Minovic in Action

What made Dr. Zivorad "Zika" Minovic (Politika corporate president) unexpectedly and brutally attack NIN newsweekly last Thursday evening (November 17), first refusing to sell it through the Politika network, then to even print it. Did he do this because of someone's threats, or did he attempt to once again create a scandal because of higher interests and to show his loyalty?

Anything is possible since Dr. Zika Minovic is a man capable of doing all sorts of things. He can obediently follow one leader for a long time and then proceed to turn his back on him and dream of his imprisonment. Despite death threats to him and his loved ones during one of the strikes at Politika, he managed to defiantly make it known that he is unafraid and to say that the Politika publishing house is the only party to which he and we profess allegiance, only to then slowly begin to bring "the house" back under the wing of "that" party. Even during the time that he was acting like he was repenting, during March of last year Minovic formulated a statement about the necessity of privatizing NIN. Some thought that this had the appearance of ridding "the house" of a magazine that was difficult to control. Then, during the summer, Minovic unexpectedly made it known that NIN would have to leave "the house" immediately, just as he suddenly announced last Thursday that NIN had to be his, "the house's"... Last summer, those attempting to persuade people at NIN who thought it better to remain inside "the house" ("a three DEM salary is three DEM, but at least it is certain") explained that NIN would be luckier "outside", that during the time of hyperinflation, thanks to its tradition, reputation and democratic nature, it would easily find wealthy patrons. But, even to those at NIN who wanted that formal independence, that whole affair looked like an expulsion and a punishment, while Minovic looked like the executor of a sentence. At the time, both groups at NIN (one wanting to leave "the house", the other to remain in it) thought that the magazine was being sent out "onto the street" solely to ensure its hasty demise.

Of course, that entire affair had nothing to do with management of the publishing house and NIN, nor with a strong belief in the necessity of privatization. This was simply a political maneuver aimed at convincing the naive that the entire matter was of an economic nature and hiding the real goal to control editorial policy at NIN.

This is probably most evident in the clumsy statement by Dragutin Brcin, the federal minister of information. "Who can give away our newspapers, their tradition and Serbian journalistic tradition to the likes of (former federal prime minister Milan) Panic, (businessman and part-owner of Borba daily, Dusan) Mijic and (American billionaire businessman and philanthropist George) Soros", Brcin asked. I am avoiding a more serious discussion of the questions that arise: why can Panic be the owner of a pharmaceuticals company but cannot invest in the media; since when has Brcin been the owner of "our newspapers and Serbian journalistic tradition".

In a statement for NIN, Radmilo Bogdanovic (a very prominent figure in the Socialist Party of Serbia) said that this weekly cannot be extinguished.

There are also differences between Minovic and Hadzi Dragan Antic (Politika editor-in-chief), even though both think that it would be best for NIN if it remained a part of the publishing house.

Of course, Minovic has not surprised me (we have known each other long: since 1976. At one time he offered me a job as a foreign correspondent and then "kept me hanging" for about two years; he destroyed an entire edition of the Politika English-language weekly because of an article that I had written, but then later allowed me to become second-in-command of that publication...) during this entire affair. I was also not surprised that Politika did not print NIN's response to Zika Minovic's statement. I guess it is bad manners for a newspaper to attack its boss. The only thing that surprised me was a journalist at Politika who said with pleasure that NIN's "end had come".

I will not be the least bit sad when she does not get what she wants and that her pleasure will be ruined.