de scripto · 2005. 3. 29. · stjepan malovic - zagreb georgios papadakis - athens risto popovski...

deScripto

deScriptoM edia in South Eastern Europe

www.deScripto.info published by the South East Europe Media Organisation - SEEMO

No 2, Winter 2005 15,-A Journal of Media in South Eastern Europe

Independent Media?Ownership & Editorial Freedomin South-Eastern Europe

“Public is waking up”Country Focus Croatia

Media Reports on all SEE countries

deScripto Winter 2005


Media in South Eastern EuropePublished quaterlyContactdeScripto, Thomas A. BauerDepartment of Media and Communi-cation Science, University of Vienna Schopenhauerstrasse 32,A-1180 Vienna, Austria+43 1 4277 [email protected] in ChiefThomas A. Bauer,Professor, University of ViennaManaging EditorAxel MairederTutor, University of [email protected] AssistanceDaniela Süssenbacher, Assistent,Univ. of Applied Sciences, ViennaKristina Benkotic, SEEMOEditorial ConsultantDardis McNameeProfessor, Webster University ViennaContributing WritersStefan ApflKarla Bavoljak Mazin ElfehaidEndri FugaHannes GoegeleBaki HalitiMathias Huter Bronko JovanovskiSolmaz KhorsandMichael Ledl Guest WritersDimitris CharalambisCorrespondentsMedia Plan - Media Online, SarajevoGraphic DesignAxel Maireder, Art DirectionWolfgang LuefMathias HuterStefan ApflPhotos Cover: Lisa-Marie GotscheOther: If not stated otherwise,by the editorsProof ReadingMaureen MacNeillAdvertising ContactThomas A. [email protected]+43 1 4277 49 336Publisher SEEMO - South East Europe MediaOrganisation, Oliver VujovicSpiegelgasse 2, 1010 Vienna, [email protected]; +431 5133940SEEMO is as an affiliate of the IPI - The International Press InstituteSpiegelgasse 2, 1010 Vienna, AustriaPublisher’s BoardRemzi Lani - TiranaRadomir Licina - BelgradeSamra Luckin - SarajevoStjepan Malovic - ZagrebGeorgios Papadakis - AthensRisto Popovski - SkopjeOgnian Zlatev - SofiaPrinted byDan Graf d.o.o., Belgrade in coopera-tion with Standard 2, BelgradeSubscriptionStandard::e 24,- /yearStudents: e 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, the Universityof Applied Sciences Vienna and theWebster University Vienna under theauspices of the South East EuropeMedia Organisation (SEEMO), deScriptois an independent journal of analysisand opinion dedicated to the democrat-isation of the media and the develop-ment of civic society in the SEE Region.The views expressed in deScripto areentirely those of the authors and do notrepresent the positions of SEEMO/IPI.

Dear Readers,First of all we are thank-

ful that there has been somuch international interestin deScripto, and we arealso grateful for the feed-back, of which there hasbeen a lot, both supportiveand critical. Above all, we have learned that thismagazine can (and will) become a forum for media-related issues in South East Europe, and among andbetween the countries of that area, if we give voice tothe experts who live and work there. We have alsodiscovered that a description (sic: deScripto!) of acomplex media landscape needs a complex appro-ach, in order to know what and how to research. Lastbut not least, we have learned to trust in the analyti-cal competence of professionals at hand. There is noneed to neglect critical self-reflection. In that sense,we have learned to count even more on the expertsand witnesses from the regions we are discussing aspartners in our mission.

The Winter 2004/05 edition takes a deeper lookat the question of media ownership. Ownershipstructures in South East European countries are –mostly due to the transition of media systems – invigorous motion, though foreign investments alsoplay a big role in this dynamism. These foreigninvestors force national and regional markets to con-front new options and market possibilities, with newtrends in media concentration a certain outcome.This will have different and sometimes hard conse-quences for small and big national players alike.

The country focus of this edition concentrates onCroatia, which is – since being invited to start nego-tiations leading to European integration – as a wholevery much in motion. There are big challenges toovercome during this partnership transition betweenpolitics, media, public institutions, and organisa-tions of civil society. It gives an overview of what isgoing on in Croatia’s media landscape. I hope youwill gain further insight with this issue, and that itencourages even more interest in media-relateddiscourse. With best wishes,

Thomas A. Bauer, Editor-in-ChiefUniversity of Vienna

imprintLetter from EditordeScripto


Dear Readers,The hardest job is

behind us: we have alreadypublished and distributedthe first issue of deScripto.The first letters from rea-ders have now come to ourSEEMO office in Vienna,and from what we see, deScripto was positivelyaccepted by media professionals, politicians, andregional experts, as well as by other, so-called “ordi-nary” readers in South Eastern Europe and outsideof the region. Some of the letters provided usefulgeneral comments and feedback, as well as very use-ful remarks about concrete articles and book reviewspublished in the first issue. For this I would like tothank those who took the time to send somethingin. It helped us a lot in producing this second issueof deScripto that you have in your hands now.

Personally, I found two letters very important.Not only because I received them from friends, butbecause they are from two people who know thesituation in South Eastern Europe very well, buthave “a distance from the region”. The first is fromDr. Gisela Rheker, former German Ambassador toBelgrade and the second from Dr. WolfgangPetritsch, former Austrian Ambassador to Belgradeand later part of the EU Special Envoy for Kosovo,EU chief negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks inRambouillet and Paris, and High Representative forBosnia and Herzegovina. Why are these letters soimportant? Both ambassadors have spent a part oftheir life in South East Europe. And both are nowoutside the region. Dr. Rheker is in Germany andstill very active in varying institutions, while Dr.Petritsch is Austria's ambassador to the United Nat-ions in Geneva. However, both are still interested inSouth East European developments. They have notforgotten the region. That gives me optimism thatSouth East Europe has not been forgotten in gene-ral. That's important not only for the future of theregion, but for the future of Europe as a whole!

Herewith, I would like to express my sincere gra-titude to all readers of deScripto who sent us lettersand again encourage further feedback, commentsand suggestions. They should be sent to ourSEEMO office in Vienna (by e-mail to:[email protected] or to SEEMO-IPI, Spiegel-gasse 2/29, 1010 Vienna, Austria). Your remarks willbe of assistance in preparing the next issue ofdeScripto.

Oliver Vujovic, PublisherSouth East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)

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3deScripto Winter 2005

Dossier Ownership & (In)dependenceTwo Schools of ThoughtOwnership & (In)dependence

by Thomas A. Bauer

Young Markets, Old Problemsby Stefan Apfl and Mathias Huter

Aqiring a Mind-Blowing MarketThe german Media Company WAZ and their domi-

nant Role in South-Eastern Europeby Wolfgang Luef

Foreign Ownership in SEE RegionAn Overview

by Daniela Süssenbacher

The Step Back to EtatismMedia Ownership in Greece

by Dimitris Charalmbis

Optional AccessoryJust a Footnote in the Media Jungle:

Editorial Independenceby Solmaz Khorsand

Corporate PressureNon-Media Corporations

Owning Media in Albaniaby Endri Fuga

A Question of TransparencyPublic Broadcasting in Transition -

Editorial Independence in Romanian and Slovenian Public Channels

by Hannes Goegele

Country Focus CroatiaChallenged MonopolyCroatia Marks the Start of a

New Television Era With the Surfacing of RTLby Karla Bavoljak and Izvor Moralic

“Public is waking up”Professor Stepjan Malovic on the

Croatian Media Market an it’s Problemsby Thomas A. Bauer

A Loss of RespectMedia Education in Croatia

by Karla Bavoljak

New Willingness RequiredPending EU Membership Brings International

Media Standrdsby Karla Bavoljak

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Money makes the World go round!Dossier Ownership from page 5

South-Eastern Europe Media Reports“Think Negative” or Panic Journalism

Media Report Albania

Closer to the TruthMedia Report Bosnia and Herzegovina

Archaic Laws Tamper With Press Freedom

Media Report Bulgaria

2000 Years in Prison?Media Report Cyprus

Fighting for FainessMedia Report Greece

Big Players in a Small MarketMedia Report Hungary

Media concumption decreasingMedia Report Kosovo

Struggle for Survival Media Report Macedonia

Problems to be SolvedMedia Report Moldova

Waiting for the Last Man StandingMedia Report Montenegro

Dissensions in a Battlesome PaperMedia Report Romania

A Question of HonourMedia Report Serbia

Journalists’ Silence marks the NationalParliamentary Election Day

Media Report Slovenia

A Means to an End: Press Law as the Golden Key to Open EU Doors

Media Report Turkey

SEEMO ReportsProtest LettersActivity Report

deScripto’s ReviewLiterature, Edu Programmes

deScripto’s PreviewUpcoming Events

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Table of Contents

Aquiring a mind-blowing market, WAZGroup expands to SEE. page 8

Country Focus Croatia from page 18

Dossier Ownership & (In)dependence


When one considers the question of editorialor/and media independence, one always comes backto – among other contextual topics - the analysis ofownership structures. The media serves both a cultu-ral and economic higher good. Since we are living insocieties in which cultural goods - such as opendiscourse – are distributed through economic(media) organisations, it is plausible for us thatownership of media includes some right to definepublicity conditions. That position conflicts, howe-ver, with the democratic requirements of editorialfreedom and media plurality. Since the media requi-res two markets to survive economically (audienceand advertising), it has to be interested in financial-ly successful management, but at the same time itmust irritate the economic status quo because of itsduty to research such themes as part of investigativejournalism. So it may (and often does) happen thatjournalists are challenged to research subjects thatmay not be in the best interests of people or organi-sations, which are stake or shareholders in the media.

Economically speaking, media ownership is not aneasy position. On one hand, media entrepreneurshipis encouraged in a very difficult and complex market,and on the other hand, it is the source of indepen-dence problems, often negatively impacting free-dom, the open media market, and above all, mediaculture. Ownership is the position at which econo-my, quality, money, quota and public communica-tion values meet and where all those factors comeinto a difficult crux in a democratic culture. Themost difficult issue of them all is media concentra-tion.

Communication research has shown that concen-tration processes have at least four variations in allmarket economy systems: In the first type, the samesorts of media, e.g. several newspapers, join forces tobecome a newspaper concern (horizontal concentra-

tion). In the second, different types of print mediaamalgamate (newspapers and magazines, for exam-ple) and become a press concern. The third type isusually characterised by an amalgamation among dif-ferent media types and constitutes a multimedia con-cern. Communication concerns are the fourth type;they are enterprises that join together media andmedia-related industries. This systematic descriptionis not only a theoretical system; it shows the threat ofgrowing limitations on opinion plurality.Communications research reveals two differentschools of thought. One assumes that media concen-tration has an effect contrary to the plurality ofpublic opinion, which is the fundament of democra-cy. Included in this is also an assumption that bigmedia concerns try to maintain the best relationspossible to political systems and use their position (aspublic opinion monopolizers) in order to maintaintheir market interests.

The other way of thinking is that media compa-nies are that much freer in their reporting the greatertheir economic independence is. The institution thatis not dependent on the commercial market or spon-sors is free to research, report and deliver opinions.As well, a strong concern is able to pay higher sala-ries for better-educated journalists, to employ corre-spondents and to subscribe to news agencies. USAmerican researchers support this assumption withempirical numbers: the fewer owners a newspaperhas, the more subjects it deals with.

The differences between these two schools ofthought are enormous. Nevertheless, all the legislati-ve basics regarding ownership (cartel, press subsidy)are related – due to historical tradition – to the firstschool of thought. The discourse is changing in theface of globalisation. The second school of thoughtwill be confronted by the need to prove societaladvantages that justify economic profit strategies. n

So it may (and often does)happen that journalists

are challenged to researchsubjects that may not be

in the best interests ofpeople or organisations,

which are stake or share-holders in the media.

Ownership is the positionat which economy, quality,

money, quota and publiccommunication values

meet and where all thosefactors come into a diffi-cult crux in a democratic

culture

deScripto Dossier: Ownership & (In)Depencence

Europeanisation brings new dynamics into the media landscape of young democracies in South East Europe. Developments, options and hopes have beco-me mixed with overwhelming challenges and problematic effects.

by Thomas A. Bauer

Two Schools of Thought



It is clear the media landscape profits from a diver-sity of topics, views and especially owners; it is equal-ly clear that it suffers from analogue. According tomedia theory, in a free and deregulated market,media outlets tend to concentrate.

The media story of Western Europe is also a storyof elevated concentration. But what happens toyoung incompletely developed markets, which inaddition are flooded by foreign capital? What hap-pens to the South-East European (SEE) countries? Inmost of these countries, young democracies are con-fronted by old problems.

The phenomenon of concentration is particularlyobservable in the media market. That is because themedia industry is an economy of scale, meaning areduction in the cost per item (unit costs) resultsfrom large-scale production, which is realisedthrough operational efficiencies. The high costs ofmachinery, factories and distribution are spreadacross a greater number of units as more are produ-ced.

The causes and effects of various kinds of concen-trated media ownership slightly differ:

Horizontal concentration (or horizontal integra-tion) is a term used to describe a media group thathas two or more media outlets operating in the samefield. An outstanding example is Macedonia, whereWestdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) owns thethree major daily newspapers with a huge marketshare (read more about WAZ’s engagements in theSEE countries; page 8). The power that rests in onehand endangers pluralism of opinions and diversity.Wide segments of the market are covered, making itdifficult for other competitors to be successful in thismarket.

Vertical media concentration occurs when a mediaenterprise controls more than one area in the pro-duction and distribution of media products. This

results in high entry barriers for new competitors andturns the free market into a closed market bit by bit.There are many examples of investments in SEEcountries in which not only newspapers and magazi-nes but also printing houses have been acquired, suchas the Austrian Styria company in Croatia.

We speak of diagonal or cross-media concentrationwhen a supplier - a publisher or a broadcaster - alsomoves into the field of other media types. In

Young Markets,Old Problemsby Stefan Apfl and Mathias Huter

What would happen in a world of stories, if there was only one storyteller left? Would there be just one version of all stories? Who would decide what to tell and how to tell it?

Different kinds of investors have varyingmain interests for their exposure in media outlets.



“Media concentrationoften leads to recycling of

journalistic articles andother materials, as well as

a worsening of journalisticworking conditions”,

says Beata Klimkiewicz

Romania, two persons hold shares in a TV station, aradio network and weekly magazines, as well as in anews agency and national press distributor. Similarexamples are in other countries. In cases of cross-media ownership, owners have the indisputablepotential of controlling and influencing publishedcontent and therewith a major possibility of settingagendas.

Different kinds of investors have varying maininterests for their exposure in media outlets. On theone hand, the media industry is interesting for inves-tors who own major companies in industries otherthan the media industry. They are attracted by thepossibility of presenting themselves and their com-panies in a positive way, and above all, by big profitsthat can be made, especially in under-developedmedia markets.

“The less a market is developed, the bigger it’spotential is on the one hand, but on the other, thebigger the risk,” explains Horst Pirker, CEO of theAustrian Styria Media Group, which is intensivelyexpanding in Slovenia and Croatia.

The media market often attracts investors with apolitical affiliation; because of the power they gain totransmit their views through the ownership of mediaoutlets.

Zeljko Mitrovic, owner of the highly profitablePink radio and television network was associatedsome six years ago with the party led by SlobodanMilosevic’s wife Mira Markovic.

The effects of media concentration“Media concentration often leads to recycling of

journalistic articles and other materials, as well as aworsening of journalistic working conditions”, saysBeata Klimkiewicz, assistant professor at the Instituteof Journalism and Social Communication inKrakow. But she also points out good effects “con-nected with a strengthened position of publishers orbroadcasters against pressure from politicians.”

Another problem regarding media concentrationis unknown ownership. The specific challenge thatresearchers encounter in various SEE countries isobtaining exact data on ownership; data on second-level ownership relations is extremely hard to obtain.Hidden concentration because of sleeping partners iseven more dangerous, as it is essential in journalismto know about the owner interest of each media out-let.

“There might be hidden ownership relationsacross the media sector that we do not know of,” saysTarik Jusic, executive director of the Media CenterSarajevo.

On the long term, multiple SEE countries are ten-ding towards joining the European Union (EU),which still has its own problems with media concen-tration.

Article 11 of the EU Charter of FundamentalRights says: “The freedom and pluralism of themedia shall be respected.”

A look into the EU’s media market suffices toshow how reality beyond well-formulated charterphrases actually works. Countries like Italy andAustria suffer from a highly concentrated medialandscape.

In fact, the SEE countries are even more endange-red as their (media) markets are young, and as yetonly partially developed and engaged. In these cases,there is even more need for strict market rules andregulations. Otherwise, a free media market gradual-ly becomes a closed one, with little chance for newcompetitors to enter.

Horst Pirker is convinced, “concentrated owners-hip is a hazard to pluralism and democracy. On the

Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European StudiesÖsterreichisches Ost- und Südosteuropa-Institut/OSI

A-1010 Vienna, Josefsplatz 6tel. +43-1/512 18 95, fax: +43-1/512 18 95/53e-mail: [email protected], internet: www.osi.ac.at

Founded 1958; research and information centre; educationaland cultural politics, ecology, geography, history, nationalityand minority studies;library of 47,000 vols and 2,400 periodicals and documents;Dir. PhD, Assoc.prof. Peter Jordan;publications: OSI-Aktuell (newsletter), ÖsterreichischeOsthefte (quarterly), Schriftenreihe des Österreichischen Ost-und Südosteuropa-Instituts, Wiener Osteuropastudien, Atlasof Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

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other hand, it is better to have a few companiesinvolved in media concentration than only one.” Inan interview with deScripto, Pirker argues for aretroactive legal limitation: ”In my opinion, de-con-centration laws, if they are valid for everyone, are nota bad idea from the point of democracy and society.”

Big ChangeIt was a big change for SEE countries when politi-

cal systems of the late 1980s and early 1990s weredisplaced by democratic governments. Previously,many media outlets had been under the control oftotalitarian states, whose main interest was havingcontrol over published content. Not because offinancial interests, but because of propaganda. As aresult, in most of the SEE countries, private peoplewere legally prevented from founding media outlets.

When the political system changed, the process ofadopting new media legislation turned out to belong and complex. Legislators lacked vision (andexperience) in their development of useful mediaregulation and media ownership laws.

“As a result, the opinion that the newly acquiredfreedom of expression should not be limited byrestrictive media legislation prevailed in most ofthese countries. Public debates were based on theassumption that media legislation was not necessaryat all,” says Sandra Basic Hrvatin, author of the bookMedia-Ownership, of the earlier situation.

Consequently, most countries did not intervene inthe media sphere until the effects of an unregulatedmarket became manifest.

“Unfortunately, this intervention came too late,”Hrvatin states.

Since there was little help from the EuropeanCommunity at that time, many South EastEuropean (SEE) Countries enhanced legislationbased on that existing in West European countries,without adapting it adequately to fit their specificsituations. Permanent reforms of media legislation inthose countries were the result.

To improve the current situation of concentratedownership in SEE countries, Hrvatin and her co-authors make recommendations: media legislationshould include provisions stipulating restrictions onconcentration and media ownership data should bemade publicly accessible. The recommendations alsoinclude active intervention by the state with the aimof ensuring media pluralism as well as regulatory andself-regulatory mechanisms to ensure editorial inde-pendence and prevent the abuse of journalism bymedia owners who only want to advance their poli-tical and economical interests.

Governments that are expected to anticipate suchproblematic phenomena are usually addicted tomajor media companies. Yet it is up to them to con-struct the public media sphere. n

Interview

deScripto: What do you see asthe advantages and disadvanta-ges of foreign capital investmentin the media sector in SouthEastern Europe?Vujovic: The big investorscoming from abroadplay, first of all, avery positive role.They come withmoney, technologyand knowledge.Second, and alsoimportant, is thatthey bring the WestEuropean way ofthinking, which isalso very positive.One of the problems is that theinvestors are buying in particu-lar yellow press, or, let's say,papers that often lack a certainlevel of journalistic quality.

SEE media companies are lookingfor Western investors, is thatwhat you say? Of course. The SEE economy isstill very weak and the price of anewspaper is quite high in com-parison to the people's level ofincome. Advertising, on the con-trary, is cheap, so there is littlemoney coming in, but the levelof the production costs is quitethe same as in Western Europe.Without money from outside, alot of media companies wouldnot be able to survive. Butowners could play a more im-portant role, supporting alsomore quality papers.

Why should foreign investors beinterested in low-circulation,high-quality papers? They areinterested in earning money...Yes, but think in the long-term.In the long-term, it is veryimportant for investors to ensu-re the democratic and economic

development of the countriesthey put their money in. That iswhy it would be important tosupport those voices that arehelping democratisation to goforward.

There are examplesof the importantrole critical mediahave played in push-ing democratic de-velopement all overSEE. Unfortunately,most of WesternEurope's mediagroups do not lookfurther than thenext day.

Aren't you concerned about theongoing concentration in theregion through investment byforeign companies. Couldn't thatlead to a decrease in media diver-sity?Well, that is an internationaltendency, so it is nothing specialfor South Eastern Europe.One of the problems we expe-rience is that when a couple ofnewspapers are in the hands ofa single company, they start toget closer and closer in style andcontent.Each owner will have it's ownstandards, and it seems quiteclear that all the media belon-ging to a certain group have thesame standard of journalism.

Talking of standards. Did newowners bring in some kind of“Western” standards for journa-lism.Some West European publishersset up westernised standardsfor reporting, editorial manage-ment etc., while others leave itthe way it was; the specificregional way of journalism andmedia management. n

Looking forForeign MoneySEEMO’s Oliver Vujovic on the Role of Western Investors in South Eastern Europe

Without moneyfrom outside, a lot

of media companieswould not be able

to survive.



They are acquiring South Eastern Europe (SEE)and investing billions. How does that work? Andwhy the Balkans?

“First, it is an enormous growth region,” saysMarkus Beermann, who is in charge of WAZ’s ope-rations outside Germany, “and second, it is just amind-blowing market there. It’s full of enthusiasm,pioneer spirit and a lot of ideas.”

Today, WAZ owns several print media in Serbia,Croatia, and Hungary, as well as one daily in Mon-tenegro and one in Romania.

In Macedonia and Bulgaria they are already in aleading market position. Many observers criticise thedominant market position of the WAZ in SEE. TheInternational Federation of Journalists (IFJ), forexample, has stated that pluralism of voices is endan-gered when a majority of daily press publications areowned by one single company.

WAZ plays monopoly“In Macedonia, they run a virtual monopoly,” says

Aidan White from the IFJ. The WAZ owns control-ling interests in three daily newspapers of the coun-try: Dnevnik, Utrinski Vesnik and Vest. Together,these three newspapers had a market share of almost90 percent in 2003, according to the MacedonianMonopoly Authority, which had researched theWAZ-entrance into the Macedonian market in2004, and approved it.

A similiar market situation can be seen in Bulgaria,where the WAZ entered the market in 1996. Thetwo largest dailies, Trud and 24 Casa, and the largestweekly, 168 Casa, are part of the WAZ family.

In past years the group has been involved in a

series of legal battles with the CompetitionProtection Commission (CPC) of Bulgaria. But as inMacedonia, WAZ managed to emerge as winner.WAZ has a share of more than 63 percent of the totaladvertising revenue in Bulgaria, according to theCPC.

The ultimate WAZ-model of becoming market-leader

How can one company have a leading position inso many press markets? Branislava Opranovic, jour-nalist at the Serbian daily Dnevnik from Novi Sad,which is also owned by WAZ, says: “For many papersforeign investment is the only chance to survive, dueto the very difficult market situation.”

But why can foreign capital ensure growth whereregional owners fail? It has to do with the so called“WAZ-model”: they buy several print-media pro-ducts in the same region that have diverse editorialpolicies and political approaches. Often, they buy orbuild printing houses also. The papers’ editorialdepartments stay independent and separate, but themanagement, including distribution and advertisingfor all of the titles, is done by one single company. Sothey can offer relatively cheap joint-advertising pak-kages with great coverage for all their regional papers.

“That has the effect,” says Beermann, “that adver-tisers only deal with one professional representativeinstead of many.” This strategy was first applied inthe Ruhrgebiet, a region of Germany, in the 1970s.It has also been very successful in Austria for morethan ten years, and recently WAZ has practiced thatstrategy in Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia.

However, many experts, like the SlovenianMirovni Institut, see one danger in the WAZ’s enga-gement in Macedonia: that the WAZ will attractmost of the advertising money and slowly starve allthe other print media.

Indeed, the market share of WAZ’s daily competi-

“In Macedonia, they run avirtual monopoly.”

Aidan White, IFJ.

Mind-blowing MarketAcquiring a

In Germany everyone is talking about theeconomic recession and the crisis of themedia market. Advertising revenue and cir-culation are decreasing and many papershave to tighten their belts. Meanwhile, theMedia Group Westdeutsche AllgemeineZeitung (WAZ) is constantly growing.

“If any competitor can do it better,he will still hold his own in the market.”Marcus Beermann, WAZ

al influences of the WAZ. Journalists that claiminfluence often want to stay anonymous. So the cri-ticism is expressed by NGOs and even from compe-titive papers.

Many journalists working for the WAZ’s paperscontradict: “Nothing has changed since the WAZ

g MarketThe German Media Company WAZ and theirdominant role in South Eastern Europeby Wolfgang Luef

tors in Macedonia plunged from 16 percent in 2002to 11 percent in the first six months of 2003.Beerman does not regard that as a problem: “Indeed,we have a strong market position in Macedonia, butonly because our journalists do the best work – inde-pendently. If any competitor can do it better, he willstill hold his own in the market.”

In 2004 the situation has changed since new dailynewspaper Vreme, which is not owed by WAZ, ap-peared on the market.

Business interests vs. editorial independence

The WAZ claims to be more interested in circula-tion and advertising revenue than in editorial policy.In fact, there are constant accusations about editori-

has interests in our paper,” says Zana Bozinovskafrom Dnevnik. Goran Mihajlovski, Editor-in-Chiefat Vest, also reports: “The WAZ does not influenceus in any kind.”

However, some international organisations see edi-torial influence especially in cases where WAZ’s busi-ness intentions may be affected. IFJs Schroederreports that Macedonian journalists claimed that

they were not allowed to write articles about the rese-arch of the Macedonian Monopoly Authority con-cerning the WAZ. According to Mihajlovski, this isnot true. “We published articles about it, and theWAZ did not care.”

Advancing journalistic standards: Less thannecessary?

Beermann admits that the WAZ may interferewhen the perception exists that their journalists are

not practicing good journalism. “Articles have to bedouble-checked and re-checked. Sometimes, journa-lists in SEE just write what they hear, or even worse:what they get bribed for by someone. We do not tole-rate that.”

Opranovic thinks that along with the WAZ-invest-ment came more professionalism into their paper:“We have increased our circulation and our numberof pages. WAZ also promotes young journalists inSerbia.”

Schroeder puts this into perspective: “Indeed, theyhave helped developing journalistic standards. Buton the whole, much more would be necessary.”

The WAZ replies that they are the only majorplayer in SEE that has commited to the OSCE-stan-dards for freedom of press. Roland Brunner from theSwiss organisation medienhilfe discounts these stan-dards cynically as “the Sunday sermon that heraldsanother week full of sins.”

It’s all about the moneyAnother matter that is often criticised is the per-

sonnel policy of the WAZ. In Macedonia they selec-ted Srgjan Kerim, the former Minister of ForeignAffairs, as the executive manager. Bodo Hombach,an executive Board Member, is also a former politici-an and former head of Stability Pact for SEE.

Observers fear that politicians as media managerswould get in the way of editorial independence, orjust would not have comprehensive understanding ofthe media and how they work. Schroeder from theIFJ adds: “They have even installed bankers asmedia-managers. Is this a sensitive personnel policy?”

“It’s certainly the criticism that helps us on,” saysBeermann, “but we pay the journalists adequatelyand we inform the people well.” For him, successmeans primarily market shares and circulation:“Critique aside, one thing is clear: The best will bethe market-leader.” The IFJ strongly criticises thisattitude. They fear a “sacrifice of journalistic stan-dards to maximise revenue,” says White.

But maximising revenue does not have to meanstrict belt-tightening for the concerned papers.Mihajlovski reports, that their infrastructure hasbeen generally modernised since WAZ’s accusation.Bozinovska tells that many journalists felt apprehen-sions about rationalisation of jobs. “But everyonestayed.”

And what about the role of the WAZ in SEE in thefuture? “In some countries our growth is inhibited bymonopoly laws, but in others we want to make furt-her investments,” says Beermann. “We do not aim tobecome monopolists in every country. But we aim toconstantly provide good media products everywherewe can.”n



“We published articlesabout it, and the WAZ

did not care.”

Top: WAZ Building, Essen, Germany.Bottom: Entrance of WAZ Building.Photo: deScripto


Countries-Focus: To sum upthe SEE media situation is quitedifficult. It is extremely varia-ble according to each specialcultural setting. It is not veryeasy to get actual information,although different studieshave been written during thelast few years. Most countrieslack transparency of ownershipshares.The SEE media market ischaracterised by transition andchange, so the text below is anattempt to map some actualinformation. The big Europeanmedia concerns are mainly tar-geting the print media sector,while American media organi-sations focus on the electronicmedia sector.

Important foreign owners (FO)

Ownership regulation byorganisations and/or speciallaw (OR/L)

ALBANIAA growing media marketunder the law of media self-regulation.

FO: Italian ownership in printmedia and TV (Edisud JSC).Ownership shares between 15and 45 per cent on titles.

OR/L: National Council ofRadio and Television (NCRT).No limitation at all regardingforeign ownership.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINAThe media market is extreme-ly over-saturated but stillunderdeveloped. Neither sig-nificant cases of foreigninvestment nor cases of mediaconcentration.

OR/L: The problem is very littleinterst in BH market.

BULGARIAThere is a lack of transparencyin licensing of broadcastmedia and allegations of cor-ruption. German-originatedmedia domination.

FO: Foreign corporate mono-poly composed of Germanprint (WAZ - bTV, Eurocom) aswell as American (NewsCorporation - Murdoch) andGreek TV broadcasters (anten-na Group - Nova TV). Owner-ship shares between 60 percent and 100 per cent, mosttitles close to 100 per centforeign-owned.

OR/L: Radio and Television Act,Council for Electronic Media(CEM), Bulgarian Media Coa-lition (BMC), Union ofBulgarian Journalists (Pod-krepa).

CROATIAMedia ownership informationis one of the most hiddentypes of data. Germany is a bigplayer although there is noforeign concentration.

FO: German (WAZ, Burda, RTL),Finnish (Sanoma MagazinesInternational) and Austrian(Styria Media Group) owners.Europa Press Holding Com-pany (50 per cent owned byWAZ) and RTL (bought one ofthe official channels - HRT.)Ownership shares between 20per cent - 65 per cent by title.

OR/L: The Law on the Media,Council for Radio and Tele-vision (regulation and supervi-sion), Trade Union of CroatianJournalists (TUCJ).

CYPRUSParallel existing media mar-kets caused by linguistic andcultural diversity. A distinctlack of media development.International satellite televi-sion plays an important role.

FO: As a centre for internatio-nal media agencies it is diffi-cult to draw a distinction.

OR/L: Law on Print Press, Radioand Television Stations Law.

GREECETelevision is dominating thepress. Print media sector ishighly concentrated.

FO: Actual information notavailable

OR/L: Greek Constitution,National Council for Radio andTelevision (NCRTV), legal limitsto concentration of owners-hip.

HUNGARYForeign ownership is a big fac-tor in the whole media lands-cape. The focus is on the printmedia sector (the nationalnewspaper market stood in2001 at 83 per cent).Problematic media situation.

FO: German (Bertelsmann,Axel Springer, WAZ), Finnish

(Sanoma), Swiss (Ringier ownsone of the three biggestdailies 100 per cent) owners.National channels owned byScandinavian BroadcastingSystem (SBS) and Bertels-mann. Ownership shares bet-ween 50 per cent - 100 percent by title.

OR/L: Anti-ConcentrationProvisions and SpecialOwnership Rules in theBroadcasting Act of 1996 aswell as in the Competition Actof 1996 - no effective laws toregulate foreign ownership.

KOSOVOMedia pluralism with tenden-cy to overstock. The mediamarket is still missing econo-mic orientation.

FO: NGOs

OR/L: New Law on Broad-casting, Independent MediaCommission.

MACEDONIAParallel media markets causedby linguistic and culturaldiversity. Electronic media stillplay an important role.

FO: Strong position in printmedia market by GermanWAZ (three dailies). Owner-ship shares between 50 percent - 100 per cent by title.

OR/L: Law on BroadcastingActivity but still no law onmass media.

leader), Germany (WAZ,Springer and Burda), French(Lagardère Group), Finnish(Sanoma) and US-American(Viacom, Walt Disney, TimeWarner, UPC, CME, SBS)owners. Ownership shares bet-ween 40 per cent and 80 percent by titles.

OR/L: Audiovisual Law, MediaMonitoring Agency (MMA).

SERBIAMedia ownership is continu-ously changing but concentra-tion is highest in the big media(Blic, Politika, Dnevnik).

FO: German (WAZ, Bertels-mann), Swiss (Ringier) and US-American (Media developmentLoan Fund Inc MDLF) owners.Ownership shares between 49per cent and 100 per cent (Blic)by title.

OR/L: Broadcasting Law, PublicInformation Law and Law onTelecommunications.

SLOVENIA Foreign ownership is presentunder the control of stronglocal players. The foreign focusis on magazines.

FO: German (Burda, Motor-presse), Swedish (Bonnier) andAustrian (Styria Verlag)owners. Ownership sharesrange between 49 per cent and80 per cent by title.

OR/L: Mass Media Act adoptedin 1994 (stakes in a mediaenterprise cannot exceed 33per cent). Ownership amoun-ting to 20 per cent must bereported. Restrictions onlyexist in the area of cross-ownership.

TURKEYFO: Actual information notavailable

OR/L: Türkiye GazetecilerSendikasi (TGS); Television andRadio Law 4756. Restrictions onownership (Turkish or foreign)but not less than 51 per centequity by Turkish citizens.

Sources: Adrien Collin / GranvilleWilliams: Eastern Empires – ForeignOwnership in Central and EasternEuropean Media: Ownership, PolicyIssues and Strategies

MOLDOVAA media landscape divided insub-markets but far from plu-ralism. Sudden appearanceand fall of media outlets. Amarket without economicorientation.

FO: Traditional links witheastern (post-Soviet) partners.Mainly Rumanian and Russianmedia organisations.

OR/L: Press Law, Audio-visualLaw.

MONTENEGROA media landscape characteri-sed by concentration, cross-media ownership and mono-poly (six major media groups).

FO: German (WAZ - 50 per centof the Daily Press Companyand one daily, Vijesti) andSerbian owner (Pink TV).Ownership shares about 50per cent by title.

OR/L: Association of YoungJournalists, Media Law,Broadcasting Law, Law on theTransformation of State Tele-vision into Public Service Tele-vision - no effective laws to re-gulate foreign ownership.

ROMANIAExtensive liberation and priva-tisation tendencies in themedia sector. Media concen-tration a clear tendency. For-eign ownership across the ent-ire media landscape.

FO: Swiss (Ringier as leadingforeign publisher and market

Foreign Ownership in SEE RegionAn Overview by Daniela Süssenbacher




In Greece recently is running a huge debate onownership transparancy. The government decided for alegislation which provokes strong contradiction at theside of European minded experts. One of them is in thesame time the most prominent one, Professor DimitrisCharalamis, Vice president of the National Council ofRadio and Television. In almostall relevant Greek media thepublic could follow the debategoing on since a couple of mon-ths. Beyond a popular discus-sion the academic discourse onmedia ownership has to argueon a more sophisticated level.

That is why deScripto invi-ted Prof. Charalambis to deli-ver an outline on the discussionout of a political-scientific pointof view:

The emergence of privateradio and television stations during a period whenspecial legislation was not yet in existence (1989) hascreated an unusual situation in the development ofthe media market, with a great number of stationsoperating at the national, regional and local levels.State radio and television still broadcasts over threeTV stations and five radio stations. There are nocable operators in Greece and the penetration of digi-tal television is still restricted.

The 1975/1986 Greek Constitution contains twoarticles concerning the media, added during itsmodification in April 2001: Article 14 deals with thefreedom of expression and is related especially to thepress, while Paragraph 9 focuses on the promotion oftransparency and pluralism in the media sector (pressand broadcasting).

What Law SaysArticle 15 Paragraph 2 says that radio and televi-

sion shall be under the direct control of the state anddefines both the competent authority (ESR) and thepurpose of this control.

In the radio sector, the licensing procedure fore-seen by law no. 2328/1995 has only been completed

in the Attika region, where 35 stations are licensed.The law will nevertheless to a large extent be appliedto all other stations considered legal today (defined asthose that were operational on 1 November 1999).However, the precarious situation at the momentmay be seen as contributing to the creation of a cli-

mate characterised by 'non-regular' developments in themarket.

Encrypted radio and televi-sion services have a legal frame-work for market organisationthrough law no. 2644/1998,but in actuality only a few digi-tal satellite services have beenlegally licensed.

In the broadcasting sector,legislation dealing with mediaownership aggregation (parti-cularly new legislation) can

sometimes have an impact on the market definitionof the media.

Article 14 Paragraph 9 of Greek Constitution(1975/1986/2001) states that ownership of morethan one electronic information media of the sametype is prohibited.

This rather strict regulation follows an approachdifferent to that taken by other European countries(the legislation of which often focuses on the 'real'power in the market of each media), and contributesto what is already considered a negative climate bymany media companies.

The Greek legislation bans companies fromowning, for example, more than one television orradio station.

In Greece, the main media operators use free-to-air, terrestrial television. The size of the area to becovered has led to three categories of broadcasters:the national broadcaster, the regional broadcaster(covering in general an area comprised of more thantwo regions) and the local broadcaster (maximum oftwo regions).

Private radio stations exist in only one category:local (one region) radio stations, which can distribu-

Dimitris Charalambisis Professor of PoliticalScience at the University ofAthens, Department ofCommunication and Mass MediaandVice President of theNational Council of Radioand TelevisionRecent publications:Democracy and Globali-sation. Human rights andModernity: Real Abstractionand Reason, Athens, 1998(ed.) Recent Social Trends inGreece 1960-2000, McGills-Queens, Montreal Canada,2004

A Step Back to StatismDimitris Charalambis, Vice President of the Greek NationalCouncil of Radio and Television on Media Ownerhip in Greecead personam

The precarious situation at themoment may be seen as contributingto the creation of a climate charact-erised by 'non-regular' developments

in the market.


te programming from other stations for a maximumof only five hours a day.

To Overcome a DiscrepancyIn the name of transparency and clean relations

between politics and economy, Article 14 Paragraph9 forbids main shareholders of media companies(according to the Media Law 3021/2002, a mainshareholder is a person or a company that owns atleast five per cent of total sha-res) from being main sharehol-ders (also set at five per cent)of companies that are active inpublic construction or publicservices (using public tenders).

This includes not only theshareholder in question (thelaw requires shareholders to benamed), but also his or herspouse and relatives. WithMedia Law 3021/2002, thePASOK government (1993 –2004) has tried to overcome discrepancies betweenthis article of the constitution and a) human andcivil rights guaranteed in the Greek Constitutionitself and b) the European Treaty, the EuropeanDirectives and the Decisions of the European Court(fundamental rights and provisions for the freemovement of people, capital, goods and services).

According to the old law, if a spouse or a relativecould prove his or her financial independence, thenthis person could have shares in the media, or in acompany active in public construction or public ser-vice.

But according to the new law, which was approvedby a parliamentary majority on 24 January, withsupporting votes from the ruling party (the conser-vative New Democracy Party – ND, which won theMarch 2004 elections) the main shareholder of amedia company and his or her spouse and relativesare banned from cross-ownership in companies acti-ve in public construction or public service or othermedia companies (the ban applies not only to Greekcompanies, but also to foreign and European com-panies!).

The European Commission reacted negatively tothe new law, and Greek academics publicly criticised

k to StatismEthniko SymvoulioRadiotileorasis(ESR = National Council ofRadio and Television).

Established in 1989 as anindependent authority, theESR has changed its legalstatus three times. Onlyrecently, following the publi-cation of law no. 2863/2000,has the ESR been attributedthe power to grant licencesand impose sanctions onbroadcasters infringing thelegislation in force (adverti-sing, production rules etc).

Since 2001, the ESR has beenrecognised as the only com-petent body with regard tothe preservation of the follo-wing: pluralism, respect forthe value of the humanbeing, protection of childrenand youths, and transparen-cy of the economic elementsof media companies, as sti-pulated by the constitution.Its decisions are no longersubject to supervision rela-ting to compliance withlegislation, as was the caseuntil 2000 (the minister ofthe Press and the MassMedia was in charge).

The independent authorityenjoys a particular legal sta-tus attributed to it by theGreek Constitution, and con-sists of seven members whoperform their duties withpersonal and functionalindependence.

ad ESRit. Under this law, for example, a main shareholdercan either be active in a state construction business orin the media, but not both (the same for his or herspouse and all relatives).

According to the new law, spouses and relatives areautomatically “front men” (a view which goes againstthe fundamental rights of personal autonomy, self-determination and human dignity).

In addition to this, a main shareholder, accordingto the new law, is anyoneowning even one per cent ofthe shares or more.

Freedom That is Less Valid?

A crucial argument present-ed by the conservative govern-ment is that freedom of expres-sion and freedom of informa-tion are less valid for televisionand radio.

According to this argument,frequencies are a public good; so broadcasting isnothing more than a public service that the state for-wards to private companies.

Thus the state remains the regulator (through theESR) and the controller of the broadcasting sector.This is viewed as being similar to the privatisation ofother services, such as public transportation or garba-ge collection.

The government has tried with this law to frag-ment big private enterprises and companies (con-struction is the main industrial sector in Greece) andto ensure the power of the media (both written andbroadcast) will be limited, so that the entire mediasector will become more dependant on the state.

A law on media concentration is still expected(concentration is already much lower in Greece thanin other European countries), and it is believed theintention of government will be to create even moredependency.

These developments are a step back towards tradi-tional Greek statism: the old relationship between themarket and the state, in which the state tries to con-trol the market. That was generally the goal of Greekconservatives and also seems to be the main intent ofright and left populist politics in Greece. n

These developments are a step backtowards traditional Greek statism:the old relationship between the

market and the state, in which thestate tries to control the market.


Many newspapers claim one particular word ontheir head: “independent”. But in the fewest casesthis word accords to the editorial reality. In manySEE countries – a general overview is difficult becau-se of their heterogeneity – the economic situation,the weakness of the Trade Unions and the lackrespect of basic rights is a perfect hotbed for ownersto meddle in the editorial content. Publishers knowvery well about the miserable security of the workingconditions for journalists and the unilateral depen-dence relation. “They(journalists) think first about ifthey gonna have a job the next day before they gonnahave an argument with the publisher about the con-tent in the particular article”, substantiates OliverMoney-Kyrle from International Federation ofJournalists to deScripto.

In 2003 the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists(SNH) organised an anonymous polling among1200 journalists – just 234 dared to answer the pol-ling question on how free Croatian journalists feel.In reply to the question who exerts the most influen-ce 45 per cent of the editors answered the owner, 27per cent stated politicians. As a method of influencethe main part (44 per cent) described bad workingconditions, financial pressure and as a consequenceself censorship. “What strikes us the most is the factthat polling questions touch issues which journalistsin civilised countries and civilised media discussopenly in line with the provisions of the editorial sta-tutes. Journalists in Croatia do not dare to talk aboutthese issues even with a piece of polling paper, afraidthat editors would recognise them by handwriting,“complains the SNH Secretary Marinka Boljkovac-Borkovic. After Money-Kyrle’s estimations the worstconditions concerning editorial interference andpressure in the Balkan region tend to be local media,where local newspapers and radio stations are quiteheavily controlled by local government or used to beowned by it. But also the local media owned by weal-thy businessmen with political ambitions potentiallyendanger the press freedom. The problem is mediaare seen “as a tool of influence, helping the owner toaccomplish other commercial or even political inte-rest,” explains Manuela Preoteasa from online mediaEurActiv in Romania the situation in her country.This (mis)use of media is a general practice amongmany media owners, even among multinational

companies as the WAZ or the Swiss group Ringier. Itworks after the “triangle”- pattern: media channel -public authority - other business. “The media owneroffers “friendly coverage” to the (politically control-led) public authority which grants access to publicprocurement contract to the other business of themedia owner,” says Ioana Avadani, secretary of theCentre of Independent Journalism in Romania. Sheguesses that the main difference between foreign andlocally owned publications was that people workingfor the foreign-owned ones dare to protest publicly.“I am not aware of such protest from publicationsowned by Romanians. But the recent scandals at thenewspapers owned by Ringier and WAZ proved thatnobody is invulnerable to pressure.”

Although experts concede multinational compa-nies advantages like a higher credibility, stability andalso independence, there have been in the last timesome cases of editorial interference, like in the case ofthe Romanian broadsheet Evenimentul Zilei (EvZ).Since the takeover of the government critical EvZ in2003 by Ringier, the editorial staff has had problemswith the owner on the editorial line of the newspa-per. “We have different views of journalistic qualityand the organisational order in the editorial office,”says Silvia Lepiarczyk, responsible for the SouthEuropean Countries in Ringier. In December 2004Ringier replaced the editor-in-chief Dan Tuturica. “Ithink Ringier drop away Dan Tuturica, because theywant to change the editorial line of the newspaper,they probably want to make a tabloid or a semi-tabloid of Evenimentul Zilei,” worries Dan Tapalaga,the head of the political department of the newspa-per. Tapalaga – who left the newspaper voluntarilyjust some days after Ringier’s decision – does notwant to put the controversial action in a politicalcontext but he estimates that the former ruling partystill has power to impose such changes in EvZ. Le-piarczyk justifies the replacement of Tuturica by ag-reed measures, which have not been fulfilled by himor even communicated to the editors. Despite diffe-rent nationalities, political ideologies and economi-cal interest, media owners around the world seem tohave one strategy in common: Editorial interference.Their motives are various, the consequences are thesame: journalists lose direct or indirect their jobs andmedia products their reliability and quality. n

Publishers know very wellabout the miserable security

of the working conditionsfor journalists and theunilateral dependence

relation

Despite differentnationalities, political

ideologies and economicalinterest, media owners

around the world seem to have

one strategy in common:Editorial interference.


Optional AccessoryJust a Footnote in Media Jungle: Editorial IndependenceBy Solmaz Khorsand


It appears that this newsindustry is not marketdriven, but rather influencedby interests, which usually means corporate interests.

A new phenomenon has been invented:newspapers have become a“stick and carrot” tool.


While Albanians may lack many things, they cer-tainly do not have any shortage of political parties,or of newspapers, which are in abundance. In acountry of only three million people, there are morethan 70 parties and 20 dailies.

One might think that Albanians simply read toomuch, which would explain everything. But thefigures show something different. Out of the fourmost popular newspapers, only top-ranked Shekulliclaims a significant circulation, selling around24,000 copies per day. The other three, namelyPanorama, Korrieri and Gazeta Shqiptare sell closerto 15,000 a day.

Considering this very low circulation, one won-ders perhaps if all the papers exist due to high profit.Maybe though not so many people buy newspapers,those who do pay a lot. But again, this turns out notto be true. Out of the 10 most popular dailies, halfof them cost only 15 cents per copy.

The two most popular ones, Shekulli andPanorama, cost this much, while most intellectualsagree that the more expensive Korrieri and GazetaShqiptare, at 30 cents per copy, are the most reliablenewspapers.

Advertising does not really help since the rates aretoo low, far below those elsewhere in the region.Most newspaper publishers admit their publications’monthly balance is negative.

So the question is, how do the dailies survive?Most media analysts are concerned about this

unexplained boom in daily newspapers. To most ofthem, it appears that this news industry is not mar-ket driven, but rather influenced by interests, whichusually means corporate interests.

The fact is that behind most of these daily newspa-pers, that cost so little and are bought by so few,there are big corporations. That is how these “belowcost” dailies are financed and how they survive.

Does it matter? Two main problems arise: unfaircompetition and corporate dependence.

In the spring of 2004, when the AlbanianLegislature started formulating a special law dealingwith print media, two MPs asked parliament tointroduce an amendment that would end once andfor all newspapers’ dependence on business interests.The amendment would set a floor price for dailiesand new rules for those owning media. This shift in

function was regarded by many in the media as dan-gerous. In fact, newspapers have changed their goalfrom informing the public to pressuring the govern-ment, in effect taking the role of lobbyists. Thus anew phenomenon has been invented: newspapershave become a “stick and carrot” tool.

Obliged to Company GoalsBig corporations own newspapers. In most cases

those owned by such large companies sell very wellbecause they are cheap, the cheapest in the market.Clearly, these newspapers and their owners are notinterested in the true purpose of journalism, but rat-her in serving their own interests by running a mediabusiness at a profit. Whenever the parent corporationneeds something from government, its medium wri-tes nice editorials and carries extensive coverage ofthe executive’s activities. And of course, the opposite,whenever the corporate body needs to pressure thegovernment, its medium reflects the same spirit.

Nikolle Lesi, owner of Koha Jone, one of the hig-her-priced Albanian dailies, feels pessimistic aboutthe current media situation in the country, and belie-ves that the below-cost dailies have ruined the wholenewspaper industry. “The competition is simplyunfair,” he said in an interview for Gazeta Shqiptare.“As long as corporate interests are mixed with thoseof the pure newspapers, media will never be a fourthindependent power.”

But those businessmen who also own media thinkdifferently. Most of them regard the new law as afurther limitation to freedom of media.

Koco Kokedhima, owner of Shekulli, the lowest-priced and best selling daily in Albania, believes thatthe introduction of the new law allows the Albanianprime minister to influence and possibly shut downthose media that are considered truly independent.“It’s only a trick,” Kokedhima argues, “a trick to con-trol public opinion, and it is all done just monthsbefore the coming general elections.”

The parliamentarian debate will continue for seve-ral months, according to the head of the Parlia-mentary Commission on the Media, Musa Ulqini,while round tables with interest groups will be heldin February. International partners such as the OSCEand the Council of Europe have been asked to assistduring this important process.” n

Corporate Pressure Albanian Newspapers Controlled by Business InterestsBy Endri Fuga


Only a few days prior to the release of Romanianpresidential polls in December 2004, RomanianTelevision (TVR1) reporter Alexandru Costachetook it upon himself to expose public editorial inter-ference at the station. In a letter to the dailyEvenimentul zilei, Costache stated that TVR1 isconnected by “an umbilical cord, not just to theruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), but also toPrime Minister Adrian Nastase”.

On a European level, audio-visual media policy isgenerally based on common values: media pluralism,freedom of expression, the protection of minors andthe promotion of a multi- and intercultural identity.In the realm of public broadcasting, the EuropeanUnion’s (EU) key ideology is the commitment ofgovernments to their citizens to safeguard journali-stic independence and plurality.

Romania is due to join the EU in 2007. The coun-try’s Audio-visual Law was adopted in 2002 and ismostly in harmony with EU regulations. But, stillsome problems are in the practice.

Manuela Preoteasa from EurActiv Romaniareports: “Public television has internal codes, whichhave been used against journalists: for instance, jour-nalists are obliged to first address station manage-ment before speaking publicly about issues concer-ning the institution. According to a recent change,employees who speak to the press will be fired imme-diately.”

Another experienced TVR1 journalist*, whowants to remain anonymous due to a binding confi-dentiality contract imposed by the employer, empha-

sises: “Media are not independent; but as a result ofhistory and social traditions, journalists in EasternEurope do not miss a broader freedom.”

Romanian Media Monitoring Agency (MMA) sta-ted in a recent press release that “lack of debate aboutthe election is worrying, since television is the mainnews source of news for 73 per cent of Romanians.”

According to “Media Ownership and its Impacton Media Independence and Pluralism”, publishedby Slovenian Peace Institute in 2004, Romanianpublic TV channels reach 99 per cent of the Ro-manian population.

The unnamed Romanian journalist calls this fatalconnection between an insufficiency of critical andinvestigative reports on government activities, andthe broad reach of public broadcasting an “elegantmanipulation: on paper, government officials respectthe law, but they use every public event for their ownpropaganda, and as long as their media presence isbelow two minutes, it does not count as such.”

It results in great difficulty in closing this backdoor: “There are a few heroes in our working field,but most of us need to follow the rules of superficialjournalism in order to survive in a competitive andcorrupt labour market,” the Romanian journalist sta-tes.

Slovenia acceded to the EU in May 2004. Oneyear before accession, the country adjusted and coor-dinated its Mass Media Act in order to address con-troversial issues such as ownership and high mediaconcentration and “fulfil European directories, suchas Television Without Frontiers”, states Marko


A Question ofTransparencyPublic Broadcasting in transition - Editorial independencein Romanian and Slovenian public television

Since European audio-visual policy has highlighted editorial independence as a crucial contribution to freedom of the media, access to public information and transparency has improved. But still both EU applicants and member states face significant problems,evident in the cases of Romania and Slovenia.

by Hannes Goegele

* Name is known to the Editor

On a European level,audio-visual media policy

is generally based on common values: media

pluralism, freedom ofexpression, the protection of

minors and the promotion of a multi- and

intercultural identity.

Milosavljevic from the Department of Journalism atLjubljana University.

Nevertheless, political pressure and self-censorshippersist due to libel legislation and journalistic inex-perience. The social status of journalists, althoughgranted in collective agreements, is not fully respec-ted in practice. According to SEEMO in the IPI“World Press Freedom Review 2003,” not even thelaw on employment, which took effect in 2003,brought the expected results.

“Journalists work under same circumstances aspublic servants. In the public broadcasting sectorthey need to negotiate their salary with the Councilof Radio and Television. But this does not interferein the independence of reporting,“ Milosavljevicsays.

The problems undermining editorial independen-ce are on a higher level. Milosavljevic explains todeScripto: “Political demands in Slovenia have aneconomic character. Broadcasting is expensive andfinancial aid is often related to the naming of editorsand editors-in-chief, as their designation remains theduty of the government.”

In April 2005, the contract of the public radio’sgeneral manager expires and needs to be renewed.Since Slovenia’s government recently changed, mediaexperts fear an observable change in the duties andhierarchy of the newly named chief.

Today, it is hoped young journalists will be strongenough to fight deficiencies in editorial independen-ce. Ljubljana’s journalism department does not offerclasses on editorial independence as such, but doesteach students to report as independently as possible.

“Young colleagues are aware of communicationtheories,” the Romanian journalist confirms, “butoften they do not know about journalism practices.Consequently, editors are obliged to read and controltheir contributions. This situation turns out thesame as in former times, except that now foreignexperts call it control and not censorship anymore.”

This story alone proves that in both member andapplicant EU countries editorial independence inpublic broadcasting needs to be continuously moni-tored and guaranteed, since “the solution lays in afair application of the existing law,” says theRomanian journalist.

Both Slovenia and Romania are on their way;while the Trade Union of Slovenian journalists orga-nised a four-day strike in October 2004 (see MediaReport Slovenia on page 40), in order to move nego-tiations forward for better social status, in Romania,newly elected President Traian Basescu set the rein-stallation of media freedom at the top of his priori-ties, because editorial independence is an indicationof a democratic and free European society, andbecause the transition of public broadcasting is notyet complete. n


Public Broadcasting in South East Europe

AlbaniaAlbanian Radio and Television (RTSH);Radio: Radio Tirana; TV: TVSHhttp://rtsh.sil.at

Bosnia & HerzegovinaSarajevo:Public Broadcasting Service of Bosniaand Herzegovina (PBS BiH) http://www.pbsbih.baFederal Televisionhttp://www.rtvfbih.baBanja Luka:Radiotelevizija Republike Srpske (RTRS)http://www.rtrs.tv

BulgariaBulgarian National Television (BNT)http://www.bnt.bgBulgarian National Radio (BNR)http://www.bnr.bg

CroatiaCroatian Radio Television (HRT) http://www.hrt.hr

CyprusCyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC)http://www.cybc.com.cy

GreeceHellenic Radio and Television (ERT)http://www.ert.gr

HungaryMagyar Televizió (MTV)http://www.mtv.huMagyar Radio (MR)http://www.radio.hu

KosovoRadio Television Kosova (RTK)http://www.rtklive.com

MacedoniaMakedonska Radio Televizija (MRT)http://www.mr.com.mk

MoldovaTeleradio Moldova (TRM)http://www.trm.md

MontenegroRadio Televizija Crne Gore (RTV CG)http://www.rtcg.org

RomaniaSocietatea Romana de Radiodifuziune (SRR)http://www.srr.roTeleviziunea Romanahttp://www.tvr.ro

SerbiaRadio Televizija Srbije (RTS)http://www.rts.co.yu

SloveniaRadio Televizija Slovenija (RTV)http://www.rtvslo.si

TurkeyTürkiye Radyo Televizyon (TRT)http://www.trt.net.tr

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Public Broadcaster HRT challengedHTV, the oldest TV network in Croatia, has

responded unlike any other public TV station to the

intrusion of RTL into the market. Its programmingstarted to resemble a commercial TV station in reac-tion to the production of reality and talk shows,which are more typical of private media than of apublic broadcasting network. Furthermore, HTVhas been neglecting its duty as a public service andhas diminished its educational and informative pro-gramming which, being a public medium, it has toinclude according to Croatian law. This is importantbecause HTV receives 60 per cent of its income fromsubscriptions, which it could lose if it continues toneglect its duties.

Nova TV - The first competitorRTL is not the first to attempt to start a commer-

cial television network in Croatia. The first rumoursof a privately owned television station started to sur-face in 1999, after former HTV staff members talkedabout the possibility of founding a competitive tele-vision outlet. The main advantages of Nova TV (theresulting station) was the introduction of new sit-coms and an informal and friendly presentation ofinformation to the audience, which provided arefreshing alternative to people, who had lived for 10years with the bland structure of state-owned media,adapted from former Yugoslavian media.

The owners of Nova TV chose just the right time

Likewise, it is possible forRTL to lose its license for

the show because of gratuitous scenes of sex,inappropriate language

and alcohol while on air.


New PlayerNew Game

Country Focus Croatia

Croatia marks the start of a new television era with the launching of RTL

Due to the entrance of German media giant RTL,Croatia's television community is facing serious reconstruction.

By Izvor Moralic and Karla Bavoljak


to launch the new station. The end of the Tudjmanera coincided with its emergence, and at the sametime HTV began to undergo the slow and delicatetransformation from a state-owned to a publicmedium, being forced to clean its board of executi-ves from strong HDZ party influence in the process.

Although it possessed all the attributes required tobecome the leading TV station in the country, Novafailed to do so. This was partially due to the fastaction taken by HTV, which performed its executivereconstruction with remarkable speed and compe-tence. The new directors added some new sitcoms toits repertoire and introduced the game show hit“Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. Another reasonfor Nova's failure was because of the private medi-um's dwindling variety in programming and lack ofinformative content.

Nova TV was also struggling with legislative chan-ges behind the scenes, which played a large part inthe depleting popularity of the station. These chan-ges occurred, to put it mildly, under peculiar circum-stances. Ivan Caleta, former head of the channel,bought most of the shares of Nova TV. Later he soldthe station, and today's owner is American mediaconglomerate Central European Media Enterprise(CME).

According to a Nacional article from 31 August,Caleta is planning to sell his other TV acquisitions -Bosnian channel OBN and TV3 of Slovenia - toRTL, which would give the German media group alarge piece of the South European pie and bring itcloser to fulfilling its conquest of the Balkans.

The Transition of HTVHTV was previously accused of being controlled

by the Tudjman regime. However, the network hasperformed a highly skilful transition from a polarisedgovernment medium to an independent public ser-vice. Recently, many foreign media monitors haveconducted investigations on programming and thereporting of news and politics by Croatian Television(HTV). The Helsinki Committee for Human Rightsstates that HTV “has generally freed itself of politi-cal bias, but retains a strong bias in terms of topicscovered”. They state there is still a lack of attentiongiven to post-war issues (such as refugee return,respect of human rights, etc.). To fill the gap, theOSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperationin Europe) stepped in by financing an independentdocumentary series aired in March 2004.“Somebody's Land” was produced by the Serbian

Lauder himself said thatNova will probably need“six months to a year tocatch up” with HRT and RTL.


A Short History of HRT - Timeline

1994. HRT launched experimentalinternet service, providing information for those abroad

1993. HRT becomes equalmember of EuropeanBroadcasting Union (EBU) 1990. The Parliament of the

Croatian Republic legally rena-med Radio Television Zagreb toCroatian Radio Television (HRT)

1945. Radio Zagreb beganoperating as a state company

1940. Radio Zagreb nationalized by NDH

1924. Radio Club Zagreb esta-blished, which laid foundaitionsfor radio diffusion in Croatia

1930

1950

1970

1990

1926. Radio Station Zagrebfounded, privately owned bythe Cooperation Radio Zagreb

1956. Radio Zagreb renamedinto Radio Television Zagreb.TV Zagreb started transmitting

1958. Radio Television Zagrebjoined the mutual programmeof the Yugoslav Radio Television

2001. Law on Croatian RadioTelevision transformed it intoa public institution

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HRT - The Croatian RadioTelevision Networkis a hybrid of the Zagreb Radio, foundedin 1926, and Zagreb Television, foundedin 1956. The network is legally owned bythe Republic of Croatia and consists oftwo television channels and three radiochannels. A former third HRT televisionchannel was acquired by the German-owned network RTL. HRT-TV 1 carries allthe public programming required underCroatian law, including the educational,news, science and culture programmes.The second channel features entertain-ment and sports programmes. The sta-tion is directed by Marija Nemcic, and is60 per cent funded by subscription fees.The network reaches 99 per cent of thecountry.

RTL Broadcasting in Croatia since 30 April2004. RTL programming is present inapproximately 40 countries worldwide;in Europe the network operates 30 TVstations in ten countries. The Luxem-bourg-based RTL group was founded inthe spring of 2000 and is primarily


Television Companies & Market Shares in CroatiaDemocratic Forum, and it focuses on war-affectedareas and the lives of people living there. The com-petition created by new TV channels, such as NovaTV, the regional Croatian Commercial Network(CCN) and RTL, has also pushed HRT to improveits economics and content.

Ever since the Croatian Democratic Union(HDZ) has returned to power in Croatia, legislationhas been marked by constant clashes with the media.The party has been extremely sensitive to mediascrutiny since the end of the Tudjman period; befo-re there were extremely harsh media regulations ban-ning any reports critical of the government, part ofthe regime's efforts to keep a tight grip on the flowof information. After the end of this era, previouslywithheld information saw the light of day, makingHDZ's reformation even more strenuous andcosting the party even more public support. Theparty has ever since been extremely critical of themedia, not leaving much space for positive coopera-tion.

A case illustrating how tense this relationship isoccurred in September, when the HDZ attackedHRT in the name of veterans of the 111th brigade.The reason: HRT did not send a team to film thepresentation of a monument in Drenov Klanac, avillage in Croatia's little-populated Lika region. AsNacional claims, HDZ's agenda can be followedback to earlier protests by Vladimir Seks, head of theparliament, who claimed that, “HRT is not payingenough attention to the work of the parliament”.Seks continued by stating that the national televi-sion network “cannot be freer than other public ser-vices”. However, Seks claim has absolutely no judici-al basis according to Croatian expert on media law,Vesna Alaburic, who pointed out in Globus' 1October 2004 issue that Croatian law states that thepublic broadcasting service “is financially autono-mous in respect to the government and protectedfrom all political pressure exerted upon it.” n

owned by the German conglomerateBertelsmann AG, which owns an overw-helming 90.4 per cent of the shares. Theremaining 9.6 per cent are publiclyowned. RTL is planning to rethink itsstrategy and rely less on advertising as asource of revenue. In the future it plansto expand further into Eastern andSoutheastern Europe, as indicated by itspresence in Croatia and Hungary.

Nova TV Croatia’s first privately owned Televisionstation was launched in late 2000, rea-ching 75 per cent of Croatia. In June 2004was sold to the Central European MediaEnterprise (CME), headed by RonaldLauder, for 24 million Euro. CME addsNova TV to its media holdings inRomania (PRO TV, Acasa), Slovakia(Markiza TV), Slovenia (POP TV, Kanal A)and the Ukraine (Studio 1+1). CME’s stra-tegy is simple: the goal is to producelocal versions of prominent internatio-nal entertainment shows and assembleprogramming according to regional pre-ferences.

HTV1 43,8%

HTV2 19,3%

HTV3 9,8%

NOVA TV 14,3%

OTHER 12,8%

AUDIANCE SHARES, Adults +15, all day Source: AGB Plus, 2004, statistics still exclude RTL

NATIONAL BROADCASTERS

REGIONAL BROADCASTERS

OTV Zagreb, launched 1998

STV Osijek, launched 1992

ATV Split, launched 1996

VTV Varazdin, launched 1998

NIT Pazin, launched 1998

RI TV Rijeka, launched 1998

TV Nova Pula, launched 1996

Pro-Media Cakovec, launched 1996

Televizija Moslavina, launched 1995

Gradska TV Zadar, launched 1992

Vinkovacka TV, launched 1994

Kanal RI Rijeka, launched 1998

Korak Split, launched 2002


deScripto: Recently, Croatia has entered into preli-minary negotiations with the European Commissionconcerning Croatia’s membership in the EuropeanUnion (EU). It seems that political institutions inCroatia and Croatians themselvesare willing to accelerate this pro-cess and, at the same time, toaccept the European valuesrequired for joining the EU.This will have severe consequen-ces for Croatian media systemsand also for the political cultureof public opinion. In your opi-nion, which media issues will beaffected most by these Europeanrequirements?

Stjepan Malovic:Euroscepticism of the Croatian public was unplea-santly expressed just before the EU decision on pre-liminary negotiations. It was a clear alert to thegovernment, but also to all involved in politicalsubjects. EU membership isnow the key issue and a con-sensus is a must. HDZ(Croatian Democratic Union),the ruling party, is ready tocooperate with the oppositionand Miomir ?u?ul, the foreignminister, was the first victim ofthe new policy. Prime MinisterIvo Sanader is trying to get public support, stressinghow EU membership is a victory for each Croatianparty and each citizen and that there is no place forstandard political fights and debates about thisissue. The role of the media became extremelyimportant in creating a positive environment.Unfortunately, up until now, media decision-makers leave this topic in the foreign section only(thus away from the public eye). Only journalistsand foreign experts are really well-informed aboutthe EU accession process. In the future, it shouldbecome an issue for all media and all journalists.Otherwise, Euroscepticim will continue to grow.

To what extent has discourse about European values

been dealt with in the Croatian media - and to whatextent does the media engage in self-reflective reportingabout public media culture?

Not very much. The media covered very well thepolitical and diplomaticaspects of the EU process, butnot the real topic: Europeanvalues. In some media one caneven find a very negativeapproach: they ask why wehave to join Europe; we wereEurope in the 7th century. Or,they fear we shall be limited inour national identity now,after fighting for it. The mediadid not explain what the EUreally is and what European

values are. The reason for this is that the coverage hasbeen limited mostly to the foreign section (in theCroatian media).

The media are not informing us on what is happe-ning in Europe, journalistsare not travelling enough andare not reporting on real lifeachievements.

We are not properly infor-med about what is happeningin two neighbouring coun-tries, Hungary and Slovenia,which became EU members,

and how it influenced their everyday life. What anaverage Croat knows about EU is that prices aregoing up and salaries are staying the same.

Since the political system changed, it appears theCroatian media, particularly the print media, has beenin a difficult and uncertain transitional state. In thisstate, considering the high rate of foreign investment,two major problems can be identified. First, the appa-rent high rate of “tabloidisation”, and second, the lackof development of a distinct media identity which isrelevant to the nation.

How do you assess the situation?Tabloidisation is new in Croatia. We are facing a

new phase of media transition in Croatia. Three


“Public Is Wak ing Up”Professor Stjepan Malovic on the Croatian Media Market and it’s Problems

ad personamInterview by Thomas A. Bauer

Stjepan Malovicis Doctor of CommunicationScience and Vice Dean ofFaculty of Political ScienceZagreb University, responsi-ble for international relation-ship and scientific projectsandDirector of the InternationalCenter for Education ofJournalists (ICEJ)andSEEMO Board MemberRecent publications:The People, Press and Politicsof Croatia, PraegerPublishers, Westport,Connecticut, London, 2001;A Long Way to Freedom,published in Exit fromCensorship, EuropeanJournalism TrainingAssociation, Council ofEurope and Albanian MediaInstitute, Tirana 2001;Internet: New InteractiveCommunication Channel forCivil Society, published inCommunication Culture inTransition, publisherAkademiai kiado,Budapest, 2000.

Euroscepticism of the Croatianpublic was unpleasantly expressedjust before the EU decision on preli-minary negotiations. It was a clear

alert to the government, but also toall involved in political subjects.

We are facing a new phase of media transition in Croatia.

major players in the field of print media are foreigncompanies: WAZ, Styria and Sanoma. Styria is star-ting a new tabloid in May. WAZ is buying a dailynewspaper, and publishing and printing companySlobodna Dalmacija. At the same time, WAZ soldDnevnik, a serious daily economic newspaper, to alocal media company! So, twointernational companies aremaking the decisions about theprint media. Unfortunately, theyare not implementing their stan-dards. Profit is the main interest.

Journalism values are of greatinterest to worried local journa-lists and media experts, but notto the publishers. Even the tradi-tionally high-quality daily new-spaper Vjesnik is renewing itslayout, changing its format to A3and adding a family supplementin the hopes it will attract buyers.

TV is still the most influential media. Three natio-nal TV stations are fighting for the same audience:HTV, (the state TV, which is transforming into apublic station), and two commercial, internationalTV channels: Nova TV and RTL. All three channelshave similar entertainment-based programmes.

Such developments are not encouraging quality jour-nalism. European nations utilise a number of diversesystems and instruments to aid in the development andmaintenance of journalistic quality, the securing of edi-torial independence and, for example, the developmentof a journalistic code of ethics. Which developments areunder way as far as media politics and media rights areconcerned?

Croatian journalists were seriously and successful-ly engaged in a media freedom fight. We can say themedia is no longer as controlled as it was a few yearsago. Now the main problem is independent journa-lism. The journalists’ position is fragile. They haveno real working rights, no national collective agree-ment, and no sufficient social and work security.Journalists who are dependent on media owners andmanagers cannot be free. Politicians are still manipu-lating the media, but not directly. Now, they are

using much more sensitive methods, such as havingsecret connections with owners and media managers.

Journalists are aware of their situation, so they aretrying to develop better self-regulation and legalregulation. The Croatian Journalists Association(HND) has a good Code of Ethics and very active

Ethical Council. But it is notenough, because media ownersare excluded from any responsi-bility. The media community isdiscussing a new model, basedon international experience.

The latest developments aremore optimistic. The public iswaking up and starting to open-ly ask questions of and expectresponsibility from politiciansand government. The mediainvestigated several huge scan-dals, and due to that influential

politicians and governmental officials resigned orwere replaced. Such media coverage was characterisedas aggressive, and officials were seen as “victims” of amedia lynch, but the results are encouraging.

The transitional mode of the Croatian media systemdemands new education and curricular approaches to,and addressees for journalism. Which particular appro-aches do you plan to engage in?

Education is crucial for a better image of theCroatian media. Existing journalism schools arechanging their curriculum and adopting the Bolognastandard for university education. Vocational trai-ning is present. The EU has recognised the need forquality education; thus the TEMPUS programmeaccepted project JETiC, proposed by the ViennaUniversity, the International Centre for Education ofJournalists (ICEJ), the High School of Journalism inLille, part of Zagreb University, and theKaltenbrunner Media Institute. The aim of the pro-gramme is to raise awareness of the role of the mediaand improve the quality of media training. Suchinitiatives, when supported by the EU, can make allthe difference.n

(Editor’s note: for details on JETiC see page 47)


k ing Up”

Now the main problem is indepen-dent journalism. The journalists’

position is fragile.They have no real working rights,no national collective agreement,

and no sufficient social andwork security.

The International Center forEducation of Journalists inOpatija, Croatia, was foun-ded in the summer of 1998as a self-supporting, non-governmental and non-pro-fit organization. Its mainobjective is the educationand improvement of profes-sional skills of the journa-lists.ICEJ has been dealing, andexpects to continue in thesame manner, with issues,which vary from the ethicalquestions, from biased andunbalanced reporting tocomputer based reportingand the new media. As anon-profit organization, ICEJis welcomed by many inter-national institutions as anexcellent venue to deal withthe complex questions asindependent journalism con-tinues to develop in theEastern and Central Europe.

(from ICEJ promotion)

on ICEJ


On 26 October 2004, members of the Croatiancountry-defense league physically and verbally attak-ked photo reporters and journalists. The attackoccurred during the church ceremony honoringAnte Pavelic (one of the leaders of Ustasha Regimeduring WWII), and according to the CroatianJournalists’ Association (HND), it marked one morein chain of similar attacks on journalists, and there-fore on the freedom of the media and the right offree assembly.

The ranking of the journalistic professions has fal-len on the social scale since the Croatian-Serb con-flict, and has not really changed since. During theera of Tudjman and his government, media providerswere considered second grade journalists, and if theyworked for the opposition, they were often accusedby government of being traitors. Then President ofthe Croatian Supreme Court, Milan Vukovic,reports that five cases of criminal charges for libel orslander were brought ex-officio against journalists inOctober 1998. The journalists were allegedly threa-tened with 1-3 year prison terms. Some 70 procee-dings were initiated against the satiric weekly FeralTribune on more than 40 different occasions by topgovernment officials, the President of the Republic,and his family. The independent weekly Nacionalfaced 73 charges and had to pay compensation of 10million Deutsch Mark (DM). Some 170 trialsagainst the weekly Globus brought fines of about 12million DM for various cases of emotional anguish.

These and many more large suits for emotionalanguish and libel during the first and secondCroatian governments brought a very visible declinein the respect for journalistic profession in Croatia atthe end of the 20th century. Since the beginning ofthe new century, many steps have been conducted toprevent such cases occurring again. In addition tonew laws, the further education of journalists andmedia professionals seems to play an important rolein the progress towards higher standards. Freshlyminted journalists just graduating from the 3-4 yearjournalism programmes at the University of Zagrebare already familiar with the international journali-stic standards, and means of reporting – the five Ws(what, when, why, who, & where) and when to askthem, how to accurately record the answers, and howto report eye-witness events. The biggest problemlies with established journalists without the benefitof professional education in the field.

Recently, new educational opportunities and semi-nars for media workers have been expanded. TheSociety of Croatian Journalists, together with theInternational Center for Education of Journalists(ICEJ), has organised various workshops and semi-nars for media professionals ever since 1998. Theseactivities have been established in order to promotejournalism as a profession, and aim to raise the stan-dards of the professionalism, in order to lower vio-lence and loss of respect for the profession.

Similarly, the Helsinki Committee on HumanRights recently announced a seminar on investigati-ve journalism for journalists from Croatia, Bosnia &Herzegovina, and Serbia & Montenegro. The lack ofexperience in investigative stories, they felt, has lowe-red the quality of Croatian journalism. If investigati-ve stories do emerge, they are usually not handled athigh professional and ethical standards. The 5-month seminar is held in Sarajevo, and all 10-15 par-ticipants are granted scholarships.

In March 2005, two of the Croatian media profes-sionals will be sent to the United States, and becomethe scholars of the Eastern European ProfessionalMedia Exchange and Training. Program held byIREX (International Research & Exchange Board)for Cultural Affairs Bureau of State Department willgather 17 media professionals from Eastern Europein order to spend 4 practical weeks among US mediahouses.

The loss of respect for the profession, however,also requires the education of society itself. Thepublic needs to recognise that, in general, journalistsare not the enemy bent on exploiting their privacy,but rather the watchdogs of government, working forpublic itself. Government here has taken some recentsteps to bring about such a transformation of public-opinion. Government initiations in organising semi-nars for teachers and professors in public schools,like those held in Castle Trakoscan, are leadingtowards better mutual understanding between socie-ty and media. The media, in turn, still needs to fol-low certain codes of conduct. However, the educa-tion of the public about the media also plays animportant role in the process. Education here is thusa key factor, which will help future generations ofjournalists to master violence in the region, and togain social respect. Hopefully the Croatian govern-ment will also contribute to the process that is tobring Croatia closer to democracy. n


A Loss of Respect?Media Education in CroatiaBy Karla Bavoljak


As top European diplomats and Croatiangovernment officials continue to discussthe start date of negotiations for Croatia'sentry into the European Union, Europeanmedia standards are playing an increasinglylarger role in shaping Croatian media law.

On 24 February 2004, a group of European mediaexperts arrived in Croatia to advise Croatian lawma-kers, government officials and community represen-tatives on media legislation, including how to alignCroatian media legislation with European standards.Long recommended by international institutionslike the OSCE, the Council of Europe and theEuropean Commission, it looks as if the four newlaws proposed in 2003 (and later passed) will stillhave to go through various changes and amend-ments. An expert mission sent to Croatia to helpwith legal changes, formed at the request of theCroatian government, was a sign of increasing coo-peration to bring about quality legislation.

Thus 2003 marked a year of legal change for theCroatian media. The new laws authorise better legalsecurity of the media, and better access to govern-ment sources of information. The Electronic MediaLaw, the Law on Croatian Radio-Television, a gene-ral Media Law, and new provisions of the CriminalCode were drafted with the involvement of non-governmental organisations, specifically the HelsinkiCommittee on Human Rights and the CroatianJournalists' Association (HND); it is the first timesuch a cooperation has taken place.

Regulating OwnershipAmong other important issues, these laws address

the issues of media ownership and monopoly. TheLaw on Media, for instance, restricts an owner toposses no more than a third of any media in a speci-fic category. This same law prevented the selling ofdaily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija to EuropaPress Holding (a dominant media group), becausewith this transaction the company would have gai-ned control of more than 40 per cent of Croatia'smedia.

On 1 October 2004, the new Media Law cameinto effect, regulating ownership, author rights, and

the reporting of media market earnings to theaudience.

The law also delivered controversial articles concer-ning the right to privacy and protection of sources'identities. Privacy, one of the most controversialdiscussions in today's media, was regulated accordingto 'public interest'.

The new Media Law states that the right to priva-cy is not at issue if there is clear evidence the infor-mation is in the public interest.

Amandement Weakens Journalists’ Right toProtect Their Sources

A long-debated amendment to the Criminal Code,passed in July 2003, delivered a regulation obligingjournalists to reveal a source if called on by the courtto do so, which violates international standards.

State secretary in the foreign ministry, JadranAntolovic, justified the regulation as a tool in thefight against international antiterrorist activity, andnot as an attempt to impede investigative journalism.Amendments to the Criminal Code on libel wereinvalidated by the Croatian Constitutional Court inNovember 2003, because they did not receive anabsolute parliamentary majority.

The OSCE Mission to Croatia and the Council ofEurope disagree with some elements of the newMedia Law. They believe the law unnecessarily regu-lates the work and ownership of Croatian media,while “the previous Law on Public Information,which it replaced, was generally in line with interna-tional media standards.”

The OSCE Mission and other media watchdogorganisations also expressed concern about the Julylibel amendments to the Criminal Code, arguingthey remove safeguards from prosecution which jour-nalists had previously enjoyed if their intention tocommit libel could not be proven.

As new media legislation in Croatia is emerging,the international community has also expressed con-cern that it is not always compatible with “the stan-dards”. However, the Croatian government's desire toenter the European Union as soon as possible is brin-ging about a new willingness to cooperate withforeign experts. n


New WillingnessRequired Pending E.U. Membership Brings

International Media Standards

By Karla Bavoljak

Prime MinisterDialogues withJournalistsAccording to the AlbanianMedia Institute (AMI),Albanian Prime MinisterFatos Nano met withwell-known journalists,analysts, and foreignmedia correspondents atthe AMI in Tirana on 11January 2005 to discussthe political question ofethnic integration - a to-pic of particular impor-tance for Albania and itsfuture - in anticipation ofupcoming elections. Theevent was part of a seriesdubbed “Challenge 2005”,which includes monthlymeetings between impor-tant Albanian and inter-national personalities.NCRT Decides toWithdraw Shijak TV’sLicenceThe National Council ofRadio and Television(NCRT) decided on 23December 2004 to with-draw the license of ShijakTV because of the stati-on's debts to the counciland its use of pirated pro-grammes, says the Alban-ian Media Institute.Shijak's owner said it was“a political decision”, dir-ected at the station afterit had already concludednew advertising contr-acts. He called the chargeof piracy “absurd”, claim-ing that Shijak merelybroadcasts free of chargeprogrammes other sta-tions charged for. In themeantime, Shijak TV, thefirst private television sta-tion in the country, whichcelebrated its ninth anni-versary last December,continues to broadcastself-produced program-mes.New Daily in Albanian Market“Ekspres” is the latest ar-rival in the Albanian mar-ket of daily newspapers,according to the AlbanianMedia Institute.


in Short

Media Report: Albania

The power of public opinion in Albania has rea-ched such a level that it can transform a worthlessnews report into a scoop, or the other way around,according to one’s interests. The news process has, ina sense, switched from manufacturing to industrialfabrication.

This did not happen overnight. For 10 years theAlbanian print media, and later the electronic media,have experienced an era characterised by growingpressure by the public.

With the birth of free press, the media marketconsisted primarily of newspapers that were domina-ted by analytical content, editorials, news articles,and idyllic reports.

But soon enough, a new culture muscled its wayin, one of crime reports and topical daily news,which have turned newspapers into a medium thatvoices the most negative events that occur aroundthe country.

“Think negative” has thus become a mode of suc-cessful journalism. It is a kind of permanent pessi-mism and, worst of all, uninterruptedly educates thepublic in a culture of cynicism, thus preparing theground and planting the seeds for a market that willbe difficult to uproot.

In a country like Albania, just now coming out ofisolation, “yellow journalism” is often especially suc-cessful because public opinion has not been allowedthe necessary space to become acquainted with itsown internal processes.

Looking back over 50 years of communism, therewas little or no crime reporting in the media. Itseems that no murders, no crime and nothing shok-king ever took place. This “peaceful Albania” seemedbent on building the belief of an established order asthe cornerstone of the nation and, as long as it keptthis aim in its sights, it served it with determination.

Thus it is easy to imagine how astonished andsusceptible an Albanian is to the exaggeration of acrime report. An Albanian “digests” this kind ofnews – say a violent murder in the southern city ofKorca – with eagerness and fear, intertwined withcuriosity. His appetite whet, this reader looks for-ward the next day to more such horrifying deeds.

The newspapers satisfy this eagerness, not onlyoffering fresh murders in Puka, Lushnja and Durres,(Albanian cities) but also extracts from the murderthat occurred the previous day, including interviewswith eye-witnesses, the parents of the victim, gossipfrom sources at the prosecutor’s office, etc.

This kind of reader is a buyer, and as we live incapitalism, a reader that creates such a demand

should be offered the goods he is looking for. So now we have a wider and wider variety of new-

spapers that offer first-page titles of panic. Eventhough an event might not be as tragic as hoped bysuch readers, it is sold as such.

“Five minutes of horror in the railway;” “Thehours of anxiety before suicide;” “Last will of L.B.,nurse in Librazhd.”

There is an increasingly widespread lack of criticaljudgement and the coolness needed to view things inthe long term.

It is normal in a country the size of Albania, with3.4 million inhabitants, that people are occasionallymurdered, that some get beaten up, and that thereare some robberies and rapes. The country has acrime rate comparable to any other European regionwith the same population.

The question is not whether the Albanian mediashould reveal these ugly incidents, but what leadsthem to be transformed into sensational media epi-sodes when they are part of the normal ritual of eve-ryday existence in a society.

The malady of the Albanian press, and one of thereasons readership is shrinking daily, is an almosttotal lack of a subscriber system. A newspaper thatmust always sell itself on a news stand, where rivalmedia products compete with each other in a battleof bombastic titles, contrasts of colours and horrify-ing pictures, has no other way than to act accordingto the rules of this jungle.

The journalists themselves must make a morallyhigh and extraordinarily ethical attempt to save theirpress from this disease.

For now it seems to be a very difficult undertakingbecause, although there have been attempts to chan-ge the situation by many renowned public figureswith press presence, we can see that two extremetypes of journalists are in the first lines of a “coldwar”; the journalists of crime reports, and sensitivejournalists.

In 10 years of Albanian “yellow press,” a greatnumber of journalists have been produced and bredwithin this brand of reporting; journalists who canonly function inside this framework.

Now the battle has moved to higher levels becausesome of these journalists have reached the halls ofleadership in different media, and now have deci-sion-making power over the kind of information thatis revealed to the public. This means that the seasonof panic journalism will last for a while because thisis not a matter of power, this clearly is a question ofvalues gone astray. n

by Endri Fuga

Albania: “Think Negative”or Panic Journalism


in Short

Media Report: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Following two years of negotiations, the newUnion of Bosnia and Herzegovina ‘BH Journalists’was launched in Sarajevo on 11 December 2004,merging three of the six previously existing journa-lists’ unions in BiH.

Calling itself a “non-sectarian, free and voluntaryassociation of journalists,” the union helps BiH jour-nalists actively embrace internationally establishedstandards of human rights and freedoms, ethics and“professional standards of journalism in Bosnia andHerzegovina and the world.”

The union’s launch was welcomed by numerousjournalists in BiH and internationally. SEEMO seesthe move as “a step forward for better communica-tion between journalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina, andit makes it easier to fight for press freedom and therights of the journalists.” “One institution has morepower than three small ones,” says Oliver Vujovic,SEEMO Secretary General.

Still a Lot To Be Done The founding of the union comes at a difficult

time for journalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Although a great deal of ethnic strife has been put inthe past and important improvements have beenmade in reconciliation processes, there is still a lotleft to be done. Pressured by a background of olddivisions, economic hardship and infant democracy,Bosnia and Herzegovina is struggling not to fall backinto chaos and strife.

Constantly faced with the temptation to indulgenationalistic and financial interests, most observersagree that a free press is one of the most crucial ele-ments in the struggle for a brighter Bosnian future.The establishment of the new union brings with itthe hope that ethics and professionalism can overco-me the forces that over 10 years ago led BiH and itsjournalism into a bloodbath.

The union has embarked on serious and difficulttasks in trying to improve media life in Bosnia andHerzegovina. Dedicated to the promotion and pro-tection of professional, social and intellectual inter-ests of its members, promotion of ethical standardsand integrity of journalism, and protection of free-dom of speech and the press, it seeks to improve theworking and social conditions of journalists and willalso try to protect the public from abuse at the handsof the media.

Efficiency and transparency are still weak spots inthe field. Regional activities are not sufficiently deve-loped, and suffer from problems in communication

and technical coordination. Journalists on the fieldoften lack organised support or available services.Legal protection of journalists is still often inefficientand the Free Media Help Line needs much more sup-port to function properly.

As well, the education of journalists in both profes-sional and ethical aspects should be better standardi-sed and promoted, and better cooperation betweeneducational institutions established. Public meetings,seminars and debates should be made an importantpart of civil life, education and the development ofdemocracy.

A Step Into the Right DirectionAll of these challenges now stand before the newly

founded union. They will not make it easy to preser-ve this fragile new alliance of journalists from threeentities, and they will not be quickly or easily overco-me. However, one can say that the union is certainlya step in the right direction, a beacon of light brighte-ning the still gloomy Bosnian media landscape.

The three former unions, which joined forces,include the Independent Union of ProfessionalJournalists of BiH from Sarajevo, The Association ofJournalists (APEL) from Mostar and the In-dependent Union of Journalists of Republika Srpskafrom Banja Luka.

Amela Rebac, editor of Radio Studio 88 in Mostarwas elected president, while Antonio Prlenda, a jour-nalist from the Oslobodjenje daily in Sarajevo, andTanja Topic of Vreme from Banja Luka were namedvice presidents. The centre of the BH journalists’union is Sarajevo, with regional centres in Mostarand Banja Luka.

The three associations, which refused the invita-tion to join the new union, include the Union ofJournalists of Republika Srpska from Banja Luka, theUnion of BiH Journalists from Sarajevo and theAssociation of Croatian Journalists in BiH fromMostar. It is widely believed that their decision toabstain from membership was shaped by nationalisticresentment, allegiance to local national parties andparticular financial interests.

However, the new union has left open the possibi-lity of their joining later, which is stated in the uni-on's statute. Negotiations on the possibility of joi-ning and on cooperation in certain projects will con-tinue between the union and the remaining associa-tions. Membership is open to all professional journa-lists with acceptable education who work in Bosniaand Herzegovina. n

The HighRepresentative andFederal TV Clash Paddy Ashdown, the highrepresentative of the interna-tional community in BiH, tur-ned down an invitation to beinterviewed on the federal TVshow ‘60 Minutes’, saying inan interview on 21 December2004 with private televisionstation ‘Hayat’ that the pro-gramme “tells lies”.The federal television net-work responded with angerat Ashdown’s statement. Thefederal TV station and theeditor of the programme ‘60Minutes’ have already beensued a number of times fordefamation. The program-ming on ‘60 Minutes’, whichleans toward the opposition,deals mostly with societalwrongdoings, and harshly cri-ticizes politicians and institu-tions.

Petitions Against theRTV TaxAn independent initiative forcivil disobedience was laun-ched in Olovo in December2004 to protest the legallybinding RTV tax, according tonewspaper Jutarnje Novine.Petition-signing to quash theobligatory RTV tax is recei-ving support in other placesacross the federation. It isnot yet clear who the organi-sers are, but it seems theirinitiative has to do with aprotest by the local SDUparty, which is dissatisfiedwith television coverage ofits activities.Federal TV (the entity publicservice) has filed over180,000 lawsuits for non-payment of the three Eurotax, and claims it will enforcepayment by automaticdeductions from salaries,pensions and seizure of pro-perty. Most Croats in thefederation refuse to pay thetax because they believe thatpublic television does notsufficiently protect Croatinterests. Bosniaks and Serbsalso increasingly refuse topay the taxes, both for politi-cal and economic reasons.

by Ana Simundza

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Closer to Truth -New Journalists’ Union Launched

Bulgarian NationalRadio (BNR) Turns 70Bulgarian National Radiowas created on 25 January1935 through a decree byKing Boris III, which rati-fied an ordinance lawadopted by the govern-ment a week earlier. Tocelebrate its anniversary,BNR has wrapped thewhole building in a hugeplastic net bearing thestation's logo and tied onit a red ribbon more than100 meters long, honou-ring not only the network,but also Kristo Yavashev -a Bulgarian artist whogained international famewith his “wrapping” buil-ding projects. Yavashev,also known as “Kristo”, iscurrently working on aproject involving the pla-cement of huge colouredgates in New York CentralPark.New Media AgencyCreated in BulgariaThe international compa-ny Media Planning Groupwill open a branch inBulgaria dealing withmedia strategies andcommunications pro-grammes. The creation ofthis branch was announ-ced by Jacques Seguela,vice-president of adverti-sing company “HavasAdvertising.” The agencywill provide a wholescope of services in theareas of corporate com-munications and publicrelations.


in Short

Media Report: Bulgaria

A number of recent events have turned attentionin Bulgaria towards a law that can be considered adirect breach of press freedom. Two cases againstforeign journalists have already been filed, both forusing concealed cameras to acquire information.This, according to Article 339a of the Penal Code, isconsidered “using tools of espionage to acquire secretinformation,” and when not specifically authorised,is penalised with up to three years in prison.

Charges have been pressed by courts in two diffe-rent districts against BBC reporter Justin Rowlatt forusing a concealed camera and for inciting corrup-tion, and against Romanian Pro TV journalistGeorge Buhnici, again for using a concealed camerawithout prior permission.

According to Article 339a of the Bulgarian PenalCode (1997): “Those who, without a proper permis-sion as required by law, produce, use, sell or keepspecial technical means intended for concealed gat-hering of information are punished with up to threeyears of confinement.“

In the case of Rowlatt, the investigative reporterused the concealed camera for the BBC programme“Buying the Game”, in which he exposed IvanSlavkov, head of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee(BOC) and member of the International OlympicCommittee (IOC) discussing the selling of his votein support of London’s bid for hosting the games in2012. After being suspended from both BOC andIOC, Slavkov decided to take the journalist to court,using archaic Penal Code Article 339a.

Buhnici and his driver were arrested on 16November, at the border between Bulgaria andRomania, for using a concealed camera. Accordingto Romanian Pro TV, Buhnici was taping a pieceabout cigarette trafficking at the border. Chargeswere immediately pressed in the Ruse local court andthe journalist faced up to three years of prison. On 6December, he was fined 500 Euro and released.

These two cases led to reactions from local andinternational media observers. SEEMO sent a pro-test letter to officials in Bulgaria. Media organisa-tions in Bulgaria began pushing for a change in thelaw. In light of Bulgaria’s attempt to join theEuropean Union, a law that restricts press freedomin such a way raises serious concerns about the coun-tries readiness.

“This article of the Bulgarian Penal Code is defi-nitely not in line with internationally accepted stan-dards,” says Barbara Trionfi, a Press Freedom Adviserfor the International Press Institute (IPI) in Vienna,

“as it criminalizes journalists for carrying out one oftheir most important functions in the society, whichis to uncover issues of public interest.”

Debates are now underway in Bulgaria over chan-ges to the Penal Code, but such a change, thoughlong awaited by journalists, might turn out to beuncomfortable for those in power. Media officials inBulgaria and abroad feel that the point of this articleis to “prevent investigative reporting which is alwaysannoying to influential people both from the politi-cal and business fields,” Trionfi said. A change in thepenal code is urgently needed. According to the newEthical Code of Bulgarian Journalists, journalists“will gather information by fair and lawful means,without hiding that [they] are journalists.”

However, elsewhere the code provides that “tricks,concealed cameras and microphones, or other speci-al technology [...] can only be used if there is noother way to obtain information of exceptional inte-rest to the public.” The code further stipulates thatjournalists “indicate in the information that suchmethods have been used.” The potential contradic-tion between these articles leaves the area unclear.

So far, everyone is acting cautiously and publicstatements have been indefinite, especially those bypoliticians. Minister of Interior Affairs GeorgiPetkanov, who had told Bulgarian National Radio(BNR) that Buhnici was guilty of breaking a currentBulgarian law, also suggested that a change was pos-sible, but added it is a matter for parliament. Thoughhe acknowledged that journalists might find itimpossible to acquire certain information withoutspecial technology and that the law seems to be an“anachronism,” the minister also claimed ignoranceof European practices in this area.

Nevertheless, the Bulgarian media all agree on theneed for a change in the law, said a representative ofthe Bulgarian Media Coalition, Georgi Lozanov, tonews portal Vseki Den (Every Day). He said hehoped that upcoming elections might trigger politi-cians to act in a more “populist” way and help speedup promulgation of the media amendment. “TheBulgarian Media Coalition will support the proposaland introduce it to parliament,” Lozanov said.

Until the law is changed, however, the problemremains, leaving Bulgaria’s preparedness for EUmembership in question. As the European Court ofHuman Rights states: “Freedom of expression has anessential role to play in a democratic society, helpingto foster the development of an open, tolerant socie-ty in which human rights are respected.” n

by Petya Sabinova

Bulgaria: Archaic Laws Tamper with Press Freedom


Media Report: Cyprus

Shener Levent, a man with rough edges and a cri-tical mind, is somebody who does not keep histhoughts a secret.

In addition – as a leading journalist in northernCyprus and editor of the Turkish Cypriot dailyAfrica (formerly known as Avrupa) - he is a personwhose opinion is heard. Sometimes, a disadvantage-ous blessing, especially in a divided country.

Cyprus has been geographically and ethnicallydivided since 1974, when Turkey occupied morethan a third of the island. The occupation happenedin response to a coup by the military junta in Greece.

Cyprus is the only divided country in theEuropean Union. In fact, only the southern, Greekpart of the island joined the EU in May 2004. Thenorth, under the control of the Turkish military,declared itself independent in 1983 and proclaimeditself a republic called “Turkish Republic ofNorthern Cyprus” (TRNC).

It has not been recognised by the United Nationsand is considered illegal. Turkish Cypriots, especiallyjournalists, have not been allowed to express opi-nions critical of the authority. As far as law and free-dom of the press is concerned, the mass media arevery different in the two communities, with theTurkish Cypriot side being subject to considerablepressure and restraints from the authority, while theGreek Cypriot side is much more open.

The International Press Institute (IPI) alleged inits 2002 World Press Freedom Review that, accor-ding to SEEMO statistics, 41 press freedom viola-tions occurred in the Turkish-controlled part of theisland and two in the Republic of Cyprus.

A lot of explosives When Levent founded his daily newspaper

Avrupa, it was particularly critical of Turkey and thepolicies of the republic's authorities. In the contextof the Republic of Cyprus's candidacy for entry intothe European Union, it was easy to provoke authori-ties with tartly written articles.

Threats of annexation of the northern sector byTurkey and the dialogue between the island's twoleaders – Glafkos Clerides and Rauf Denktash – alsoprovided for a lot of explosives. Denktash, leader ofthe TRNC (the party ruling the Turkish Cypriotside), did not tolerate any criticism of his person bythe opposition daily.

Death threats against Levent – according to himexpressed by paramilitary forces – were not the onlyattempts at intimidation he has faced.

On 24 May 2001, a bomb exploded in the buil-

dings housing the printing press of Avrupa inNicosia, without claiming any victims.

In general, there are at least occasional threatsagainst political personalities, newspapers and partiesin northern Cyprus. Kutlu Adali, a prominent jour-nalist who had also criticised the policies of Denktashand Turkey, was murdered in front of his home in1996.

“Returning to Prehistory”Levent is still writing his articles and still publis-

hing a critical daily now called Africa. But what hap-pened to Avrupa?

Levent was accused by local authorities of publis-hing articles in his daily newspaper, which were“insulting and humiliating the dignity and the perso-nality of the security forces.” In December 2002Avrupa closed down, constrained by court rulingsand fines.

But Levent announced that the daily would bereborn under the name Africa, explaining thatCyprus was "no longer heading for Europe, but wasreturning to prehistory, towards Africa." He addedthe change of name is meant to illustrate that the lawof the jungle is ruling in northern Cyprus.

2000 Years in Prison?As Andreas Kannaouros, President of the Union of

Cyprus Journalists, informed SEEMO, “with some100 charges already made against Shener Levent, ifthose were sustained in a Turkish civilian hearing thetotal imprisonment term he faces could add up to2000 years.”

“This latest action against Levent is fresh evidenceof a profound press freedom crisis in the north of theisland,” said Aidan White, IFJ and EFJ GeneralSecretary.

Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General, seespositive aspects also: “I hope, that on the territorycontrolled by the Turkish Cypriot community, whichis internationally not recognised, there will be somechanges in 2005, and that local politicians will acceptsome basic press freedom standards. There were somepositive statements from Mehmet Ali Talat, primeminister, who said in 2004 that as a first step hisgovernment will initiate a number of legal changesthat would prevent civilians and journalists frombeing tried by military court.”

Press freedom is always a parameter for politicalconditions and developments in a country. This issuewill surely come up when accession negotiationsbegin between Turkey and the European Union. n

Meeting of EuropeanPress Councils The sixth annual meetingof the Alliance ofIndependent PressCouncils of Europe (AIPCE)took place in Cyprus inOctober 2004, with theparticipation of more than40 delegates from 20countries. The creation ofnew councils, the handlingof complaints, relevant EUlaws and regulations, anddecisions of the EuropeanCourt of Human Rightswere discussed.

Radio Stations inCyprus How many radio stationsare trying to survive inCyprus? Nearly 60. Someof them are holding on totheir podium positionsand others are slowlydisappearing. “The onlyradio stations that are gai-ning ground are music sta-tions,” says Yiannis Adilinis,DJ and editor-in-chief ofTime Out magazine. Thenumber one radio stationtoday in Cyprus is SuperFM, which plays Greek hitsand uses the secret wea-pon used by every radiostation in the world: playlists.

Can CyberspaceBreak Down theDivide?Advanced technology hashad a direct affect on brin-ging Greek Cypriots andTurkish Cypriots closertogether, making Cyprus aprototype around theworld for conflict resolu-tion, according to twomedia experts from NewYork, Professors GaryGumpert and SuzanDrucker. Both theAmerican specialists arevery familiar with Cyprusand have been followingdevelopments in technolo-gy, media and bi-commu-nal relations there for thelast 10 years. The results oftheir studies were publis-hed in December 2004.

in Short

by Michael Ledl

Cyprus: Threats and Attacks Againsta Critical Journalist


in Short

Media Report: Greece

In a country where courts are often all too eager topenalise reporters for libel, 13 October was widelyhailed as a landmark date in Greece. On this day, anappeals court upheld a decision against Thessaloniki-based publisher Makedonia. The publisher, who hadfired journalist Haralambos Bikas, was reprimandedby the court for attempting to infringe on freedomof speech and the press.

In 2003, Bikas had been covering the war in Iraqas a foreign correspondent. “When I returned fromIraq in late 2003,” Bikas reports, “I noticed that the[editorial] director of the paper had changed a partof my story.” When Bikas protested against thisinternal censorship to management, he was firedfrom his job. There may have been an additional rea-son for Bikas’ dismissal.

“He is one of the leaders in the journalists’ move-ment,” says Georgios Papadakis, SEEMO coordina-tor in Greece and editor of the Athens-based finan-cial daily Express. “He had occasionally been a repre-sentative of this movement within his newspaper,though he did not hold this position at the time ofhis dismissal.”

The Editors Union of Macedonia and ThraceDaily Newspapers (ESIEMTH) is a group that isactively concerned with applying pressure to variouspublishers in order to improve journalists’ workingconditions in Greece; many journalists are not paidon time, are underpaid, and/or forced to work lon-ger hours than originally agreed upon by theiremployers.

In reaction to Bikas’ dismissal, ESIEMTH imme-diately contacted the now-defunct Ministry of Pressand Mass Media. The minister personally called thedirector of Makedonia in response to its actions.When this proved ineffective, the staff of Ma-kedonia, with the backing of ESIEMTH, staged a24-hour strike, in response to which the publisherfiled a lawsuit against the union.

The case, heard on 13 May 2004, was ruled infavour of ESIEMTH. This was not, however, theend of the legal battle. On 13 October, Bikas and thestaff of Makedonia were forced to appear before theCourt of Appeal. This court upheld the primaryruling that Bikas’ dismissal had been illegal and wasdriven by “reasons of vindictiveness” on the part ofhis employers.

In what is considered a historically importantmove, the court also declared that the union had theright to protest against the employer as it was, accor-ding to Bikas, “defending the collective value of free-dom of the press, which is superior to the value ofany private interest.”

“The judges unanimously voted in favour of the

editors’ union within half an hour of the appeals hea-ring, as they knew Makedonia did not have a sub-stantial case against Bikas or its other employees,”says Georgios Papadakis. “Moreover, public opinionwas strongly in support of Bikas, which can be animportant factor when judges make their decisions[in Greece].” The Greek media had closely watchedthe hearing, and the demand for a fair trial was sub-stantial. The courts also stated that the managementof Makedonia did not have the right to change thereports of any journalist, especially if the informationin the report is confirmed by the source.

Nevertheless, there still remains a lot to be done toensure journalistic freedom in Greece. “To be honest,I do not think the situation will ever be completelyOK,” says Papadakis. Greece’s tough libel laws crimi-nalize the publication of direct allegations against aperson. Journalists are threatened by prison terms,fines, and job loss in retaliation for reporting percei-ved to be defamatory.

“Journalists have often been punished for referringto somebody as a ‘possible receiver of launderedmoney,’” Papadakis remarks.

Things are slowly changing, however. In March2004, the Ministry of Press and Multimedia wasabolished. (see InShort, this page)

“The problem is,” says Papadakis, “that this law isnot even ready [to be introduced into parliament]yet. Perhaps we will see it in parliament by this sum-mer. But it seems at the moment, the governmenthas other priorities.” Papadakis thinks that, withconstant pressure from journalists, the issue willeventually be given the necessary attention, but“things take time in Greece”.

As for journalist Haralambos Bikas, he was electedrepresentative of the Makedonia union in earlySeptember, and has since gotten his old job back. “Itis a strange climate here… They [the management]cannot touch me, because the two court decisionswent in my favour, but they are placing pressure onme to leave,” he says, noting that management nolonger publishes his name in the paper’s Sunday edi-tion, and routinely changes his writing assignments.

He insists that the journalists’ strike was less abouthim, and more “a strike for the code of ethics”. Forthis reason, he will stay with his paper, though he isnot quite sure what he is going to do.

“I am preparing a civil prosecution against mypublisher in May of next year,” says Bikas. “It’s agood fight, and I am very satisfied with the work wehave done.” However, Bikas and Papadakis bothagree there is still much room for improvement inthe Greek media landscape. n

Sports Editor Attacked Phillipos Syrigos, sports edi-tor of the Athens daily new-spaper Eleftherotypia, wasattacked and brutally beatenin a parking lot after finis-hing a show at the SuperSport FM radio station on 18October 2004. One man hitSyrigos on the head with ametal bar, while the otherstabbed him in the backwith a knife several times.Both attackers escaped, andSyrigos was rushed to thehospital, where he receivedimmediate emergency sur-gery. He was released fromhospital a week later. Syrigoshad received threats via tele-phone; unknown people hadcalled the radio station andhis newspaper about hiscontinuing coverage of druguse by athletes. Syrigos beca-me well known after hereported on a doping case inthe 2004 Olympic games.SEEMO was the first interna-tional NGO to react to thiscase by sending a protest toofficials in Athens, and byinitiating an internationalprotest.

Media MinistryDisolvedIn March 2004, the newlyelected Greek governmentdissolved the Ministry ofPress and Mass Media, decla-ring it “not a modern institu-tion” and stating it appearedundemocratic, because suchestablishments have beenknown to interfere in mediaindependence, especially inthe case of regimes that donot have internationalrespect.Greece has assigned thePress Ministry’s powers to agovernment spokesperson,Theodorous Roussopoulos,who has promised a newmultimedia reform law, yetto be introduced into parlia-ment.

by Mazin Elfehaid

Greece: Fighting For Fairness

Application Details for the

Dr. Erhard Busek – SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South East Europe 2005 The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is pleased toannounce the Dr. Erhard Busek – SEEMO Award for BetterUnderstanding in South East Europe 2005.

Sponsored by Erhard Busek, special coordinator for the Stability Pactfor South East Europe, the 2,000 Euro award will be given to a jour-nalist, editor, media executive or person educating journalists inSouth Eastern Europe (SEEMO region), thus using the media to pro-mote a climate of better understanding among people in the regionand to work towards ending minority problems, ethnic divisions,racism, xenophobia etc.

In 2002, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) and itsinternational jury chose Croatian journalist Denis Latin as recipientof the Dr. Erhard Busek - SEEMO Award for Better Understanding inSouth East Europe 2002, in recognition of his outstanding efforts injournalism, which contributed toward better understanding in SouthEastern Europe. In 2003, the award was presented to KemalKurspahic, former editor-in-chief of the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje.

If you know of anyone who would be a worthy recipient of the Dr.Erhard Busek – SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South EastEurope, please send a letter to SEEMO with basic details about theperson you would like to nominate (along with a professional CV,describing why she / he should receive the award), as well as thecontacts of the person you are nominating (media organisation,address, phone, fax, email). If your nomination is supported by anorganisation / media outlet, please send us the name of the contactperson supporting your nomination, as well as basic informationabout the organisation / media outlet. If your nomination is support-ed by other individual / individuals, please send us the necessarydetails and contacts of the other supporters. We also need yourbasic details and your contacts (address, phone, fax, email, mobilephone).Any additional material about the nominated person (such as TVreports on video or DVD, audio reports on cassette or CD, or articlesin newspapers), if possible with a short English translation, are wel-come. Please send them with your nomination.

Please send all to:

SEEMO/IPI“Busek Award”Spiegelgasse 2/291010 Vienna, Austria Tel: +43 1 513 39 40 Fax: +43 1 512 90 15 E-mail: [email protected]

Material will not be returned, so please alwayssend copies of documents, CVs, reports, articles,videos, audiotapes, DVDs or CDs.

The application deadline for the Dr. ErhardBusek – SEEMO Award for BetterUnderstanding in South East Europe 2005 is 1 May 2005


in Short

Media Report: Hungary

A trend that started with the breakup of the SovietUnion in Hungary is still present in the countrytoday. More and more media and media-related ser-vices are being bought up by foreign investors, lea-ving the country with virtually no media owners ofHungarian descent. The introduction of the marketeconomy after the breakup of the Soviet Union mar-ked the beginning of these dramatic changes affec-ting the media sector and ownership layout.

Of the 24 local newspapers, Axel Springer owns10; Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung owns five;Funk GmbH owns three; and Associated Newspa-pers owns three. There were attempts at creating rivallocal papers, but all were unsuccessful due to lack ofcapital. Swiss company Ringier controls over two-thirds of the national newspaper market, includingbroadsheet Nepszabadsag, sports daily NemzetiSport and tabloid Blikk. Up until November 2004Ringier also owned Magyar Hirlap.

Ringier Publishers sold the publishing rights ofdefunct Hungarian daily Magyar Hírlap to A PontMH Kiadói Kft, a company partly owned by the for-mer staff of Magyar Hírlap. Ringier announced atthe end of October that it would shut down thepaper because its losses rose to nearly HUF 2 billionsince 2001 and the number of copies sold has gradu-ally declined. Magyar Hírlap, launched in 1968, waslast published on 5 November. The daily's chief edi-tor Pál Szombathy announced a week later that hewould create a new daily with members of thepaper's editorial. The new paper, called A Pont wasfirst published on 9 November.

The trend toward foreign ownership can be explai-ned by Hungary's relatively small market of 10 mil-lion, and the ever-present undercapitalization of themedia sector by Hungarians, which has not changedmuch since the introduction of a market economy inHungary. For example, today Hungary has 10 natio-nal and 24 local dailies. Western investors own sevenout of the 10 national and all the local dailies. Whenthe newspapers came onto the market, there seemedto be no Hungarian interest in or capital for buyingthem, and no restrictions were placed on foreignpurchasing of newspapers.

To assess the impact of such ownership layout,deScripto turned to Charles Kovacs, the chairman ofthe supervisory board of Hit Radio RT, who agreedto comment on the trend in a personal capacity.

Apparently the trend began with the fall of com-munism in Hungary. “Under communism, the new-spapers were owned by the State. After 1991, theywere sold to the highest bidder and this was usuallya foreign company. Television was not privatised, butlicenses were auctioned off in the mid-90's and these

too were bought by foreign companies,” says Kovacs.Mr. Kovacs believes that foreign ownership of themedia has largely improved the media's quality, men-tioning that, “this is clear from the number of pagesin newspapers, the number of new publications, theuse of color, superior printing.” He credits theforeign owners, who in his view, “have also provideda lot of technical assistance to improve journalisticstandards, albeit with varying results.”

In Kovacs' opinion the foreign owned media isdoing a good job of catering to Hungarian audiences.He explains this phenomenon by stating simply,“otherwise they could not stay in business.” Althoughmany Hungarian-owned newspapers came into exi-stence after 1991, they quickly “went out of business,as they could not win readers away from the foreign-owned publications.” We see the same type of layoutwhen we turn to the television market, “the foreignowned TV stations have up to 80 per cent of theaudience, while the government-owned stations havefailed to respond to the needs of the Hungarianaudience.” Editorial policy, in his view, remains large-ly unaffected. This is explained by the fact that“…few people in the parent companies speakHungarian, and in any case, all Hungarian politicalparties have virtually the same position on economicpolicies, and consequently, there is no reason for theowners to become involved in editorial policy.”

When asked whether or not some themes or topicsare being left out due to ownership layout, Kovacsreplied, “the main objective for all papers is to incre-ase circulation. That may affect content, but not thenature of ownership.” In Kovacs' view, the Hungar-ian public seems to be largely content with the cur-rent media ownership layout. He elaborates: “Whatgrumbling there is, is mainly about the preponderan-ce of leftist opinion, and people on the right com-plain about the lack of 'balance'. They feel that thereshould be more papers and TV with a rightist view.”According to Kovacs, it is a minority view, which isclear when one notes that “rightist papers started byHungarians since 1991 have either failed or have onlya very small circulation, in spite of government sup-port and government advertising during the yearswhen a rightist government was in power.” There isone exception however, a newspaper with a circula-tion and following that “has been stable for years” -Magyar Nemzet. Kovacs states, “I think the statusquo is a matter of quality rather than of ownership.”

When he was questioned about public trust offoreign owners, Kovacs retorts, “I am not sure ifHungarians really trust anyone, but foreign compa-nies tend to have higher professional standards, moreobjective promotion policies, higher pay, etc…”n

Interactive TV Comingto HungaryInteractive television produc-tion will bring to an end thetraditional linear recording ofpolitical events of anythinghappening in the world. iTVwill allow the viewers tochoose how the story willunravel. To demonstrate thetool’s potential MECiTV sta-ged an iTV Docu Drama cal-led Vision Europe. Filmingbegan on 12 April 2003 inBudapest when Hungariansvoted for EU accession andended 1 May 2004 whenHungary finally joined. Theproject nears completion inFebruary 2005, they are justadding the final touches tothe authoring software’s usa-bility. Non linear reportingwould be useful in the timesof events such as elections orthe Olympics. (alphagalileo)

by Roman Prysiazhniuk

Hungary: Big Players In a Small Market


in Short

Media Report: Kosovo

deScripto asked Kosovo journalist Baki Haliti, who iscurrently working on his dissertation in Vienna, tocomment on media communication at home:

Kosovars interest in media was quite essential inthe past considering the situation in Kosovo.Whereas in Western Europe newspapers are read inthe morning with a good coffee, in Kosovo paperswere treated with great importance and sensitivity.Nowadays, the interest of Kosovars in the Kosovomedia seems to have changed. Kosovo's auditors andreaders were before really sensitive to informationfrom the media, they felt really involved, and dayswere spent talking about newspapers or TV headli-nes. Often a group of friends gathered in a coffeeplace to read the newspaper and discuss issues withenthusiasm. Moreover, it was impossible to walkthrough Pristina without seeing one or two peoplecarrying a newspaper. The 7.30 pm Kosovo news onRTP (Radio Television Pristina) brought everyKosovar in front of its TV screen. Nowadays, there isless interest in everyday Kosovo news. In Pristina,people are no longer seen wandering around holdingnewspapers; the long-awaited news that Kosovo peo-ple sought with impatience is today meaningless.These changes in media interest by Kosovars is regar-ded sadly by Sylejman Dermaku, chief editor of thebiweekly newspaper Shkendia, printed in Pristina.During an interview in December 2004, he declared:“Kosovar readers have become lazier. Obviously, Iunderstand the daily difficulties they face, and finan-cial problems are important for our Kosovar readersand that their income is really small. We also haveproblems printing the newspaper Shkendia for sevento nine thousand copies, because readers have lessinterest in reading our newspaper. This is the resultof a general lack of interest in reading, statesDermaku.

Even Ibrahim Berisha, writer, journalist and socio-logist, reckons one of the reasons for diminishinginterest in the media is its focus on Kosovo's currentevolutionary and political problems. These issues arenot really interesting for Kosovar listeners and rea-ders, who are more concerned about daily social andeconomic problems. Hence a sinking of interest inthe Kosovar media. Ramadan Mehmeti, author andjournalist, has the same theory.

He says: “The Kosovars in general are really tiredof their daily problems; they are day by day confron-ted by electricity, water, and primary infrastructureproblems, social stress, and a lot of other difficulties.The Kosovo media does not discuss these issues, and

thus auditors and readers become more sceptical. Asfar as I am concerned, I stopped reading some new-spapers, and there are some TV programmes inwhich I am not interested anymore, because of thereasons explained above.” One other reason can bethe importance the internet has taken on for peoplein Kosovo since the war has ended.

Only in Pristina today there are more than 50internet cafés open around the clock. There is greaterinterest in the Internet as a medium than media suchas newspapers and TV. Following a survey by BBSSGallup International from a sample of 1,120 respon-dents, 86.9 per cent of the male population and 91.1per cent of the female population were found to pre-fer the media of television among traditional mediachoices. The older the people were, the more theirtendency toward television grew. The assumed levelof newspaper readers is less than 10 per cent of thepopulation.

The survey shows that interest in print mediacomes primarily from the 36 to 45 age group. Theimportance of the media for auditors and readers inKosovo is weaker than before; the structure of themedia is in need of change, as is the everyday politi-cal system in Kosovo. n

Boom and ImplosionCounting 112 broadcasters and dozens of print

media products on one side and a related readingpublic of only two million people on the other side,the actual Kosovar media market can be described asovercrowded. Is this boom a typical post-war pheno-menon or is there still a big bang going to come?

Through focussing on main tendencies of thedeveloping process, the media market and its proble-matic situation gets clearer. The Kosova media deve-lopment seems to be a quite uncoordinated process.Attempt to prevent “vigilante journalism” through amedia commission or regulatory regime has not beeneffective till now.

As Isuf Berisha from the Kosova Foundation foropen Society describes the situation, “outlets that didnot enjoy support from donors disappeared soonafter they were launched.” As donors now tend todecrease media support, media outlets that could notachieve self-sustainability are affected. In this case it’simportant to mention that since the war OMIK andNGOs play an important role in the media landsca-pe. Media dying can also be seen as a sign for the lossof international attention. n

Cross Border MediaProjects Supported byUNESCOIn January 2005, UNESCOsupports cross border andcross culture media projectin Kosovo. The project isbased on cooperation bet-ween the news agenciesKosovaLive in Pristina andBeta in Belgrad. Target:”tocombat ignorance, bias andmanipulation”. The multilin-gual information transferand exchange can be foundat www.kosovakosovo.com

SettlementAgreements In December 2004, the OSCEMission in Kosovo pleasedthe settlement agreementsbetween the broadcastersRTK, TV21 and KTV and theTMC. They had agreed totake necessary remedialactions in place of fines.

by Baki Haliti & Daniela Süssenbacher

Kosovo:* Media Consumption

* Kosovo is administred under the civil authority of the United NationsMission to Kosovo (UNMIK), pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution1244 from June 1999; We deal with Kosovo separately and not within Serbia,because the legal status of the two jurisdictions is very different.

Experts Say MediaMarket Oversaturated The Macedonian mediamarket suffers from toomany publications in toomany languages, too fewadvertisers and too muchpolitical interference,experts told deScripto inDecember 2004.According to a survey bythe Centre for MediaDevelopment, over 150media, most of themsmall and unprofessional,are a small part of a sta-gnant commercial “cake”.“I do not know anyEuropean country, whichhas such a large numberof national concessions,”says Roberto Belicanec ofthe Centre for MediaDevelopment in Skopje. Inorder to survive, influenti-al media operations hookup with political elites,who then often treatthem as a means to makepublic their political andcommercial interests, hesays.“You cannot get anyadvertising anywhere, forexample for a new maga-zine, or any other mediumthat is not politically affi-liated. The more indepen-dent you are, the lessadvertising you can get,”says Jovo Ratkovic, a jour-nalist at Radio FreeEurope. He cited theexample of generouslysponsored MacedonianTelevision (MTV), whichhe says provides littlepublic service. “MTV isgetting lost, serving speci-al interests and not thepeople,” says Ratkovic.


in Short

Media Report: Macedonia

In 2004, both print and electronic media in theRepublic of Macedonia have continued to strugglefor their very survival and, through no fault of theirown, have continued on a downward slide that hasnot yet reached the bottom. Almost nothing positivehas been taking place in the Macedonian mediascene in 2004. The aftermath of the financial strug-gles is much more bitter than anybody expected. Thepress, daily and weekly newspapers, private radio andtelevision stations, including Macedonia’s nationalbroadcaster (which has been undergoing a prolongedand painful restructuring into a public service provi-der), have ended the year 2004 rather low comparedto 2003. Expenditures are on the rise, while circula-tion and revenues have dropped significantly. Somenewspapers no longer exist, and many others havehinted at the possibility of having to close downtheir offices.

An old anecdote „Nobody waits anymore to enterthrough the door“, frequently mentioned by localjournalists, illustrates the downward momentumthat has snowballed in Macedonia during this transi-tional period. During the Ottoman Empire, theordinary people, known then as „raja“ used to enterinto the quarters of the then head of the province,the “valija”, through the door. Then a bad “valija”,

who ordered people to enter his quarters through awindow, replaced the good head of the province.They had been banned from using the door. Thepeople objected against the ban, but could donothing about it. A new successor, who was evenworse than the previous one, then ordered the peopleto enter his quarters through the chimney. The peo-ple begged the „valija“ to let them use the window,which had become a better choice for entry than thechimney. Nobody asked anymore for the door. Thequestion still remains - what will happen when a badhead of province takes power?

Most journalists work without a contract or on ashort-term contract. The relationship between autho-rities and media varied all the way from tolerance toattempts at intrusion and “disciplining” the media.

At the end, a reference to the aforementioned anec-dote is appropriate. The media in Macedonia haveslipped downward on the transitional seesaw andnow have no other option but „to enter through thechimney“. Nobody can tell whether the media inMacedonia will manage next year to get back to thestage of „entering through the window“. The door isstill long way off as far as Macedonia’s media is con-cerned.

from SEEMO Media Handbook

Macedonia: Struggle for Survival

balkan andersBALKAN anders/ südosteuropäischer DialogBALKAN differently/ South East European Dialogue

The aim of the magazine is to give a differential and detailed picture ofBalkans, which might lead to a correction of the often negative impressionof the region, based on prejudice and ignorance. Short clippings and quota-tions from already issued publications about politics, culture, science, reli-gion, history and current problems, which are easy to read, should mediate amulti-coloured picture of South East European countries.

We do not only want to inform about Balkans, than also directly fromBalkans, through help of our editors placed in the capital cities of the region.

Editorial staff: Christine von Kohl (responsible), Vedran Dzihic and contribu-tors in all Balkan regions

The magazine is published 6 times a year

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in Short

Media Report: Moldova

The OCSE Representative for Freedom of theMedia, Miklós Haraszti, visited Moldova in October2004 and talked to politicians, journalists and repre-sentatives of non-governmental organisations(NGOs), about the current state of media freedomin the country. The main reason for the visit was toprovide recommendations to the government onhow media freedom could be improved.

In his final report, Haraszti gauged estimabledevelopments in the situation of the Moldovanmedia. He praised the fact that the country haddecriminalised libel, which few other OSCE partici-pating states have done. However, the representativeremarked, there is no limit on damages in defama-tion claims. Thus civil defamation suits remain aproblem for privately owned media outlets.

Various other points were also criticised byHaraszti in his report, which was published in mid-December.

TeleRadio Moldova (TRM) and the problems ithas encountered during its legal transformation froma state broadcaster into an autonomous public servi-ce institution, fill many pages in Haraszti’s paper.Several problems related to the transformation arediscussed in detail. Up until now, there has been nomonitoring of TeleRadio’s content carried out; despi-te the fact the new law prescribes it.

Meanwhile, two Moldavian NGOs, theIndependent Journalism Centre (IJC) and the Cen-tre for Sociological, Political and Psychological Ana-lyses (CIVIS), have started to monitor the content ofRadio Moldova and TV Moldova 1 on a quantitati-ve basis, using the so-called stopwatch method.

“Too Much Government, Few Other Voices”According to the IJC, the results show a “discrep-

ancy between the real concerns of the people andissues featured in the broadcasts, a bias towards theauthorities, (a) lack of diversity of information sour-ces and sometimes even violations of basic humanrights” as well as numerous reports containing “openpre-election propaganda.”

Just a few days after the NGOs’ release and thepublication of the OSCE report, the supervisoryboard of TRM restricted reports about certain activi-ties of the Moldovan Government during the 2005election campaign.

The BASA-Press news agency reported that from 1January 2005 campaign information has been limi-ted to one minute of airtime per newscast and to 10minutes a week. The government attempted to showwith this move that it is implementing some ofHaraszti’s recommendations.

Criticism of a NationalRegister for PrintmediaThe ruling Communist Partyplans to pass a law thatwould require all periodicalsand news agencies to re-register at the JusticeMinistry’s “Unified NationalRegister”. Another proposedamendment would havemedia outlets change theirlegal status and becomenon-profit organisations.Several NGOs, editors andjournalists have voiced theirconcern that these actionsmight lead to the “weedingout” of critical newspapers.OSCE representative ofFreedom of the Media,Miklós Haraszti, warned:“The distinction betweencommercial and journalisticactivities is difficult and sucha move might negativelyaffect the economic base ofa newspaper. Such a movemight be perceived as politi-cally motivated, especially ina pre-election period.”

New TV NetworkFoundedFour local TV stations(Telecanal 26, Albasat TV, TVEuronova and TV-Prim)agreed to establish a joint TVproduction and distributionnetwork in October 2004.The new network, theEuronova Media Group, isestimated to cover over 55per cent of Moldavian territory. Valeriu Saharneanu,president of the Journalists’Union of Moldova and presi-dent of Euronova, expectsthe network to “save independent TV channelsfrom extinction” and impro-ve the quality of the sta-tions’ reporting.

by Mathias Huter

Moldova: Propaganda & Censorship

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Internet Usage ExpandingIn October 2004, theTelecommunications Agencyclaimed that Montenegrocould expect an expansion ofinternet services in the nearfuture. An agency report sta-ted that 12.5 per cent ofMontenegrin citizens wereusing Internet services in2003, offered by two serviceproviders, MontSky andInternet Montenegro. In2004, the signals of 13 radiostations, all members of theMontenegrin Association ofIndependent ElectronicMedia (UNEM), began livebroadcasts over the Internet.

Greek JournalistSued for LibelOn 9 November, the mainhearing in a case againstGreek journalist AndreiNicolaidis, sued for libel bymovie director EmirKusturica, closed before thePodgorica Court. Kusturicahad pressed charges againstNicolaidis and the weeklyMonitor, alleging damages tohis honour and reputationcaused by Nicolaidis's April2004 Monitor article, entitled“The Devil's Apprentice”. On12 November, the Basic Courtin Podgorica sentencedNicolaidis to a fine of 5,000Euro, or six months in prison.A group of 17 Montenegrinintellectuals protestedNicolaidis’ sentence and rai-sed concerns over the con-demnation of criticalthought, which they calledan immanent occurrence inundemocratic regimes.


in Short

Media Report: Montenegro

Labour DisputeNegotiations were dismissed in November bet-

ween TRM management and the Committee forProtection of Human and Professional Dignity(CADUP). CADUP consists of a group of journa-lists who were not rehired after the transformation ofTRM to a public broadcaster.

The background: In early 2002, protests againstalleged censorship at TRM, supported by more than300 TRM employees, started a debate on the needfor reforms at TRM. After the legal transformationof TRM into a public broadcaster, 190 employeeswere laid off, while 140 positions remained vacant.There had been fear among journalists that the selec-tion process would penalise employees who hadcampaigned for transformation.

After the announcement by the selection commis-sion, (that the laid-off employees would not be rehi-red), dissatisfied TRM employees started to protest,demanding a rerun of the selection process.

In his report, Haraszti criticised the process, sta-ting that “the selection criteria were not clearly defi-ned, and the selection itself was not transparent.” Healso suggests the selection commission be recreated.As of yet, no agreement between TRM managementand the journalists has been reached.n

After almost six months of investigation and spe-culation into the background and motives of themurder of Dusko Jovanovic, director and editor-in-chief of the main Montenegrin opposition daily Dan,the court trial of main suspect Damir Mandic finallybegan on 22 November.

Mandic pleaded not guilty to the charges beforehim and accused the police, the prosecution and themagistrate of “dishonourable work”. According to theAsia Africa Intelligence Wire, he was quoted in courttestimony as saying he had been threatened and blak-kmailed for accusing police inspector Vuk Vulevic ofthe murder. Vulevic has been arrested in connectionwith the crime, which is being treated as a politicalassassination.

There has been a great deal of controversy abouthow much the government, the police and the secretservice were involved in this tragedy. The EuropeIntelligence Wire reported in July that Mandic hadreceived weapons from the Montenegrin InteriorMinistry (MUP).

“I cannot and will not deny that I received auto-matic rifles from the Interior Ministry,” Mandic toldInvestigating Judge Radomir Ivanovic, according toDan. “Some of the rifles I distributed to people I wastold by the police to give them to. They told me:‘Give these to your comrades so there are more ofus’.”

Other reports confirm that the car used in theassassination of Dusko Jovanovic belonged to thepolice. Ekan Jasavic, head of the Podgorica policecrime department, confirmed that the car had beenimpounded by police two years ago and admittedthat policemen, including himself, had used it severaltimes.

With this entire finger pointing it is difficult to tellfact from hearsay. Determining who is telling thetruth, or who can prove that the other side is not, willbe very complicated. The winner may simply be thelast man left standing with his reputation intact.

However, no matter how the trial turns out, whatremains important is that a fatal attack on a journa-list is both an assault on a human being and on free-dom of the press itself. Therefore, the case desperate-ly needs to be solved in order to restore the integrityof the political system and to reopen the way towarda stable democracy. n

by Niklas Werklund

Montenegro:Waiting for the Last Man Standing

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* Montenegro is part of the Federation of Serbia and Montenegro. We dealwith Montenegro separately and not within Serbia and Montenegro,because of the significant autonomy of each of the two Republics.


in Short

Media Report: Romania

Romania Libera has always been a battle-bentnewspaper. In the era of Nikolai Ceausescu, therehad already been struggles around the conservativedaily over its political coverage.

Petre Mihail Bacanu, one of the paper’s founders,had most especially been a constant thorn in the eyeof the ruling Communist Party. Once Bacanu wrotea very critical article about the dictator, which wasnot allowed to be published. Bacanu was jailed.

Tales of a German-Romanian RelationshipMore than 15 years later a new conflict has arisen

in the newspaper. Again Bacanu is mainly involved,but his foe has changed.

Now he faces a foreign investor, GermanWestdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ). KlausOverbeck was installed as the executive manager ofthe paper two years ago.

“There were no problems with WAZ before, tillMr. Overbeck came. Then the problems started,”said Romulus Cristea, editor and president of thestaff association of Romania Libera in an interviewwith deScripto.

In particular, journalists reproached WAZ’sattempts to cut and soften political coverage, and itsgiving of daily instructions on whom not to criticise.Overbeck was also accused of having opened lettersaddressed to the editors’ offices.

Mutual AccusationsMarcus Beermann, in charge of WAZ’s foreign

operations, denies the allegations. He emphasisesthat the conflict started when Bacanu announced hewould sell his interests in the paper to WAZ.

He wanted nine million Euros, but WAZ refused.“All that Overbeck did was criticise the quality ofcertain articles that were badly researched. And notbecause of their political content,” replies Beermannto the accusations.

In September 2004, the conflict reached a peakwhen the majority of editors around Bacanu revol-ted. They instructed the printing house to changethe front page of the paper on several days. As a con-sequence, the newspaper was published with criticaland libellous headlines against WAZ and its repre-sentatives.

According to Cristea, the reason for these actionswas the employment of editors not familiar with thepaper who then gave instructions to the regular edi-tors about which articles to write. WAZ insists it didnot install any new editors.

However, the editors have accused WAZ of edito-rial influence benefiting the governing socialisticparty PSD. In fact, the government is one of the big-gest advertisers in Romania. It places various com-muniqués in papers, as well as ads for parties andstate-owned companies.

Did the WAZ Convince Journalists to ReportMore Balanced?

Manuela Preoteasa, from the EU media portalEurActiv, considers this a possible reason for politicalinterference: “I can imagine that even foreign inves-tors could have been put under high pressure by theformer Romanian government, and tried to convin-ce the journalists to be more ‘balanced’.”Furthermore, she points out the necessity of moder-nising Romania Libera.

Modernising papers is exactly what WAZ claims todo. According to Beermann, WAZ intends to impro-ve the paper’s quality by keeping advertising issuesseparate from the editorial department: "Ad-raisingby journalists bears the inherent risk that they willtry occasionally to benefit from ads they have perso-nally sold, which also could lead to bribes and unre-liable journalism."

Preoteasa asserts that the moment of modernisa-tion was badly chosen. She is sure that modernisa-tion after elections would have facilitated communi-cation and cooperation with the editors.

New Partners - Restored OrderThree months later, the situation stabilised.

Bacanu resigned as editor-in-chief and sold his inter-ests to his personal friend Dan Adamescu, a well-known businessman.

He and former major shareholder WAZ now ownless than 50 per cent, while the rest belongs to smallshareholders.

The owners claim great plans for Romania Liberain the future. They want to improve the technicalinfrastructure of the paper and publish differentregional variations. n

Romania InjuresFreedom of Expression,Strasbourg Reacts Late In December 2004, theEuropean Court of HumanRights in Strasbourg con-demned Romania for infrin-ging on freedom of expres-sion in the case of the twojournalists, ConstantinCumpana and Radu Mazare.The editors of the newspa-per Telegraf uncovered abribe affair in 1995 involvingpoliticians and judges in thecity of Konstanza. In thesame year, the editors wereconvicted of profferinginsults and criminal libel,and sentenced to sevenmonths imprisonment.Apart from these penalties,another order prohibitedthem from working as jour-nalists for one year aftertheir prison sentences wereover. In November 1996, theRomanian president grantedthe two journalists a pardon,releasing them from theircustodial sentences. It tookuntil December 2004 for theEuropean Court of HumanRights to attack these actsagainst Cumpana andMazare as violations of free-dom of expression. The EU-candidate country has oftenbeen criticised for its lack ofpress freedom. ReportersWithout Borders also statesthe growing number ofassaults on investigativejournalists is alarming.

by Solmaz Khorsand andWolfgang Luef

Romania: Dissensions of a Battle-bent Paper

Helsinki CommitteeSurvey on MediaReporting Through an analysis of mediareporting in Serbia from 26December 2004, the HelsinkiCommittee has discoveredthat the reporting matrix inthe country has not changedsince the end of the formerregime. Ongoing commercia-lisation of the media sphereis resulting in a decrease ofeducational information pro-vided by media. HelsinkiCommittee President SonjaBiserko also stresses that themedia does not satisfactorilytreat issues from the past.

Draft Law onAdvertising CriticisedAt a public debate inDecember 2004 held in theBelgrade Media Center, lawexperts commented and cri-ticised the most recent ver-sion of the Draft Law onAdvertising. The workinggroup states that the lawdoes not regulate certainissues, such as the adverti-sing of medicines. Accordingto the law, commercial TVstations would have to redu-ce commercial programmingto 20 per cent, while Serbia'spublic broadcaster (RTS)would have to step down to10 per cent of such program-ming in its daily schedule.Advertising of products suchas alcohol and tobacco,would be prohibited.

Libellous anagramsIn December 2004 Editor-in-Chief Zeljko Bodrozic andEditor Vladislav Vujin of wee-kly Kikindske have been suedfor publishing several ana-grams insulting to locallawyer Slavko Kolarski.According to the newspaperDanas, Vujin has been sen-tenced to pay 20,000 Dinarsin damage.


in Short

Media Report: Serbia

Defamation lawsuits are daily events in Serbia.Despite recommendations by international organisa-tions, libel is still prosecuted under the criminal codeand punished with draconian sentences.

The draft law on Criminal Offences againstHonour and Reputation is not likely to improve thissituation.

Milos Vasic has hit the jackpot. The senior writerfor the weekly Vreme in Belgrade is accused of libel-ling the prime minister, the justice minister and theinterior minister. In a series of articles, he brought tolight negotiations concerning the delivery of a sus-pect in the murder of Zoran Djindjic, former Ser-bian Prime Minister.

The ministers claim that freedom of media overs-tepped the boundaries of good intention, while Vasicstates freedom of media is under pressure from theofficials.

Characteristic ProgressWhen it comes to confrontations between journa-

lists and politicians, the Vasic story can be seen ascharacteristic progress. Serbian law has been heavilycriticised by organisations such as the EuropeanCouncil, Article 19, SEEMO and the IndependentJournalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS). In fact,Articles 92 to 98 of the Serbian Criminal Code areimmensely problematic.

According to international standards, defamationand libel should be treated by civil, rather than penalcodes. In a joint declaration promoting freedom ofexpression, UN and OSCE representatives furtherstress, “defamation laws should reflect the importan-ce of open debate about matters of public concern”and “civil sanctions for defamation should not be solarge as to exert a chilling effect on freedom ofexpression.” In Serbian legislation, none of theseproposals, nor any others made by internationalorganisations, have been adopted.

Is it all a major assault on the media by currentauthorities? Criminalisation of defamation is, in fact,quite old. The original Federal Crime Act of 1976(from the old Socialist Federal Republic of Yugo-slavia) is, despite some amendments in 1994, still inforce.

After the abolishment of the repressive PublicInformation Law of the year 1998, when new medialaws were designed, defamation was left within thepenal code.

While in the new Public Information Law essenti-al rights, like free access to information, are guaran-

teed to journalists, the menace of defamation accusa-tions remains.

Reacting to criticism, the current government cal-led into action a working group that was assigned topropose amendments to the existing law.

Conference held in NovemberThis draft was the subject of a conference on libel

and defamation held on 11 and 12 November 2004at the Media Center in Belgrad. In their conclusionthe participants, composed of lawyers, journalists andall types of organisations, demanded amendments tothe draft before its adoption by parliament.

Besides the incremental abolishment of criminali-sation of defamation, a central belief is that Articles172 and 173, dealing with libel and insult, should becontained within the provisions of article 176. Article176 does not allow punishment “if the statement hasbeen given within a serious critique in the course ofperforming an official duty, journalistic profession”etc. Article 19 believes these proposals could be thecompromise needed to quickly bring Serbian defa-mation law up to international standards.

But Serbian journalists have also failed to developa code of ethics. Journalist Vladan Radoslavljevicpoints out that “in the large number of tabloids, onecan write just about everything” and that “everydayone can find 10 or so articles containing elements ofdefamation or slander in the press.”

However, most of the 300 ongoing cases againstjournalists are brought against “serious” media andconcern articles over the involvement of politiciansand businessmen in organised crime and corruption.As Article 19 and NUNS state: “It is a new means ofpunishing the media in the post-censorship period.”

by Christoph Zotter

Serbia: A Question of Honour

* Serbia is part of the Federation of Serbia and Montenegro. We deal withSerbia separately and not within Serbia and Montengro, because of the sig-nificant autonomy of each of the two Republics.


in Short

Media Report: Slovenia

For the duration of four days, between 3 and 7October 2004, the Trade Union of SlovenianJournalists organised a general journalists’ strike, andSlovenia for the first time in its recent history expe-rienced a media blackout.

By staging the strike on one of the country’s primenews days, journalists in the Slovenian media weredemonstrating their anger over the refusal of mediacompanies, represented by the Chamber ofCommerce, to even talk about renewing nationalagreements covering journalists’ working rights. Theintransigence of the employers caused the majorityof media to take part in the strike, which primarilyconsisted of their refusal to report on topics relatedto elections and politics. The commercial POP TVand the economic daily Finance, both under foreignownership, were the only strike-breakers.

The aim of the strike was “to preserve, supplementand amend the national collective contract, and tomake the representative employers’ associationsrespect it,” said the document containing strikerules. The main changes demanded were editorialautonomy, the improvement of freelancers’ status,the up-dating of journalists’ authorial rights andadjustments of the collective contract to bring it inline with the new working law that came into forcein January 2003.

According to the Media Plan Institute, the finan-cial, social and professional position of journalists isespecially difficult in smaller media outlets inSlovenia, especially where freelance and honorariumwork is commonplace. The main problems for thesejournalists are low and irregular wages, and the

absence of social, health and pension insurance.“They are being exploited,” says Iztok Jurancic, theemployees’ main negotiator, adding that freelancersare paid three times less than employed journalists.

Slovenian journalists had been warning of thenecessity to adopt a renewed national collective con-tract for the profession - regulating issues from jour-nalists’ leave and work hours to libel responsibilityand special protection of journalists - for a long time.The present collective contract, dating back to 1991,does not protect the rights journalists require inorder to openly and independently realise the publicright to information.

After some key employers had blocked discussionson a new national agreement in September, theJournalists’ Union, representing editorial staff inboth private and public media across the newspaperand broadcasting landscape, threatened an all-outstrike across all media, beginning on 3 October – theday of national parliamentary elections.

In an attempt to avoid the strike, the union drop-ped all its demands except the request to start nego-tiating a renewal of the agreement. However, theChamber of Commerce, representing the employers,refused.

On 5 October 2004, Slovenian President JanezDrnovsek received the delegation of the JournalistsTrade Union, and on 8 October, the first meetingbetween the Trade Union and the Chamber ofCommerce was held in Ljubljana. According to theSAFAX news agency, the negotiators decided talkswill be held behind closed doors and expect them tolast at least a year. n

Slovenia Takes Overthe OSCEChairmanshipOn 1 January 2005, SlovenianForeign Minister DimitrijRupel officially took over thechairmanship of the OSCE(Organization for Securityand Cooperation in Europe).According to the OSCE, thepriorities of the new chair-manship were formally pres-ented to the OSCE’s 55 parti-cipating states at a perma-nent council meeting inVienna on 13 January.

Slovenian Media Coverage of Violenceand CrimeDragan Petrovec is theauthor of a report, whichsets out to prove that theSlovenian media focuses onthe most spectacular aspectsof violence, out of proportionwith the actual amount ofviolent crimes committed.Petrovec has expressed hisconcern about this trend.According to his report, avai-lable on Ljubljana’s PeaceInstitute web site, sensatio-nal, violence-related subjectsdominate 79 per cent of allbanner headlines on thefront pages of Sloveniandailies. According to theInternational Journalists’Network, Petrovec believesmedia self-regulatory bodiesare needed to control therepresentation of violence.

Slovenian JournalistAwardedThis year’s award for life-long contribution to thedevelopment of Slovenianjournalism was assigned toJanko Lorenci, acknowled-ging his dedication to edito-rial balance, and his scrupu-lous attempts to uncover allsides of public opinion.Lorenci is the editor of the“Sobotna priloga” section ofthe daily Delo.

by Ana Znidar

Slovenia: Journalists’ Silence Marks TheNational Parliamentary Elections Day

...is a new publication realised by South East Europe Media Organisation(SEEMO). Its aim is to enhance better understanding of the media situa-tion in South East Europe and to serve as a source of information concern-ing press freedom violations in 2004. Next to detailed country reports, thepublication contains a database of all important media in the region.You can order ”South East Europe Media Handbook 2004/2005“ for a pay-ment of 30 Euro.

Contact:SEEMO - IPI, South East Europe Media OrganisationSpiegelgasse 2/29, 1010 Vienna, AustriaTel: +43 1 513 39 40, Fax: +43 1 512 90 15, e-mail: [email protected]

South East Europe Media Handbook 2004/2005


in Short

Media Report: Turkey

Effects follow efforts, so if the Turkish governmentdecides to improve press laws, the EU will reactbenevolently at first glance. At second glance, onesees the resulting gaps that journalists might fall in.

As part of reform efforts to meet EU entry requi-rements, Turkey has made several changes to impro-ve press freedom standards. Some of the most repres-sive restrictions against journalists and under whichjournalists were prosecuted, such as articles in theAnti-Terror Law and in the Penal Code, have beenlifted. A ban on publication and broadcasting inforeign languages has been abolished, allowing theKurd minority the possibility to air programmes intheir own language on TV and radio. The power ofthe High Council for Broadcasting (RTÜK) hasbeen reduced, but nonetheless, it still holds the rightto confiscate TV licences for an “appropriate” reason.

Under the new press law, modified in June 2004,many imprisonment penalties were removed orchanged to very heavy fines. Press freedom has beenfurther improved via the adoption of a new PressLaw, which abrogates sanctions such as the closure ofpublications, the halting of distribution and the con-fiscation of printing machines. However, “the fre-quency of prosecutions against journalists is a causeof concern,” stated the regular EuropeanCommission report on Turkey in October 2004.

“Whether the new press law is exercised in practi-ce depends on which newspaper and in which part ofthe country you work,” says Cemal Tartan, corre-spondent for the German public broadcast groupARD in Istanbul. “If you work in Istanbul, you willhave no problems, but the situation will change ifyou work in the area of Kurdistan,” he adds. Heemphasises one aspect that will remain difficult forjournalists: media coverage of the military. There isalmost no coverage of controversial military storiesand if there is, the editorial office belittles the storyand it is no longer covered in the following days, nomatter whether it was interesting or important.

Although there have been a lot of amendments topress law, which have even been approved by the EU,organisations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF)and the Turkish Trade Union of Journalists (TGS)remain sceptical. “The legislative progress that hasundeniably been made should not conceal the factthat the climate remains as harsh as ever for the mostoutspoken journalists,” wrote RSF in a Decemberpress release. TGS supports the new press law, whichTGS General Secretary Ercan Ipekci says is moreliberal than the older one, but it is concerned, forinstance, about Article 19 (inside the law) which for-

bids coverage of ongoing court proceedings. “Thatarticle may prevent journalists from writing anyinformation about police questionnaires or attorneygeneral investigations rather than only their com-ments,” explains Ipekci to deScripto.

The main problem, according to his estimation,will be some articles in the new Penal Code, whichwill come into force on 1 April 2005. Articles such as305 and 127 maintain some controversial aspectsthat complicate journalists' work and may endangerpress freedom. Article 127 punishes insult by threemonths to three years in prison, with the sentenceincreasing if the crime is committed by means of thepress.

Article 305 punishes alleged “threats against funda-mental national interests”, which according to RSFtargets the freedom of expression, especially on issueslike Armenia or Cyprus. Media coverage of Cypruswas specially censored in February 2004, althoughcensorship is prohibited by the constitution. Ipekcireports: “The prime minister requested from editors-in-chief of newspapers and TV companies to applyauto-censorship to news about the Cyprus matter inFebruary 2004.” n

IPI Concerned AboutSituation at StarNewspaperOn 8 February 2005, theInternational Federation ofJournalists (IFJ) and theInternational Press Institute(IPI) sent a mutual letter ofprotest to Turkish officials,expressing deep concernover the situation of thejournalists and other workersat Star newspaper. InDecember 2004, Govern-ment took control of Starnewspaper’s upper manage-ment, for financial and politi-cal reasons. Immediatelyafter the change of manage-ment, the new managementfired 682 people without anynotice or compensation.Following this action, severalemployees took this case tothe courts and the newmanagement was ordered toreinstate fired journalistsand to pay them theirrespective compensation.However, the Governmentignored the decision of thecourts and blocked the duelegal procedure to reinstatethese journalists and mediastaffers leaving close to 700Star employees jobless. Bothorganisations called fortaking the necessary measu-res to reinstate over 650employees and to pay theircompensation.

12 Hours Interrogation Reporter without bordersreported of the case SebatiKarakurt of the daily Hurriyetwho was held the 15 October2004 for 12 hours at theheadquarters of the anti-ter-rorist police in Istanbul.Some 10 policemen searchedhis home because of a reportpublished a few days earlierthat included an interviewwith Murat Karayilan, themilitary chief of the formerKurdish Workers’ Party (PKK),now renamed Kongra-Gel.The report included photosshowing female rebels incombat fatigues in a favoura-ble light, relaxed and smi-ling. Karakurt was releasedafter being interrogated bythe police and a prosecutor.

by Solmaz Khorsand

Turkey: A Means to an End - Press Lawas The Golden Key to Open EU Doors

SEEMO Reports


The South East Europe Media Organisation(SEEMO), an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), is a regional non-governmental, non-profit network of editors, media executives and leadingjournalists from newspapers, magazines, radio and TVstations, news agencies and new media in South EastEurope. With its committees, SEEMO aims to create abridge between international media activities and themedia developments in the region.

SEEMO was founded in October 2000 in Zagreb,Croatia, by a group of leading editors-in-chief, mediaexecutives and professors of journalism and communi-cations from South East Europe, in the presence ofrepresentatives of international institutions and withfinancial support of the International Press Institute(IPI).

Protecting Press FreedomOne of SEEMO’s main activities is protecting press

freedom by helping journalists and media outlets inSouth East Europe. Over 60 per cent of SEEMO’s pressreleases and letters of protest to governmental and otherofficials have had positive results in the past. EverySEEMO protest is distributed to leading regional andinternational media, national and international govern-mental and non-governmental organisations, politici-ans, and also public persons and institutions.

In the past, SEEMO has provided direct help to jour-nalists in the region by giving them technical equip-ment and other assistance. SEEMO also provided thenecessary aid to journalists, who received death threats.

Our MembersSEEMO has over 400 editors-in-chief, media execu-

tives and leading journalists from South East Europe asindividual members, and over 100 media outlets andinstitutions as corporate members.

During the last four years, SEEMO has assembledover 3,000 editors-in-chief, media executives, leadingjournalists and public persons from the region invarious meetings. Some of these meetings, like the mee-ting of editors-in-chief and media executives fromBelgrade (Serbs) and Pristina (Kosovo-Albanians), werethe first of this kind in history. No one before SEEMOmanaged to gather such high-level media representati-ves from Belgrade and Pristina in a meeting. Between2002 and 2004 SEEMO organised 14 Dialogue mee-tings between editors-in-chief, media executives andleading journalists from South East Europe.

CooperationSEEMO actively cooperates with international,

regional and national governmental and non-govern-mental organisations and institutions. SEEMO alsoactively cooperates with other international press free-dom and media organisations, and it supports and par-ticipates in joint regional and international projects andactivities. With partners, SEEMO has organised semi-nars and conferences promoting European values andideas (2003, 2004, 2005), ecological philosophy andbetter transport possibilities in the region (Belgrade

2002 and 2004, Athens 2003 and 2004, Trieste 2004,Sarajevo 2004), a regional conference on investigativereporting (2002), a regional conference on minorities(2002), two conferences for editors-in-chief, media exe-cutives and leading journalists of Roma media in theregion (2003), two conferences of editors-in-chief,media executives and leading journalists of Vlachian –Aromanian media in South East Europe (2004), severalconferences on press freedom, the legal situation ofmedia, relations between media and politicians, thepublic role of parliamentarians, access to information,the right to secrecy of information sources, teachingpublic relations and communications for governmentalofficials, Media and tolerance Conference (2004) etc.

Journalist’s EducationHelping journalists means also furthering their edu-

cation. Several workshops and seminars were organisedin the field of education, especially for investigativereporters and representatives of minority media. Theminority media workshops and seminars took place atthe SEEMO Media Minority Center (MMC) inOpatija, Croatia.

deScripto - The Journal of Media in SEESEEMO regularly publishes deScripto, a quarterly

media magazine for South East Europe, and the SouthEast Europe Media Handbook (SMH), an annualpublication covering media developments, which inclu-des selected media contacts.

SEEMO AwardsSEEMO also gives awards for outstanding achieve-

ments in the field of media.The recipient of the “Dr Erhard Busek SEEMO

Award for Better Understanding” in 2002 was theCroatian journalist Denis Latin, for his TV-showLatinica (HTV). The 2003 Award was given to KemalKurspahic, former editor-in-chief of the Bosnian dailyOslobodjenje. He and his team managed to publishOslobodjenje every day in the besieged city of Sarajevo.

The SEEMO Human Rights Award “SEEMO Awardfor Mutual Cooperation in South East Europe” is tradi-tionally given on 10 December, International HumanRights Day. In 2002, the Award was given to Christinevon Kohl, a fighter for human rights in the Balkanregion and editor-in-chief and founder of the Viennamagazine Balkan - Südosteuropäischer Dialog - Balkananders.

In 2003, the Award was given to Nebojsa Popov, oneof the leading Serbian human rights fighters and foun-der of the Belgrade magazine Republika. In 2004, theAward was given to Fatos Lubonja, one of the leadingAlbanian writers, journalists and fighters for humanrights.

SEEMO also nominated several leading journalistsfrom the region for important international awards.Thus, in May 2002, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian journa-list Zeljko Kopanja from Nezavisne Novine, BanjaLuka, received the Concordia Award, after being nomi-nated by SEEMO.

The South East Europe Media Organisation

Staff & BoardSEEMO Secretary General is OliverVujovic. SEEMO Board President isRadomir Licina, president of theboard of the daily Danas (Serbia).SEEMO Board members are: RemziLani, director of the AlbanianMedia Institute (Albania), SamraLuckin, director of Boram Network(Bosnia and Herzegovina), StjepanMalovic, director of theInternational Center for Educationof Journalists (Croatia), GeorgiosPapadakis, editor for Express daily(Greece), Risto Popovski, directorof MakFax News Agency (Republicof Macedonia - FYROM) andOgnian Zlatev, director of theMedia Development Center(Bulgaria).

ContactsSEEMO - IPI, SPIEGELGASSE 2/29,A-1010 VIENNA, AUSTRIATEL: +43 1 513 39 40FAX: +43 1 512 90 15E-MAIL: [email protected]: www.seemo.org

SEEMO Reports

Bender, Moldova, but paramilitary forces close to theTiraspol regime stopped him from filming. Mija wasbeaten up and his camera destroyed. He was arrestedand is now being held in custody.

We ask the officials in Tiraspol, Chisinau, theRussian Federation and European community to doeverything in their power to ensure that Mija is freed,thus preventing the situation in the region from esca-lating. SEEMO would like to stress that it is crucialfor journalists to do their job freely and that indepen-dent media are crucial for democratic developmentin any country.

PROTEST ROMANIA, 9 Sep ‘04To H.E. Adrian Nastase, Prime Minister of Romania

and H.E. Nicolae Vacaroiu, President of the R. SenateThe Vienna-based South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, mediaexecutives and leading journalists from South EastEurope, and an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), expresses its deep concern over theattack on two journalists from Ziua newspaper.

According to information before SEEMO, on 3September, reporter Petre Niteanu and photographerLaura Dobre from the Bucharest-based daily Ziuawere attacked by bodyguards and employees of thecompanies, VGB and BRONEC. The incident hap-pened while they were trying to take pictures of VGBheadquarters in Stelutei Street in Bucharest.

SEEMO is further informed that the journalists,who presented their ID cards, were on public proper-ty when they were approached and threatened by thebodyguards. The journalists immediately called thepolice, who, after arriving on the scene, did nothingto protect them. After the photographer was physi-cally and verbally attacked, the police advised thejournalists to leave the scene.

SEEMO strongly condemns the attack on the twojournalists and urges the Romanian authorities togive their closest attention to the investigation of thiscase and to find the responsible persons. We wouldremind Your Excellencies that a safe working envi-ronment for journalists is a fundamental principle ofany democratic society and we hope that theRomanian officials will solve this case in a timelymanner.


PROTEST KOSOVO, 6 Sep ‘04To: Lieutenant General Yves De Kermabon, Com-

mander KFOR and H.E. Bajram Rexhepi, PrimeMinister of Kosovo

The Vienna-based South East Europe MediaOrganisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, mediaexecutives and leading journalists in South EastEurope and an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), strongly condemns the recent attackon a photojournalist for the KosovaPress news agen-cy.

According to information before SEEMO, on 30August, Jahja Tmava, a photojournalist forKosovaPress, was covering a protest in Pristina led bythe Association of Kidnapped Persons’ Families whenKFOR (Kosovo Force) police started arresting theprotesters. Members of a Swedish KFOR unit seizedTmava’s camera and deleted his pictures on thegrounds that he was photographing members ofKFOR. KosovaPress maintains that he was photogra-phing police as they arrested protesters.

In SEEMO's opinion, this is a gross violation ofeveryone’s right to “seek, receive and impart informa-tion and ideas through any media and regardless offrontiers,” as outlined in the United NationsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.

SEEMO condemns the seizure of the reporter’scamera and the obstruction of his work by theKFOR police. We demand an explanation for theseactions and remind you that providing secure wor-king conditions for journalists is one of the basicprinciples of every democratic society. KFOR, aNATO-led international force responsible for esta-blishing and maintaining security in Kosovo, shouldbe especially careful when respecting internationalstandards and communicating with journalists.

PRESS RELEASE MOLDOVA, 8 Sep ‘04The Vienna-based South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, mediaexecutives and leading journalists in South EastEurope and an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the recentattack on a Teleradio Moldova journalist.

According to information before SEEMO, on 6September, Dinu Mija, a cameraman for TeleradioMoldova, went with his Moldova 1 studio crew to doa report on the situation at the railway switchpoint in

Your Excellencies,Recent SEEMO Protests

SEEMO Reports


PRESS RELEASE: ROMANIA, 15 Sep ‘04The Vienna-based South East Europe Media

Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, mediaexecutives and leading journalists in South EastEurope and an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), is deeply concerned about recentdevelopments in the Romanian media.

According to information provided to SEEMO,several media owners have been interfering in theeditorial policy of Romanian media outlets.

In SEEMO’s opinion such practices are endange-ring editorial independence and putting journalists

under pressure. Media owners should agree with edi-tors and journalists on media policy and managerialmatters in internal agreements and media statutes.

SEEMO acknowledges the owner’s right to definethe editorial principles of media, but sees a need forinternal guidelines, as it is important for journaliststo do their job freely and without day-to-day inter-ference or interpretations.

Independent media are crucial for democraticdevelopment in any country.

PROTEST BULGARIA, 23 Sep ‘04To H.E. Simeon Saxecoburggotski, Prime Minister

of the Republic of Bulgaria and H.E. Anton Stankov,Minister of Justice

The Vienna-based South East Europe MediaOrganisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, mediaexecutives and leading journalists from South EastEurope, and an affiliate of the International PressInstitute (IPI), is deeply concerned about a recentcourt decision involving the Sofia-based daily new-spaper Trud. According to information beforeSEEMO, the journalist Svetlana Yordanova, editor-in-chief Tosho Toshev and publishing house “MediaHolding” were fined 5,000 BGN (approximately2,500 Euro) following a decision by the Sofia Courtof Appeal (SCoA) on 27 July.

The decision, which was only published on 7September, stemmed from two articles from the year1996 about a court case against the former Ministryof Interior official, Nikolai Todorov.

In 1999, Todorov submitted an appeal to theCourt asking for damages from Yordanova, Toshevand the publisher.

SEEMO would like to recall that the Sofia CityCourt (SCC) and the Sofia Court of Appeal (SCoA)rejected Todorov’s appeal during the court procee-dings (2000-2001), stating that the Trud articleswere based on “meticulous investigative journalism.”However, the Supreme Court of Cassation returnedthe case to the SCoA, which then found the newspa-per and the journalists guilty of publishing “non-confirmed information.”

SEEMO regards the court’s decision as a clearthreat to freedom of expression in Bulgaria, and asksYour Excellencies to do everything in your power toensure that the decision is reversed. SEEMO wouldalso like to remind Your Excellencies that freedom ofexpression and a safe working environment for jour-nalists are basic principles of any democratic society.

Justice Minister ofBulgaria’s reaction tothe SEEMO protest

SEEMO Reports


members live and highlight their contribution to thematerial and intellectual progress of their countries.Well-known Austrian human rights activist Chris-tine von Kohl said that in this case we have to learnhow to deal with a peculiar minority, transnationalin its character and without political claims, whichaspires to cultural development. After the conferen-

ce in Tirana a meeting of the SEEMO board wasorganised.

SEEMO also prepared in past months a conferen-ce called Traffic Cooperation between Vienna andTrieste, together with publishing house BohmannVerlag, TINA and the City of Vienna in Trieste on20 October, and another conference entitled TrafficCooperation between Vienna and Sarajevo, togetherwith Bohmann Verlag, TINA and the City of Viennain Sarajevo on 8 December.

The SEEMO office in Vienna has worked in coo-peration with its members in the region sinceOctober on a new edition of the SEEMO MediaHandbook, which will be published in English(2,500 copies) in March 2005. Copies of the 2004edition were well-received after being distributed inSouth Eastern Europe, as well as to some institutionsand media outside the region, and SEEMO expectssuccess with the new 2005 edition as well.

SEEMO organised the SEEMO DialogueMeeting with editors-in chief, media executives,deputy directors and leading journalists fromHungary, Romania, Slovakia and Vojvodina (Serbia)between 29-31 October 2004 by Palic lake (nearSubotica in Vojvodina, Serbia). Participants discus-sed the position of minority media and programmesin the public service, together with guests and obser-vers. Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO secretary general, out-lined in his opening statement the importance ofexamining the minority media situation not just inisolation, but in its relationship to the majority press,as well as how the situation differs in varying mediaspheres, where similarities lie, and how the majoritymedia informs the public about the situation ofminorities. Another topic was the privatisation ofmedia in Vojvodina, including the posing of ques-tions such as: “is it possible to privatise the minoritymedia without damaging its existing traditions andhow can this be achieved?” and “can a privatisedminority media gain governmental support as it didbefore?” Participants presented problems faced byminority media in Vojvodina during daily work, aswell as the successes of some print media in Romania(one positive example was the Jurnalul National).Then there was the story of Magyar Hírlap. PéterIpper, editor of Magyar Hírlap, and vice-president ofthe Hungarian Journalists’ Association (MUOSZ),received news on his way to the conference thatRingier Publishing House, a Swiss company whichowns several papers, had decided to liquidate thepaper without any pervious notice, throwing 80journalists into unemployment.

From 19 to 21 November 2004, a follow up to theSEEMO Dialogue Meeting between Editors-in-chief, Media Executives and Leading Journalists ofAromanian / Vlachian Media from South EasternEurope was held in Tirana.

During the first meeting in Sofia, participantsdiscussed many possibilities within a European con-text for preserving and promoting a culturalVlachian identity in South Eastern Europe, while thesecond meeting came up with some concrete ideason how this could be achieved. The participantsstressed the need to undertake various initiatives topromote Vlachian identity and culture, such as thepublication of an Aromanian Balkan newspaper anddevelopment of an Aromanian internet centre.Concrete ideas were also presented to the Council ofEurope for the opening of a regional satellite TV. Themain idea was to bring forward the role ofAromanians as a minority loyal to its roots wherever

SEEMO Activity Report

Top: Samra Luckin, SEEMOBoard Member and Boram,Sarajevo, and Rudolf Bohmann,Bohmann Verlag, Vienna, inSarajevo, 8 December 2004Bottom: Meeting of editors-in-chief, media executives andleading journalists of Vlachian/Aromainian media, Tirana,19 November 2005

Photos: Slobodan Polic,SEEMO Photo Team,Belgrade - Vienna

Review


PUBLICATION REVIEW

OSCE’s Internet Cookbookby Stefan Apfl

It started in Amsterdam, in August 2004. Whenthe Second Internet Conference was finished, theidea to publish a book about freedom of the internetwas born. Four months later, in December 2004, theOSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, theHungarian Miklos Haraszti, presented the MediaFreedom Internet Cookbook.

The 270-paged publication aims to help users andgovernments fight “bad content”, for example hatespeech, without jeopardising freedom. Is there yet aneed for such a guidance? Haraszti seems convinced:“Regulatory activism can lead to suppression of free-dom regardless of whether this censorship was inten-ded or came as a consequence of ignorance.” So thesurprising feature of the guide may well be the under-lying anxiety of the 24 experts contributing essays,that freedom on the Internet does need preservation.

The cookbook’s conclusion: Regulation of theInternet should be limited to fields where it is unavo-idable. An evaluation of the outcomes of the MediaFreedom Internet Cookbook will take place duringthe Third Amsterdam Internet Conference in 2005.

The publication can be downloaded from www.osce.org

PUBLICATION REVIEW

Stjepan Malovic (ed.):Richness of Diversityby Thomas A. Bauer & Igor Kanzaj

Following several international conferences,workshops and research studies on media representa-tion of minorities, Professor Stjepan Malovic fromZagreb University initiated the publishing of a bookcalled “Richness of Diversity”. What happens if thepublic does not understand the issues of ethnicminorities? What if the public acts out its naturaltendency to give power to the majority of people,but ignores its role as an equaliser and succumbs toits own interests in a way that is damaging to mino-rities? Media pluralism offers the guarantee that one-sidedness (generally of the majority) will not inflictdamage on ethnic minorities, because it helps correcta collective lack of understanding. Malovic stated inhis article that mass media is one of the key factorsin forming a social climate for better understandingof minorities and it is necessary that the media beliberated from discipline and pressures, which limitor determine editorial policy. It is the only guaranteethat minorities will not once again become theobject of media manipulation.

Funded by the OSCE Mission to Croatia and rele-ased as part of the “Media and Society” project, thisbook provides a sort of a “status report”, revealingthe main problems in Croatian reporting on minori-ties. A group of scientific researchers (who are alsoinvolved with the “Media and Society” project)together with the International Center for Educationof Journalists (ICEJ) investigated the relationshipbetween media and ethnic minorities (especially inthe realm of presentation and media coverage of dif-ferent aspects of minorities). The main differencebetween this book and other similar editions lies inthe content structure, as well as in the “diversity” ofauthors. That is, Malovic managed to bring togetherscientists, journalists and researchers from differentinstitutions, enabling him to tackle the issue fromseveral different perspectives.

Professor Sinisa Tatalovic, a member of theGovernmental Council for Minorities, accentuatesthe main problems in minorities’ backgrounds inCroatia. Summarising the review of achievements inrights of ethnic minority members in the Republic ofCroatia, Tatalovic stresses that the right to culturalautonomy (even as it is being organised) is best hel-ped along by members of ethnic minorities that havealready been through such a process, perhaps evenbefore the establishment of the independentRepublic of Croatia. Citizens of former Yugoslaviawho live in the Republic of Croatia factually became

PUBLICATION REVIEW

Danko Plevnik: The Practiceof Ethical Journalismby Oliver Vujovic

This new book by Danko Plevnik is an importantguide for every journalist. After publishing severalbooks on this topic in Croatian, his latest effort is inEnglish, opening the door for readers outside theformer Yugoslavia region. Interesting headlines, like'Journalism as corrupted show business?', 'Watchdogversus “war dog” journalism', 'Freedom of the mediadoes not justify all means', 'Do you speak Hostile?'should make the book interesting enough for a pro-fessional to open it and read it from end to end. It isimportant to focus on ethics in journalism in SouthEastern Europe, as Plevnik has done, because, as hesays, “hate speech in the South Slavic political lang-uages (including Albanian) has not dried up, it hasonly changed form. It is hushed up now and hidingbehind old understatements or, as the case may be, amore modern lack of objectivity.” Those who wouldlike to buy his book can contact Plevnik by email:[email protected]

Review

Review


members of ethnic minorities by acts of internationalrecognition. They are still in the organising phase, inthe sense that they are still seeking complete achieve-ment of their minority rights. National minority sta-tus in the Republic of Croatia is sometimes beingdeveloped only within Croatia and sometimes incooperation with the international community.Among other things, such efforts have resulted in thepassing of constitutional rights for ethnic minorities.

Professor Thomas Bauer from Vienna Universityprovides theoretical orientation for the cultural prac-tice of social cooperation. He concentrates on thecultural problems of diversity in reference to identityor ethnocentrism within the framework of a culturalexplanation of communications or a communica-tion-theory-based explanation of culture.

These theoretical fundamentals are followed bythe study of real media reports. Particularly useful arepractical experiences and media analysis provided bypeople who are both researchers and journalists, suchas Stojan Obradovic from STINA news agency. Assuggested in “Richness of Diversity”, media coverageof returning refugees showed there are serious pro-blems in media presentation, especially in the areasof everyday life where problems in communicationbetween the minority and the majority still exist.This trend was easily recognised in journalists’ repor-ting, thanks to a content analysis of Croatian dailiesconducted within a three-year period by two youngresearchers, Berto Salaj and Igor Kanizaj, fromZagreb University. Text analyses of five daily newspa-pers show that minorities are represented in the poli-tical sections of dailies (meaning they are a politicalsubject). Government representatives, minoritiesthemselves and international organisations stillexclusively refer to minorities as a political issue.However, the problems of minorities go far beyondpolitical negotiations and the fight to vote; the cultu-ral, social and economic aspects of their lives, whichare a part of reality, have been completely marginali-zed.

Professor Alemko Gluhak, a former journalisthimself, followed changes in meaning of theCroatian noun nacija (nation in ethnic sense, people)and adjective nacionalan (national, ethnic). Recently,they have been influenced by the English wordsnation and national, which has changed their mea-ning somewhat. Finally, using qualitative analysis,Gordana Vilovic analysed how weeklies report onminorities. Her results are illustrated by many provo-cative news reports published in Croatia’s two biggestweeklies, Globus and Nacional. She attempted withher study to highlight the most common ethicaltraps, which become visible when one monitors theproblems, work, life and events of ethnic minoritiesin Croatia. Attempts to provide correct, balanced

PUBLICATION REVIEW

Adrien Collin / GranvilleWilliams: Eastern Empires –Foreign Ownership in Centraland East European Media:Ownership, Policy Issues andStrategies

by D. Süssenbacher

Recognising the problems that arise in the collec-tion of detailed information and analyses in a medialandscape characterised by permanent transition, theEuropean Federation of Journalists (EFJ) initiated areport illuminating ownership networks in post-Communist Europe. The report aims to clear awaythe opaqueness dominating media policy in manySouth East European (SEE) countries. The expertshave tried to close an enormous information gap byhighlighting main trends and policy issues, as well astheir impact on media policy and ownership. Theauthors aspire to provide orientation and advanceawareness for important aspects of global marketcolonisation. Focusing on Central and EastEuropean (CEE) countries, which will later formpart of an enlarged European Union, the report pro-vides an outstanding review of the widespread varia-tion in “attitudes and policies towards media regula-tion, ownership, and the status of public service.”

and unbiased coverage of ethnic minorities are stillnot satisfactory, yet there are encouraging steps onthe path to fair and full reporting in the majority ofeminent national media – including newspapers andelectronic media. There are still intentional and acci-dental errors, but much less than during the last 10years. Texts and headlines in newspapers that encou-rage stereotyping and prejudice are still present.However, the acceptance of Croatia as a candidatecountry for the European Union and the importanceplaced on systematic care to ensure the honest treat-ment of members of all minorities and protection ofminority rights increases the responsibility of journa-lists reporting on minorities. Monitoring, analysesand research of media presentation of minorities sofar conducted show that although the number ofmistakes has declined, there are still a considerableexamples of articles and texts which are ethicallydebatable.

Although “Media and Minority” is primarily direc-ted at NGO activists, journalists and students, itspopular style also makes it attractive to the widerpublic.

At Duke University, in North Carolina, I direct theDeWitt Wallace Center, part of the Terry SanfordInstitute of Public Policy. I teach about media andnational security, media and democracy, and mediaand change in Russia. Others in our Center cover suchquestions as Internet and regulation, media concentra-tion, social and race issues, the political economy ofnews, technology, and a great deal more. Our VisitingMedia Fellows Program for is the largest and mostinternational in the United States.

It was a unique pleasure to take these exceedinglymodern interests to Ancient Olympia, where theKokkalis Foundation runs a seminar on media andSouthern and Central Europe. Every day was a studyin contrasts between the pervasiveness of digital satel-lite and cable signals in the media world and in themuseum world the unchanging, balanced inner life ofAthena’s majesty and Apollo’s inexorable judgment.

In July, I shall again direct the seminar, together withtwo outstanding faculty members: Slavko Splichal, thenoted expert on media change under socialism andpublic opinion and the public space. Slavko is a distin-guished professor in Slovenia whose work is wellknown the world over. Jan Culik teaches at theUniversity of Glasgow, transplanted to Scotland fromhis native Prague, where he earned his doctorate atCharles University. Jan is both an academic scholarand a creative force in media. He has made animation

films, reported for Radio Free Europe, and done a docu-mentary, Orpheus Through the Ages. Perhaps it’s only fit-ting that he will come to teach in Greece.

Last year, the seminar was one of the most exciting anddiverse I’ve taught. Professional journalists, academicsworking on their theses, NGO officials came from Greece,Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Belgium, Bangladesh, theUnited States, Bosnia - Herzegovina. They had many diffe-rent ideas and experiences with newspapers and televi-sion—as well as with the suppression of media, the practi-ce of censorship and governmental and commercial cons-traints on the ability of journalists to function in good cons-cience. The seminars were packed with significant and dra-matic media questions. They did not have to be hypotheti-cal. They were essential to making over a large part ofEurope that had recently regained its own political space.

We bring together many disciplines and the readingassignments are demanding. But at the end of the twoweeks, some common media myths have fallen under theweight of scholarly scrutiny; the importance of evidenceand where to find it has surfaced; and trends in technologyand global interdependence have enlarged the scope ofthe media world—for better or worse—far beyond nationalborders.

This year promises to be as meaningful and significant.Thinking rigorously about the press and journalism in all itsforms is vitally important, especially for the leaders of thefuture.

Media and Journalism in Transition

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Ellen Mickiewicz

Much of Ellen Mickiewicz's work has focused on prospects for media and transition. TheCommission on Radio and Television Policy, founded by former U.S. president JimmyCarter and directed by Dr. Mickiewicz, brought together leading media decision makersfrom the United States, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and continues tomeet in Vienna under the direction of co-chairs Dr. Mickiewicz and Dr. Erhard Busek. Dr.Mickiewicz continues her collaboration with President Carter on matters of media in tran-sitional countries, particularly Africa and Latin America and works with Mrs. Carter on heradvisory board on mental health journalism. Dr. Mickiewicz was the first American to be honored by the 120,000-member JournalistsUnion of Russia for her contribution to the development of democratic media in theregion. She is author or editor of numerous journal articles and of seven books inclu-ding her most recent Changing Channel: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia(published by Oxford University Press in 1997 and in an expanded paperback edition byDuke University Press in 1999). An earlier book, Split Signals: Television and Politics inthe Soviet Union (Oxford University Press), won the Electronic Media Book of the Yearaward of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Broadcast EducationAssociation. In 1997 Dr. Mickiewicz was given the Murray Edelman Career Award forDistinguished Scholarship in Political Communication by the American Political ScienceAssociation.She is a graduate of Wellesley College and received her doctorate with distinction atYale University. She held a Guggenheim Fellowship and is currently a trustee of theWenner-Gren Foundation and a member of the Governing Board of The InternationalResearch & Exchanges Board (IREX). She also serves on the editorial boards of theInternational Journal of Press and Politics (Harvard University) and PoliticalCommunication.

by Ellen Mickiewicz

OLYMPIA SUMMER SEMINARS 2005

July 5-18International Journalism, Communications, and the Media

in collaboration withDuke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism

andThe Interscientific & Intercultural Center of Olympia

Using methods, models and insights from several disciplines—political science, political economy, political psychology,sociology, history, and philosophy—this is a concentrated and comprehensive seminar on one of the most pervasive and

significant phenomena of our time: the relationship between mass media and democracy.

It seeks to illuminate how the media cover politics and public policy and will examine media institutions and theireffects, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe, where post-Communist transitions have provided both unique

challenges and unique opportunities.

The seminar will also broaden the context to include global trends in technology and fragmentation of audiences.Underlying these changes are serious implications for the advertising model in the United States and in regulations of

the European Union.The program will help the participants to gain purchase on the most important theoretical and practical models

likely to affect the region for some time to come.

Held in Ancient Olympia and set against the backdrop of the beautiful and historically-rich Peloponnesian region ofGreece, the Olympia Seminars provide a unique opportunity for critical thinking and intellectual interaction in a relaxed

environment.

The admission process officially opens on the 28 February 2005. The deadline for all applications is 20 May 2005.

Eligible to apply are graduate students, researchers, media practitioners, journalists, editors, young communicationsspecialists, and NGO representatives who have a demonstrated interest in the topics of the seminar. Applications by

outstanding senior undergraduates with relevant professional or internship experience will also be considered. A limi-ted number of full and partial scholarships will be awarded on the basis of merit and need.

For more information about the seminars content, admissions procedures, and scholarships please visit the KokkalisFoundation website at HYPERLINK "http://www.kokkalisfoundation.gr" www.kokkalisfoundation.gr or contact the pro-

gram coordinator Kristin Fabbe on +30 210 668 2724 or at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected].

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MEDIA CENTAR SarajevoInfo: [email protected] Management Training 14 February 2005 - 18 February 2005Communication Skills Workshop 28 February 2005 - 1 March 2005Training for Youth Radio Stations 2 March 2005 - 4 March 2005Training for Media Managers 14 March 2005 - 18 March 2005Media Literacy Workshop 4 April 2005 - 10 April 2005Investigative Reporting Blended Learning Program10 April 2005 - 13 April 2005Media Management Training 18 April 2005 - 22 April 2005Training for Community Radio Stations 27 April 2005 - 29 April 2005School of Strategic CommunicationMarch 2005 - June 2005

SEEMO/IPI CONFERENCESInfo: [email protected]

Presentation by Johann Fritz, IPI Director 28 April 2004, Hrvatsko novinsko drustvo (HND),Zagreb, CroatiaSEEMO Dialogue Conference Bosnia-HerzegovinaCroatia, Serbia and MontenegroJune 2005, Opatija, Croatia

PEACE INSTITUTE Ljubljana Info: [email protected]

Freelance Journalists - Ways out of the grey zone -SEENMP media policy conference The two-day conference will bring together 30-35 keystakeholders from SEE - representatives of journalists’trade unions and associations, freelance journalists,media analysts, researchers and experts, as well aspolicy makers and media managers. The conferencewill be aimed at raising awareness and discussion, andat encouraging all stakeholders to continue debate,examination and solving of the freelancers issue intheir home countries.1 - 2 April 2005, Ljubljana, Slovenia

PreviewConferences, Seminars andCourses in the RegionSTRUCTURAL DEVELOPEMENT

JETiC: European TempusProgram for Journalism by Thomas A. Bauer

“Tempus“ is a programme through which theEuropean Commission supports societal develop-ments in South East and East European countries.Within the TEMPUS framework, JETiC has beenestablished as cooperation between the InternationalCenter for Education of Journalists (ICEJ) inOpatija, the University of Zagreb, the High Schoolof Journalism in Lille, France, and the University ofVienna in Austria. It concentrates on sustainablejournalism education and professionalism.

JETiC is initiating sustainable high-quality mediastaff training. It is a complex institutional buildingproject, since it does not only develop a system ofsustainable training, but also prepares the chosenenvironment for an increased quality in media repor-ting (for example, in Croatia). The project uses verydemocratic and decentralised techniques. For exam-ple, every “JETiC trainer“ (20 trainees will have cer-tificates endowed by the end of the project) can bean institution unto him/herself, but is at the sametime under supervision and (quality) control by exi-sting training institutions (ICEJ and the Universityof Zagreb, as well as other international institutionsdue to finance future upgrading projects). The maingoal of the project is to establish a name for “JETiCSeminars“, so they are equated with quality in mediareporting (in Croatia), which in turn should guaran-tee lasting and strengthening interest by media staffin education and training beyond the end of the pro-ject. To guarantee acceptance of this raised quality inmedia reporting among the general public (the endconsumers in the media reporting process), JETiC isalso providing lectures for the general public (in theform of 15 free, accessible meetings). It is alsomaking special attempts to target politicians andother public people (who often have input into themedia reporting process). Furthermore, JETiC pro-vides two-day conferences intended to generatestate-of-the-art knowledge in the fields of mediareporting and dissemination among Croatian opi-nion-leaders and decision-makers.

If you are interested, please contact ProfessorStjepan Malovic, ICEJ Zagreb at: [email protected]

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UNION OF CYPRUS JOURNALISTS Nicosia

European Neighborhood Policy - Trade and cooperationin the South-eastern MediterraneanThe aim of the seminar is to introduce the journalistsfrom EU member- states to the new EuropeanNeighborhood Policy, what it means and especiallywhat it means for Cyprus as the bridge betweenEurope and the Middle East.16-17 March 2005, Nicosia, CyprusWomen Journalists in the EU - Integration ProcessWorkshop by the European Federation of Journalists Women journalists nominated by the member-Unionof the EU region and new EU countries are invited toparticipate. Representatives from the other Europeancountries are very welcome as well. The participantsare both journalists and trade-unions.May, 2005, Nicosia, Cyprus

ANEM BelgradeInfo: [email protected] journalism14 - 18 February, 7 - 11 March, 11 - 13 April, Belgrade, SerbiaDigital editing - students7 - 9 March and 4 - 6 April, Belgrade, SerbiaCourse for radio hosts14 - 18 March and 4 - 8 April, Belgrade, SerbiaGeneral course in journalism 28 March – 1 April

ICEJ OpatijaInfo: [email protected]

UNIDEA European media training25 - 27 February, Opatija, CroatiaUNIDEA European media training11 - 13 March, Opatija, CroatiaMedia Thursday at 1917 March, Zagreb, CroatiaTEMPUS ToT course18 - 19 March, Zagreb, CroatiaUNIDEA European media training18 - 20 April, Opatija, CroatiaSEENPM Croatian national parks study trip13 - 17 April, Opatija, CroatiaSpecialized Libraries21 - 22 April, Opatija, CroatiaMedia Thursday at 1921 April, Zagreb, CroatiaTEMPUS ToT course22 - 23 April, Zagreb, CroatiaMicrosoft Windays konferencija 24.-29. AprilMedia Thursday at 1919 May, Zagreb, CroatiaHRT Workshop23 - 28 May, Opatija, CroatiaHRT Workshop30 May - 04 June, Opatija, Croatia


ALBANIAN MEDIA INSTITUTEInfo: [email protected] and Citizens ForumTraining course, Balkan Trust for Democracy andAlbanian Media Institute, Korca, February 2005Webmasters’ CourseTraining course, UNESCO and Albanian Media Institute,February 2005, Tirana, AlbaniaPublic Administration and MediaTraining course with spokespersons of the state policein different districtsFebruary 2005, Tirana, AlbaniaChallenge 2005 ForumMeeting of well-known journalists and analysts withkey persons in the political sphere, such as PrimeMinister, opposition leader, main diplomats, etc.every month until summer elections, Tirana, AlbaniaReporting Terrorism Training course on reporting terrorism, with the parti-cipation of journalists from all countries in the region,SEENPM and Albanian Media Institute,March 2005

deScripto No. 3Spring 2005

Dossier:Media Education

Country Focus:Romania

to be published inApril 2005

OTHERMedia Fair2-4 March 2005, Novi Sad, SerbiaInfo: [email protected] TV ShowApril 2005, Belgrade, Serbia Info: [email protected] Documentary Festival1-10 April 2005, Thessaloniki, GreeceInfo: [email protected] Documentary and Short Movie FestivalBelgrade, Serbia, 20-24 April 2005Info: [email protected] Festival of Local TV Broadcasters8-11 June 2005, SlovakiaInfo: [email protected]

de scripto · 2005. 3. 29. · stjepan malovic - zagreb georgios papadakis - athens risto popovski...

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