That Populist Reflex Meant To Chill Elections

Michael Hedges February 10, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

Authoritarian rulers generally don’t sweat the small stuff. After all, they are the bosses. Elections are irritations. News outlets reporting them are nuisances. It is all very transactional.

In recent weeks Telekom Srbija, owned by the Serbian government, yanked all-news cable TV channel N1 from its national network. The claim was a contractual dispute. Last December N1 was booted off PostaNet, also state-owned. Effectively, N1 is very hard to find as Telekom Srbija owns nearly every other cable operator. Indeed, carriage agreements between the two ended at years end.

Cable news channel N1 operates in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia. It is affiliated with CNN International. N1 TV is “the only big independent television in Serbia,” said OSCE and RSF representatives. Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic and his supporters have railed against N1 TV for inconvenient news coverage.

N1 is owned by United Group, a telecom advertising and media company operating across the Balkans. Company headquarters is in Amsterdam. It is principally owned by UK private equity firm BC Partners, which acquired the assets from KKR in 2019. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is a minority partner.

Several observers have written off the dispute and just that, a contractual dispute over carriage rights. Others see something else; parliamentary elections coming in April. Nearly all Serbian news media is government controlled, like state broadcaster RTS, or government friendly, like Pink TV. Once a pillar of independence, the B92 outlets were taken over by shareholders close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and a re-branding completed. President Vucic and his party also benefit from the robust presence in Serbia of Russian propaganda network Sputnik.

"There is no doubt that what is happening to N1 is part of political pressure from the current government, which generally does not want to have media allowing the free flow of information,” said University of Belgrade media professor Rade Veljanovski to Deutsche Welle (February 7). “The election timing is another clear reason that there is pressure from the authorities. It is very important for them to further reduce the possibility of objective information to the public and the amount of potential voters that objective information can reach.”

"I think it's more than clear that this has to do with the election,” said Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina president Norbert Sinkovic. “Unfortunately, in Serbia it is a part of folklore or tradition that as soon as elections are approaching, the authorities do their best to discipline the media one way or another. In the case of N1, it is an attempt to deny that television a platform for broadcasting content that the audience is interested in. We may or may not like something, but it is the citizens who have to decide what they like or dislike, that is, have a free choice. Unfortunately, free media have become isolated islands in Serbia.”

Representatives of the European Parliament visited Serbia in the last week and, quite diplomatically, reported their observations (February 7). “Although time is running out before the start of the electoral campaign, more can still be done to improve the conditions for holding elections, especially in the area of the freedom and professionalism of the media,” noted MEP and rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik. “We continue to hear concerns expressed by all political actors, experts and civil society about the lack of freedom of the media,” observed MEP Tanja Fajon. “Many speak of unfair coverage, biased editorials, abusive language, intimidation and even hate speech.”

As it would happen, the European Commission is changing its perspective on EU accession, streamlining the cumbersome procedure, maintaining emphasis on rule of law. Serbian president Vucic officially favors accession while maintaining strong ties with the Russian Federation, which prefers a weaker EU and no new members among its allies. Among the former-Yugoslavian States, Serbia and Macedonia remain in the “negotiation process” while North Macedonia and Albania are official candidates. Croatia and Slovenia already EU members. Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo are on nobody’s list.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Elections and Media

• Hot Topics - TV News

• Hot Topics - Media in Serbia