Between Bureau and Office

There are not many who wish to speak publicly about that, which was demonstrated by a poll conducted among main editors of Belgrade media houses. Officially there is no pressure, or a very 'slight one'; more or less it is about some 'attempts to infiltrate some texts' or to 'express someone's dissatisfaction with something concrete'. Unofficially - 'we usually manage to find a middle solution, we are always in contact, for example I'm always in touch with Beba Popovic, we know each other for some time, and it is not pressure in a literal sense', said one of the editors of a famous Belgrade daily to VREME.

'There is no reason to hide of someone attempts to interfere with my work. I have reacted publicly so far at any such attempt. I think, however, that there is no severe pressure on the media, but the much bigger problem is the self-censorship of many journalists themselves', said Veselin Simonovic, editor-in-chief of Blic daily to VREME.

MUDDY WATERS: He preferred not to comment a number of incidents related to Blic News, which mostly referred to numerous phone calls from the Serbian Government's office and some attempts of complaint and grievance. He addressed us to Momcilo Petrovic, editor-in-chief of this weekly, whereas Momcilo Petrovic instructed us that Simonovic was just the right person to chat with.

One case, however, confirms the signs of muddy waters. Dragan Novakovic, the hitherto editor of political news in Blic News, gave his resignation in August due to his being at odds with the 'censorship' editorial policy of Momcilo Petrovic, based on 'the more attacks on the Serbian Government, the better'.

'I didn't complain about having to write against the Serbian Government, but I disagreed with no effort to write in the same disposition against the Federal Government and the FRY President, and even more to let them interfere with our editorial policy', says Dragan Novakovic for VREME.

He also explains that the essence of his discontent stems from the office of the FRY President. He received a phone call from the President's office after the first part of confessions of colonel Veselin Sljivancanin. Momcilo Petrovic told him what they had said:
'If you publish the second part of the confessions, Sljivancanin will go to The Hague, and if you bring the story to an end, we will protect him', came from Kostunica's office. Novakovic has a vague idea who might be involved in this attempt of censorship, since Aleksandar Tijanic is the President's major media adviser, and it was whim him that Momcilo Petrovic used to edit the Gradjanin daily.

The second sequel of the story was never published. What was published in the first part ended with Sljivancanin's words: 'And then we moved towards Vukovar...' The next sequel was announced like this:
'I asked Sljivancanin: Did you kill the man?'

Subsequently, the indicted side reacted to the very unusual way of leaving the newspaper house and Petrovic informed the public about the event by counter-accusing Novakovic and mentioning his relation to the chief of the Public Information Bureau of Serbia, Vladimir Popovic

Vladimir Beba Popovic said to VREME that he had never even met Dragan Novakovic, and that he had not even worked in the Bureau for Public Information. We managed to locate Novakovic in the Public Information Service of the Democratic Party (DS) and he told us that he was still unemployed, that he was only helping some of his friends from DS.

He also said he was aware what sort of conclusions were being drawn from his decision to get an employment in the Serbian Government: 'In my opinion, it is much more sincere to work for DS or DSS than for newspapers and, at the same time yield to some forms of media control and censorship', said Novakovic.

FRIENDSHIP: When he heard about Popovic's statement, Novakovic laughed and said: 'So, we'll have to meet in the future.', adding that they had also asked him if he had been aware that the police was playing dirty.

'We cannot talk about pressure; those are just common compromises with journalists and editors. It is quite normal to check if an important statement by the Government was cited word by word, or if it was shortened, etc. With things of great consequence, collaboration and compromises are imperative.

Vladimir Beba Popovic is one of the 'survived' friends of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, from the time the latter used to fight for the first presidential title, the one in the Democratic Party. There was also Milan Beko and his partner from 'Spektra' Vladimir Popovic, as well as the very close friend Aleksandar Tijanic. They worked on the 'Posteno' (Fair) electoral campaign together in 1993, which was more a personal campaign of Zoran Djindjic than of the Democratic Party on the whole. Ever since then, Popovic has been Djindjic's man in the shadow, and they have remained very close.

There are no clear data on how Popovic managed to enter the marketing business. He was one of Milan Beko's employees, but didn't share any capital with him. Then, at one point, he appeared as a joint owner of 'Spektra', and since June 1997, Popovic has been registered as manager of the companies 'Ogilvy&Mather', 'Spectra GES.m.b.h.' with the seat in Vienna.

One of his colleagues, from a very famous marketing agency says that Vladimir Popovic is very influential and powerful, and that there is no much doubt over how he amassed all his money. Our interviewee claims that it is not difficult to calculate how much money that agency might have built up.  

Another source told us that Beba Popovic had been complaining about
how much the Serbian Government Bureau of Public Information cost him 30,000 DM. 'Nobody knows anything about that service, because it was created in a mysterious way. It was made by Beba Popovic right after October 5th and nobody has known anything about it but him, Cedomir Jovanovic, Goran Vesic and Zoran Djindjic. More precisely, a new Serbian ministry of public information was made', says for VREME Aleksandar Tijanic, the media adviser to Kostunica.

COMMUNICATION BUREAU: Popovic moved also into the premises of the Ministry where he used to be sitting for months, and some members of the DS personnel, with checked backgrounds, as well as some very close friends also entered the service. The coalition partners have never had their own people in the Bureau. The Communication Bureau of the Serbian Government officially began to operate simultaneously with the Government itself. It was registered as an agency adjacent to the Government and it contains three sectors - Internet, press clipping and press service. The idea was to avoid the political role that the former Ministry of Public Information used to have, and it enabled a communication with the media in all their segments. We are told that the Communication Bureau functions in two directions. They organise press conferences and other meetings with the media for all members of the Government, while on the other side, by way of the press clipping service, they conduct analyses of everything that the media publish concerning the work of the Government.

'I have no impression that the Bureau is accomplishing my business. Once I tried to organise a press conference. They set such a time that almost nobody appeared at it, although it was a very important affair', says our interviewee. He adds his displeasure a propos the idea of not
treating the Bureau as an organ adjacent to the Serbian Government,
although it is not like that in practice.

Velimir Ilic, leader of the New Serbia also had his comment on the purpose of the Bureau. By the end of August he 'claimed with liability' that 'a man very close to the Government's office has an agency which compromises certain persons, causes unpleasant affairs and incidents. The problem is that everyone became used to controlling the media as soon as they would get hold of power', said Ilic. Popovic refused to respond officially to these accusations, as well as to many questions concerning the work of the Bureau as adjacent organ of the Government.

'I don't give interviews and I have no intention to deny or explain anything which contains material evidence, especially to contradict statements by Velja Ilic, Aleksandar Tijanic or Milovan Brkic. If you ask me, there is no big difference between them', concluded Popovic.

By refusing to give explanations to some very sensitive issues of manipulation in the media, as well as to clarify the work of the Bureau, Vladimir Popover acted as if he corroborated Tijanic's accusations against himself.

If he really wishes to avoid his appearances in the public, since, according to him, the Bureau he runs is not so important, why was it so important for him to be present at the meeting of Zoran Djindjic with Collin Powell, or the one between the Prime Minister and Bill Gates? Popovic said that the Prime Minister himself could only answer that question.

We welcome Mr. Popovic's position, which is nothing but the reproduction of the position of Mr. Djindjic, that from now on any accusation can be set off only if there are proofs to substantiate it. The media should uphold this attitude by their correct and professional interpretation.