WHY AND HOW

Written by Tamara Skrozza
Journalist, "Vreme" weekly magazine, Belgrade


A few days ago, commenting one of the blogs, someone asked: Why are media people not reacting when they see that they are being used by the politicians?

The question, asked numerous times in various debates, has never been properly answered. Or, to be more precise, it has been answered by posing another question: What exactly should ‘media people’ do when they see that their media is being misused by politicians?

But the first problem is deciding how to react.

1. Do we boycott politicians?
Serbian journalists tried that in 2000, boycotting Serbian radical party, but the results were quite poor. Some media simply refused to boycott radicals and many politicians did not notice that they were being ignored.

2. Do we make public statement that they are misusing our media?
It sounds nice, but none of the editors would agree to do something like that. Not because they want to be misused, but because it would ruin their political contacts, and therefore future reporting.

3. How can we prove that we are being misused?
That is probably the trickiest problem, as political misuse is usually organized very ‘elegantly’. No witnesses, no tape recorders, no ‘paper’. Nothing. Just a quiet ‘agreement’...And, as we all know, quiet ‘agreements’ can’t be proven. At least, not easily.

Another problem is defining the main character – the person who, in a specific moment, is representing your media and is being misused by a politician.

In most cases, that person is an editor in chief, a general manager or other high ranking figure. He or she will most often want to keep quiet about it. They depend on politician – for information, or needs the money that political party wants to give,...

For ‘ordinary’ journalists there are even more problems. A reporter has no means of going into battle with politicians – especially if their editors don’t want to fight with the political parties, and their colleagues don’t care for other journalists’ problems. Ultimately, their families depend on whether they will keep the job or not.

There are, of course, many other issues around the reaction of ‘media people’. The points made here are only something to think about.

But whenever you ask “Why?”, try asking “How?” as well.

“How?” is a question rarely asked in this context, but it is the most important one. When we solve the “How?” problem, “Why?” will be answered in no time.