BEOGRAD, 18.1.2.2019. – Urednik KRIK-a Stevan Dojčinović zadržan je sinoć na aerodromu u Abu Dabiju, glavnom gradu Ujedinjenih Arapskih Emirata, gde mu je saopšteno da je na „crnoj listi“ i da ne može da uđe u zemlju, već da će biti deportovan nazad u Srbiju.

Dojčinović je na aerodrom doleteo juče oko 20 časova direktnim letom iz Beogada i tada su ga službenici na pasoškoj kontroli zadržali i uzeli mu pasoš.

„Nakon toga su me odveli u deo aerodroma gde se nalazi policija. Tamo su mi uzeli otiske prstiju, slikali me i napravili fajl. Zatim su me ostavili da čekam pod nadzorom i tak nakon pet sati čekanja rekli da ću ujutro biti deportovan u Srbiju“, kaže Dojčinović.

On navodi da je ukupno 12 sati proveo pod nadzorom policajaca, koji su mu kratko saopštili da je na „crnoj listi“ i da moraju da ga vrate nazad. Dojčinović je zatim pod pratnjom ukrcan na jutarnji let, bez jasnog obrazloženja.

„Kazali su da me nisu Ujedinjeni Arapski Emirati stavili na crnu listu već da je to bio zahtev neke druge Vlade, ali mi nisu rekli koje.“

Dojčinović je danas u Abu Dabiju trebalo da govori na konferenciji Kancelarije Ujedinjenih nacija za borbu protiv droge i kriminala i to na panelu o suzbijanju prekogranične korupcije, pranja novca i organizovanog kriminala.

Urednik KRIK-a bio je u sličnoj situaciji i u Rusiji 2015. godine kada je zadržan na aerodromu u Moskvi, a zatim deportovan u Srbiju. Tada je trebalo da studentima Fakulteta za žurnalistiku održi predavanje o istraživačkom novinarstvu, ali je umesto toga ceo dan proveo u pritvoru i zabranjen mu je ulaz u ovu zemlju do 2020. godine. Dojčinović nikada nije dobio objašnjenje od ruskih vlasti za ovaj slučaj, iako ga je zvanično tražio više puta. Jedini odgovor poslala mu je ruska tajna služba FSB, koja je u pismu samo navela da Dojčinovića smatraju “pretnjom po nacionalnu bezbednost i javno zdravlje”.

„Za razliku od Rusije ovde su bili ljubazniji prema meni. Nisam završio u pritvoru, pustili su me da uz njihovu pratnju odem da kupim hranu“, navodi Dojčinović koji je trenutno u Etihadovom avionu na letu za Beograd.

BELGRADE, 18.12.2019. – Stevan Dojcinovic, the editor of Serbia’s Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), is on a flight to Belgrade after being held under surveillance for 12 hours in Abu Dhabi and then deported, KRIK said in a statement on Wednesday.

UAE authorities stopped Dojcinovic at the Abu Dhabi airport and told him he was on a ‘blacklist,’ and could not enter the country.

Drew Sullivan, the editor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), broke the news on his Twitter account earlier on Wednesday.

.@OCCRP and @Krikrs editor @StevanOCCRP was detained in Abu Dhabi where he was scheduled to speak at the #uncac, the UNs big anti corruption meetup. Not a promising start to the convention. He will be deported. The UAE has a lot of explaining to do about their commitment.

— Drew Sullivan (@DrewOCCRP) December 17, 2019

Dojcinovic was supposed to address a UN convention on corruption, Sullivan wrote, adding Dojcinovic was told his name was on some vague list.

.@OCCRP and @Krikrs editor @StevanOCCRP was detained in Abu Dhabi where he was scheduled to speak at the #uncac, the UNs big anti corruption meetup. Not a promising start to the convention. He will be deported. The UAE has a lot of explaining to do about their commitment.

— Drew Sullivan (@DrewOCCRP) December 17, 2019

“After that, they took me to the airport’s police. They took my fingerprints, photographed me and made a file. Then they left me to wait under surveillance and after five hours told me I would be deported to Serbia next morning,” Dojcinovic said.

He added the police officers who guarded him said he was on the ‘blacklist’ and had to be sent back to Serbia without a proper explanation.

“They told me that it was not UAE that put him on the list, but that it was the request by some other Government, but did not tell me a whose government that was,” Dojcinovic said.

The situation was not entirely new to Dojcinovic since the same happened to him in Russia in 2015 when he was banned from entering the country where he was supposed to give a lecture on investigative reporting to Moscow’s students, KRIK reported.

“In comparison to Russia’s authorities, people here were more polite to me. I didn’t end up in detention, and even allow me to buy food,” Dojcinovic said.

Belgrade has traditionally good relationship with Moscow, while it has intensified cooperation with UAE, mainly in the construction business.

KRIK is investigating and publishing cases of high-level corruption in Serbia.

Sarajevo, 17.12.2019. – The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association sent a public protest to Nihad Hebibovic, advisor to the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Zeljko Komsic, over political pressure on columnist Dragan Bursac and attempting to censor his author’s comment published on Radio Sarajevo. Following the publication of the column on this portal, advisor Hebibovic called Bursac to express his dissatisfaction with the way he wrote about Zeljko Komsic and demanded that the columnist correct his views.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists considers it unacceptable for public officials to interfere in the work of journalists and the media, especially in the context of appearing from a position of function, demonstrating force and calling journalists over the phone and seeking to change copyright content.

As a former journalist Nihad Hebibovic apparently, in his public function as an advisor, forgot that there are legal and professional, journalistic means of responding to media content by denying inaccurate allegations and expressing dissatisfaction with the way Dragan Bursac wrote. Avoiding sending denials to the author of the column and the Radio Sarajevo portal and choosing a phone call as a way of expressing dissatisfaction and current political power is a direct pressure on freedom of expression and opinion, which is unacceptable in a free and democratic society.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists reminds all public officials and their advisers that freedom of expression and freedom of criticism of public officials are key values ​​of the journalistic profession, which must be respected by everyone, and especially by those who hold public office. Bearing in mind that freedom of expression also has a responsibility for a spoken or written word, we want to emphasize that denial, public reaction or letter to the editorial board are the only correct and acceptable ways of expressing dissatisfaction with journalistic work or media content.

By: Vuk Vučetić

Sarajevo, 17.12.2019. – The discussion on the relationship between media and politics seems to be going on forever. The first debates concerning the influence of politics, political parties, politicians and various political entities on the work of journalists and the media have begun ever since the mass media came into being.It can be said that the influence of politics is unquestionable, and that in different historical epochsit only had different form and intensity.

During crises and wars, the influence of the authorities and the military was greater. Throughout history, various authoritarian regimes have also controlled the media, and there are examples of that even today. On the other hand, periods of peace and socio-political stability generally favor the media and media freedoms. In such circumstances, one can generally note the more progressive development of journalistic freedoms and a somewhat greater degree of media independence.

However, the situation in theory is often completely differentfrom that in practice. So even though there are countless declarations, recommendations, and even laws in the modern democratic free world that seek to protect journalists and the journalistic profession and ensure the independent work of the media, it seems that there has never been a wider array of ways in which politics and political entities are settling scores with reporters – from those soft counseling mechanisms and slight pressures on editorial policies, through insults and harassment, to the explicit physical assaults and murders of journalists (in 2018, as many as 94 journalists were killed worldwide).

Political clientelism, physical assaults, poor working conditions

Analyzing the relationship between media and politics in BiH, it seems that the situation does not depart much from some of the abovementioned relationships. In BiH, the relationship between media and politics is reflected in the (almost explicit) instrumentalization of the media by various political entities and / or authorities, and this is generally not a new phenomenon. Practically, the relationship between media and politics in BiH has always been like that. As a rule, media and journalism have almost always been under some kind of influence and control, and almost as a rule this profession has served the interests of some (mostly political) power centers, while the public interest is satisfied only if it does not conflict with the interests of the real “gatekeepers”.

The first newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina developed under the auspices of the then power centers that had different interests. It can further be found that during the Austro-Hungarians the media continued to be the (propaganda) instrument of the political elites and, after that, of the socialist regime. Even after the collapse of the single-party regime and the advent of democracy, the relationship between the media and politics remained unchanged – the media remained subject to political subjects and government.

It is the influential politicians and political actors who have inherited the need for media promotion, which is secured through political as well as financial control of the media. On the other hand, it seems that the media and journalists have never experienced complete “critical coming of age” and emancipation. In modern terms, the relation between media and politics has taken on a clientelistic character. The scene is a kind of symbiosis, with media owners, editors and journalists enjoying various forms of political support while in turn becoming the extended arm of political patrons. Namely, directors, editors and journalists are often appointed through political lines to the most responsible functions in domestic (public) media outlets, or in time become practically private PR agents of certain politicians and / or political entities.

This problematic situation, with the exception of entity public services and the state public broadcaster, may be even more pronounced in local public media financed from municipal, cantonal and city budgets.

According to the data, there are a total of 81 local media in BiH (62 radios, 19 televisions) financed from local budgets, which is a significant part of the entire BiH media system. However, while they have great potential to contribute to the development of the journalistic profession, these media have generally been reduced to the level of local media by the local authorities. Honor the exceptions!

In addition, the owners of the private media are often politicians themselves or are very close to the political elites. In this case, the media are, as a rule, used as a training ground for political altercation with political dissenters, and the rules of the journalistic profession are completely ignored. This problem seems to be the most pronounced in the online sphere today. Namely, since the launch of online portals does not require any permission from the regulatory bodies (for example, there is no Law on Transparency of Media Ownership), the opportunity has opened for political parties to actually use the space for their own promotion under the cloak of informative (mostly) local media.
Given that such wild portals, which, especially on the eve of election campaigns, spring up like mushrooms after the rain, it is impossible to find information on ownership structure or editorial office at all. It is impossible to find an explicit link with certain political entities. Although official links with political entities are not visible, the content that such media places is. At first glance, one can notice the disproportionately larger space devoted to particular politicians or political parties, which is accompanied by a fan-friendly reporting style. On the other hand, political opponents are, as a rule, presented in a negative light or completely lacking in content regarding their activities.

Also, what is very problematic is that the broader community has practically not yet accepted journalism as a profession that is “equal” to the rest. Public discourse is dominated by the opinion that journalism can be “practiced by anyone”. Despite the fact that journalism courses are available at all public universities in BiH, the general public still perceives the profession as a skill reserved for those with a highschool talent for essay writing. This is how the profession is treated by politicians themselves, who are often arrogant and disrespectful towards journalists (this is notonly the case in BiH). In this sense, journalists are often the target of verbal attacks by politicians, but also the target of physical attacks by the public. Since the beginning of 2019, around 50 cases of attacks on journalists and violations of the right to freedom of expression have been registered in BiH. From the BH Association, journalists state that impunity in many cases is a consequence of the attacker’s direct connection to the centers of political power. The attempt to assassinate RTVBN journalist Vladimir Kovacevic is a drastic but illustrative example of the challenges journalists face in their work.

Apart from these virtually “side-impact” issues, there are internal problems that plague journalists. First of all, this is reflected in poor working conditions with low and irregular wages, and unregulated working hours. Journalists are often not registered for tax, which is why they are not paid retirement and social security benefit tax. Often, breach and disciplinary procedures are violated. Also, infrequent and outdated equipment is often used (the still popular “BETA cameras” are recorded), and only the lucky ones have the opportunity to work in better technological conditions. Media outlets (especially local media) fill their ranks with young journalism students who agree to volunteering, which does not change after many years of work. In this regard, young people are becoming cheap skilled labor. Given these unfavorable working conditions for journalists, one should not be surprised at the great number of pressures they face. This is especially true of the aforementioned economic and political pressures, which are most often manifested by the condition of obtaining or retaining jobs, but also by advancing within the media.

Internet and social networks as a space for free thinking

Still, it does not seem all that gray. We can also mention some of the positive sides of the coin. Above all, the entry of major media outlets into the BiH media scene such as Al Jazeera, N1 or Anadolia is certainly the upside. It is most visible in the segment concerning independence from local politics and political interests that cannot exert any pressure (either political or economic) on the editorial policies of these media. In this sense, the existence of these media actually creates the impression of the existence of media pluralism and independent journalism. Then, the expansion of the Internet (which is a completely unregulated space and therefore free) could, in a (utopian) sense, be a potential tool for the development of the journalistic profession. Although there are, of course, more negative examples (high levels of hate speech or fake portal blasts), it seems that on the horizon there seems to be an oasis or space for critical reflection of political reality in the form of BiH Twitter community. Namely, the Twitter community is developing and growing in BiH, and there are more and more independent media outlets and bloggers / vloggers providing a different, alternative viewing angle to the mainstream media.

In addition, new communication channels and a large number of online platforms can also be a useful tool for pointing out the disadvantage of journalists and the profession itself. In this regard, more and more proactive activities of non-governmental organizations in this direction can be observed, which seek to highlight the problems that journalists face. The work of journalists’ associations is also something that provides such resistance to various pressures, seeking to raise awareness among social actors about the importance and role of independent journalism as one of the important pillars of any democratic society.

What can also be a part of a long-term plan to fight for better journalism is political and media literacy. Specifically, media literacy is at extremely low levels in BiH, and according to recent research, BiH is at the bottom of the media literacy index in Europe. Media illiterate citizens are an easy target of political and media manipulation, which is why it is very important tofrequently carry out activities to spread media literacy among as many citizens as possible, especially among young people. Media literate individuals represent antibodies of their own in contaminated social and political media reality. Only media and political literate individuals can contribute to a better development of a democratic society as a whole.

(The author is a doctor of communication sciences and works at the Faculty of Philosophy at University of East Sarajevo. This article was created as part of a project implemented by BH Journalists in collaboration with the German Embassy in BiH)

SKOPJE, 16.12.2019 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia condemns the behavior of Constitutional Court staff who treated inappropriately and in a non-European way the journalistic teams who wanted to attend today’s meeting between the President of the Constitutional Court, Sali Murati and EU Ambassador to Skopje, Samuel Zhbogar.

Although the media were duly invited to attend the meeting, journalists were only allowed to shoot shortly at the meeting room and were then expelled from the courthouse.

Although there is a room reserved for journalists and media at the Constitutional Court, the court employees shamelessly sent reporters out of the building and informed them that statements about the meeting could only be taken outside the building.

This incident is unacceptable when we know that the Constitutional Court is the institution that should be the main defender of freedom of speech in the country. We urge the Court in the future to provide decent conditions for the work of journalists and not set a negative example in the society about the relations between institutions and journalists.

BELGRADE, 13.12.2019. – Serbian opposition leaders accompanied by several dozen activists blocked the entrance to the Serbian state TV (RTS) building at noon on Friday, saying that no one would be allowed in but that anyone who wants to can leave.

Vuk Jeremic, the current chairman of the Alliance for Serbia (SzS) and leader of the People’s Party, told reporters that the goal of the gathering was not violent, adding that none of the protesters would try to enter the building. He said the aim was to show that the public broadcaster was not doing its job as envisaged by law.

“It will be peaceful and if there are no provocations we will break up at 8 pm,” he said.

Jeremic said the SzS knows that the gathering will not bring anywhere near the same results as “a phone call from the president’s media advisor or the president himself” and accused the RTS management of following orders from top officials of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

Asked if he recalls that the current RTS managers were appointed before the SNS came to power, Jeremic said that Hitler inherited a large number of generals in the Wermacht who later perpetrated his crimes.

“We want this to become a public service which does its job and informs the public about everything,” he said. The RTS reorganized its staff, having been informed of the blockade a day earlier.