The Flight Of The Arrow

Federal Information Minister Slobodan Ignjatovic's decision to withdraw accreditation from CNN and AFP journalists was announced on Tuesday evening via state television. The minister mentioned the "relentless media war being waged against Yugoslavia from its territory," and said that the journalists working for CNN and AFP would be "prevented from further propaganda work." In the end, Ignjatovic said that "other foreign correspondents who have been demonizing Yugoslavia and the Serbian people for months and years, would have their accreditations withdrawn in the coming days." The arrow has been let fly towards its goal.

The first question which flabbergasted journalists asked each other after hearing the news, was: Why us? For the past year and a half CNN has not been covering Yugoslavia and does not have an office in Belgrade. If CNN teams come to Belgrade, they stay a day or two and go on to places of interest such as Sarajevo or Central Bosnia. On the other hand, Agence France Presse (AFP) is a serious news agency, and it requires a lot of imagination to accuse them of bias. But, imagination is one thing that Minister Ignjatovic does not lack. While he was editor of the Belgrade daily "Politika Ekspres," he distributed planes, lakes and rent-a-car salons to the lucky winners of various competitions, who never got them.

On Wednesday, a day after the announcement, things were even foggier. The Belgrade AFP offices did not receive any kind of a decision from the ministry which would refer to the agency as such, but the correspondents (four persons) received calls to come to the ministry personally and pick up the decisions stating that their accredidations had been withdrawn. For the time being, only Nikola Miletic, the chief of the Belgrade office has done so (the decision is dated April 11, 1994, i.e. a day before the minister announced his decision). The others are still wondering what to do. The move points to a change of procedure. Instead of closing down the office, which seemed imminent after the first announcement, the agency now has the chance of continuing work but with some other people--if, of course, they meet two conditions: that the AFP head office in Paris submits new requests for the accreditation of new correspondents, and if the correspondents are judged positively by the Ministry of Information.

It is uncertain for the time being, if AFP will agree to play the game of cat and mouse with Minister Ignjatovic and his friends, or if they will simply lock up the office and wait for better days, or at least until Minister Ignjatovic is in a better mood. CNN is in a similar situation. They too haven't received a formal decision, but then, they hadn't planned on sending a team to Belgrade in the near future.

In the meantime, the Association of Foreign Correspondents in Belgrade has tried to reach the minister and ask him what has made him so angry, and who else upsets him. A letter was sent signed by Juan Fernandez Eloriaga, the long time Spanish correspondent for the Spanish news agency EFE who is also head of the Association, and Sergei Grizunov, until recently the APN correspondent from Belgrade and currently Russian Information Minister, who expressed surprise and hope that "colleagues on television had not carried the Yugoslav government's reaction precisely, and that all would be happily resolved." Eloriaga and Grizunov spent two days trying to reach the minister: he was on a trip or had other more important business. They received promises that Ignjatovic would be able to spare them some time on Friday, on condition that there were not more than three members in Association's delegation, probably fearing that the journalists, a noisy bunch, would kick up a fuss in the office.

The Association of Journalists of Serbia headed by Kosta Krajincevic also expressed surprise, but of a different kind. Krajincevic said that the "decision should have been made much earlier, considering all the lies broadcast worldwide by AFP and CNN in the past three years." Krajincevic's statement to Tanjug news agency contains an interesting detail, namely, that "one of the CNN bosses said that they were not interested in who gave the information or whether it was true, but only that it was ensured further passage." It would be interesting to learn the name of this "boss" and what exactly he did say, assuming, of course, that Krajincevic knows what he is talking about. The Association of War Reporters (UNS), a part of the same organization, was even more radical, and gave some indications as to who the minister's arrow was aimed at: "Apart from CNN and AFP, the right to work in journalism in Yugoslavia is enjoyed by some domestic editorial staffs and media which with their biased carrying of foreign anti-Serbian propaganda, have put the Serbian people on trial, without proof and without guilt on its part.'' For this reason war reporters demand that "the domestic puppets working for `Studio B', 'Borba', `B92', 'Vreme' and other editorial staffs be treated in the same way as CNN and AFP.'' These lines should be read carefully. Cameraman Novak Zivkovic has perhaps, put his finger on the essence of the matter: he believes that the right to a free press and free journalism which some still enjoy, should be banned. Those others, who for various reasons have given up this right, should be left alone to do their work.

The recently founded Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) protested strongly against Ignjatovic's decision and threats that such decisions would be taken in future. "Regardless of eventual criticism by state organs as to the reporting of some foreign journalists, the withdrawal of accreditation and the preventing of any foreign or domestic correspondents from working, are contrary to the right to information, a vital general human right. Such moves can only contribute to further media isolation, and other forms of isolation of Yugoslavia,'' said the NUNS statement signed by NUNS pres. Dragan Nikitovic.

Those who pointed out that Ignjatovic's move would only force foreign correspondents to look for sources outside Serbia, are perhaps, concerned without reason, for Yugoslavia's reputation. Considering all that has happened in the past three years, this reputation couldn't be worse. The reasons are numerous and are much less due to journalism than people think. The term "media war" was very popular here, before the first bullet had even been fired. It has been taken over from total national defence and social selfprotection text books. Foreign journalists have difficulty in understanding the term "media war." When translated, they think it refers to the battle for viewers and readers between competitive media. The domestic warlords and their supporters knew what they were talking about right from the beginning: honest journalists (those who search for facts) are a danger and threat to people who have much to hide. All that needs be done is to recall a long list of obvious and easily checked facts which "it is not patriotic to mention, even if they are true,'' as a Serbian RadioTV (SRT) journalist star said recently. Logically, one cannot expect foreign journalists to adhere to such principles, so that they were treated from the beginning as secret agents, or at best as a necessary evil, regardless of the way they reported. So far their presence has been tolerated. What has changed?

If the matter is viewed over a longer period of time, it turns out that nothing has changed. Ignjatovic's move is the result of a certain way of looking at the world and a wider policy--the arrow was let fly a long time ago, and it has been flying for some time, it was only a matter of time before, and where, it hit. Any two Western media houses could have been hit instead of CNN and AFP. The effect would have been the same, including the explanations given by Ignjatovic, Krajincevic and all the others. In this story, it is the nonchalance in the choice of target which frightens, and this, perhaps, is the end goal.

Circumstances point to the fact that Ignjatovic certainly did not arrive at this decision independently. It was made at the top, and the minister was given the unpleasant task of explaining it. So that it is no surprise that he, poor soul, is trying to postpone the moment, since he doesn't know what to say until he receives some instructions. In the meantime, the story continues in the Federal Assembly, where a group of opposition deputies asked that the decision be withdrawn and brought up the question of Ignjatovic's dismissal from office. Even though opposition parties are divided along the wellbeaten patriotic line, there is still a possibility, albeit a small one, that the matter could end favorably as far as the undesirable journalists are concerned. In the Balkans, arrows don't necessarily fly in straight lines.