The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Balkans Press Freedom Report 2009
Tirana | 20 October 2009 | Besar Likmeta
Albania reporters
Albania is ranked 88 of 179 countries polled for the index, squeezed in between the United Arab Emirates and Senegal. Macedonia ranks 34, Bosnia 39, Romania 50, Serbia 62, Bulgaria 68, Kosovo 75, Croatia 77 and Montenegro 78.
“Vitality and growth in the media sector does not always ensure the emergence of genuine pluralism of news and information,” reads the report.
“Investigative journalism remains embryonic and struggles to find space in a press belonging either to industrial groups, determined to protect their spheres of influence, or by political parties that too often confuse news with propaganda,” the report adds.
According to the report, journalists in Albania face financial and social instability, linked to the absence of a legal framework for the exercise of their profession, leaving reporters at the mercy of arbitrary decisions and corrupt practices.
The report adds that the government's control over the public media is ubiquitous and that press management positions are political appointments, which ensures a favourable editorial line.
“Even though privately-owned media do have more freedom, they are not protected from a number of forms of pressure,” the report reads.
“Excessive bills for public services, withdrawal of advertising, tax changes and official snafus are all “legal” weapons used to promote the self-censorship which is already apparent in a large number of media,” Reporters Without Borders adds.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, which is ranked in last place among EU member states, presents a study in contrasts says the organisation. Although some major progress was won in the passage of laws guaranteeing access to information and public databases, the application of these laws remains at the mercy of a justice system mired in serious corruption and little inclined to support those who expose them.
“There may be no taboo subjects in Bulgaria but certain issues are treated with caution,” the report notes, adding that “smuggling and drug trafficking are rarely gone into in any depth”.
Reporters Without Borders points out that various types of pressure have been applied to investigate journalists, ranging from physical to other threats, that can follow the publication of an article.
Romania
In Romania, an amendment to the broadcast law, adopted in June 2008, which was designed to prompt TV and radio to put out equal amounts of positive and negative news, but was later overturned by the Constitutional Court, provides an indication of the anachronistic understanding of the media that a section of the political class continues to hold.
Kosovo
In Kosovo the distribution of the print media is still embryonic, leaving a lot of space for the more influential broadcast media. The leading channel, Radio Television Kosovar, RTK, continues to expand under the direct influence of the government. Its funding depends on the goodwill of parliament, which is unlikely to want to deprive itself of the leverage that comes with this situation.
“There are eight national dailies owned by the private sector, but some of them are linked to political parties or financial groups that develop in their sphere of influence,” the report underlines.
In the absence of foreign investment in the sector, these groups regularly practice “blackmail through advertising”, in which they exchange their financial backing for advantageous media coverage.
Serbia
Death threats, physical or verbal assaults, harassment and corruption are unfortunately still the daily lot of the press in Serbia, Reporters Without Borders underlines.
The independence of Kosovo and the arrest of nationalist leader Radovan Karadzic have exacerbated pan-Serbian nationalism, which uses the press as an outlet for frustrations born out of a series of political and financial setbacks.
Croatia
A wave of bombings against the political and media spheres during 2008 tarnished the image of Croatia within the EU at a time when the country was hoping to join the bloc as quickly as possible.
Government reforms came up against resistance from a legal system undermined by political interference and corruption. The steady expansion of the media was not, however, accompanied by the development of genuine pluralism. As in other former Yugoslav states, journalists’ investigations of war crimes and criminal gangs exposed them to various pressures.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The uncertain social status of journalists and the absence of a legal framework for the exercise of their profession tend to foster self-censorship. Frequent incidents of late payments for work also opens the door to corruption, which is still very much present within a sector of the media.
