The Revenge of the Insulted

Stanislav Marinkovic was appointed to head the Belgrade daily "Borba" in the summer of 1986. His enormous personal energy and experience moved "Borba" from rusty logic into the fast lane of journalistic thought. On September 4, 1986 the Serbian Socialist Alliance committee held a historic meeting of state-founded press directors and editors-in-chief who were addressed by the newly elected Serbian communist party president (Slobodan Milosevic). Only the naive were happy that he accused just one magazine ("Duga") of anti-communism, anti-Titoism, spreading lies about the Serb people in Kosovo and undermining brotherhood and unity. That was the day the battle for the media began, a battle in which no quarter would be given. That battle is still underway and everything that is happening to "Borba" now should be viewed in the context of dissatisfaction with its editorial policies.

In the spring of 1987, Serbian journalists met in Divcibare in a last-ditch effort to offer some resistance. They chose Jug Grizelj to be president of their union, despite the fact that the authorities had already chosen someone else. Marinkovic and his "Borba" co-workers were applauded: Borba was changing daily, becoming ever braver and delving into the core of social problems. The whole of 1988 was marked by clashes between political rivals which culminated at the famous Eighth Session of the Serbian Communist Party and the huge protest rallies and ferocious efforts by the new regime to use existing political mechanisms to deal with "Borba". But despite the outcry over reports and comments in "Borba", institutional pressure and regime allies within "Borba", the authorities didn't manage to change its policies and editors. There were two main reasons: "Borba" was the official organ of the Socialist Alliance and most local officials saw support for the daily as resistance to the new Tito. Also, the then Socialist Alliance president Milojko Drulovic was brave enough and had enough scruples to stand by Marinkovic.

The fight for "Borba" cost both men their health and lives. Early in 1989, "Borba" finally won, while Marinkovic died late that year. Drulovic died just months later. The members of the "internal resistance" then left the daily: Dusan Cukic, now president of the Yugoslav Journalists' Union, Krste Bjelic, state-run TV's star reporter, Dragan Radevic, director and editor-in-chief at the Novi Sad daily "Dnevnik", Milomir Kragovic, an advisor at BMG (Mirjana Markovic's publisher), Dusko Drazic, now Tanjug's Sofia correspondent.

Fresh blood came to "Borba" and that brought about changes in the paper's style.

That allowed "Borba" to be the only Yugoslav newspaper to publish the headline (on page one) "The League Of Communists No Longer Exists" the morning after the Slovenian and Croatian delegations walked out of the 14th Congress. It was braver than others in reporting the new reality. So it isn't surprising that it was much stronger than others in supporting the former Yugoslavia's last Prime Minister Ante Markovic and his reforms. It was obvious that the fight for "Borba" moved from the political to the economic arena once the Socialist Alliance died.

In late 1989 a strike was staged in the "Borba" printing shop, which was followed by the ousting of director Milan Rakas and the breakup of the publishing house speeded up. The heads of "Borba" managed to ease the suffering and managed to have their man appointed as temporary director (Manojlo Vukotic), but the regime's people were well-organized in every part of the company. Their goal was clear: break up the publishing house into 12 small companies, with full control over the most important ones (printing, distribution and "Vecernje Novosti" daily). "Borba" daily would be left without funds.

So the "Borba" print shop refused to print the daily on September 26-27, 1990, allegedly because of debts. The ferocity of TV attacks on "Borba", quoting the "Politika" and "Vecernje Novosti" dailies who called "Borba" anti-Serb and the fact that the printing company director was a prominent SPS member showed the political background of the conflict that was ineptly transferred into the economic arena. "Borba" had fortunately predicted that turn of events and had transferred the rights of its now-defunct founder to the Yugoslav federal parliament. The parliamentary decision obliged the federal government to take care of all issues, both economic and personnel.

Funding of "Borba" remained in federal hands and its financial problems were caused only by Markovic's refusal to print more money for the budget and efforts to make every budget user earn money on his own. That unfortunate episode resulted in the approval of budget reserve funds for "Borba" and a speedier transformation to a shareholders' society.

"Borba" ordered and received a project which suggested that, contrary to practice at the time, a new society should be formed with the federal parliament, but leaving space for new capital to invest. That project had its bad points and then Federal Information Secretary Darko Marin and his aides suggested people from the federal ministries who could help out. In late 1990 and January 1991, the Federal Information Ministry held several meetings and prepared a report for the government to approve. The essence of their proposals was a new company with state funds not exceeding 5% of the money needed to keep the daily going for four years.

The report operated with a circulation figure of 40,000, which was considered good since "Borba" sales in Slovenia and Croatia had dropped radically and were virtually non-existent in Serbia.

Then came March 9, 1991 with its protests and riots in Belgrade. There were long lines of people waiting for the special edition in front of the "Borba" building the next morning. The size of the paper was reduced, it was sold on the streets instead of newsstands, it consistently supported student protests and the opposition while opposing the war. Circulation rose steadily to 140,000 in April 1991.

That had two effects on the paper's transformation: first, the government project was withdrawn because its assessments were too small, and second, the "Borba" staff now believed no one could do anything to them. The government approved a new project with higher figures and authorized the Information Ministry to sign a contract with "Borba".

Then the Slovenes and Croats left as well as Ante Markovic. In July 1991, the last available person signed the deal.

The "Borba" staff viewed the project with skepticism because their circulation and advertising income indicated that independent survival was possible and many wanted to take over the company by selling shares to its staff. That wasn't possible because there was no one in the federal government who was willing to restart the entire process and because "Borba" still needed federal budget funding and, most importantly, it needed permission to buy foreign currency from the national bank at official rates for printing materials.

Late in 1991 and early in 1992, "Borba" was economically sound and the storm troopers seemed to have lost their second battle.

The third offensive started when "Borba" budget funds were discontinued because it had become a shareholders' society. "Borba" complained that the society hadn't been formed yet and was told by then Federal Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Mitrovic that they should turn to Radoman Bozovic regarding the money. Bozovic was Serbian Prime Minister at the time, and of course he would never approve.

"Borba" decided to speed up its transformation with a fierce campaign and sales of stock to prominent figures, as well as donations and negotiations with companies and opposition parties.

At the height of the campaign, Bogoljub Karic, Jezdimir Vasiljevic and Dafina Milanovic (infamous Serb "businesspeople") appeared, each of them on their own. They didn't care what it cost as long as they could have more than 50% of the shares. "Borba" was in no mood to deal with them, but time was running out. So when Dusan Mijic (owner of Finagra Novi Sad), at the recommendation of Dragan Sakan from the Belgrade office of Saatchi & Saatchi, appeared ready to buy up any leftover shares (35% then) he was welcomed with open arms. It was evident at the time that the May 1992 federal elections would not see the participation of the largest opposition parties and "Borba" had to escape the upcoming Socialist-Radical coalition quickly.

The society was formed on May 29, 1992 and Mirko Piljak was elected as President and Slobodan Radulovic as Chairman of the Board. Federal government representatives attended every session.

Milan Panic was Federal Prime Minister at the time and it seemed wise for "Borba" to ask for the money the government owed it. The budget included funds for "Borba". The Information Commission and Parliamentary budget committee also decided at a joint session on February 13, 1992 to support the "Borba" transformation and obliged the government to support the daily as soon as it became a shareholders' society.

Just before the 1992 elections (when Panic ran against Milosevic), the federal government's administrative commission also lent its support to "Borba". Then Federal Information Minister Miodrag Perisic regularly invited "Borba" managers to meetings with federation-founded media (Tanjug news agency, the Yugoslav Newsreel, Radio Yugoslavia...). Publicly, he said the state had obligations towards "Borba" even though it held only part of its shares. "Borba" never got the money (it also lost its privileges with the national bank) because a number of high-ranking officials delayed the payment until after the elections.

"Borba" managed to survive that year thanks to fresh capital and the 17% the federal government held was not enough for the Radicals and Socialists to launch a new political offensive. So the battle continued and legal weapons were used this time with the same brazenness and anger that all earlier attempts to subdue "Borba" had failed.

I tried to write an article about events that I actively participated in as Deputy Copy Desk head, Copy Desk Chief and Director of "Borba" since August of 1990. It would not be polite to write about the pressure and everything else that accompanied "Borba" this year and last, but I do know that without an independent "Borba" there is no room for independent journalism here today.