THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia THE MEDIA AS A PART OF THE ANTI-EUROPEAN FRONT TTHHEE PPRREESSSS:: AANN UUNNCCHHAANNGGEEDD MMAATTRRIIXX Belgrade, December 2004 Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Zmaj Jova str. no. 7, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro phone +381 11 3032408; 637116; 637294; fax +381 11 636429 e-mail: [email protected]; povelja@1 eunet.yu; www.helsinki.org.yu THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia THE MEDIA AS A PART OF THE ANTI-EUROPEAN FRONT THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX Authors: Sonja Biserko Radovan Kupres Nemanja Stjepanovic Izabela Kisic Obrad Savic The research was conducted with the assistance of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Belgrade, December 2004 2 THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX “In the quest for ethical standards in the struggle against moral damages made by hate speech, we should remember that freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Civil society does not depend on state or social control of expression, no matter how insulting it may be. The real antidote for hate speech is not the suppression of speech, but rather much more speech. The key for civil society lies in the public, inasmuch as in those who convey (…) The reality is that if we really want and deserve an ethical society, then the apostles of virtue and politeness should victoriously appear on the market of ideas in an open confrontation with the cynical protectors of hate speech.” Louis Alvin Day, "Ethics in Media" "Freedom of information is... the touchstone of all the freedoms." UN, Freedom of Information Cnoference 1948. 3 THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX Contents ● Cunclusions and Recommendations ...................................................................... 5 ● Media Construction of Serbia: The Lavish Spectacle of National Misery ......... 7 ● The Press: An Unchanged Matrix ........................................................................... 15 ● Analysis and Examples (2004) March ...................................................................................................................... 23 April ........................................................................................................................ 45 May ......................................................................................................................... 62 June ......................................................................................................................... 71 July .......................................................................................................................... 81 August .................................................................................................................... 90 ● The Analyzed Media in a Nutshell ......................................................................... 99 ANNEX 1 ● The Role of the Medina .............................................................................................. 102 ANNEX 2 ● Public Information Law (Serbia) ............................................................................... 125 ● Broadcasting Act (Serbia) ........................................................................................... 151 ● Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Broadcasting Act ....................... 193 ● Law on Free Access to Information of Republic Importance ............................... 194 ● The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (extract) .............................................. 207 ● Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (extract) 208 ● Charter on Human and Minority Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (extract) 209 ● Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia (extract) .................................................. 210 4 THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX CONCLUSIONS • The analysis of media in Serbia indicates that the illusion of the unification of "Serbian lands" and the concept of the Serbian nation as a "natural community" has not been given up. Despite the fact that this project is military defeated, the message sent through the media, by persisting on the same political propaganda, stereotypes, education, science and culture that interiorize this ideology, is that "Greater Serbia" as a goal has only been postponed. Facing the recent wars and the political and moral responsibility for those wars is one of the most important elements in the process of social transition, but not a serious topic in any of the media. On the contrary, an interpretation of the past that relativizes and ignores this responsibility prevails. Thus the media maintain continuity with the times of Slobodan Milošević. They do not represent a force of change but rather a basis for the rehabilitation of the old regime and a transformation of its legacy into political normality. • The influence that the anti-Hague and mafia lobbies, as well as of people from Milošević’s surrounding have on the media is still very strong, which is evident from the editorial concept of the media. The non-transparency of the ownership structure of the majority of printed media in Serbia should be perceived from this point. Some media are just a transmission or some sort of a bulletin of specific services which use these media to spread rumors and create affairs. • After October 5, there was no attempt to debrief the public. The public opinion created through nationalistic propaganda back at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties is petrified. Thus even very brief nationalistic campaigns are sufficient to revive old animosities against both the neighbors and the minorities in Serbia as well as political opponents. • A very low professional level of journalists has been noted and an overall lack of information about specific issues they report on. This significantly blunts their critical position, and results in a lack of inventiveness in the choice of topics. The media fail to play a critical role and raise important issues pertaining to the reform of the society. Populism dominates both in the form and the essence of the message. • The press often announces political events and practically prepares the public opinion even for the most retrograde decisions made by politicians, thus directly taking part in the radicalization of the society. • A significantly strong and influential alternative medium that would confront the dominating media behavior does not exist, which deprives the society of an alternative viewpoint regarding the events and processes in the society. A consensus on the main political and social issues exists in almost all media. The main proponent of the nationalistic and conservative orientation is the Večernje Novosti, a daily newspaper with a circulation over 200 thousand. Other media can be placed within the range of the ones more radical than Novosti (in terms of rhetoric), on one end, and those that transmit the same message in a more subtle way, on the other. Media that could be excluded from this ideological matrix have failed to impose a radically different editorial policy and are often giving in to the conservative and 5 THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX nationalistic public opinion and making excursions into sensationalism characteristic for the "yellow press". • The lie that is being spread by the majority of media has deformed the society which lives in deep delusion. The primary goal of permanent propaganda is to prevent any feeling of responsibility and remorse. A sense of self-pity and a feeling of permanent endangerment due to an alleged worldwide conspiracy against the Serbian people are being promoted. RECOMMENDATIONS • A professionalization of the media is necessary, through repeated seminars and schools on professional, not only art standards, as well as through education on certain topics which are crucial for the reform processes in Serbia. • A commercialization of certain media which could function in a value framework different from the dominating one, would have negative effects because it would lead to their adjustment to the conservative and nationalistic public opinion. Thus a support of this media is still necessary in order to create conditions in Serbia for a debriefing of the public opinion, and to offer a different option to the citizens. However, it is necessary to include in these processes the Radio-Television of Serbia, which should as soon as possible be transformed into a public service, with an editorial policy totally different from the present, and directed towards a serious facing of the past, not its "normalization". • It is necessary to exercise the existing legal regulations that would efficiently protect the citizens, and even public figures, from manipulations and blackmails, as well as curtail the spreading of hate speech. • In order to attain a faster internal integration of the region it is desirable to initiate the work on the creation of regional media that would express the common interest of the citizens in the countries of the region, in particular the post-Yugoslav countries. One of these interests is by all means to join the European Union. • Starting from the basic ethical principles, the media have the moral obligation to recognize the hate speech and to strongly present the standpoints that oppose this speech. 6 THE PRESS: AN UNCHANGED MATRIX MEDIA CONSTRUCTION OF SERBIA THE LAVISH SPECTACLE OF NATIONAL MISERY “No matter how paranoid you are, you can never be paranoid enough.” Peter Knight , Conspiracy Culture,