edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

Part III Serbia: Two Very Different Models of Successful Public Service MediaFrom the outset, B92 was completely different from anythingelse the country’s media landscape had ever seen: The stationdid not broadcast folk music, but served the taste of the younggeneration and – most importantly – established the firstregular nightly news show covering independent news. Due toits reputation as something new and different, the station attractedbroad public attention. However, in the early years B92broadcast from a tiny room not larger than 15 square meters,covering the area of downtown Belgrade only. Thus, althoughmany people were talking about the station, only few wereable to actually listen to it. As B92 continued to broadcast, thenumber of curious people wanting to listen to its programs increased– and with it B92’s importance as one of the leadingrepresentatives of independent journalism. 30Under the authoritarian Milošević regime in the 1990s, whichinvariably repressed all independent and critical media, B92quickly became the most important alternative media outlet.The radio station followed the basic approach of the rights prescribedin the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of HumanRights. In contrast to almost all other media outlets in Serbia, itwas dedicated not only to independent news coverage but alsoto the promotion and equal treatment of sexual and ethnicminorities. 31 Despite the increasing tensions in the 1990s andeventually the beginning of conflict due to people’s dissatisfactionwith the government, B92 always continued to criticize thepeople in power. Moreover, the media outlet put taboo topicssuch as violence, intolerance, war crime and other social problemson the agenda. The former youth station quickly becameone of the very few sources for news that was not controlled bythe government during the Serbian conflict period.main target. The government illegally took over the station andappointed new management. As a consequence, from shortlyafter the beginning of the NATO bombing (April 1999) untilthe resignation of Milošević (October 2000) B92 was run for18 months by people loyal to the regime and pro-governmentcontent was broadcast. 33 Since the original B92 journalists refusedto cooperate with this new management, after the bombingsthey started to broadcast again under the name B2-92.In May 2000, B92 (called B2-92 at that time) was banned forthe fourth time, but managed to broadcast its program within24 hours via internet as well as using the BBC satellite. With thedemocratic changes in October of the same year, the station’semployees were able to return to their premises, to their oldfrequency 92.5 MHz, as well as to their old name B92. At thesame time, TV B92 was launched in Belgrade. In 2006, B92 wasgiven its first legal national license, both for radio and for TV.International Support of B92As one of the few critical media outlets in the decade of conflict,B92 constantly received extensive international support,not only financially but also in terms of technical resources. In1996, with the help of a Dutch internet provider, B92 startedbroadcasting its programs over the internet. Further, when theradio was banned in the same year, it sent its signal to foreignnews services such as Voice of America, BBC World, DeutscheWelle or Radio France International, who then rebroadcastB92’s programming. This international support significantlyincreased B92’s popularity, so that the authorities decided thatit would be the lesser evil to bring the station on air again. 34B92’s guerilla struggle with the Milošević regimeUnsurprisingly, B92 paid a high price for its independent reporting.It fought an endless battle with the Milošević regime.From its establishment until the democratic changes in 2000,the outlet had to broadcast under extremely difficult conditions.In the course of this guerilla struggle it was closed downfour times: The first two bans were imposed after the station’sunbiased reporting on mass demonstrations against the governmentin 1991 and 1996. Both bans were lifted within days inresponse to massive pressure from the Serbian public and theinternational community. 32 In addition to its radio programming,B92 was also actively engaged in any form of anti-waractivism, organizing numerous activities on the street.Extensive international support – both financially and withregard to technical resources (see 3.2) – together with increasingdomestic solidarity due to the growing repression, madethe station even stronger and more influential. By 1997, citizensin almost all parts of Serbia could listen to B92 throughlocal stations that unofficially rebroadcast its programs.The only period when despite the constantly difficult conditions,B92 had to stop broadcasting its critical content wasin the context of the third closure in 1999. Before the Kosovowar Milošević increased the pressure and made B92 the state’s7BBC News 2014a.8BBC News 2014.9UNdata 2014.10OSF 2011.11Ibid. information from the StatisticalOffice of the Republicof Serbia.12Milutinović 2011, 135.13Ibid. 115.14Matic 2012, 7.15ANEM 2012.16Ibid. 9.17Ibid. 136.18Statistical Office of the Republicof Serbia 2012.19Milutinović 2011.20BBC News 2012.21Ibid.22Television Audience Measurementby the Nielsen Company, documentprovided by Jobanka Matic.23Document providedby Djordje Vlajic24Ibid. 6.2538% of all households had accessto broadband internet (StatisticalOffice of the Republic of Serbia2013).26Statistical Office of the Republicof Serbia 2013, 345.27Three quarters of the populationstill use TV as their main sourceof information (OSF 2011).28OSF 2011, 7.29Saša Mirković; Assistant Ministerfor Information.30B92 2014.31Saša Mirković; AssistantMinister for Information.32B92 2014.33Saša Mirković; Assistant Ministerfor Information.34Saša Mirković; Assistant Ministerfor Information.Edition DW Akademie In the Service of the Public 163