Television and Power

Both are in the Balkans, but Slaka, a prosperous worker-peasant-military democracy of the people under the rule of Comrade General Vulkani is a figment of imagination of one (unimaginative) English writer. In reality, there is only Serbia. Only in Serbia is it possible that its Government and its Information Minister, Milivoje Pavlovic, impose a tax on the electricity meter, which as a consequence would have the attainment of various goals, "especially the development of Serbian spirituality which is not confined within the Republic of Serbia but also transcends its borders which now divide the Serbian people."

In other words, Minister Pavlovic said at the beginning of a parliamentary discussion of the law on Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS), that "owing to the satellite broadcasting, RTS has become a planetary fact of paramount importance to the outcome of battles currently fought by the Serbian people." He added that RTS also "establishes a tie between different parts of the Serbian people not only from the monastery of Hilandar (Greece) to the town of St. Andrew (Hungary) and from Pirot to Knin, but much wider than that, between the farthest corners of the world where the Serbian people live in a diaspora. Thanks to the advantages of the electronic media, RTS provides for a precious level of spiritual unity of all Serbs worldwide in the times, when neither justice nor truth prevail, but are regulated, if not contaminated, by srbophobia and other products from the kitchens of the creators of the new world order." Therefore, the plebes must pay their dues as it has been agreed.

As it happened to be the case, the power went off in the afternoon and during the prime time news, so that the screens of all three state channels remained blank (literally, not metaphorically speaking). Those who believe the rumors that, besides other industrial 'giants' in Serbia, Television Serbia also fails to pay its electricity bills, thought that the National Electric-Power Company simply denied electricity to RTS. The viewers were told that there was a power-cut, and that the power generator which is automatically turned on, broke down. Or, it may have been a way to lend indirect TV-support to the Government's intentions in the current legislative procedure.

In the course of a debate the opposition listed a number of arguments against the draft law, but spent more time discussing the general points of democracy. Responding to loud reactions of the socialist-radical majority one opposition MP simply noted "that major drawback of the current system (TV subscription) is the fact that those who do not have a television set cannot be charged."

This drawback was overcome by adopting the law on radio and television. As of October 1st, the Serbian state will via the National Electric-Power Company collect a tax from all households which have an electric meter at a price of 100 Kilowatt-hours (KWh). A number of electrical meters one household may have is completely irrelevant, just as is its location, whether the meter is in a flat, country house, business premises, garage or built into an electric water pump. The fact whether this meter registers the electricity consumed by the programs of RTS and its efforts aimed at "developing Serbian spirituality" has also been neglected.

If Minister Pavlovic is to be trusted, there are about 2.260,000 households in Serbia which are not exempt from paying the electricity bills, and, again if his calculations are right, a monthly amount to be collected with the enforcement of this law is 6.390 million dinars (according to the latest increase in the electricity price of July 15th). According to the exchange rate for the German Mark on the same day and on condition that every household in Serbia has one electrical meter only, the Serbian Government will put a little less than 2.5 million German Marks in its pocket every month. From this amount, "modestly estimated by the Government", Radio Television of Serbia would receive a lion's share, the state news agency Tanjug 1.5 per cent and the National Electric-Power Company would get 4 per cent.

The National Electric-Power Company disagrees with the profit considerations put forth by the Minister. The company has disapproved the idea that "one public company should lean on another" and that "a new tax system should include a considerably larger number of households" ever since the preparations of a new law were made public at the end of June. The Company has calculated that each meter should be charged for another 3KWh at the price of 3.422,190 dinars and that this be added to the figure of 6,390 million. In short, if a number of households coincides with a number of meters 3.7 million German Marks will be monthly paid to the account of the Serbian Government.

However, there are 3.263,000 electric meters of small and large consumers in Serbia. If one subtracts a number of those exempt from paying, then it comes out that some three million meters will put the amount of 4.8 million German Marks into the state pocket. Regardless of what the real figures may be, it is certain that the enormous amounts of money are in question. The assumption that this money will help improve the television programs, the situation in the local radio diffusion, Tanjug and the Electric-Power Company do not hold water. The only ones to have a reason to be merry ( because of salary increases) are the employees at RTS as well as the state and no one else.

It seems pointless to refute the arguments now that the law has been adopted with 125 votes for and 2 against. They are also irrelevant. An already legendary comparison with the countries worldwide which have a way of collecting subscription fees is ridiculous, because subscription is not the contentious issue in this case. The comparisons with Sweden, Switzerland, England and France are not worth mentioning, at least all until Milosevic fulfills his promise that we would soon live much better than both the Swedes and the Swiss together. Finally, the strongest argument presented by an advocate of the law, "Paying subscription (he apparently meant the tax, but Minister Pavlovic did not correct him) is a patriotic act," said one parliament member, and explained that he supported the law especially because "it would force the Shiptars (how ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are referred to) to pay their electricity bills, or get the power cut off."

People who have experience in the media have assessed that "the law on radio and television has been squeezed deliberately, since it would have had many more opponents, had it been explained in more detail." A radio-television elephant with its feet of clay, has given way to its own weight (an not because of the attacks by the opposition on the "TV Bastille", the term used by the oppostion to refer to the RTS propaganda machinery). With the adoption of this law the state television not only received a huge injection of money and a new life, but also a limitless monopoly, about which the old "bolshevist-communist" TV Belgrade could only dream.

The next step which logically follows is not the imposition of the resident tax for all citizens of Serbia, as the Democratic Party believes, nor the tax on air, as some opposition MP's believe, but something much worse than that - the suppression of all non-state media. Heavily involved with the fundamental principles of democracy, the opposition swallowed the bait offered on the rod of proving the pointlessness of the law. It has thus failed to note a banal fact that Radio Television of Serbia run by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and General Manager of RTS Milorad Vucelic has over three years of the war (and the media war as well) learnt and understood the power it has at its disposal, and as one TV-pensioner said (and, therefore, wanted to remain anonymous), "This particular monopoly will keep them in power for the next ten years at least."

Unlike the opposition and the citizens, who were polled by RTS and unanimously supported to be ripped off by the state, the workers of the Kolubara mining works in Barosevac did get the clue. They are supposed to stage a strike on Tuesday, and request, among other things, that the TV tax be revoked. Zdravko Vucetic, the union leader, explained the reason why, "The opposition has taken the wrong road, it wails over the fact that the television does not belong to them, but the thing is that the people are being ripped off, and blackmailed that the electricity will be cut off if they do not pay for the television programs."

Another person, whose almost thirty year experience in television can by no means be neglected, Dusan Mitevic (former General Manager of Television Belgrade) told VREME, "I have not had a chance to see the law in its entirety, but the parliamentary discussion has made me realize that this is the end of one Radio and Television, which relied on a voluntary subscription. This means that its leadership, regardless of what we thought about it, had to pay attention to the quality of the programs over the last 35 years. There was a connection between the subscription and the programs. This law has abolished subscription and introduced a state tax which has nothing to do with the programs, nor is formally paid in the name of using the programs or the TV sets. In that sense, the RTV leadership need not be concerned about the quality of the program, it simply makes no difference to them. One era has been scratched off, television is no longer on the market, and, finally, television has nothing to do with its programs."