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Serbian media changes little, faces long transitionThe media situation in Serbia hasn’t changed much. “We are seven years in this (transition) period in Serbia and we can say that we are half way through,” said OSCE Head of Mission in Serbia Hans Ola Urstad in a recent interview. “A lot more has to be done and it will be done,”
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Incentives and other forms of pressure have had only incremental effect on Serbian political leaders, their friends and appointees. The biggest issues separating Serbia and EU membership are Kosovo’s status and the remaining at-large Miloslovic – era war criminals. Serbian politicians facing long simmering popular resentment of ‘the West’ openly question further European integration and with equal vigor promote closer Russian ties. Chairman of the media regulator RRA Nenad Cekic complaining in an interview September 14th about “obstruction” and “interference” by OSCE, NGO media watchers and local academics. The tension and frustration is palpable.
Transitions are, however, best measured in small increments. Foreign investment in Serbian media continues as major broadcasting and publishing groups bet on inevitable integration. The German WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) Media Group entered the Serbia media market in 2001, buying 50% of publisher Politika. It has since acquired a majority stake in Dnevnik Vojvodina.
The respected weekly news magazine NIN (Nedeljne informativne novine) is set for privatization by the end of September. Originally, a 60.9% stake was to be offered at auction on September 29th with bids starting at RSD 13.2 million (€157,000). As usual, things change; the auction has been dropped for a tender, essentially a ‘beauty-contest’ among bidders.
Serbia’s largest privately held broadcasters have diverse ownership; part local, part regional and part foreign. Pink Media Group (PMG), locally owned and headquartered in Belgrade, owns TV Pink and Radio Pingvin. The company owns and operates stations in Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro.
News Corporation launched Fox Televizija barely one year ago with a license awarded in the much disputed television redistribution. Its direct ownership is limited under law to 49%.
TV Avala won a license in April 2006 and began operating six months later. Local media reported (September 20, 2007) that automobile distributor Nelt Company would soon acquire 25% of the television station.
RTV B92 is the most widely known Serbian broadcaster outside Serbia. The company established itself in 1989 as a radio station for young people, notably critical of the Milosevic regime and, from time to time, suffering for it. RTV B92’s ownership is divided among a trust of station executives, Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) and a local retail import and distribution company Dexy Company. MDLF was founded by former B92 station manager Sasa Vucinic with seed financing from George Soro’s Open Society Institute and provided B92 with cash and a business plan. It was awarded a national television license in 2006 when new licenses were granted.
B92 benefited from the €6 million allocated by the European Commission’s Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilization (CARDS) Program for 2003 to promote independent media as one of the “…outlets most likely to adapt to the new market conditions.” The CARDS program was replaced by the IPA program, streamlining European aid to Serbia’s transition.
Both Pink Media Group and RTV B92 have evolved into diverse multi-media companies with radio, television, film production, web development, advertising support and graphic design subsidiaries. Owing to the growing but rather limited advertising market and a nagging insecurity about media regulation diversification is a necessary business strategy. Ad spending in Serbia was estimated at $155 million in 2006, up from $121 million the previous year. PMG’s principal owner Zeljko Mitrovic launched AirPink in 2004, a corporate jet service.
Local Serbian media watchers continue to speculate on RTL Group’s interests since the company operated, then lost, then won, then lost again its television license.
The RBA Council Deputy Chairman Nened Cekic reportedly told local media that so long as he and Chairman were members of the RBA Council RTL would never receive a frequency.
A local newspaper, Kurir, reported that RTL Group has open offices in Belgrade and will spend five to eight million euros lobbying for broadcast frequencies. Over the recent few months local media has reported RTL approaching existing broadcast owners – including B92 and TV Avala - with offers to buy. Media regulator RBA confirmed that talks between the agency and RTL representatives have taken place to discuss the “overall media environment.”
An RTL Group spokesperson, contacted for this article, would not comment on the company’s intentions except to say that a television license had been applied for and, ultimately, refused. He turned most of his attention to the veracity of Serbian journalism. A famous man once said, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Ownership provisions in Serbia’s Law on Broadcasting, passed in late 2005, still under-going amendments and not fully implemented, virtually assures a landscape of private sector broadcasting in the hands of many owners. The new law intends to reduce the large number of privately owned radio and television stations that sprang up over several years. About 100 local radio stations operated by local governments – roughly one-third of all radio stations in Serbia - are set for privatization by years end.
The outlook for State broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS Radio-televizija Srbije) keeps improving, as observed by both insiders and outsiders. RTS news editor Nenad Stefanovic reminded an interviewer from the newspaper Danas in August “transformation of RTS into public service was a long process.” In a series of local media interviews recently OSCE Media Department head Dragana Nikolic-Solomon said RTS “had improved organizationally and legally.” Transforming RTS into a European-model public service broadcaster after a decade as propaganda shill is considered – almost - a pre-condition to European integration if not EU accession. RTS has been invigorated financially with the imposition of a €4 monthly household license tax collected through electricity bills.
Hosting the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals and finals next May will give yet another boost to RTS. Perhaps it will be a lighter moment but spotlights – particularly on international television - have a remarkable way of picking out both diamonds and dust.
Serbia is worlds fastest growing ad market - October 6, 2007
Between 2006 and 2009 the advertising market in Serbia will grow 308%, faster than all other countries. A new forecast raises to 18.3% this years’ ad growth in Central and Eastern Europe from 16.9%....MORE
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“The Commission does not underestimate the scale of the challenges Serbia faces,” said a November 2006 report by the European Commission to the European Parliament on enlargement strategies; the newest, the potential and the possible EU Member States. Noteworthy progress, it said, has been made in legislative transparency, economic activity and privatization. Concerns were raised about the “capacities” of the media regulator.