From The Right Track To Off The Rails

Michael Hedges January 21, 2013 Follow on Twitter

Media diversity can be a lonely concept, particularly for minority cultures and languages. Using the law of the land to encourage a diverse media landscape is only effective to a point. Other concepts can intrude: money and power. The risk is a cultural deflation.

The public broadcasting system in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will expand significantly if a Council of Ministers proposal is accepted. At present there are three public broadcasting services, more or less separate, one national and two regional, each oriented to a different geography, language and ethnic group. The proposal would create a Croatian language public broadcaster.

The proposal has not gone down well with observers of the BiH media scene. “The current public service broadcasting system is already in a dire state due to the non-implementation of the current legislation and poor financial situation,” noted Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative for media freedom Dunja Mijatovic in a statement (January 14). “Rather than creating new broadcasters, the authorities should strengthen the independence and professionalism of the existing public service broadcasters.”

The ethnic and linguistic divide in Bosnia and Herzegovina permeates the media landscape as it does the country. Radio Televizija Bosne I Hercegovine (BHRT) is the national public service broadcaster operating television channel BHT 1 and radio channel BH Radio 1. Then there is Radiotelevizija Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine (RTVFBiH) operating TV channel FTV and radio channel FBiH, based in Sarajevo and offering programming in Bosnian and Croatian to the semi-independent Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina zone established by international agreement following the 1990’s Bosnian War. Those agreements also established within BiH the Republika Srpska, which now has its own public service broadcaster Radiotelevizija Republike Srpske (RTRS) offering one radio and one television channel in the Serbian language from Banja Luka.

Independent, language-specific public broadcasters within one country has precedent: Switzerland. There are well-funded public radio and TV channels for the French, Italian and Swiss-German regions, license fee revenue divided among them more or less equally. After that any comparison between media in Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and everything else, ends.

The proposed new Croatian language public broadcaster in BiH would be located in Mostar and will be entitled to 20% of advertising and marketing revenue generated by the public broadcasting service as well as 20% of the household license fee. The idea has not gone down well within the BiH media scene. “Establishing an exclusive language service opens the way for the destruction of the public broadcasting service system along national lines and completely obliterates the mission of public service as a pillar of democratic society,” complained the public broadcaster trade union.

The board of RTRS called the proposal ”a big and unpleasant surprise,” quoted by Pravda (Serbia) (January 9). ”It is impossible for RTRS to take five percent the license fee and give it for a channel in Croatian.”

Attempts to close BHRT in favor of ethnic and linguistic specific public broadcasters have, so far, failed. Republike Srpske president Milorad Dodik once called the national public broadcaster “a monster living in Sarajevo,” quoted by BL!N (December 15 2011), and said it should be abolished. He also said he wouldn’t pay the license fee.

BiH Council of Ministers chairman Vjekoslav Bevanda, who proposed the fourth public broadcasting service, said the Croat minority is not sufficiently served. “To me this is perfectly normal and something practiced in  all countries of the world, particularly in Europe,” he said to Poslovni dnevnik (January 11). “I cannot understand anyone trying to deny the establishment of broadcasting channels in the native language of one constituent people.”

Despite efforts by the European Union, OSCE and the European Broadcasting Union, the media scene in BiH continues to reflect political posturing, dismal economics and sector inertia. “Just a few years ago, Bosnia was on the right track,” said Ms Mijatovic to Glas Srpske (January 13). “BiH has often been the first country in the region with progressive media laws. On the other hand, many of these laws have never been fully implemented.”

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