Changes in "Borba"

As of July 8, Manojlo Vukotic is no longer Editor-in-Chief of the Belgrade daily "Borba". A show of support made a day earlier by all the important opposition parties, the sympathy of the independent media, and an "Appeal to the democratic public" signed by 97 employees, did not save him. The decision was taken at a meeting of the managerial board with a convincing majority (15:1). It was noticed that only representatives of "Finagra" (the biggest shareholder), the Federal government and the editorial staffs voted. The representatives of the other shareholders did not show up, or they didn't vote. Editorial staff representative Slavko Curuvija attended the meeting and took part in the dismissal of Vukotic, even though he had received a vote of no-confidence from the editorial staff the previous day. Under a decision by the managerial board he was named the new acting editor-in-chief. After the managerial board's meeting, all the staff editors submitted their collective resignation. Initially subdued, Curuvija revived quickly after the "painful meeting" and said that "Borba" would continue normal work and that the editorial policy would change only with regard to striving for greater professionalism, a better analytical approach, and the speedier and better dissemination of information.

All this was preceded by several months of arguing over who would be the new director. In the meantime, the question of editorial policy cropped up and ended with Editor-in-Chief Manojlo Vukotic's dismissal (VREME wrote about this in its last number). Several days ahead of the managerial board's meeting the atmosphere among the editorial staff was rather strained. While "Borba's" journalists were taking a vote of confidence in their representatives on the managerial board, Borba's acting director and largest shareholder Dusan Mijic distributed 10kgs of high quality veal to employees. Some interpreted this as Mijic's attempt at buying their loyalty and turned down his offer. The majority however, took the meat, but it did not affect their votes: the editorial staff gave their support to Vukotic. Probably under the impression of the affair with the meat and announcements of regular salaries, a young journalist summed up his fears by saying: "If Manojlo Vukotic stays there won't be any money, but if he goes then its good-bye to editorial policy. Whichever way you look, we've had it."

It remains to be seen if things will go all that easily. For the time being no strike has been announced, nor any other expression of dissatisfaction. Currently the dissatisfaction is expressed through shows of loyalty to the dismissed Vukotic (applause after leaving the conference room, kisses, slaps on the back, the editorial staffs' resignation...) and grumbling because the majority of journalists so far did not know who owned "Borba", nor how the shareholding company had been formed.

In mid 1990, "Borba" disintegrated into 11 firms. In the divison, according to general belief, the daily newspaper fared worst. It was registered as the Newspaper Publishing House "Borba". In the meantime the Federal Assembly had transferred its competencies concerning "Borba" to the Federal Executive Council (Government). Ante Markovic, Federal Prime Minister at the time, decided to transform all federal media into shareholding companies. In February 1991, a development plan was ordered from the firm "Mentor", which recommended that a new shareholding company "Borba" be formed, one which would concentrate solely on publishing the daily newspaper "Borba". The wished for circulation of 60,000 copies was exceeded thanks to events in March 1991, so that ambitions grew. It was decided that the Federal government would retain 20% of the shares, while 10% would go to those working in "Borba". The remaining shares were put on the market.

In September 1991 the sale of shares started. In the first two months 6% shares were sold to small shareholders (readers, friends of the paper etc), while the sale of packages (5% and 20%) didn't work out. Aware of the danger, the people working in "Borba" started searching for acceptable shareholders.

During talks in late April 1992 and attended by "Borba's" entire leadership (director, editor-in-chief and financial director) the largest package of shares was bought by the firm "Finagra". In May 1992, the shareholding company "Borba" was constituted, and "Finagra" recouped the money it had invested through a credit, since, as learned, "Borba" did not need so much money on its account at the time. From the interest rates on this credit, "Borba's" employees received their salaries until the end of 1992, but inflation devoured the dinar, so that the value of the 266,000 DM has dropped to 100,000 DM. A founding convention and managerial board were instituted, and the increased capital was apportioned in favor of the editorial staff and "Finagra" as the largest shareholder. The government's participation was decreased to 17.6% (four votes in the managerial board), the consortium of banks received 8.8% (two votes), five smaller shareholders received 4.4% (one vote each), the editorial staff 11.2% (three votes) and "Finagra" 37.6% (nine votes). Individual shareholders (2.8%, the rest was bought by "Finagra") were left without their representatives on the managerial board. The fiscal year 1992, compared to the earlier years which showed losses, ended with a "positive zero", thanks mostly to capital acquired through share sales.

1993 was catastrophic for publishing and resulted in financial problems for "Borba" whose current circulation is 20,000-30,000 copies. The malcontents headed by Slavko Curuvija blamed everything on Vukotic who enjoyed the support of the editorial staff. Dusan Mijic showed up, became acting director and named Curuvija acting editor-in-chief, in spite of an internal agreement that the editor would not be enforced on the staff.

The general impression among the democratic public in Serbia is that these changes mark the victory of a new line in "Borba". This is strengthened by the fact that Mijic had the support of the Federal government, that is, the Ministry of Information headed by Slobodan Ignjatovic. There are fears that Mijic might sell his shares to the government. The fact that the government does not have the amount he is asking (over one million DM is being mentioned) does not mean much, since it is always possible to reach some kind of a deal with the government. There are speculations that Mijic might buy the government's shares, and become the sole owner of "Borba", which he would then turn into an opposition paper. It remains to be seen what will really happen. Manojlo Vukotic's departure marks the end of an important period in "Borba's" history, one full of ups and downs. Concern remains however, over the fact that "Borba's" fate will depend on the inclinations of its new owner.