Improving Media Standards in the Balkans

By Zoran CULAFIC

Hello and Welcome. From the Studios of UN Radio in Kosovo…

Journalists are the watchdogs of society. Healthy democracies rely heavily on a critical journalism to keep the societal abuses of power in check. In the Balkans, journalism is often criticized for being partisan and unbalanced.

One on-going reporter training project in the southern Serbian town of Novi Pazar is helping to counter such criticism.

Dragana Nikolic-Solomon, is the Belgrade office director for the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, or IWPR. With financing from the Belgrade office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and with assistance from the civil development NGO Urban In, IWPR selected a group of 6 participants for the training. Nikolic-Solomon explains.

Nicolic-Solomon

“Our aim is to establish a nucleus of young journalists, who would be able, with the help of IWPR, to present real issues from this region, not only in the Belgrade press but in the international press too. The aim is to educate journalists to work on a professional basis, who would not be influenced by certain political party’s interests.”

Newspaper readership is shrinking – a worldwide trend in today’s media market. In the Balkans, as in Western European countries, media analysts note a growing tendency towards the tabloid approach to news – sensational story by-lines that lack critical analysis. Belgrade office director for IWPR, Nikolic-Solomon says this trend is destroying the critical role reporter’s play in society.

Marcus Tanner is a British journalist and senior editor with IWPR who is attending this week’s reporter training. Tanner says it is vital to create an infrastructure for supporting skilled young journalists throughout the region.

Tanner

“The aim is not to come in, train, and than leave. That’s been done before and that leaves people with skills they cannot use. Our real aim is to form relationships within the area, within the region. We hope through this course to create a small network of journalists who now have a permanent ongoing relationship with IWPR.”

After more than a decade of wars in the Balkans, promoting civil society through reporter training is perhaps one method of reconciliation, this according to Aida Corovic of Urban In, one of the organizers of the week-long training. Corovic says the training is a proper forum for dealing with issues that are often difficult to approach in the former Yugoslavia.

Corovic

“We are trying to establish an environment where young people can discus sensitive issues from the past, and that is a good point to start the process of reconciliation from. But the majority of the citizens here simply do not want to speak about these things, or if they do, it is a kind of let’s treat “the other side” as guilty for everything. In the past there were no places for an open dialogue.”

Still, Aida Corovic of Urban In says the effect of such training courses is limited because they lack the broader support from important elements of society – namely the government and local media outlets.

Corovic

“Of course, I understand that it is very good to construct a building or a road; the authorities can gain more political points by doing that. But having in mind long-term interests of the society it is of the utmost importance that donors, who want to invest money in transitional societies, do invest in transforming the way of thinking of these young people. That’s the key issue.”

Young people are a valuable human resource that could further the process of societal reform, this according Corovic. What worries Corovic the most is the idea that young people can be manipulated by nationalism, which she says indicates the lack of a secular education.

As an Example of such nationalistic manipulation and lack of proper education Corovic mentioned this week’s university protests against the appointment of Ramush Haradinaj as Kosovo’s Prime Minister.

Corovic

“I consider it as classic example of irreverence. I did not see these young people in Belgrade protesting for justice because other young people were walking with Karadzic and Mladic pictures on their T-shirts. I did not see them protesting against the election victory of the Radical Party in almost in every municipality. We are more cautious seeing nationalism in other societies, but not in our own society.”

And improving professional standards in journalism could be an important step in avoiding such negative effects in every society, so say the attendees of the training session. Prvoslav Karanopvic has been part of the journalism course in Novi Pazar almost for two months now.

Karanopvic

“People who are going to enter this profession must have no prejudices in their writing, they must listen all sides. There must not be any ethnic, national prejudices or biased approach by those who are working in journalism. I’m satisfied that I met such journalists here.”

IWPR editor Marcus Tanner says what journalists in the Balkans suffer from the most is their limited scope of reference – meaning they work in limited geographic areas and they have very little reference to international journalism.

He says, he hopes the training like this will help change this culture.

This concludes today’s edition of UN Radio in Kosovo. Thanks for listening and stay tuned.