Hot topics click link for more
Reporters are always on the hunt for a good corruption story. Fortunately for them opportunities are unending. Headlines are made when a politician is brought down. It is common, too, when reporters are supplied with the goods.
Well-known right-wing Austrian politician Heinz-Christian Strache, then leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Austrian Vice Chancellor, was caught on video dancing around an Ibiza resort villa room in 2017 making, shall we say, interesting offers to an alleged niece of a Russian billionaire. A major newspaper could be acquired, he said, in return for certain considerations. All of this - and more - was captured by private detective and video producer Julian Hessenthaler, a sting certainly. Two years later the video went viral, in post-modern terms, creating something of a scandal. Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and German news magazine Der Spiegel made the story famous, others followed. Austrian public broadcaster ORF broadcast a documentary - The Talented Mr. Strache (Der talentierte Herr Strache) - broadcast in April 2022. (See more about media in Austria here)
Herr Hessenthaler has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against the Austrian government for violating his right to a fair criminal procedure, reported right-wing Austrian daily Die Presse (May 19). He was jailed in 2021 for cocaine trafficking and unlawful possession of documents, unrelated to the Ibiza Affair, as it is still commonly known. His jail term ended in April and he has been speaking out, loudly. (See earlier post on Ibiza Affair here
To critics, Herr Hessenthaler is evil-incarnate, causing the unceremonious fall of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, setting up considerable political uncertainty. To others, he is a whistleblower, deserving of praise. To the ORF news program ZiB 2 (May 17) he told host Armin Wolf the Ibiza Strache video was a “civil-society motivated project.” He also said more video and related documents are out there. He said other material had not been revealed because of “insufficient investigative actions.” Pressed by Herr Wolf he added, “I will be happy to give them to you if you broadcast them.” Herr Wolf accepted.
In a separate interview with PULS 24 editorial director Stefan Kaltenbrunner (May 19), Herr Hessenthaler explained his motivation, "uncovering events worthy of criminal review around Mr. Strache. I wanted to show a system, especially in the direction of Russia and the FPÖ.” He also said he would be “happy if I never have to work with video again.”
The last shoe, so far, fell at Vice Media Group the first of this week. The company, as expected, filed for bankruptcy protection, allowing a financial restructuring. In the course of the following days and hours anybody with even a passing interest in digital media has chimed in. (See earlier post here)
Three bells were rung by dutiful digital media observers. Most prominently, drawing to the popular zeitgeist, came references to just how much the value of Vice Media Group had fallen since that heady venture capital moment in 2017 when the big number was US$5.7 billion. As the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan, who actually knew stuff, once said, “billions and billions.” Later we learned it was all funny money, a concept near and dear to all venture capital people. (See more about news online here)
Occurring almost spontaneously was the second bell. Three private equity firms are acquiring Vice Media for US$225 million, a mere fraction of that 2017 big number, referred to by financial wizards as “a steep discount.” Better yet, they are not really paying anything but, rather, trading their secured debt for “almost all assets,” reported Reuters (May 16). Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital will, however, be responsible for company liabilities, certainly to be discovered in the bankruptcy proceedings.
The third bell was more like a chime, for rabid critics. Digital media was being killed by its excesses, witness Vice News, BuzzFeed News, MTV News. Of course, those had been news and journalism award winners. Its Vice News Tonight documentary unit blew away all other news organizations with an in-depth production about the violent Unite The Right rally in Charleston, Virginia. “Once a media darling,” said CNBC (May 15), as part of the chorus.
Reality shows have been a television staple for what seems like a thousand years. Nobody really admits watching and fewer own up to creating them. Critics tend to refer to this presentation style as garbage TV, and that’s being generous. Still, reality TV shows are cheap to produce and everywhere.
On Serbian channel TV Pink the big reality show is Zadruga, translated as Cooperative. While many popular reality show have ratcheted up outrage season after season, Zadruga jumped right in. TV Pink has never been shy about being controversial and nearly all Serbian TV channels follow the same themes.
“Tens of thousands,” reported AP (May 13), took to streets in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, and elsewhere, protesting the two mass shootings earlier in the month that took 17 lives and injuring 20, mostly school children. Demonstrators demanded the sacking of top officials and banning of violent TV shows on pro-government channels. The government launched a voluntary collection of guns. (See more about media in Serbia here)
Zadruga is known for glorifying abusive behavior and violence. Mobsters and criminals are the stars, appearing on the daily program showing their skills, up to and including beating and strangling cast members, reported AFP (May 12). The show was “paused” last week, said TV Pink owner Zeljko Mitrovic, noted Serbian daily Telegraf (May 16), who visited the production studios to deliver the news last Saturday. A different reality show will emerge in September. “Kadruga as we know it and watch it now will no longer be broadcast,” he said. (See more about reality TV here)
“He can’t give it up,” said Institute of Social Sciences media expert Jovanka Matic to regional cable channel N1 Info (May 15). "This announcement that maybe it will look something different is a retreat in the face of the very harsh criticism that comes from a large part of society. My assessment is that these deformations of the media system have gone so far that things can no longer be fixed in small steps. Big changes are necessary.”
|
