Communicating Citizens' Protests, Requiring Public Accountability
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COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS, REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY: Case studies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia Sarajevo, 2016 Title: COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS, REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY: Case studies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia For publisher: Ines BAMBURAĆ ALIBAŠIĆ Publisher: Media and Civil Society Development Foundation “Mediacentar”, Sarajevo, Kolodvorska 3, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina, www.media.ba Edited by: Sanela HODŽIĆ and Mojca PAJNIK Authors: Dejan ADONOV, Tijana CVJETIĆANIN, Bojan GEORGIEVSKI, Ilda LONDO, Zaneta TRAJKOSKA Reviewers: Brankica PETKOVIĆ and Svjetlana NEDIMOVIĆ Project coordinator: Maida MUMINOVIĆ Technical editing: Mirela ROŽAJAC-ZULČIĆ Copy-editing and proofreading: Toby VOGEL and Milena MARIĆ-VOGEL Design: Samira SALIHBEGOVIĆ Printing: Blicdruk, Sarajevo Circulation: 300 copies CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo 316.774:323.269.3(4-12) COMMUNICATING citizensʼ protests, requiring public accountability : case studies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia / [authors Dejan Adonov ... [et al.]. - Sarajevo : Media and Civil Society Development Foundation “Mediacentar”, 2016. - 384 str. : ilustr. ; 17 x 17 cm Bibliografija: str. 371-379 ; bibliografske i druge bilješke uz tekst. ISBN 978-9958-584-13-8 1. Adonov, Dejan COBISS.BH-ID 23130886 This book is the result of a regional research project entitled „Communication practices in the context of social uprisings and requests for public accountability”, funded by the Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP) in the Western Balkans. The project was implemented by Mediacentar Sarajevo, School of Journalism and Public Relations and Albanian Media Institute. www.media.ba www.rrpp-westernbalkans.net/ The RRPP promotes social science research in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). Social science research aids in the understanding of the specific reform needs of countries in the region and in identifying the long-term implications of policy choices. Researchers receive support through research grants, methodological and thematic trainings as well as opportunities for regional and international networking and mentoring. The RRPP is coordinated and operated by the Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (IICEE) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). The programme is fully funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent opinions of the SDC and the University of Fribourg. TABLE OF CONTENTS Sanela Hodžić and Mojca Pajnik COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS: Exploring opportunities and constraints, calling for social and media reforms 7 Ilda Londo BETWEEN MAINSTREAM AND SOCIAL MEDIA: Communication practices during the protests in Albania 57 Tijana Cvjetićanin “REVOLUTION AS THE ONLY SOLUTION” Communication practices during the protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina 141 Bojan Georgievski, Dejan Andonov and Zaneta Trajkoska RALLYING FOR CHANGE: RESTORING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH CITIZEN PROTESTS Communication practices during the protests in Macedonia 283 THE AUTHORS 383 COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS: EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS, CALLING FOR SOCIAL AND MEDIA REFORMS Sanela Hodžić and Mojca Pajnik 7 SANELA HODŽIĆ AND MOJCA PAJNIK Introduction Over the last several years, the region of South-East Europe witnessed quite a few large- scale protests in which citizens demanded government accountability and expressed their discontent. While protests were not that rare before1 – small-scale citizens’ protests in particular were almost a constant in some of the parts of the region – the protests that have taken place after 2013 involved a wide range of communication opportunities and challenges pertaining to their focus, scale, range of participants, the overall socio-political environment, but also the changing technological environment and media use. The aim of this publication is to examine the communication practices during recent cases of protest, recognising that communication is relevant not only in terms of the construction of a symbolic realm but mostly in its impact on actual mobilisation and the impact of social movements. The cases of protests included in this research vary in their thematic focus and range of protest actions, but they also share some similarities in terms of the structural and contextual circumstances in which they emerged and in how communication unfolded during the protests. These protests involved important novelties. In Albania, the protests against plans to dismantle chemical weapons on its territory managed to escape political instrumentalisation and involved a large number of participants. The protests of February 2014 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) also saw a large number of participants and soon expanded thematically beyond the initial focus on disempowered workers, to include a wide range of social issues across the country and to some extent also across the ethnic divides. The protests involved a strong anti-government component, including demands for resignations and the establishment of alternative governance. In Macedonia, the student protests of 2014 against announced education reforms were the first of their kind since demonstrations in 1997, and also broke 1 It is worth mentioning that the region saw massive protests in the 1990s, most notably the anti-war protests 8 in Sarajevo in 1992, and anti-government protests in Serbia in 1996-97. COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS: EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS, CALLING FOR SOCIAL AND MEDIA REFORMS new ground with their expression of strong anti-government sentiments, which culminated in the political crisis of 2015. These protests were also unusual for Macedonia since they did not focus on ethnic issues and sentiments. The recent protests in BiH and Macedonia also involved the launch of ‘plenums’ – another first in the history of protests in either country. The plenums served as a novel form of gathering to stimulate the exchange of citizens’ concerns, aspiring to achieve horizontal communication which involved new considerations of democratic processes and held important implications for communication practices. The plenums that took place in the region in recent years resemble similar movement strategies that have been evolving globally since the Battle of Seattle in 1999, where global movements have gathered to oppose the corporate and political power of the elites. More recently, the ‘Occupy’ movement of 2011 known for its slogan “We are the 99%”, saw similar ‘sit-ins’ organised as a form of protest and as a way of movement communication. Research on communication processes during the citizens’ protests in the SEE region has been scarce, and insights into the role of the media and of communication platforms in framing the protests and in mobilising for action remain limited. This collection of papers aims to contribute to filling this gap. It focuses on the communication practices during recent cases of protests in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, while trying to answer the main research questions: a) how were the protests framed by the mass media and b) what was the perceived role of both mass media outlets and alternative communication platforms in informing citizens and mobilising them for collective action, and specifically c) how was the notion of accountability framed in mass media content, and d) what is the perceived notion of public, in particular government, accountability in light of the recent citizens’ protests. While exploring the content and the perception of communication, this research also contributes to our understanding of how these communication practices hindered or promoted citizen initiatives and government accountability, which role the mainstream media played in reporting the protests, how officials responded to the new communication context, and how the protesters communicated during the protests. In sum, the aim of the research is 9 SANELA HODŽIĆ AND MOJCA PAJNIK to contribute to a better understanding of content and dynamics of communication during the citizens’ protests, and to provide a better understanding of the citizens’ quest for public accountability. The research also yields recommendations for media outlets, officials, and activists/citizens on lessons learned for further communication strategies. At the beginning of this publication, we first present some insights from theories of social movements and communication studies concerning the role of communication during protests, including inherent constraints and opportunities, after which the results of research will be presented in more detail. 10 COMMUNICATING CITIZENS’ PROTESTS: EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS, CALLING FOR SOCIAL AND MEDIA REFORMS 1. Theoretical background and results of previous research This research design was developed based on interdisciplinary insights and includes references to social movement theories and political science on the one hand, and communication studies on the other. The role of media and communication in the course of collective citizens’ action has for a long time been neglected, yet some authors (Gamson and Wolfsfeld 1993) point to the role of media in the mobilisation of political support for social movements. This publication