Print it Again, Sam!

Nowadays, when the majority of local newspapers in Serbia are marking their 50th anniversary, the interests of the founders are "protected" in literally every sentence, which means that the authorities and the ruling party are informing the people of a truth that they can only sell to them. In this year of jubilees, this conception has won ministerial posts and plaques. And the people are not indifferent - on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Valjevo paper "Napredak", president of the "Krusik" trade union said that the "citizens of Valjevo and 'Krusik' workers could do without lunch, but not without 'Napredak'".

The founding of TV studios, judging by Trstenik, Svilajnac and other provincial towns, has become a favorite pastime among municipality officials, and every bit of local gossip is aired. The cases of "Pancevac" and "Svetlost" from Kragujevac are proof of this... The authorities wish to verify their successes in black and white. After the fiasco with local party papers, newspapers subsidized by municipalities got some serious competition last year. With the exception of Vojvodina and Subotica and Kosovo, all bigger towns have their privately-owned newspapers. Even though they face enormous problems, such as money and distribution, these papers have raised the standard of the press in the provinces with their choice of topics and their presentation. Articles in "Smederevac", "Vranjske", "Uzicka nedelja" and the Subotica-based weeklies do not lag behind the papers published in the capital.

That this is true has been confirmed by comparing the "subsidized" and the "independent" press in several environments. The Valjevo-based "Napred" which has remained a socially-owned firm, in keeping with its name ("Forward") printed the 50th anniversary number with a red title. Director and editor-in-chief summed up the paper's stand when he praised the paper for not becoming "a so-called independent paper". This twenty-page weekly prints obituaries on eight pages, and devotes just as much space to ads, or writes about "successful" firms which then explain their success to their workers. The only departure from the concept are caricatures by Branko Obradovic and Dusan Arsenic. From the financial point of view,the papers have never had it better, apart from being subsidized by the municipalities, there are the obituaries and photographs of sponsors on the front page.

The agency "Valjevac" has been publishing a monthly magazine of the same name for the past year. Thanks to a skillful editorial policy they have managed to avoid being linked to any particular party, especially New Democracy. The monthly is not conceived as a local paper and includes topics from other cities, and independent Belgrade journalists have their column. There is a tendency, however to concentrate on culture and the past a bit too much. The same agency is thinking of publishing a daily newspaper.

It is expected that "Glas Valjeva" will start coming out again after a long break. The paper does not hold with the deal between the ruling Socialist and New Democracy coalition and criticizes local comrades freely.

The situation in Pancevo is specific. "We have two papers called 'Pancevac', but we don't have a newspaper", said a man recently. He was thinking of the weekly "Pancevac" and the bi-weekly "Novi Pancevac" which was launched by the town's free lance journalists in late 1992. This followed after the well-known showdown in the only information house in Pancevo, after the Socialists took over power. The firm "Pancevac" was destroyed with the wholehearted help of the then friendly radicals, and two new public firms were founded. The journalists who were dismissed started "Novi Pancevac" with the support of their colleagues and the public, and managed to keep it going during the general social collapse in 1992. In mid 1994, after a clash with the owner, practically the entire editorial staff and stringers left the paper and the quality of this allegedly opposition paper dropped. "Novi Pancevac" has joined the general monotony of municipal papers.

Kragujevac used to be famous for its memorial park, the "Zastava" automobile plant and "Pogledi", the first pro-Chetnik paper in post-WW2 Yugoslavia. In the mid Eighties, the spirit of National Socialism slowly reared its head, and the students thought that a paper with a strong Serbian Romanticist charge - would find a public. They were proved right when after a few months an unknown student paper grew into a paper that was talked of at home and abroad. By the end of the Eighties, the "reputation" and circulation of "Pogledi" had grown headlong, reaching a circulation of over 200,000.

The secret of the paper's speedy rise was simple - the National War of Liberation was treated differently than official history said, and "Pogledi" became very sought after historical reading matter. But as Slobodan Milosevic consolidated his power, "Pogledi" started to lose their "reputation" and importance, since the paper's role was taken over increasingly by the state media. Today "Pogledi" is once more a provincial paper with a circulation of several thousand.

Good journalism in Kragujevac was promoted by the paper "Svetlost" - one of the truly independent Serbian papers. Long before the introduction of a multiparty system in Serbia, the editorial office adopted a non-party editorial policy, and has stuck to it to this very day. It was natural that such a paper would not pass unnoticed by the local authorities and their Belgrade sponsors.

But, thanks to the state's preoccupation, "Svetlost" managed to get the municipal SPS leadership to transfer founding rights to the paper three years ago, so that the paper came out regularly until recently.

In late February, the authorities suddenly remembered "Svetlost" in which they had invested for decades, and that socially-owned property was endangered, and that it would be best if the paper became state-owned again. The "Svetlost" editorial staff did not agree and a court case between the Municipality and the paper followed, so that the paper's future editorial policy remains uncertain. The socialists in Kragujevac are constantly present on local radio and television, but don't think that this is enough, and the paper "Sumadijski dani" has started coming out. The paper's editorial staff is made up of hard-line SPS journalists and editorial policy is strictly agitprop.

Parallelism is the rule of the day in Vranje. One of each of the media are privately-owned, all the others are state-owned. Apart from the weekly "Slobodna rec" which is a public company, the first privately-owned newspaper "Vranjske" appeared recently. The owner Vukasin Obradovic was the "Politika Ekspres" correspondent until recently.

"We have the status of a public company, and are basically self-financed, even though the municipality does subsidize two-thirds of the gross salaries. Because of a collective subscription, 'Slobodna rec' does not have unsold copies, and sells for 80 paras", said Gradimir Jovanovic.

Three papers are currently published in Uzice: "Vesti", "Uzicka nedelja" and "Uzicke novine".

"Vesti have the longest tradition (since WW2) and until last year this was the only paper in the region. The paper is published by the socially-owned firm "Vesti" which has a radio-station and publishing house of the same name.

As of recently it has started coming out twice monthly (it was a weekly before) and apart from conceptual changes, is an information service between the municipality and the Serbian authorities.

The most read paper as of last year is "Uzicka nedelja". This a privately-owned paper (Toni Stankovic is the director) and it has a circulation of 2,000 copies and comes out twice monthly. The paper is open to information on opposition activities.

"Uzicke novine" have been coming out since last year under the sponsorship of the National Theater. The paper comes out weekly and is concerned with the city's cultural activities.

Until recently the paper "Rec naroda", now the organ of the Pozarevac Municipality and the remaining seven municipalities in the Branicevo district, was the "only local window into the world" for over 100,000 inhabitants of the region. The paper comes out weekly and has a circulation of 5,000 copies. The 50th anniversary was celebrated very pompously and Ratko Markovic and Dragutin Brcin were among the guests. The paper got top marks.

Former "Rec naroda" director and editor-in-chief, now a successful lecturer at the two-year post-secondary school in Pozarevac, Bogdan Zivkovic, has founded a paper with deals with Pozarevac municipality problems. The paper carries the name of a very strong radical paper which was published until WW2 broke out - the "Gradjanin".

Six weeklies are published in Subotica, of which three in the Hungarian language. The paper "7 nap" (Seven Days) stopped coming out in summer 1993 because the Provincial authorities didn't wish to finance it and the staff launched a new paper "Uj het nap" (The New Seven Days). Misunderstandings with director and editor-in-chief Silvester Gerlovic ended with the journalists leaving and founding "Szabad het nap" (The Free Seven days). When they saw that the Hungarian language papers were multiplying, the Provincial authorities found money and continued publishing the "loyal" "7 nap", this time under the name "2x7 nap". "Szabad het nap" has an average circulation of 15,000 copies. "We only have our own means", said deputy editor-in-chief Janos Nemet. "The money we earn is miserable, no help is forthcoming, while municipalities in Northern Backa offer moral rather than financial help. If the municipality approves, we'll get 50,000 for this year, and that's enough for five numbers. The paper is non-political, but not neutral", said Nemet, adding that editorial policy leaned towards the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians.

"Unlike the previous paper, "Uj het nap" is an independent political-information family weekly. The DZVM do not finance us. But, considering that 80% Hungarians voted for them, it is my belief that this party represents their interests and that's why I give them a lot of space. I have no obligation towards them, but I believe their program to be the healthiest. We got help twice from Hungary, but now we don't get anything from anyone, nor from the state and certainly not from the municipality", said Nemet.

"2x7 nap" editor Mihalj Cordas, said that the Provincial authorities were familiar with all the relevant facts concerning the paper - the circulation, number of employees, financing.

Speaking of the paper's non-party orientation, he said: "We don't write about the problems of certain parties, we're not interested. We are oriented towards the family, and try to preserve old human values". The paper survives thanks to subsidies by Provincial authorities, advertisements and sales.

The weekly "Dani" is printed in the Cyrillic and the Latin scripts. The firm "Suboticki dani" backs the paper. Speaking of editorial policy Miroljub Vucinic said: "We are 'Dani', but we're not 'Vreme'."

The Subotica-based bi-weekly "Zig" has been coming out since last summer. The editorial staff has journalists of all nationalities, and texts by Hungarian colleagues are translated either into Serbian or Croatian, as they wish. Editor Vojislav Sekelj said the paper was of a civic, liberal and democratic orientation, and they managed to survive thanks to advertisements, sponsors and sales.

"Suboticke novine" is a municipality paper, but the municipality is not very generous in giving money. The paper has around 20,000 readers, and editor Milovan Mikovic said: "We are market-oriented. We address all readers, without difference. We are interested in the whole city, and not individual, national or political options. But, all think that more space is given 'to the others'."