An Appeal to the Deaf

"To the Executive Board of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia:

Gentlemen,

The Association's court of honor was informed of your request for an investigation into the disputes in Independent Television Studio B after several Studio B journalists asked the NUNS for protection.

The court met twice (November 4 and 11) to discuss the delicate situation and decided to put forward two suggestions:

1. To the NUNS board:

It is the unanimous opinion of the court that the NUNS executive board failed to perform its duties on several counts in this case.

Despite the fact that these conflicts began before NUNS was formally set up, we must say that it is a pity that there was no attempt to define a procedure to resolve this kind of conflict.

We recall that the crisis at Studio B began during the election campaign in November of 1993. The issue of concern was the sale of an important prime-time programming slot used for advertising by the Party of Serb Unity's electoral campaign. As in most cases, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the inflicted damage affected everyone and the ongoing conflict was given more dimensions. Fierce accusations were made in public and a professional boycott ensued as well as revenge.

Everyone is the loser, especially the free public. Studio B lost several valuable staff members and they in turn lost Studio B, whose survival as an important independent media enterprise was endangered.

When the crisis escalated, you, respected colleagues, turned the complex issue over to the court of honor with your demand for an investigation into the more or less publicly known circumstances. The court is not an investigative body of the executive council, nor is it its polling commission. Its sole duty lies in making sure journalists maintain ethical principles in their professional work.

The code that is the basis of the court does not regulate owner-manager relations in the media nor, unfortunately, editor-journalist relations since those are issues that have to be regulated through other mechanisms and in other professional and union institutions. We feel that the opinion of this court would be of little use if NUNS does not help establish procedures for arbitration in conflicts like this to protect the professional rights and duties of the owners and journalists.

2. To our colleagues at Studio B:

a) We started out from the fact that the professional protest by a group of journalists at the beginning of the crisis at Studio B during the autumn of 1993 was motivated by honorable reasons of professional conscience and independence and we express understanding for their reaction, regardless of how much the other side thought it an over-reaction.

We feel that in professional conflicts of this kind journalists must be protected from the authorities, even the in-house authorities, that their behavior in defence of their professional convictions must be tolerated to the greatest possible level, i.e. that a journalist protecting his professional conscience has every right to actively express his views (including the right to refuse work, resign, stage a sit-in and strike).

Sometimes journalists speak more loudly with their silence. That type of protest, in our opinion, should be suited to the purpose, limited by self-control and aimed at seeking a common solution in the interest of the profession and survival of Independent Television Studio B.

b) We also bore in mind the assumption that the Studio B managers were hurt by the doubts voiced fiercely by their colleagues. After a year of clashes, the Studio B director, as the stronger party, is able to make the first concession;

abandon the intention to punish or offend rebelling journalists.

The given circumstances show that the internal mood is more crucial to the fate of the independent media than outside pressure. Therefore, before entering into an unpleasant judgment in this dispute and aware that to many of them it's no longer just a dispute but also a question of survival, we have taken the liberty of appealing to them to find a solution that is in the public interest.

Belgrade, November 11, 1994

The court of honor

Milan Vlajcic,

Jan Briza,

Milan Milosevic,

Slavoljub Djukic,

Aleksandar Nenadovic.

The NUNS executive council said on November 14 that it accepts the court's "report", but added that professional pressure on journalists can hardly be called a report. The NUNS board showed that it had accepted some of it because it decided to ask for "a detailed explanation about the firing of three Studio B journalists in the meantime". To date, some 40 journalists have left Studio B and some of the station's best people have been using passive resistance in their work for a year.

The Studio B editorial board informed the public that the court had issued an opinion but fiercely refused to broadcast it, saying that the court had not heard the other side and that it's judgment was in violation of the code.

The court didn't hear either side and didn't pass judgment, but did appeal to Studio B colleagues before passing judgment.

There can be no reconciliation when some are resigning and others are rejecting the resignations. The mediation effort turned into what it was trying to avoid - another episode of self-destruction.