Introductory remarks

Three years after Dayton agreement, in order to get acomprehensive picture of the state of the media inBosnia Herzegovina today, we need to analyze how theyare structured, how they function, instead ofconsidering only their day to day activities. Herefollow the basic precautions, the methodologicalhints, and the plan of our work.

Four Precautions due to the Bosnian political context

Let’s remind that much attention must be drawn towarda series of surrounding factors that influence andshape the media field stricto sensu . Today, Bosnianmedia landscape is determined by a situation and abackground, of which four elements are crucial:

1> The geopolitical position of the country : BosniaHerzegovina is today surrounded by two unfriendlyneighbours. Croatia and Serbia are, still now,trying to maintain and extend theirpolitical/cultural area of influence. Therefore,the tangible policies of communication performedby Croatian and Serbian TVs, Press, and radiosought to be examined in conjunction with theactual foreign policies of these two countries.

2> An odd and historical moment : the actual post-warsituation in BiH is characterized by tremendousmaterial damages, especially on the territory ofthe Federation, but also by a high economic,political and military dependence of the wholecountry upon help (donations, assistance,consulting, etc.) coming from abroad. Off coursethis financial material pressure bears effects onthe state, the economy and the organisation of themeans of publishing and broadcasting.

3> A state of “quasi-protectorate” - a two-sidedrelationship between Bosnian political bodies andcitizens and the international community. As the

long-term presence of international organisationson the ground confirms, as their entitlements andmissions develop for the sake of reconstruction,the « internationals » perform more and moreradical political decisions, and some of themoccur to bear a structural impact on the fate ofthe country 1. Still, in the same time, theseinstitutions and their star-representatives 2, tendnolens volens to get involved in domesticpolitics. As a whole, the internationalcommunity’s high officials are playing as anacting member of the game played by the officialBosnian representatives. Thus most Newspapers,radios and TVs in Republika Srpska and in theFederation deal with these foreigners in their“internal affairs/policy” sections, programmes andNews. Bosnian media do not only passivley registerthe intentions of every decision made, theyscrutinize and very often use the statements/movesmade by the meaningful international communitymembers of this country’s unusual polity.

4> The Dayton peace arrangement means, stillnowadays, coping with an odd divided jurisdictionof one Bosnian state in two « entities »(Republika Srpska/Federation). Yet, de facto , thedivision of the national territory into threepolitical regions is the relevant/active one.Namely the Republika Srpska, the territorycontrolled by the Bosnian Army, and the so-calledHerceg Bosna. Each of these fiefdoms disposesstill now of its own political decisiveinstitutions and leaders.

All these factors are to be considered a priori inorder to get an understanding of what is happeningwith the Bosnian media today and find out whatfurther developments can be expected out of thetricky present situation.

1The flag, the monetary system, the currency designed by the internationals, of course, but also the electionsand political rules, parts of the legal system, whether planned and mentioned in the Dayton agreement or not.2 Westendorp, Klein, Bullivant, etc. are TV stars, more famous now than some Bosnian politicians, accordingto the mentions they deserve in everyday news.

Three methodological hints to define the object.

1- One purpose of our work is to inquire on the stateof the media in Bosnia Herzegovina, so our startingpoint considers it a whole and undivisible country.First because looking exclusively inside the entitiesdoes not prove relevant to identify longterm/structural trends. Second, because a two orthree-fold perspective conceals the dynamics that aredeveloping across the lines, coming from the civilsociety, and such a narrowed point of view fatallyunderestimates the efforts and achievements lookingforward to reintegration.

2- Besides that, our intention is to understand howmedia function as a whole . Analyzing media outletswithin their output (News, programmes, paperarticles) as a “ system ” consists in considering acommunication system = an effective device producingand transmitting speeches, messages and information,to reach an audience.

3- Is war the only and radical source of changes inthe actual picture ? Is it the sole explanation forthe current functioning of media in BosniaHerzegovina today ?

Main political, economical and social features of BiHare indeed straightforward consequences of the war.Still, the history of the conflict can not provide byitself the explanation for the dynamics of all thetransformations the media sector underwent in BiHsince the 1990s. Moreover the events of the 1992-1996period are not able to deliver a satisfying clueabout current trends , practices and happenings inBosnian media nowadays. Some institutionnal features,some working habits, owe today to the praxis of thesocialist era. Thus to grasp the actual mechanics ofmedia in Bosnia, a necessary step is to qualify theconnections between media and politics. In thisfield, Titist inheritages are not only noticeable,they are often obvious. So it seems reasonable, to

begin with, to dwell on the legacies of the Yugoslavinformation system, before we sort the radicalchanges that occurred through the war in the mediasphere.

Plan

Part I : Our examination introduces (Chapter 1) witha brief sight of the features of Bosnian mediasystem, and the role played by media in the countryduring Tito era (Chapter 2). Then we are able tohighlight the changes the Bosnian system ofinformation underwent in the course of the war(chapters 3, 4 and 5).

Part II : Thereafter, (chapters 6 and 7), we will bedealing with the topical matter of this study : theoverall mechanics of Bosnian media system. Out ofthis, we will identify (chapters 8 and 9) the rulesaccording to which media work in Bosnia Herzegovina,the communication policies currently ran throughmedia by political bodies, specifying some aims,tools, and results.

CHAPTER 1MEDIA IN BI H – GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND

UNDERSTANDING : A SYSTEM WITH SPECIFIC FEATURES

Section I : Understanding media as a system :General definitions

I. Media can be defined as following 3 :

*A tool-technique (or a set of techniques) of :a. production of messages (speech, information)b. (instant) transmission of messages by a channel(cable, hertzian waves...) to a terminal (receiver,screen)

*the output of this technique

*the organisation/agent that produces and/or treatsthe messages

This definition allows us to consider the wholechannel of mediatic production, into the generalcommunication scheme (a sender, a medium, a message,a receiver).

II. Media are a news industry

The significant flow of information to which peopleare exposed today in (eastern and western)industrialized countries, induces to see mediaoutlets as goods that are consumed. In the era ofMass Media, and in the frame of many recentcommunication analyses 4, media agents are seen asfirms producing, among others, a crucial immaterialoutput : news. In this special industry, the goods

3in Le langage des médias, Yves Lavoinne, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, septembre 1997.4Le Discour d’information médiatique, Patrick Charaudeau- Communication et Médias de masse, MichèleMartin.XX

the consumers -the audience- get are not always paidfor directly, nor their demand is explicitelyformulated. Still, here is an economic spherecomposed of agents and companies that share the sameaim, perform the same activities, and adress all afinal demand – a un/specified audience in thepopulation.

Section II : Media system and news productionin Bosnia

I - Description : general and specific features ofmedia agents in BiH

News industry in Bosnia makes a cogent systemcombining usual media outlets and agents , the same asin every industrial country, along with specifictools, all taking part in the process of productionand circulation of information.

A. Bosnian media and news industry - Usual features

1. First fact : each kind of media is an information-producer and diffuser, each in its own way.

Contrary to a solid cliché according to which TV Newsare the only significant source of information, inBosnia and Herzegovina, everyone of these agents(radio, printed press, TV, News agencies) is relevantas far as news are concerned.

First, their use by the consumers differs in qualityand quantity, even if all these devices may besimultaneously used, that is to say in the same day.Second, the rhythm by which is information isproduced and displayed is different for each media :the morning press/the evening news/the morecontinuous radio news (several times a day) .Last but not least: TV, Radio, Printed press andnews agencies work with each other . There is noisolated/autonomous production of information by amedia agent, or a type of media.

2. Main media and trends in News in BiH

*As in most countries, TV prime time news are indeedthe first and dominant source of information for mostof the people, regardless their location on theterritory. The evening 19:30 is widely watchedeverywhere throughout Bosnia Herzegovina. InRepublika Srpska as in the Federation, prime time TVnews are the prior way to get informed, where thenational state TVs get the main audience.

*Radio is widely listened. Although it stands for thesecond source of information for most of the people,its significance can not be questioned. Today itremains the most widespread media, in some cases 5 itis still the only one available, especially in remoteareas. During the war, radio was the first and onlyunceasingly working source of information. TodayRadio News are surpassed by TV prime time,considering the audiences reached, and theinformative role of radio is lessened, as witnessedthe share of entertainment/musical programmes playedby most of the stations. Still, in the course of theday, radios play an specially flexible and uncompetedsource, for it is able to broadcast news in realtime , more frequently than TV (special flashes,etc.).

*Printed press is far less used as a source ofinformation (the highest circulation rate is 45 000copies a day - Dnevni Avaz). Yet, figures offootprints or sales are objectionable in one respect: they don’t picture the real readership. Forinstance, for each sold copy of a daily Newspaperstand several readers 6, either at home, at work, or incafés, etc.

Since the war, the number of newspapers has exploded.Now the Federation enjoys three or four« nationwide » Bosnian Daily Newspapers ( Dnevni Avaz,Vecernje Novine, Oslobodjneje, Hrvatska Rijec 7), 5Refugees, displaced persons, in unsolved housing situation, for example are still rather listeners thanwatchers.6 On the average, 3 or 4 XX.

7This new daily newspaper came up in april 1998. It is too early to assess its real coverage on the territory.

instead of the sole Oslobodjenje. In the RepublikaSrpska, dailies have blossomed as well (e.g. :Nezavisne Novine, Glas Srpski). Many newcomers aremagazines, and some of them already vanished out ofthe Bosnian market, proving very short-lasting (twoor three issues). A great deal of the new magazinesbelong to the category of specialized press,adressing veterans, or cool youngsters, orbusinessmen, or professors, etc. and most of themfocus on entertainment, not on news ( Zena 21, Lica,Republika, etc). But the growing number of publishinghouses, the increasing figures of sold books, and themore frequent issuing of Slobodna Bosna, Dani, GlasSrpski, Svijet, etc. put together with the dynamicgrowth rates of newspapers diffusion in Bosnia doconfirm a still-alive interest of the people for thewritten thing . The interest for written news was afeature of the prewar situation in the whole formerYugoslavia and especially in Bosnia Herzegovina.

It is a commonplace to say that printed press is morerelevant a medium for debate, comments and analysis,than for mere news diffusion. This is very true forBiH daily printed press, where a more important space(in terms of pages) is dedicated to analysis andcomments on events, than in radio or TV Newsprogrammes.

Still, in Bosnia-Herzegovina the press ofteninitiates the debate, thanks to editorials and starchronicle writers. Some particular newspapers do openthe discussions : Dani, Svijet, Reporter, NoviPrelom, Oslobodjenje, Slobodna Bosna. Their readersexpect this provocative-inquiry stance from them.

On information stricto sensu , moreover, Bosnian pressplays a special role : very often, its journalistsnot only open investigations, they also make theevent. Dnevni Avaz, Oslobodjenje, Slobodna Dalmacija,some dailies are especially relevant on that respect,because of their big readership. Weeklies are also inBiH very present in everyday life (in many cafés, atwork, at home, in the neighbourhood), and theirsections cover a wide range of matters (more than TV

or Dailies newspapers). Culture and entertainmentmake a significant part of all informative magazines(Dani, Slobodna Bosna, Svijet, Reporter, NoviPrelom, Nin, Globus, Tjednik) and by tradition,cultural topics are definitely crucial arguments forattracting readers in this area.

B. Bosnian media and news industry - Strikingspecific features

1. First Oddity : The deep and constant interferenceof political life and events into the cultural sphereand into ordinary life.

Culture is politicized, private life as well, thesetypical blends are features of the Bosnian societyand they reflect in media’s speech. It shows in thetone, the topics and their treatment in TV as inradio News. In the printed press it is easier toevidence.

Obviously, in any generalist newspaper, theorganisation of the sections and the importance givento the events are not strictly governed by the usualhierarchy (1 Politics-2 Economics-3 Culture-4Society, city life and Neighbourhood –5Entertainment). Instead, quite often, these -arbitrary- categories mix inside the columns andpages of Bosnian newspapers, either according to therelative importance of an event or its manyfoldsignificance. For instance, by the second week ofmarch, General Talijan’s death and burial was theevent in all the Bosnian/ Bosniac News printed press.The General’s personality, the role he played duringthe siege of Sarajevo, the symbolic meaning of hisfight were treated in “politics”, « Culture » as wellas in “everyday- Sarajevo canton” concerns, inOslobodjenje, Svijet, Dani.

BiH media show blatantly that politics, culture anddaily life are thoroughly intertwinned in the area.Some peculiar symptomas of this intermingling of

politics in people’s ordinary life are worthnoticing.

2. Second oddity: Iconographic symbols, greathappenings, informal ways of news circulation aremedia outlets.

Certainly they are media of a special kind, but inBosnia Herzegovina they play a significant functions: information as well as political warfare.

a.First special media : Images and iconographicsymbols

* Images and iconographic symbols are far from beingsolely passive illustrations of a speech printed orbroadcast on TV. In the Bosnian and formerYugoslavian context, pictures occur in citizens’ lifeas complete signs : as such they take a significantpart in the overall flow of information reaching thepeople. For example, the portraits of Karadzic spreadover the Republika Srpska; in the Federation theportraits of Talijan, the banners advertising theAjvatovic days (religious-cultural muslim festival),the arms of croatia hung on every wall or shop inHerceg Bosna, all these symbols convey information ifnot news, besides the classical media. Citizens areexposed to powerful symbols, signs and meaningfulrepresentations everyday : banknotes designs, flagsdesigns, posters put in the streets, logos, symbolsand graffiti, all these items may indeed be receivedby the public as political messages, especially whenused in a systematic or violent way, moreover in somecases they even inform as immediate news.________________________________________________________NB : In the former Yugoslavia, the people and theirpolitical leaders were keen on using a lot of visualsigns, regularly if not daily. Symbols, portraits,visible and impressive slogans 8 made altogether a

8 A post second world war hit : « Smrt Fasizmu, Sloboda Narodu » = Death to Fascism, Freedom for thePeople, lasted roughly ten years the same way. « Tit je Nas, Mi smo Titovi » = We are Tito’s (crew), Tito isours, sung in pioneers meetings, at school, etc.

special kind of iconography of crucial importance inpolitical communication : « Bratstvo i Jedinstvo »(Brotherhood and Unity) makes the most long-lastingand widespread slogan in Tito’s Yugoslavia. It wasused everywhere : TV, radio, newspapers, speechesin meetings of the YCL, it was painted or stuck onstreet walls ..

Posters, but also medals and portraits of Tito werecommonly used as ornaments in public administrations,offices, shops. Tito’s portrait was often hung athome spontaneously 9 by many people. These habits aretypical and deeply rooted in Yugoslavian polis, sothis is the reason why we consider some of thepictures displayed, visible and widespread instreets, public places and everyday life in BiHtoday, as part of our object.________________________________________________________

* Some pictures are today influential : Forinstance, « Ne dirajte ga, on znaci Mir » = Don’ttouch him, he means peace » under Karadzic’s picture,this poster spread in most of the streets and roadsof Republika Srpksa one night in october 1997. Thiskind of campaigns of visual signs have a more lastingeffect than preelections posters put in the streets,because the people are constantly or repeatedlyexposed to these signs. sometimes even citizens getinvolved in their diffusion. Because these symbolicmessages target efficiently some weak points of theaudience - their authors know well the market theyhave to reach. Portraits, pictures, symbols,graffitis and wall inscriptions are thus part of theBosnian media system, they are still very presenttoday, moreover they are striking and remembered bythe people. Besides that, never-ending high levelnegociations around the symbols to put on Bosniancurrency, flag and plates should suffice to prove how

9Hanging Tito on one’s wall used to be a voluntarily claimed support for the leader, not a compulsory rulereserved to public places and official institutions. In Bosnia today, Tito is still present in many homes, contraryto what happened in Serbia and Croatia.

relevant these visual symbols are in the system ofinformation. They work as media agents sendinguninterruptedly messages of a structural or permanentimpact. The symbols put on the flags or the currencyused give out a crucial information to everybody,they assert the political projects actually supportedby the (local, international) authorities regardingthe future of the country. Antinomic politicalprojects oppose in the disputes involvingrepresentatives of the Republika Srpska, the leadersof the Federation, the Office of the HighRepresentative : While the final designs of theBosnian flag, of the common currency (the ConvertibleMark) remind the integrity of the territory, thesymbols put forward by the leaders of the RepublikaSrpksa for the banknotes and the flag are astraigthforward message insisting on the distinctdestiny of the Serbs, they aim at the division ofBosnia-Herzegovina : they represent Serb « heroes »and assert Serb past, the Serb People, and in thesame time they totally blackout Bosnian identity andBosnia as a country.

* The same way, logos, symbols and colors put in thedecor of TV prime time news are trying to suggest aframe of thought to the people. In the main officialTVs broadcasting in Bosnia- Heregovina today - TVBiH,TVHB, SRT, RTS, HRT, the house’s logos are messages 10

that inform on a political backgroundsituation/stance. HRT shows a meteorological mapincluding Herceg Bosna as part of Croatia, TVBIH logoinsists on the integrity of the territory (thetriangle shapes the map of Bosnia) andsimultaneously, on the Moslem/ Bosniac identity ofBosnia (the green color), as well as it reminds thecolor of SDA’s banners, flags, logo and posters. Thesame way, SRT’s colors are those of the flag of theSerbs (colors shared by the flag of the SRJ,Yugoslavia, and of the Republika Srpska). The mainTV stations broadcasting on the territory of BiH

10Signs don’t belong to News, but they are pieces of information of special relevance, according to semioticanalyses.

today claim straightforwardly the polity they stickto, besides the speech they diffuse in their News.

b. A second feature of Bosnian mediatic oddities :the “Carsija” or the world of comments.

* In the News production and broadcasting industry,one oughts to understand the very political roleplayed by the “ Carsija”. This typically urban andBosnian phenomenon consists in a set of informalchannels of information and communication : eye-to-eye talks, chats in cafés, the whole process ofbuilding rumours is of high relevance in BosniaHerzegovina. The « Carsija-media » holds threefunctions : source, reaction and repercussion to/of anews item. It proves highly complementary to the Newstold on TV or to the printed press comments,especially in breaking and making events in domesticpolicy.

* Rumours on Carl Bildt 11, rumours on BiljanaPlavsic 12, perfid attacks against Raif Dizdarevic, orZdravko Grebo 13 come through this special circuit,even when the gossips are relayed or counterattackedthrough more usual media devices (right to answer onTV, in the papers, etc). By essence, nobody can checkthe information nor identify its source with absolutecertainty, but the informal circuit of the rumour isvery significant device of information in that itforms strong and lasting representations in publicopinion. Street rumours about the commercial-dubiousactivities of Alija Izetbegovic’s son have grown upso much lately (1998) in Bosnia, that the presidenthad to react in the press (Interviews in Avaz-TVBiH)

11 Supposed to have had an overwhelming -thrilling and long lasting love affair with a hot serb journalist fromPale during the time of his mandate in Bosnia-Herzegovina.12 “She is a witch!” or “She is a hore”, or “She is involved in filthy businesses with X or Y, she has got a fullaccount in Switzerland”, “ She was bought up by the Yankees”, etc.13 Both of those important personalities in politics, especially before the war, are for a couple of monthsinformally prosecuted for alleged betrayal of Bosnia o Bosniaks today. The former is being accused of takingpart i Milosevic and the central committee plan of agression against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, whilethe latter has to answer the rumour that he was -and thus still is – a member of the KOS, the Yugoslav secretpolice, of which the hierarchy and structure are now still working but for Belgrade, in Milosevic’s Yugoslavia.

and got forced to mention publicly the content of thescandal. It is proved that most of the people 14 trustchats or comments with somebody they know personally: this person plays either as a reliable first sourceof information, or as a secondary device thatconfirms the data already known.

* Let’s remind that Bosnian polis is characterized bya special proximity between the citizens and theirrulers and « elite ». Politicians, journalists,writers, intellectuals or show-business stars arecommonly adressed to in a very casual way, by therank and file, the ordinary man. This happens on TV,in the street, in special occasions, in cafés. Insuch a sociological context, street rumour plays itspart as an influential information mechanism : insidepolitical circles, among ordinary people, and betweenthe former and the latter groups. Even if the BosnianSerbs would not name this « Carsija », in theRepublika Srpska informal talks/ rumour are a relevantcircuit producing and broadcasting information, asdeeply integrated in the normal media system, as itis into the Federation.

c. Third specific Bosnian medium: Mobilizing massevents and happenings.

* In the former Yugoslavia, some cultural (orsubcultural) happenings, great concerts, importantfootball matches, even best-seller books or cultmovies and all the fuss about it, occurred to behighly mediatized events. Because they were loadedwith a strong symbolic content, these special itemsfunctioned in the same time as media. For instance,the 1984 Olympic games played as a instantaneouscommunication mechanism by sending fast socio-politic messages to the mass, with a very effective

14 This is not especially a Bosnian o Balkanic oddity, explains the mechanism of trusting an information,through the surroundings of the receivers. People are much more prone to remember and thus believe in onefact once it is commented and talked about by thei neighbours, relatives, colleagues, whether watching TVtogether, or talking about it afterwoods. In Bosnia Pr. Nuhic asserts the very ancient but very significant roleplayed by the carsija in informing public opinion, on the side of the power, and as a way to feel the politicalclimate and the popularity of the leaders and their decision among the mass, this through efficient informalchannels and “civil servants” called XX.

and lasting effect in the mind of the audience. Ofcourse the success of this very particularcommunication process relies on the intensity of themedia-event, on the meaning of the messages, and onthe degree of commitment of the audience in thismoment of fever. In 1991, in Maksimir, a footballmatch (Croatia -Serbia) was a special moment in theeve of the war in Yugoslavia : songs (« TamoDaleko »)with a special political meaning were meantto upbring a conflictual fever in the massiveaudience.

Street demonstrations, “ radna akcija” 15, more or lessspontaneous petitions were periodically organised insocialist Yugoslavia. In the toolbox used by theparty leaders for mass mobilisation, these proceduresplayed a similar role to cultural-sport happenings.They used to bear a more straightforwardpolitical/ideological content, they used to playrecurrent slogans and songs reminding : Brotherhoodand Unity, Yugoslavism, building socialism in a jointeffort 16, crucial dates and heroism of the resistanceto Fascism, and, of course, Tito’s personality androle.

* There is here indeed an invention : massmobilisation events used a wide spectrum of different-political, cultural, social, sport -opportunities.As each of these group events was somehow relayed,supported and often set up by Yugoslav state media,they were meant to serve the purposes of a generalpublic communication policy. These repeatedhappenings take part in the long-run legitimacydevice managed by the Yugoslav leaders. Their mainlong-term aim is legible by the themes that recurredin all of these mass meetings, since the fifties tillthe eighties : reinforce the fervour for Yugoslavism.

15 »Work action » : a organised collective effort where « volunteers », mainly youngsters join together torebuild a road, a bridge, to clean up a forrest. No wage to pay this contribution to the good of the society.16Nema odmora dok traje obnova! = No rest till we are rebuilding

The common characteristic of these procedures is thecollective fever generated. There, in the fervour(being together), lies the instrument that succeedsin getting messages to the mind of the public. Theseimmediate « media » are diffusing messages through anemotional bind. Collective meetings and joint actionscertainly do not give out information , but thecommunication scheme that inserts into them staysremarkably efficient in that it works likeinformation : the speech/slogans displayed are takenas such, believed in by an audience who does notquestion the core content of the event. Although thiscommunication to the collective body works onlyintermittently, it acts like a medium ofstrong/violent influence, since the messages sent arewell-remembered by the collective body and recalledlater on through TV, papers, etc. Whenever some ofthese happenings used to take place on a local scale,a strong echo was given through papers, radios andTVs to the “collective impulse” shown. So, even whenthe real mobilisation of the people was not alwaysimpressive, while the collective happening tookplace, considering the number of participants andtheir degree of sincere commitment, media managed tomake a date out of the planned event.

* No need to emphasize here the powerful influence ofthe meetings organised by Milosevic in Serbia at theend of the eighties. These mass meetings perpetuatean old yugoslav mobilisation habit, while perfectingthe titoist scheme in a systematic use of a roughlysame pattern (see following).

- A speech is told to a mass of people, and conveyssimple ideological messages: as from 1988, in Serbia,“the advent of the serbian people”, smoothly replaced“brotherhood and unity” feeling.- Easy ideas (slogans) are spread and repeated in avery intense way and a very short time, during theevent.

- The mobilisation of great amounts of people 17 wasorganized thanks to RTS, Politika, along with firmsworkers committees and local sections of the YCL ofSerbia.- All the huge one-day meetings that blossomedbetween 1989 and 1991 were relayed throughout Serbiaby Serb TV, radios, Newspapers.

* Today in Bosnia, many mass happenings take place :The U2 concert ( september 1997), Djordje Balasevic’sconcert ( february 1998). Indexi in Banja Luka (May1998), Football and Basketball Matches (Croatia-Bosnia), etc.Actually some of these events may still today beclassified in this special category of emotionalstraightforward media. Although they don’t alwaysshow the expected impact, they are meant to bring upa collective fervour, and are thus designed andloaded with a political content. In the summer 1996,the Muslim Olympic games, Jusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)’sconcert were part of the SDA election/ mobilisationcampaign 18. In june 1997 and 1998, Ajvatovic was aseveral days collective cultural celebrationorganised by the SDA-regime to insist on the Muslimaspect of Bosnian traditions. This involves events inmany towns of the Federation and mobilizes allBosniac-Bosnian actors, singers available.

On the other hand, street demonstrations ororchestrated strikes (in SRT Pale, october 1997) arestill able to create an event out of nothing. By thesame techniques as mentioned previously : to make acrucial information out of the demonstration, themain TV, the newspapers (in this case, SRT itself andGlas Srpski) cover, relay and echo these streethappenings in their news and headlines. This is anattempt to blow up the real impact and the audienceof the messages sent, in this case, the meaning told

17one million attendants in 1990, in Kosovo Polje18Many state buses brought for free a great number of people from various areas -Srebrenica, Vares, ...- toSarajevo, in order to attend these events and the SDA big meeting during the elections campaign;

in the news was roughly : « We Serbs, still resistYankee occupation ».

Section III : Bosnian media system, overallfunctioning and organisation

I. Basic functions of media agents and main verticalchannels

In every system, media tend to react to each other,playing respectively the role of the source and themeans of broadcast. This is a commonplace, ifNewsagencies play an increasing core of source, theprinted press uses the information brought up by TVNews, but TV uses as well information opened bynewspapers, radios, while frequently, Newsagenciesmonitor and feedback data taken from radio, TV andprinted News.The main agents (the most used and reaching the mostwidespread audience) still work around three polessharing information in the following way :

Newsagencies -> Dailies <-> TV Prime times.

The main actors of the circuits working on eachpolitical territory in BiH are organized as following:

* ONASA/BHPress- Oslobodjenje/Avaz- TVBiH News on theBosnian army controlled territory

* SRNA-SRT Pale- Glas Srpski/Srpsko Oslobodjenje ineastern Republika Srpska

* Tanjug/Beta- SRT Banja Luka- Banja LuckeNovine/Glas Srpski, in the northern part of theRepublika Srpska

* Hina/Habena-Slobodna Dalmatia-HTV Mostar/TVHB inHerceg Bosna

II. Communication channels in BiH are chains ofreaction

A. Basic media channels

All the media mentioned supra (TV, radio, papers, aswell as the « Carsija », signs and pictures,happenings and celebrations), work in mutualinterconnection when producing information andbroadcasting news.Street talks, cultural events, campaigns of pictures,collective demonstrations mix together with theusual media (TVs, radio, Newsagencies, papers) inBiH.Taking into account this oddity, the main channelsfuelling information to the audience are designed asfollowing :

B. Informal media’s insertion in the News circuit

1. The rough scheme :News on TV/radio/papers (call for a meeting)->Happening (demonstration-celebration-...)-> News onthe event, on its meaning, the impact-> publicopinion feedback -> News

2. The Carsija may be a powerful means ofrebroadcasting, since it works like an echo-box. Thepublic image of a person is shaped by the commentsthat fix the suggestions made in the papers, or onTV.

E.g. : Sefer Halilovic 19 published a book about amoralbargains that happened during the war. AlijaIzetbegovic is alleged to have negociated with theleaders of Pale, Gorazde against Srebrenica. The

19A famous Bosnian general of the Armija.

gossip that spread in Sarajevo in november 1997, whenthe book was issued, consisted to interpret theserevelations as the bitter gesture of a general firedand dismissed in postwar time, after loyal service.The origin of this story was mainly Dnevni Avaz’scampaign of insidious attacks, comments, and perfidinterviews that immediately followed the successfulsales of Halilovic’s book.

C. A relevant chain of reaction : creating events

In the process of event production ex nihilo , thecommunication channel working involves all the meanscirculating information.

1. When a rumour works like a source of information :E.g. : Dnevni Avaz puts (28th of May 1998) a list ofcandidates involved in the Social democrat coalition,according to unquoted sources. The information turnsout to be pure speculation, then the newspaper has todeny the assertion (30th of May 1998). But the« information » published by Dnevni Avaz happened toundermine opportunely the negociations of the SDPwith independent candidates, in this preelectoralperiod.Glas Srpski displayed many « information » duringapril and may 1998, on alleged shelters and bunkers,or trips of Karadzic, in and out of the RepublikaSrpska.

2. The case of « spontaneous meetings » : Serbs inDobrinja (district of Sarajevo) build a wall toprotest against their reintegration into Sarajevo(february-march 1998). Here the mechanism isdesigned:

1. Happenings in the street (source) --->2. News (Radio-TV-Papers/agencies) --->3. Repercussion in the neighbourhood (tensionsbetween the members of the communities, hostilegestures, etc.)

________________________________________________________NB : The basic features of the Bosnian media systemand news industry are noticeable and relevant on thewhole territory. Although there exist some nuances,the Republika Srpska and the Federation prove themain channels of communication we described do workalike. Moreover, they function in according to a samepattern in the whole area (Croatia andSerbia)._________________

Section IV : Preliminary conclusions andmethodological remarks on Bosnian media system

1 - Although their influence proceeds in differentways, all Bosnian media agents are relevant andinfluential: TV, radio, Newpapers, agencies, theCarsija circuit, street happenings, visual symbolcampaigns we mentioned supra are to be considered assignificant producers-broadcasters of information inBosnia Herzegovina.

2 - As far as News are concerned, media form aNetwork : media units in Bosnia produce and broadcastinformation, each with their own personal tone,staff, policy and interests, but they do work asintertwinned agents, sending and receivinginformation from each other. No one media mentionedworks apart, in producing/echoing/using information,even when this is not done in a formalizedcooperation. Even accross the territories controlledby the three nationalist parties, where cooperationsbetween media are still the rare case, they all useinformation and sources form the « other side ».E.g. : TVBiH may mention some news put by Glas Srpski

or SRT Banja Luka, although the questions usuallyraised by the Federation newspapers prove moretopical in TVBiH prime time News. Inter-territoriesconnections are the most developped between Newsagencies, although the main ones still don’t form asolid and constant network (ONASA works with BETA andHINA, occasionnally, not with Habena or SRNA).

3 -Media make a complete system of communication :each unit that produces and broadcasts information isa sender/receiver inserted in a channel. Informationfuelled and repeated through these circuits makes achain of reaction.

Two main channels of communication are evidenced inthat respect. Of high efficiency in terms of fastmutual repercussion, echo, counterreaction effects ona given news, the significant Bosnian channels ofmedia are the following :

- TV - « carsija » comments – Newspapers - governmentstatements

- Newspapers – TV – « Carsija » comments – governmentstatements.

4- Two different bodies of the Bosnian media systemtake part in the functioning of these channels ofcommunication/reaction:

1- informal links, other media (Bosnian oddities) :Carsija - Images - Happenings2- mass media : main Newspapers-TVs-radios /Newsagencies.

Both of these bodies of media are to be consideredbecause of psychological mobilisation, the specialrole instilled to information in Bosnia still now, inpostwar times. We choose to regard as an object ofthis study the informal communication procedures aswell as mass media, since both of these fields arerelevant in several respects: they adress thegreatest amount of people; they slowly shape theframe of mind of the mass, they are part of anaction-reaction device, and they have a major impacton public opinion. To show how propaganda works inBosnia today, we examine the most persuasive weaponsin the particular process of creation of events. Intothe two bodies of Bosnian media system, we focus ourobservations on the information material shown by themain Tvs, the main Newspapers, and the rumours(« Carsija »), and the mass street happeningsprocedures of communication. Thereafter in this studywe do not deal extensively with Radios programmes andnews, nor with pictures and symbols.