MANJINE I MEDIJI NA ZAPADNOM BALKANU - RRPP

if they have no correlation with other programs they may turn into program ghettos. Findings
from this survey point to different forms of public service programs for minorities:
exclusively in a minority language or using a combination of minority and majority
languages. Programs whose aim is to present national minority issues in general and to raise
awareness of the broadest audience may be produced in a language that everyone can
understand well. This kind of flexible approach to minority programs, depending on the
conditions and needs of each country, connects the autochthonous and autonomous need of
the minority to communicate within its national circle with the mission of raising awareness
of the general public on their problems. Use of one’s own language in media is an important
cultural and educational issue. The survey resulted in the finding that the priority target
audience of minority language programs is between 15 and 30 old, i.e. a generation which is
just entering or already taking its positions in life and in society and which is losing touch
with its ethnic characteristics in the time of globalization. Greater support from the state and
education institutions is needed in order to work through media on preserving national
minority languages, especially the Romany language, which is not unified.
Members of some minority communities have become integrated in the majority environment
to greater extent and they are less interested in media in their own language, because they
fulfill their cultural needs, in their mother tongue, in other ways – by following media from
their mother country, participating in the work of culture clubs, on the internet, etc. This
population’s interest in consuming media in their own language increases if these media (such
as a daily, weekly, regular program on radio or TV) have a broader editorial discourse than
issues within the minority community. In regions compactly populated by one minority, in
which there is a possibility of communicating within the local community and in schools in
one’s mother tongue, there is greater interest in setting up one’s own media, programs on
radio or television or a print edition. This is especially evident in Serbia and Macedonia where
there are territories populated by minority peoples, which is reflected in the media landscape.
It would be very useful, occasionally, independently or as part of other surveys of viewer and
listener ratings of broadcasters, to explore perceptions among minority members and the
wider audience toward programs in minority languages.
Broadcasters are priority in minority communities
Although identical or similar legal obligations exist for public broadcasting services, practice
differs. In BiH, there are no special programs in minority languages on the public services,
and programs covering the position of national minorities as part of regular news and
information programs are insufficient (they only exist on one of the three public
broadcasters). In Serbia (Vojvodina) and Macedonia, programs are broadcast for national
minorities, but public broadcasting services are criticized that these programs are closed,
mostly aimed at their respective national communities, and have no stand on common issues
related to the position of all minorities in the wider social context in which minorities live. In
Macedonia, concerns are raised regarding poor mutual coordination of these programs,
whereas in Serbia, with the exception of one Roma program, Bosniaks, Bulgarians and
Albanians do not have any programs on RTV Serbia. In both Serbia and Macedonia, the need
for better internal organization of radio and television services in terms of production and use
of broadcasting space is pointed out. Additionally in Macedonia, obligations of supervisory
and management bodies of public services and regulatory agencies are called upon in order to
take a more responsible attitude toward monitoring the fulfillment of legal obligations and to
eliminate the practice of so-called hierarchization in support to minority communities on the
public service. Namely, as researchers point out, most space and resources on Macedonian
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