What do you think about CNN ?

The ghost symbolizing the new law on media was hovering around this country even before the Serbian parliament adopted it last Tuesday. This ghost could even outlive the decree and the resultant law on media. It will affect not only reporters and their newspapers, but life and society in general.

Let me tell you a story. While the ghost was still hovering in thin air, a Vreme reporter and me, as the editor-in-chief, were brought for hearing because somebody got offended by something a Vreme reporter wrote. When he received the indictment, the suer's attorney asked us what we thought of the CNN.

"The jury will ignore this question", said the judge, applying common sense and the assumption that our opinion about the CNN is irrelevant for the case. So I have already met an attorney occupied by this evil ghost. He must have thought that a reporter will be found guilty if he didn't lie and say that he had never watched CNN in his entire life. Although that would be totally ridiculous quite simply because you can't think all the worst about something you have never seen, the expectation accurately reflects the dominant view of the world in Serbia. Three years ago, I took part in a live television debate. An angry viewer called and threw an avalanche of insults at us. I asked him why he bothered to read our weekly if it upset him so much. "I never held a copy of that garbage in my hands", he said. "How do you know it's garbage if you never read it", I asked.

"What do you mean how do I know? Everybody knows!" he screamed and hang up.

I gave you only two examples of the devastating effects of this ghost that appeared after Milosevic and Seselj had rubbed the lamp for some time. The ghost appeared in the form of Aleksandar Vucic and his snarling teeth, hovering above this land and spreading xenophobia and blindness. This ghost is persuading people that the less they know the more educated they are, and that any mental effort apart from corruption and hatred is a waste of time.

It is more than apparent that the end goal of the new law on media is to put this entire nation into deep and perhaps irreversible coma. If the patient called Serbia finds its way to the operation table and the red-and-black team of surgeons,  it's fate will be sealed. First our pockets will be empties and then they will move on to lobotomy. Any future elections would be a mere formality after that, although one must admit that they have been pretty much a foregone conclusion so far.

Unfortunately, it shows that surgery is well underway. Anyone in doubt will realize this as soon as they take a brief look at their financial accounts. It's more difficult to reconsider whether we are still sane than come to the conclusion that we have been impoverished to the bone.

The new law on media favors political voluntarism even more. The courts in this country take years to fulfill their obligations to certain citizens trying to implement their most basic rights to existence, but they will now be able to sentence and lock up reporters in less than 24 hours. The procedure will be speeded up even further because the judge won't have to ask about a defendant's income. The fees for violating the law are ridiculously high, there are as senseless as sentencing someone to death three times.

I want to say that it will be very difficult to apply this law. Once again, it will all come down to crude force and momentary political opportunism, which is why it doesn't make a difference, philosophically speaking, whether they beat the hell out of you with baseball bats or bring you to trial for violating the new law on media. That's why the ruling coalition could hide its rude and insulting exaltation when the law was passed.