A Revolution Entire

Following the article Politika Below Any Standard in the previous issue of VREME, which included a number of objections to the operations and editorial policies in that daily and its affiliates, Politika publishing house director Hadzi Dragan Antic called to personally refute the claims. VREME spoke to him on Sunday afternoon, in his sound-proof cabinet on the fourth floor of the Politika building.

What is the truth about Politika’s circulation and the circulation of your other publications?

"The question is did circulation drop now or a few years ago and we know exactly what our circulation is, not year to year but day to day. When I took over Politika, it had a circulation of 89,000. Now, on some days we have a circulation three times that. On Fridays we have a circulation of 300,000 with an 11.2% return of unsold copies. That circulation could be bigger but the question is will we let it. Since I’ve been running Politika the circulation of the daily was never under 200,000 in a period when Yugoslavia is getting so many dailies, more than over the past 50 years. What competition do you have? There’s NIN weekly and what’s changed there? You’ll get competition, and then we’ll see! I look forward to competition."

So do we. Many believe that the change of RTV Revija from a separate publication into a supplement for Politika on Friday is just the beginning of it's elimination.

"Let me teach you something: RTV Revija has been turned into a supplement, that’s a world phenomenon entirely. This was ingenious from the viewpoint of business. And let me explain something: I can certainly assess better what should be eliminated and what shouldn’t. Remember, every one of Politika’s unprofitable publications will be extinguished. What is most important is that Politika is the most profitable daily, not within the Politika company, but in Yugoslavia and maybe in the Balkans. I’m serious about this. I can’t tell you what that profit is because I don’t want it known but it is the most profitable. Of all the newspaper publishers, we have the international credibility to talk to foreigners and ask for loans."

A group of journalists from you company complained recently that most of your home pages are filled with Tanjug reports. They were suspended or their salaries were reduced.

"That thing about Tanjug is your interpretation: that’s a complete fabrication. There are documents on microfilm which show that isn’t the case. Just two journalists from the home desk had their salaries reduced. The others are working so much that it’s unbelievable. They do 20-30 articles a month."

Let me formulate the question differently: why do I, as a Politika reader, find out more about the political situation in Zanzibar than in Serbia?

"I should tell you with no false modesty that Politika is the most complete newspaper. I my opinion, we have the best foreign pages in Europe. We have the best culture section in the country, two pages of culture at home and one foreign page plus a culture supplement on Saturday. We have the best sports pages in Yugoslavia. You don’t even know how many new columns I introduced to Politika. It’s an entire revolution! As for the home pages, you have your own opinion. That’s a question of taste and Politika won’t adapt its tastes to the streets. You wrote that the destruction of Politika during the demonstrations was a democratic act. Would it be a democratic act for me to plant a bomb in the VREME offices because I don’t like what you wrote? You’re advocating vandalism."

We never wrote that the breaking of windows was a democratic act, we just reported that they haven’t been replaced yet.

"It’s not just the glass, the damage is much greater. We have to change the construction of the windows. The work will start now because we also have to put up a monument in the lobby but the question is who’s going to pay for it. We sued the Zajedno coalition. How can they defend destruction? Leave those 200,000 people alone to buy newspapers if they want to. As for slandering your own company, that won’t be done any more. The journalists who had their salaries reduced weren’t doing anything, it wasn’t because they were dissatisfied. Why didn’t they rebel when circulation was down to 80,000? They’re laundering their biographies."

One final question: Your name and the name of Marija Milosevic are being linked to the luxury villa in Belgrade’s peace boulevard where reconstruction had begun and was stopped.

"Let me tell you something: my lawyer asked for and got proof from the municipality that I’m not the owner of that house and have nothing to do with it. And even if I did, so what? Don’t I have the right to a house or an apartment? I got nothing from Politika. I bought my apartment with a loan. So even if I buy a house tomorrow, who can stop me?"