It’s Always About The Money

Michael Hedges April 9, 2012 Follow on Twitter

Local media is often held as essential to strong community dynamics, a multitude of voices preferable to a few outlets offered by either the State or big private owners. The dilemma, less figured, is pure economics. Local media is expensive and a lot of local media is unsustainable, forcing difficult, often ugly decisions on media workers and owners. A solution, like the money, is hard to find.

Tiny Croatian radio station Radio Karlovac is on the brink of bankruptcy. The station employs thirteen people in the central Croatian municipality of Karlovac, population 55 thousand. The Karlovac County Court ordered the station’s owners – principally the city, county and the municipal water utility – to pay back compensation, legal fees and interest of HRK 665,000 (about €90,000) to a former station managing director, who happens to be a former Karlovac mayor.

“Radio Karlovac has no money even to pay the principal,” said current station managing director Marijan Stavljenic, quoted by Vecernji list (March 3). ”These days I visit the owners extensively and seek support.” The court decided the station’s owners illegally dismissed former managing director Dragutin Pribanic in 2006.

Radio Karlovac could be closed or privatized, say local media watchers. So might weekly newspaper Karlovacki Tjednik, also city owned, after the Karlovac Municipal Court ruled against the newspaper and its editor in a libel claim, reported dalje.com (March 15). Karlovacki Tjednik received about €160,000 from the city budget in 2011 and Radio Karlovac received about €110,000. Radio Karlovac broadcasts city and county council meetings.

”It is not just about market value,” said political scientist Jasna Plevnik, who opposes privatization, quoted by Vecernji list (March 13). “The city needs a medium through which to communicate with citizens. The biggest problem is the link between the directors and politics. The editors must have equal influence on content and selection of staff.”

The 2012 IREX Media Sustainability Index (MSI) report on 21 “transitioning” countries, released April 5, gave highest marks to Croatia. “As a whole, Croatian journalists and media professionals have matured and are now experienced enough to understand that politics alone…is no longer the sole driving force shaping the media environment,” said the report’s introduction. The MSI is a composite of five “objectives” evaluated by a panel of local observers.

Freedom of speech in Croatia, according to the MSI, has continued relatively positive and stable since 2001.  Plurality of news sources has risen considerably, mostly due to lower consumer cost for internet services and the resulting boom in online media, as has the rating of media support institutions.  On the other hand, ranking for professional journalism and business management have fallen over the last decade. The IREX Croatia panelists fault tabloidization of all media, print in particular, for lowering journalistic standards. Business practices negatively affecting media management include notable – and failed – speculation in non-core enterprises.

Of the former Yugoslav countries (Slovenia excepted, not monitored by IREX), media in Montenegro is most improved, yet still fragile. MSI Montenegrin panelists ranked all five objectives higher than 2001, notably freedom of speech and plurality of news sources. Favorable public interest in European Union (EU) accession and alignment with EU rules has had a positive effect of freedom of speech. The MSI panelists, however, see plurality as a double-edged sword. “Bearing in mind our tiny population (657,000 est),” said one, “I think we have too many media companies in Montenegro. On the other hand, one might say that different points of views are always presented and that citizens have ample freedom of choice.”

“Professional standards have not grown in stride with plurality,” said the MSI Montenegro report, which suggests low wages in the media sector contributes to lower professionalism.

“Journalists are poorly paid and often forced to work for several media companies at the same time,” notes a Montenegrin panelist. Some are even “driven” into PR. Another panelists observed that most media companies in Montenegro are in “a dire situation financially.”

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