspective Analysis ofTransformation in the EastIn: MedienJournal, Zeitschrift für Kommuni-kationskultur 2 / 2005 Wien

By Thomas A. Bauer

If a general term can be used to describe what hasbeen going on in eastern and south-easternEuropean countries over the last 10 to 15 years, it is“transition”. The term “transition” refers to a processof transformation on many different levels, in manydifferent sectors of public and private life, with manydifferent implications of hope for a new society, andwith lots of perplexity, uncertainty and lack oforientation. Not only the construction or the ways ofdoing things in the realms of politics, economy,education, etc. are changing. What is relevant in thistransformational process are changing relations, andthe changing meaning of structures, institutions, andorder of things. This makes everything involved inthe process “transient.” That is, any step ofdevelopment leads into the next step of alterationwithout really knowing what the implication of thenext step is. Transition is a sort of culturaldevelopment in the daily perspective of society andits systems, structures, institutions, anddevelopments. And what about the media? As a bigplayer in civil society, media plays an important rolein performing this cultural turn, even if it itself is a“victim” of this transient process.

For the first time, the transformation process inEastern and south-eastern countries was studied bythe Austrian Magazine “MedienJournal”, in 1989.The scholarly journal, produced by the AustrianSociety for Communication Science and edited atthe University of Vienna and the University ofSalzburg, featured an issue focusing on the role of

media in civil society. Over 15 years have passed sincethe publication of that issue. The subject is ripe for are-analysis of the process and its results.

Which is why the second issue of this year isdedicated to “Transformation in the East”. In it,Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and the Czech Republicserve as examples of what has changed in easternmedia and which structures and mentalities havebeen most challenged during this process.

Hania Fedorowicz analyses how civil society hasstolen the show from the old bureaucratic system andhow it resisted the vision of public truth and themendacious and hypocritical monopoly ofinformation by the state. This was made possible byputting irreproachable people into responsiblepositions in public institutions as a synonym forintegrity. This transformation of the Polish societywas called a “from bottom”.

The transformation process of media in Serbiabears similarities to that in Poland. Biljana Petrovictells the story of non-governmental media during theMilosevic era. Her story is a collection of all the tota-litarian instruments employed to silence journalistsand humiliate editors, including the destruction offree radio movements and alternative newspapers,and torture or killing of media people. Last, but notleast, the civil movement of democratisation helpdestroy the old system.

Andrea Kinz illustrates how the Czech Republic’sgovernmental media system was turned into a privatecommercial system. She also highlights the process ofglobalisation, which has integrated the east andsouth-east into the global market.

Anyone with the slightest interest in the socialimplications of media transformation (i.e.,privatisation, internationalisation) and the medialimplications of political transition (i.e.,democratisation, commercialisation) should pick upa copy of MedienJournal 2/2005. There is only onepossible problem: it is written in German.


by foreign donors. In SEEMO’s opinion, this line ofthinking was contrary to democratic principles andfreedom of expression. Secondly, the government sawas especially worrying the fact that there exists no“national news agency”. However, SEEMO statedthat the creation of a state-run agency would jeopar-dise the independence of the media scene inMontenegro.

SEEMO was also concerned because the analysiscited certain private electronic media, which shouldreceive “material help”. SEEMO stressed that there

Review

should be no discrimination by the government in itstreatment, economic or otherwise, of the media.Finally, the analysis claimed that certain media werenot reporting favourably about politicians and politi-cal issues. SEEMO stressed that journalists and mediaoutlets should have the right to report independent-ly, without any state influence or pressure. Therefore,SEEMO urged the Montenegrin Government torespect the principles of media independence and torefrain from putting pressure on the media.

Documents

IPIReport - univie.ac.at · 2006. 4. 13. · nal Airport has the second highest frequency of flights to Eastern Euro-pe ... Sarajevo Stjepan Malovic - Zagreb Georgios Papadakis -