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Moderators:
·
Matthias Rueb, Correspondent
for Southeast Europe, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Budapest and
Dietrich Schlegel, Editor-in-Chief,
Deutsche Welle, Cologne
Rapporteurs: ·
Gemma Poerzgen-Hoffmann
and Dr. Wim van Meurs
Introduction
The panel on the role of the media and culture was characterised
by a lively discussion. Due to the fact that most participants who
had opted for this panel represented established minority organizations,
while few them actually was a professional journalist or artist,
the discussion focussed on structural issues of minority rights
in the media. In the dynamics of the debate, other relevant issues
like new (internet) media, practical experiences of minority journalists
or reporting on minorities in the mass media were less prominent.
For most minority representatives the structural question of the
sustainability of electronic and most of all print media was high
on the agenda, with the preliminary draft of the Yugoslavian law
on the protection of national minorities coming second. Hardly any
debates on conflicts of interest or cases of (alleged) ethnic discrimination
occurred in the media panel. The pre-arranged restriction not to
include Kosovo and Montenegro in the panel's deliberations was not
felt as a constraint in this panel. Typically, the fact that almost
all minorities share the same structural problems, but lack a common
strategy or fail to act as a combined interest pressure group was
highlighted by the sessions of this multiethnic panel
Structural Dilemmas
With the exception of the Hungarians and to a lesser extent the
Muslims and Romanians, all minorities in Serbia lack a large enough
ethnic readership to make an independent, economically viable newspaper
even a remote possibility (all the more so, considering the hardships
of economic transition). The inevitability of state subsidisation
of minority media, however, creates dependencies and uneasiness
among minority organizations. The minority media are considered
essential for the cultural self-consciousness and sustainability
of the ethnic group, but nevertheless depend on the resources (and
good-will) of the titular nation's majority. Most minority representatives
considered international funding for minority media a natural, long-term
alternative to state dependency, although this would create other
dependencies while contradicting the Stability Pact's principle
of regional ownership. An unrestrained commercialisation of minority
media is not only unrealistic for lack of purchasing power, but
also unwanted as low-quality media are unlike to contribute much
to ethnic-cultural identity and socialisation. The mere use of the
language does not counteract tendencies towards assimilation: Under
the nationalities policy of the SFRY, the numerous word-by-word
translations in minority languages failed to stimulate identification
with the respective tongues and cultural or regional traditions.
Thus, some transparent and well-regulated state subsidisation of
minority media may be the lesser evil for all parties concerned,
but in order to be successful, three caveats have to be mentioned:
1. There is an apparent
tendency for ethnic or regional media to be out of sync with the
youth in the era of globalisation,
2. Minority media should
promote multinational integration (not assimilation) rather than
ethnic segregation,
3. Market mechanisms
will reduce the current excessive quantity of electronic and print
media in Serbia much like in other transition countries, state subsidies
notwithstanding. As multiplicity does not necessarily equal plurality,
a well-managed process of rationalisation may even enhance quality.
Recommendations
Thus, the (scarce) recommendation to intervene in these structural
processes concern first and foremost the quality of the media and
the professionalism of journalism. A professionalisation of (minority)
journalism requires an intensification of training and encouragement
for young journalists. Mr. Filiipovic's pilot project is a remarkable
initiative in this direction, training multiethnic classes of journalists
in Novi Pasar, Presevo and Bujanovac since April this year. Other
recommendations are related to the fact that most minorities (with
the exception of the Roma) have a neighbouring "home country". Therefore,
a regional supplement to a high-quality national newspaper in the
home country might be a prospective form of cross-border co-operation,
fulfilling both the demand for ethnic or regional information and
the demand for journalistic quality. To some extent, the same might
apply to regional or minority-language supplements to Serbian national
newspapers, but some of the participants rejected this idea and
feared the orientation to Belgrade.
Disputed Issues
A number of issues and recommendations discussed in a more controversial
manner are summarized in the following to contrast different approaches
to the structural problems of minority media.
1. Some participants
argued that the provincial or local authorities should distribute
state subsidies as part of a larger process of devolution. Others
argued that the distribution of subsidies by a (distant) central
institution might prevent typical personal and immediate dependencies
on the local level.
2. The role of the media
in Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coping with the past) became the topic
of a heated debate: Journalists often lead the process of social
catharsis. On the other hand, many journalists have been involved
in warmongering and hate-speech themselves. Raising public and professional
awareness of hate-speech and ethnic stereotypes was generally accepted
as a key task of the media in multiethnic societies. Thus, most
participants preferred the continental European view, which is restricted
by obligation of personal and / or individual rights, to the absolute
priority for the freedom of speech of the Anglo-Saxon model.
3. The debates in the
panel reflected the general international praise for the preliminary
draft of the minority law. In particular, the recognition of some
(more) minorities and the use of minority languages in the relevant
local schools were applauded. Nevertheless, the principle choice
for a minority council as representative of the ethnic groups remained
controversial, as some argued that it implied that national rights
are held by collective organs rather than by individual citizens.
In sum, a functioning system of majority and minority media was
deemed of great importance for the sustainability of a multiethnic
society. In order to develop viable minority media, internal and
external borders have to be overcome. At the same time, the objective
has to be integration and plurality rather than segregation and
multiplicity. |
