Argued Outcry Of Citizens' Print

Those who publish newspapers in Serbia are well aware that it's tedious and thankless work whose only reward is cardiovascular illness. There is only one newsprint factory in the entire country, and it is persistently working on effecting an importing ban on newsprint; printingworks are disinclined to "print" independent papers, their services are expensive, while their outdated, low quality equipment is prone to malfunction, and "operators" are prone to drink and frequent "spontaneous" refusals to print papers that "publish anti-national and anti-state material"; print sale monopolies are "slapping everyone around" (Politika's kiosks only recently began charging 40% sellers' rebates) and holding onto funds for several months; Serbs do not know how to, or do not like to read (only 22% of the population reads regularly), and those who have the desire to read, lack the money...

Despite all this, the impression of recent weeks is that everyone is in a rush to publish newspapers; in Belgrade there appeared (or are soon to appear) four new papers. Admittedly, the weekly "Argument" is not all that new, as it is a mere continuation of the biweekly under the same name that went out of circulation last year because of financial problems associated with Politika's refusal to pay out its dues, being the sole distributor of the bankrupted paper.

Like many papers justly upset with Politika's unprofessional and insolent conduct, the new "Argument" will not be sold in this distribution ring. The editor of "Argument", Ratko Dmitrovic, explains the change to a weekly rhythm of publication as a desire to deal with more up-to-date topics because "as a biweekly it was destined to so-called dead, long-range texts, analyses, important discussions and such".

At the time when this issue of "Vreme" reaches the stands (Thursday, April 3), the weekly "Pecat" (Seal) should also be sold along side of it. This is a "DT Press" publication whose director, Slavko Curuvija (who is also the director and editor in chief of "Dnevni Telegraf"), says that this merely represents the natural course of events: "When a successful daily is created, it is only logical that a weekly be the next step. Production at the 'Dnevni Telegraf' is such that the paper cannot absorb everything it produces. For this reason we first began with the weekly insert 'DT Magazin' out of two reason: to cover those topics for which there is no space in a 'short and fast' daily, and at the same time to offer people something more for their money on weekends, so as to give back something to our readers for having been paying all the while for a paper that is, admittedly, of a very contained format. The idea proved good as the circulation of 'Dnevni Telegraf', which was 30% lower on weekends, reached weekday levels with the introduction of 'DT Magazin'".

"In the meantime many weeklys appeared and the market became crowded", Curuvija stated. "Many of those journals will most likely go bankrupt by the end of the year, as the format is set and the general circulation is dropping: 'Nedeljni Telegraf' does not sell more than 30,000 copies, 'Svedok' (Witness) is at the level of 20,000, 'Argument' at 10,000... I simply have no financial worries. I can even allow myself the luxury of a small loss on a weekly that is backed by a developed, successful daily".

The halls were ringing for some time now with the rumors of a possibility that Slavko Curuvija and Aleksandar Tijanic, an eminent journalist and former republican minister of information, might begin publication of a new journal. Judging by all the signs, cooperation did not occur because of a conflict of interests. Noting that his demand is that "a paper come out every morning and evening" ("Vreme" no. 334), Tijanic insisted on a daily, while Curuvija, who already owns a daily, naturally did not wish to create unnecessary competition. Thus, instead of one, two publications came out: Curuvija's weekly "Pecat" and Tijanic's daily "Gradjanin" (Citizen), whose trial issue, after several months advanced advertising on BK Telekom, came out on Tuesday, April 1. In an interview with "Vreme" Tijanic noted that "Gradjanin" will be an independent, liberal paper, "equidistant as much as possible from the government and the opposition".

"It will be a small, drawing-room paper", says Tijanic. "Technical equipment is lacking, and there aren't sufficient funds for having an editorial staff of 70 to 80 people. At the present there are only 30 of us, which is not sufficient for a daily. An added challenge is that almost none of the journalists ever worked in a daily paper before. I hope that the paper will proliferate in the coming months. We are presently in a phase of adjustment and optimization. If we reach a circulation of 20 to 30 thousand copies sold by the end of the year, I wont be dissatisfied".

The news that the renowned photographer and former director of "Duga", Vican Vicanovic, is starting a new publication, aroused great interest. Vicanovic initially consented to talk to "Vreme", but than reneged. As unofficial sources state, the working title of the publication will be "Krik" (Scream). It should be a biweekly; it should resemble the former "Start" from Zagreb, and should actively avoid politics - barring, of course, the accidental appearance of the announced diaries of Mirjana Markovic, who recently stopped writing for "Duga" and all together ceased her public appearances.

As Kosovo is (still) part of Serbia, it should be noted that the Albanian language weekly from Pristina, "Koha" (meaning "Vreme" or "Time" in Albanian), is coming out these days, following lengthy preparations, with a daily entitled "Koha Ditore". It will be appearing every day except for Saturdays and Sundays; it will be printed at "Koha", and will be sold in a self-run distribution ring. Independent papers in the rest of Serbia can only dream about something like that.