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Without Transmitters or
Training, Independent TV
Launched in Bosnia
U.S., George Soros lead campaign to establish politically-neutral television network. But can it work?
SARAJEVO, Bosnia Herzegovina (AP) - It has no transmitters, no training, and problems with the law. Less than three months before elections, the independent television network many believe crucial for Bosnia’s elections is little more than a name. The office of Carl Bildt, top international coordinator for Bosnia’s peace, has announced the establishment of INTV, citing "the need to create as favorable a climate as possible... for the expression of political opinion."
Sharply partisan TV broadcasts helped fuel the Bosnian conflict. The ruling Muslim, Croat and Serb parties still firmly control the television in their respective regions, and many outsiders believe INTV is critical to achieve the atmosphere needed for free and fair elections on Sept. 14. Several Western nations, led by the United States, are contributing set-up funds, along with Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. The exact cost is not known, but will certainly run into millions of dollars.
INTV will initially comprise five existing independent stations within the Muslim-Croat federation, and a group of journalists in the Bosnian Serb entity. The aim is to reach 70 percent of Bosnia’s residents by voting day. But the freshly incorporated network seems grounded. Originally, it was to transmit on a high frequency system used before the war by Bosnian state television’s now-defunct second network.
Bosnian state television -- controlled by the ruling Muslim Party for Democratic Action -- balked, citing a pre-war, old Communist Yugoslavia law banning private broadcast networks.
INTV’s backers are now scrambling to raise money for their own low-frequency transmission system, even though it is likely to reach only parts of the country. At least two populated areas -- Travnik in central Bosnia, and Serb-held southeastern Bosnia, a stronghold of rebel leader Radovan Karadzic == may not get reception, Maclay said.
The ruling Muslim, Croat and Serb parties have each used the existing networks to promote their politics. When the Serbs relinquished suburbs of Sarajevo to Muslim control in March, some departing Serbs burned buildings down. Bosnian Serb TV depicted that as Muslim terrorists burning Serbs out of their homes.
Bosnian state television delivers a softer but still strongly pro-government line. The fact that they occasionally mention opposition parties makes them stand out; other networks ignore ruling party opponents.
Journalists from all sides are skeptical of the new network, echoing communist-era fears of outside influence. "If the media are financed from the outside, how can we call them independent?" one Serb journalist shouted at Joanna van Vliet of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, when she discussed plans for the network at a recent news conference. Aida Omerovic of Bosnian state radio shares that concern. "It will have the point of view of the world community," she said. "They pay for the programs to be made."
Van Vliet hopes training by Western journalists will help. But the training programs won’t get underway until late August -- just weeks before the elections.
If journalists practice the adversarial tradition they will be taught, they might well face harassment, intimidation or even physical attack for offending the ruling parties.
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