National Tv Channels Mean War

* The demand to divide TV Sarajevo into national channels has once again been activated?

Yes, in the beginning all the national parties were for this. Now SDA (The Party fro Democratic Action) has withdrawn this demand, for the time being I suppose. Yesterday TV Sarajevo journalists, 99 of them, if I'm not mistaken, signed a petition against division into national channels, and this means that in fact all the journalists signed it as this is how many there are in the information programme. In all the present troubles I am delighted that the number of people who identfy themselves with nationalist parties has decreased. We in these position will not agree to any kind of arrangement on the division of television.

* Are there any political or party polarisation inside the company?

Without a doubt: in a situation where the whole of society is divided, it is unrealistic to expect that there are only purists working here now. It is completely understandable that there are moments when each of us asks ourselves whether we are journalists or members of a nation. We in the editorial team of TV Sarajevo have been unanimous on all essential decisions, and the team is made up of different nationalities.

* Are there journalists in TV Sarajevo aiming for positions in a nationally devided television?

Well, there are. Some of them have publicly legitimised themselves, but at the moment I don't think it correct for me to mention their names. I think this is normal. But I would like to say that it is only in TV Sarajevo that the same set of people has remained in position for the last year and a half. In all the other TV centres they have changed once or more. In any case, we already have national channels. Every day TV Sarajevo shows on its second programme the news from either Zagreb or Belgrade television. In addition to that, viewers in Bosnia and Herzegovina are well acquainted with what national channels mean and that they can easily lead to war. I am deeply convinced that if radio and TV Sarajevo had fallen earlier, that if they had been divided into national channels, we would have been at war in Bosnia and Herzegovina long ago.