The Game with Studio B

SPS and the ruling circles of the republic accuse Studio B of airing non-objective, incomplete information, in the function of the coalition Zajedno. The Serbian Renewal Movement says that Studio B is directed to serve the Democratic Party and against Vuk Draskovic, who for this reason boycotts this station. The leaders of the Democratic party are not overly satisfied by the informative role of Studio B. The chief of the Radical Party says that Studio B is "the TV Bastille".

When all of the key factors of the main political party and opposition are not satisfied with some informative organ, the logical conclusion can be that the organ's staff is doing an honest job. In the case of Studio B this conclusion is correct. This broadcasting house is today close to being an objective, truthful informative service. Its main direction is targeted to that goal, and sporadic exceptions are not the result of deliberate policy but of the mistakes of individuals from the staff.

Unfortunately, the members of the Board of Directors are crossing swords over which of the two leading parties from the coalition Zajedno will be dominant. SPO then attempts to replace the current director.

In the last two years, the government succeeded in replacing the leaders of Studio B four times. The replacements shook this television station to the roots. It is time, and the situation is perhaps ripe, to say ENOUGH. The personnel has to resist the obstinacy of the government in the name of the fact that the news house has to serve the broader public, and not the narrow circle of the political leaders.

This plea for ENOUGH may seem naíve because the battle for their classification is going on in the majority of the public organs, which is exceptionally brutal in the pre-election skirmishes. However, as the real motives of the skirmishing parties are made even more visible, which has nothing to do with the desire to have objective informative organs, this is exactly what gives the personnel of Studio B the chance to support the return of the status of a share-holding company to them, which would open the door for the next phase in the battle for the independent organ.

On the way towards the status of an independent news house, in the case of Studio B there is one big financial obstacle - the station does not make enough profit to finance itself. However, there is a way out.

The pressure applied by the Assembly of the City of Belgrade was devastating for the financial health of Studio B. That is why the duty of the Assembly should be to provide assets for the recovery of this broadcasting house which has worked to the benefit of the city and the city's desires for over three decades. These assets are not the patrimonial heritage of any political leader. They come from the audience that numbers millions of the metropolis' citizens, and Studio B would return them to the city through objective information.

Also, on Studio B's part, this house would have to operate more efficiently. Today, with its 350 employees, it creates and broadcasts three radio programs and one TV program. Around one third of them are free-lancers. In some departments, the house has reached the dispersed normative of RTS.

Of course, the great problem is what to do with the obvious surplus which has gathered during the mandate of the last two prior directors of Studio B. Over a period of several months work has to be found for 250 surplus employees who, if engaged each work day and full time, can comfortably cover all tasks involved in the creation and broadcasting of the existing programs. Without financial independence there is no political independence, nor the conditions for an objective informative service.