Gordana Suša
SEEMO MEMBER
(1946 –2021)
Gordana Suša (2 February 1946 – 22 June 2021)
former Radio-Television Belgrade journalist and editor
former Yutel editor
former Borba / Nasa Borba / Blic journalist
former Radio Television of Serbia journalist
former President of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS)
working for independent television magazine ViN
SEEMO member
Kemal Kurspahić (1946-2021)
Managing editor of The Connection Newspapers, USA
Former editor-in-chief of Oslobodjenje daily, Sarajevo
Winner of the the Dr. Erhard Busek SEEMO Award for Better Understanding
SEEMO member
Kostas Betinakis – Κώστα Μπετινάκη (1948-2020)
worked for ΤΑ ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΑ, ΧΡΟΝΟΣ, ΤΑ ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΑ, ΕΣΠΕΡΙΝΗ, ΝΕΑ, SUPER FM, ΩΧ FM, ΕΘΝΟΥΣ…
journalist and editor in the public Greek Radio and Television Company ERT
Board member of Π.Ο.Ε.ΣΥ. = Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Ενώσεων Συντακτών – The Pan-Hellenic Federation of Journalists’ Unions (Poesy)
Board member of ΕΣΗΕΑ Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers (Ένωσις Συντακτών Ημερησίων Εφημερίδων Αθηνών)
Own web portal: www.styx.gr
SEEMO member
Marco Gombacci
EU and foreign affairs journalist for The European Post, Il Giornale and Inside Over.
He reported from Mosul offensive (Iraq), battle to reconquer Raqqa, Deir Ezzor (Syria) and Nagorno Karabakh (during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan).
Author of the book “Kurdistan. Utopia di un popolo tradito” (ed. Salerno, 2019). Opinions and articles have been published by Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Daily Express, TgCom45, TG5, Rai1, RaiNews 24, TRECE TV, FRANCE24, La Libre, Le Temps, and many others.
Tell us a little about yourself your family, including how you started as a journalist.
I am proudly Italian but with an International background. My hometown is Trieste, a city on the border with Slovenia. I remember when I was very young, the war in the former Yugloslavia, few kilometres from my house.
I remember the sounds of airplanes and my parents explaining what was happening, the images of child of my age suffering and starving and many journalists from Trieste going there to report about it. I was always fascinated by the courage of those people that risked their life to report in a dangerous situation.
You reported a lot from the conflict zones in Iraq, Syria and Nagorno Karabakh. How hard is to be a war reporter?
Being a journalist and going in person where something is happening is fundamental but at the same time very difficult. The crisis in the media business has changed the paradigm and now also big newspapers or media prefer to save money and avoid to send a reporter on the frontline. I think this is a huge mistake and the role of journalists can not be replaced by some video on social media without any double-proof of what is happening.
Personally, I have to arrange almost everything by myself. I have to find the correct (and trusted) contact, I spend my money to go there, I risk also my life being there. But being there ‘alone’ means having the capability to dive into the local culture, live 24/24 with locals, with soldiers, living their life, suffer for the losses and this means understanding better some dynamics that otherwise (or reporting behind a desk) cannot be understood.
How you see the situation in Afghanistan in September 2021?
The withdrawal was largely announced. What was a real shame was how the withdrawal took place. It is unbelievable that Western countries have so many difficulties to save the life of the interpreters and collaborators who had helped the International coalition during these 20 years. Under an humanitarian perspective, the attention should be focused on women’s and children’s rights. But according to the first acts of the new Taliban government, it is gonna be quite difficult for them to safeguard their rights to live a normal life. Under a geopolitical perspective, we should focus on how regional actors will act; this included China, Pakistan, Russia, India…
Can you tell us a little more about your book Kurdistan: Utopia di un popolo tradito. How you see the future of the Kudish population?
They have been forgotten many times in history. And now they have been forgotten again. They fought against DAESH for their (and our) freedom. There were women fighting against the black flag of Isis, women that gained the respect of their male soldiers for their braveness. The Kids in Syria created a society based on equality between man e women, religious freedom and coexistence among different ethnicity. But the West didn’t help them when Turkey decided to attack them. The West used them to fight the war against Isis in Kobane, in Raqqa, in Bagouz but forgot to help them when they needed it.
Has EU a future? Or is Brexit the start of the end of EU?
No, I don’t think that Brexit started the end of the EU. But the EU need reforms, need leaders who could be able to change it.
How important is work of SEEMO for you?
It is a great reality. Putting in contact so many journalists from different part of Europe, with different perspectives, different backgrounds and different political views bring a cultural enrichment to all its members.
Finally, as press freedom, human rights and democracy are very important in your life, can you give please some advice for younger journalists?
Be curious. Investigate. Try not to sit down. Be around and discover new stories and never, never, be scared to fail or to go against the stream. You will fail (probably more than once as I did). But at the end you will have always more experience; wisdom and you will know how to face the world.
Former Director International Press Institute
Member of SEEMO BOARD OF ADVISORS
Johann, we will never forget you !
Thank you for the support since 2000!
SEEMO members and staff
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) mourns the death of Prof. Johann P. Fritz, Member of SEEMO Board of Advisors and IPI director emeritus, who passed away on 14 September 2021 in Vienna, Austria at the age of 81.
“Johann will always be an integral part of SEEMO’s history, and all SEEMO members owes him an immense debt of gratitude. He was a perfectionist and diplomat, a great manager, and fighter for human and media rights! Thank you Johann for all you did for SEEMO”, said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.
Educated in both Vienna and the United States (Hochschule für Welthandel, Vienna, Austria and Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA), Johann Fritz’s early career was with an Austrian Youth Organisation.
In 1970 he joined the Austrian Economic League / Österreichischer Wirtschaftsbund where, among other duties, he edited its magazine.
From 1975-91 he managed the daily paper Die Presse and from 1975-83 was Managing Director of Austrian Cable Television.
1975- 1991 Johann was board member and deputy president in Austrian Newspaper Publishers’ Association VÖZ (Verband Österreichischer Zeitungen).
1982- 1991 Johann was board member and member of the supervisory board of the Austrian news agency APA (Austria Presse Agentur).
In 1977 he co-founded with his wife Brigitte Radio Adria, a radio station for German speaking tourists in Northern Italy and covering the Adria cost in former Yugoslavia (Radio Adria covered part of Slovenia and part of Croatia).
He became the Director Designate of the International Press Institute (IPI) in 1992, and in 1993 as the Director, he successfully moved its headquarters from London to Vienna. In 2000 Mr. Fritz received the Honorary title of Professor from the Austrian Ministry of Science.
In 2000 Johann Fritz supported the idea of a new press freedom organisation in South East and Central Europe – SEEMO – and he supported the organisation of the SEEMO founding meeting.
After his retirement he became in 2010 member of SEEMO board of advisors. He participated in 31 conferences and seminars organised by SEEMO.
Thomas A. Bauer
Born in 1945, Diessen/Ammersee. After completing the studies in Philosophy and Theology at several German universities (1971), he completed the studies in Communication and Media Studies as well as in Cultural Sociology as Dr. phil at the University of Salzburg (1973), followed by a Diploma in Group Dynamics, Media- and Communication Training at the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kommuniation und Medien” [International Working Group for Communication and Media] (Graz, Zürich, Amsterdam) in 1976. Working as an external lecturer at several Austrian universities and publishing a three-volume book on Media Education, in 1980 he received the academic certification of teaching and research (habilitation) at the University of Salzburg. In 1993 he accepted the appointment for a chair-holding professorship at the University of Vienna, in the status of Prof. emeritus since 2013.
Since 2013 Professor emeritus at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna, starting employment there in 1993 as Chair of Audio-visual Media and over the years developing a working program in Media Culture, Media Literacy Studies, and Media Theory. Additional fields of research and teaching so far are: Future Studies, Environmental Communication, Health Communication, Transcultural Dialogue of Religions, Cultural Studies, Migration, Minorities and Social Change Issues. In addition to theoretical work he is engaged in maintaining a critically reflexive interrelation between theoretical analysis and innovative practice. This has been the reason for co-founding OKTO Community TV Vienna in 2005 as a model of alternative media-work as well as other projects in the field of media magazines.
Among other functions he has been the the publisher of OKTO Community TV Vienna, now Honorary President, and since 2010 the acting president of the ESEC (the European Society for Education and Communication). His academic work always has been oriented to international relations. Based on this interest, he accepted several invitations as a visiting professor at universities in different countries of Asia, Latin America, the USA, and the Balkans. Since 2015 he has been the scientific coordinator of a Media Literacy Program, co-founded by the EU, realized with academic partners from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Netherlands and Germany.
Among many books and articles on media literacy, media theory, transcultural communication, his last comprehensive book was published in 2014 as a theoretical framework of cultural studies of societal communication and its relation to media literacy and social change: “Kommunikation wissenschaftlich denken” – [Thinking Communication Scientifically. After that, books and articles on the Mediology of Teaching and Learning have been brought to publication.
Please tell us a little more about childhood.
I was born in the last days of WW2 in January 1945 while my mother has been housed at a women’s camp in Bavaria. She was mentally disabled and for that, but also for the reason that she was allied to a man without job or home she was not the human to which the Nazi regime administration has set value. Anyway, I was born there under unfriendly conditions, but luckily the end of the war brought her back to her home in Linz, Austria. From there I was moved to an orphanage in Upper- Austria, where I have been until I was 8. By the enforcement of a lady working at the youth-welfare administration I was moved to foster parents, where I lived for 2 years ending there the primary school.
This is a very hard post-war childhood. How you managed to finish the schools under so hard conditions?
I did everything to have the chance to visit the Highschool. I was so keen to study. Though there have been some difficulties about my status, I could crab the chance and did the first 4 years of the high school in a school, managed by a congregation of catholic priests, and the next four years I could visit a public school, but living in an Internat of the same congregation. At that time those schools also have been run in order to direct young people to the priesthood.
And your university-period?
By many ups and downs and Yes’ and No’s finally I joined that congregation aiming to become a priest. So I studied philosophy and theology, again in Bavaria, but left that congregation after 6 years, concluding my studies, went to Salzburg to study sociology, communication and media studies, finishing those studies with a doctorate at the University of Salzburg.
Your first job and how you became a professor?
Then I worked as a free lance lecturer at several universities in Austria, as well as a communication trainer and media consultant for almost 18 years, coaching private companies and public organizations and institutions. Beside that I. Always have worked in science, especially in the field of Media Literacy, So I became somehow the first academic professionalized scientist and teacher in media literacy in Austria, graduated 1980 by the license of academic teaching (habilitation ) by the faculty y of philosophy of University of Salzburg.
That was the basis for being appointed as a university professor for communication with focus on journalism of audiovisual media by the decree of the minister for science and education that time, vice chancellor Erhard Busek.
As a Professor of the Department of Communication at University of Vienna, starting from 1993 until 2013 I was very much engaged in deepening the theoretical reflection on journalism and general media education on the one hand, and in introducing opportunities of media practice within the academic structures in order to rise the mental and the practical sensibility for the usability, the aesthetics and ethics of media-based public communication – in the fields of politics, environment, education, trans-cultural communication, inter-religious dialogue and civil society.
That interest made me founding an university media system, was called U-TV and U-Ton, timely accorded with new media law in Austria opening – comparatively quite late (1994) – the right for private media activities. Later, and in connection to other activists in civil society and arts, out of that OKTO Community TV was born, the first TV program in Austria taking care of the media-communication interests off minorities in Vienna. Okto aims to give all minorities and communities living somehow at the edge of the society the chance to intervene in the public discourse and interests of the city.
You are a lot international active as professor.
Next to that I always was interested to internationalize the teaching and the research act the university department. So I soon did almost every seminar as much a possible in cooperation with foreign universities. That was the reason for many international activities and also engagements as a visiting professor – at the and – in four continents, among those countries especially countries in SouthEast Europe region, Turkey, Brasil, USA, China, SouthEast Asian countries, Northern Africa and Arab region.
How your coopeation with SEEMO started?
Exactly that interest and those activities soon brought me into contacts to IPI and, especially to SEEMO. Within the ambitious SEEMO programs and the tireless activities of its Secretary General, Oliver Vujovic, I had so many chances to get in contact to media professionals and media organizations in South East Europe , also to academic institutions. Thanks to that SEEMO-affiliation I could establish lots of international programs, courses, research activities in cooperation with universities in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece,Turkey.
There were next to the SEEMO-organized conferences and seminars the idea, two special programs, born by Oliver Vujovic, which ware very meaningful for the practice orientation of the students at Vienna – but also other universities: „Descripto” and the “Media Days”.
„Descripto“ was organized as a media project, reflecting the media landscapes in Southeast Europe within a „Journal of critical Media Analyses“. Students from Vienna have been engaged as well as students, professors, lecturers and media professionals from all those countries. It was not always easy to organize all the resources needed to realize and maintaining such a project regularly 4 times a year. But By Olivers talent of funding it was possible to maintain that project quite ba couple of years.
„Media Days“ as a concept to bring together media professionals, mostly journalists, academics and students reflecting the media structures as well media cultures with focus on special countries. So we could realize Istanbul Media Days in cooperation with different universities in Istanbul, later then „Prishtina Media Days“ with University of Prishtina. I dared to copy idea later to organize similar programs, for example „Hanoi Media Days” in Vietnam.
Tell us a little about press freedom – how you see the situation today worldwide?
Experts have to say a lot of wise and practical comments to media freedom. What I think, its important, is to bound back the idea of medias freedom to the logic of sociability. Societies are somehow publicly working and publicly organized communities. The nerves of society is its communication. Off course, construction of reality is depending of distribution of power and competence. And as far communication is the way how humans get aware of what is relevant, should be relevant, and of what is real or should be reality, communication is the sphere, where truth and trust can be reached as well as they can be destroyed. Even more in public communication: So, philosophically considered, freedom is the basic model of politics and of any public or societal affairs. If there would not be the idea or the principle value of freedom, politics, public and societal affairs would be the breeding ground of totalitarian, authoritarianism and dogmatism. Where not is freedom, there is not justice und not a fair distribution of power. Freedom of opinion is the guaranty of social, cultural, and political development. That means, related to media as the sphere of political and public discourse, that media-related communication only makes sense under the condition of freedom. „Freedom is the sense of politics“ (Hannah Arendt) means twofold: Only under condition of freedom the political discourse makes sense. And: The aim of politics or political discourse is to emancipate from all structural, systemic, economic, societal or personal repressions. Obviously for both aspects an elaborated level of competence is required.
In that meaning media freedom, understood as free handling and free managing of media for a free exchange of information, knowledge or opinion is first a public value. Is a civic right. Beyond that freedom makes sense only on level of competence, means: ability, capacity, authority and responsibility.
How you see the situation in South East and Central Europe, in the SEEMO region?
Since the the so called new democracies in South East Europe still are in a certain phase of the process of transition, getting off of structures and even mind settings established in and with authoritarian regimes, it needs broad educational efforts to find trust in democratic structures of media organizations or companies, which is a long-term learning process. After the repressive systems, of course, any way of doing as I want just to do was understood as the way of liberation and freedom. The component of responsibility to use freedom reasonably is a level of competence to be learned.
The uncontrolled growth of media companies and media- cooperations in South-East- European countries after the political turn-arondund has to be assessed as a first reflex, but cannot be just the exactly brilliant in the long run. Media communication, if it should reach the quality of reasonable communication, is in all systems, either within classical media order or in social media environment, a case of trust. If trust is not given by the quality and credibility of journalism or/and the media organization, then freedom of communication or for communication is just a verbiage.
Under condition of the social media and accounting all the direct or indirect effects to the classical media system media the value of freedom gets a new framing: the post-professional or post-systemic media order challenges the use of media on a personal and individual level. A new quality of public behave under conditions of privacy and a new quality of privacy or personality (authenticity, responsibility) is challenged under the condition of public privacy. What we all have to learn: in a media society, where society is the social practice in modes of media, (creating and gaining attention, statements in modes of simulation, fictions of facts and factualizing fiction and fantasy etc.) the construction of reality and the appropriation of relevance has become a general socio-cultural challenge and chance. That might be even more difficult for societies, where the principles of social trust have been misused systematically or are not yet represented enough in the institutional or social structures. But to be clear at the end of this statement: all those breakdowns of social trust are in danger in all the societies, where the democratic system turns to become political hardware (Apparatur).
Boro Kontić (Nikšić 1955)
Started his journalistic career on Radio Sarajevo (1979) as a host of the live radio broadcast called “Primus”. In a later analysis “Primus” was estimated to be one of the most significant media project in former Yugoslavia. “Primus” was a basis for the young authors from Sarajevo who were recognized as creators of “Surrealists’ a specific movement in arts and media with broader cultural and social implications.
Later (1987) he created “Youth program” as a platform for the new radio voices. Between 1990 and 1992 he was editor-in-chief of the Radio Sarajevo, II program.
During his radio career Boro Kontić won Grand Prix of two remarkable world festivals of radio authors for his documentary “Jazztime”: Prix Futura – Berlin and Prix Italia (1991). As a co-author in a radio documentary “Sniper” with colleagues from Danish Radio, won another Prix Italia, 1993.
During a war and siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996) he reported for BH Radio and Voice of America.
Since 1995. he has worked as a Director of the Mediacentar (www.media.ba).
Media center – Sarajevo developed few core activities: education of the journalists, Data base with content from the main regional media (www.infobiro.ba), Research department, Documentary Film department as well as broad regional media co-operation Mr Kontić was author and producer of numerous documentaries. Among them “Years eaten by lions” about journalism and hate speech in ex – Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. For the movie he¸s got prominent regional prize “Jug Grizelj”- for achievements in investigative journalism in the service of developing friendship among people and removing the boundaries between nations.
You were born in Niksic, Montenegro. How and when you came to Sarajevo?
I was twelve years old when I came to Sarajevo with my family. My father found a better job and Sarajevo was, unlike Nikšić, was University City. I finished primary and secondary school here, graduated from the Faculty of Law and Sarajevo has been my city for more than half a century.
Tell us a little bit more about your background. Why and when you decided to work as journalist?
I came to the radio (and journalism) quite by accident. I was a second-year college student when the local radio station Sarajevo 202 invited students to collaborate. The radio station was a few hundred meters from my house, so I actually “walked to future job.” After a few months, I realized that this is the ideal place for me. Everything suited me, especially the radio way of expression, so I soon spent all my time in the newsroom, studio and editing
Where you worked as a journalist in the past?
I started at Sarajevo 202 and after finishing my studies I got a job at Radio Sarajevo. New place was Second Program of Radio Sarajevo, which, unlike the First – informative, paid more attention to the documentary, alternative culture and the destinies of “ordinary” people. I’ve always preferred to explore people’s lives than political events.
You have lot of radio-experience. How important is radio for you today?
Radio has been my whole world for a long time, literally. I went through all the phases from basic journalism to work on live programs, from reporters to authors of complex documentaries. I studied history of radio, looked for the best ways to take advantage of its features and did hundreds of live radio programs. Today I am just a listener.
Can you tell us a little more about Primus.
Primus is an abbreviation of „Priča i muzika subotom“. It lasted three hours and was broadcast every Saturday from 8-11 o’clock. Program was dedicated to the phenomena and trends in Yugoslav and Bosnian society at the time. I did it from the end of 1979 to the beginning of 1985. For many regional listeners (Radio Sarajevo covered huge part of Yugoslav territory), Primus is best remembered for the 15-minute part called “Top List of Surrealists” (Top lista nadrealista). That humorous part that I designed and called that, will later have a million-strong audience in Yugoslavia as a television show and will be remembered today as one of the most important programs in this area.
After the end of former Yugoslavia in the 90´this part of Europe was in war. How you spent the war-years, working as a journalist in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
I came into the war as the editor-in-chief of the Second Program of Radio Sarajevo. Unfortunately, this program, like all of Radio Sarajevo programs, will be shut down because we have turned all our programs (First, Second, Third and Sarajevo 202) into one. War program. During the war I worked as a war reporter, hosted the weekly show “Duty Microphone”, a political and social analysis of the war events in BiH. From the end of 1993, I started reporting for the Voice of America from Sarajevo. I did it long after the war was over.
You founded in 1995 Mediacentar Sarajevo. Can you present a little more “your child”.
The Media Center (www.media.ba) was established in early 1995 as a training center for journalists. I already did that on Radio Sarajevo, so, as the author of that project, I entered a space that I knew very well. Later, we developed a digital database of newspapers, video production, started to research media trends in BiH and protection of media freedoms. We are existing in a regional media scene for 27 years. Numerous journalists who are today the leading journalists in BiH have gone through our educational programs. The Media center today is run by people who were teenagers at the time the center was founded. The fact that we managed to make a successful transition and introduce young people to the business makes me very proud.
How you see the media situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina today?
BH media are struggling with similar problems as in the entire region. From the problem of fake news to political pressure on the media. There are examples of excellent investigative journalism, but a huge problem is the decline in the quality and importance of public service broadcasters.
Finally, you are author of the documentary movie “Years eaten by lions”, about journalism in ex-Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2010. What are the differences in all parts of the former Yugoslavia between journalism some 20 years ago and journalism today in 2021?
That film was an attempt to shed light on war propaganda whose main goal was to justify war conquests, ethnic cleansing and crimes against civilians. This kind of journalism no longer exists but there are significant media efforts to relativize the truth about the war.
Dr. sci. Lejla Turčilo, full professor at the Department of Communication / Journalism, Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo, was born in 1977 in Sarajevo, where she finished primary and secondary school. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo (with the topic of her doctoral dissertation Media Ownership as a Form of Political Power: Reflections on Global Corporate Media in B&H).
She completed her professional training at the University of Oxford, UK (Annenberg-Oxford Media Summer Institute) and through the International Visitors Program of the United States Government, and was an International Fellow of the Government of the United Kingdom.
She teaches Media Theory, TV Journalism and Online Journalism at the bachelor study, Media and Politics at the master study and the course Shaping New Publics and PR at the doctoral study at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo. At the Faculty of Islamic Sciences, University of Sarajevo, she teaches the course Contemporary Communication at the master’s degree.
She is the head of the Center for Lifelong Learning at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo and the head of the Department of Communication / Journalism at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo. She was also the vice dean for teaching at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo.
She authored four published books:
– New-Normal and Media: Analysis and Thoughts on Media in COVID-19 Time (2021)
– Views on Media and Society: Articles, Essays, Research (2017)
– Take the Money and Run: Politics-Media-Business in Global Society and in B&H (2011)
– Online Communication and Offline Politics (2006)
She co-authored six books:
– Media and Information Literacy: Learning Design for 21st Century with E. Vajzović, M. Hibert, V. Vucetic, L. Silajdžić (2021)
– Media and Information Literacy: Research and Development, E. Vajzović, M. Hibert, A. Džihana, A. Osmić, H. Cerić, L. Silajdžić (2020)
– Media Reality: Essays on the Usage of Media in B&H with B. Buljubašić (2020)
– Pillar of Democracy on Shaky Ground: Public Service Media in South East Europe (ed. D. Fabijanić H. Sittig). (2019)
– Shrinking Space and Media in B&H: Silenced Alternative Voices with B. Buljubašić (2017)
– Information Literacy-Guidelines for the Development of Network Modules with S. Dizdar, B. Rašidović and L. Hajdarpašić (2012)
She co-authored one Manual:
– Politics, Media and Youth: Manual for Developing Political and Media Literacy of Youth (with J. Žiga and A. Osmić (2017))
She co-authored six research publications:
– Youth Study, B&H 2018. with A. Osmić, S. Šadić, A. Dudić, D. Kapidžić (2019)
– Alternative Facts and Post- Truth in B&H: Who (Really) Sets the Agenda with B. Buljubašić (2018)
– Invisible Europe: Media Picture of the EU Integrations in B&H with B. Buljubašić (2016)
– Study on Youth in B&H with J. Žiga, N. Džananović Miraščija, D. Kapidžić, S. Bašić, A. Osmić, J. Brkić Šmigoc (2014)
– Elections 2010: How Media Reported on the Election Campaign with R. Udovičić and D. Marko (2010)
– Minorities and Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina with J. Voćkić Avdagić, A. Nuhanović and V. Repovac (2010)
She was an editor of the three Proceedings:
– from the scientific conference Media and Public Interest (2016)
– from the scientific conference Media Literacy – Prerequisite for Responsible Media (2014)
– from the scientific conference Media Accountability: the Challenges of Globalization and the Specifics of the Region (2012)
She is an author of the report on the state of media literacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, published in 2014 within the project “Mapping Media Literacy in Europe” at the University of Sorbonne, France. She is an author of the research report on the assessment of the media sector in Bosnia-Herzegovina (with D. Marko and M. Brunwasser, 2016).
She has published more than thirty scientific and professional papers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, France, Belgium, Germany, USA and Colombia. She has participated in numerous scientific and professional conferences, symposia and congresses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad (list of papers and conferences available upon request).
She has mentored five Ph.D. thesis defended at the University of Sarajevo and University of Mostar, as well as more than 30 MA thesis at the University of Sarajevo.
She has been media literacy trainer for teachers in elementary high schools, librarians and students, within the UNESCO project Media and Information Literacy, implemented by the Institute of Social Research of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo. She has also been a trainer for media literacy within the project of eTwinning implemented by APOSO B&H.
Within the course Online Journalism, she mentored practical work of students on the blog: https://fpnmladi.wordpress.com/
She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Adult Education in Sarajevo, B&H and the editorial board of the journal Media Studies in Zagreb, Croatia.
She is a member of the Association of Bh. journalists and author / columnist on the fact-checking portal Analiziraj.ba.
Can you tell us please something more about the start of your career?
Well, my career in journalism actually started when I was 14 years old and started working in Children Radio at Public Radio Station Radio Sarajevo. During my studies I worked at the Radio M, commercial radio station in Sarajevo and Radio ZID, Independent radio station in Sarajevo, and then in 2001 I started working at the University of Sarajevo, first on the project of cooperation between the Faculty of Political Science and School of Communication, Information and Library Studies of the Rutgers University in USA and after that in teaching. I actually studied journalism, since I was so in love with radio as media, but I ended up in the academia and I enjoy it very much.
How is it to be a professor in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the year 2021?
For me personally, inspiring, since I meet so many young and gifted people devoted to truth and hard work in order to make this country more transparent and better place. It is a privilege to share my knowledge with them and to work with them. Also, it is very challenging, since academic freedom is under strong attacks in many cases in the country and those rare brave academics who oppose to dominant ethno-nationalistic narratives are facing with shrinking space and sometimes even threats. It is not easy, but it is not boring either 🙂
Can you work independent as professor or you have some pressure from outside?
There are pressures. For example, at the moment I am facing with a strong character assasination campaign against me on social media, which started after I spoke openly about some irregularities in the academic community and at University in B&H. Some right-wing web portals and trolls on social media started spreading fake news and fueling hate speech against me and I even received threats. However, I also received such a great support from my students, from more than 30 colleagues from universities in B&H, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia, from civil society and media community in B&H which makes me very proud and happy. So, to answer the questions, yes there are pressures, but it is our duty as professors to resist them.
What is for you the biggest motivation for you to work as professor?
My biggest motivation are my students and my main goal is to help them grow into the great journalist and professionals who work for the benefit of their society and who serve the truth and public interest.
How professional are media in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
There are many professional media in B&H in spite of all pressures and obstacles that they are facing. Of course, the situation is far from good. But, in many cases, when we are discussing the media situation in B&H we talk about unprofessional media, their influence on the public etc and we forget to mention those great people devoted to truth and public interest that every day enter the newsrooms in B&H and fight for better life in the country. My deepest respect goes to them.
How you see the general media situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina today?
Situation is far from good as I said. Media are in many cases divided along ethnic lines, there are many political and economic pressures, PBS is in very difficult position, public trust in media is detoriating, there is a flood of fake news and disinformation campaigns and hate speech in online media. Everything became even more complicated due to COVID 19 of course. But, I think that there are chances for the revival of media scene and public sphere in Bosnia and Herzegovina. What we need is a stronger alliance between media literate public and professional media. I see my role as an academic in recognizing both of them and connecting them together through my work.
How strong is the influence of politics and business on media in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Very strong. All our research results, media monitorings and interviews with B&H journalists are listing political and economic influences as the biggest obstacles to freedom of media. This is precisely why I strongly support professional media and professional journalists in B&H, since I am more than aware of very very difficult political and economic climate in which they work.
How and when did you start your journalistic career?
I graduated from the Faculty of Geology and Mining in Tirana in 1991 and 6 days after graduation I started working as a journalist. So 30 years ago. At the time of system change, when Albania started the transition from the harshest dictatorship in Europe towards democracy and the market economy.
Where have you worked in the past?
As a journalist I started working in newspapers, with a brief experience in radio and recently television.
And where do you work today?
For 5 years I have been directing on the public television in Albania a political talk show called ” Përballë “. The show is based on in-depth interviews mainly with personalities of the political life in the country. I also teach students the subject of investigative journalism and I am also a part-time trainer at the Albanian Media Institute.
How important is social media for you?
Social media is very important because it allows you to communicate without filtering with many people. Indeed with as many as you want. They are important channels of communication with the audience that, if used properly, should help in the work as a journalist. But I emphasize that they are good communication channels. They cannot replace the work of journalists.
What role in society has the public radio and TV in Albania, especially when you compare it with private radio and TV channels?
Public television does not have many friends. Private competitors naturally do not want it to grow, politics always aims at controlling it. The only friend of public television remains the public. But to be friends with the public, you have to serve them. It is easy to say this but not very easy to implement. The legacy of the “red carpet” television, lack of flexibility to compete with the private sector, political pressure and mediocre people pressure are some of the factors that prevent the public media from being an aggressive actor in the overcrowded media market in Albania.
Recently, the public media is undergoing a process of transformation and the public is increasingly demanding from the public media. This is positive.
How do you see the general media situation in Albania in 2021?
In a word the situation is good, in two words not good. It’s a good situation because there is a huge variety of media operators. Albania is a small country with less than 3 million inhabitants but has about 60 television stations, 5 national television channels, dozens of cable televisions and hundreds of web sites dedicated to the news. But on the other hand quality is a problem. A quality media product requires time, skilled people and money. The tendency is to produce as few people as possible and before. Producing investigative stories or, to put it mildly, critical journalism – this is the test of whether the media serves the public or the day-to-day interests of politics and business. Unfortunately, mainly investigative journalism in Albania takes place in satirical television shows or is developed by media that does not operate as a business, but is supported by foreign donors. As long as donors are present everything seems fine. The question is what if donors leave or priorities change?
People more than information today need clarity, more than content need context, more than details need the big picture. Media should hold those in power accountable.
How strong is the influence of politics and business on the media in Albania?
There has long been a great deal of debate about political influence in the media. Not that this impact has been mitigated, but there are ever bigger problems that still remain under the carpet. Business has its own interests and moreover the media itself has its own problems that it does not talk about. Corruption, widely acknowledged to be widespread, is also present in the media. Cases of media blackmail against business or other actors for close political and economic accounts are not absent. The pressure on the media from all sides is mounting. It’s time for the media to stand up.
NEWSROOM
Urgent solution needed as Slovenian Press Agency funding crisis passes 250 days
21 organisations sign joint statement urging end to STA crisis
Sep 8, 2021
More than 250 days have now passed since the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) last received state funding for carrying out its public service mission from the government of Janez Janša, which currently presides over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Since the beginning of the year, the STA has been forced to operate without public funds guaranteed to it under two separate laws while a contractual dispute manufactured by the Government Communication Office (UKOM) is played out with the aim of forcing the agency to submit to greater government control.
As the Slovenian government took over the rotating presidency of the European Council in July, an end to the crisis appeared to be in sight after the administration pledged to resolve the issue. However, the reworked public service agreement for 2021 included conditions which left the STA’s management with a choice between its existence or independence and it was not signed. Despite repeated calls for negotiations, UKOM refused and the government instead passed a controversial regulation on STA’s financing. Top government officials have meanwhile continued to try to discredit and undermine the STA on social media.
Two months on, UKOM’s summer pledge to resolve the crisis has proven to be hollow and the STA now faces imminent financial collapse. Recent warnings by the agency’s unions are stark. If some form of state funding is not reinstated immediately, the STA could face insolvency by the beginning of October 2021. More than 80 journalists, media workers and other staff would be laid off. A central part of the country’s media ecosystem would fall silent and an important pillar of Slovenia’s democracy would be dismantled.
On Monday, Slovenia’s Supreme Court issued an important judgement confirming that the state has a duty to fund the STA in 2021 in line with the agency’s business plan. Yesterday, UKOM and the STA announced a resumption of negotiations. However, it is the belief of our organisations that this dispute has been intentionally drawn out by UKOM to drain the agency of resources, heap pressure on its management and ultimately back the STA so far against a wall that it has no choice but to accept its conditions. As detailed in a report by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), this move to strongarm the agency into submission is not an isolated incident but part of a wider attack on the independence of public service media in general.
As new talks begin, the undersigned journalism and media freedom organisations call on UKOM and the government of Prime Minister Janša to immediately end the economic suffocation of the STA and take steps to ensure sustainable funding before its collapse. This will involve making a genuine effort to compromise on the most concerning elements of the agreement and creating a contract which safeguards both the STA’s financing and its independence.
At the very least, the administration must provide emergency funding to ensure the STA’s immediate survival while negotiations continue. Discussions can then begin on providing back payments for lost income. Moving forward, we urge the Slovenian authorities to provide guarantees that the STA’s funding and independence is ensured in the long-term.
The European Union cannot stand by as the leading press agency of a member state heading the EU Council presidency is silenced. We call on the European Commission to redouble its efforts to engage with the country’s leadership to end the crisis. Only then will the STA be able to continue the mission it was established to fulfill 30 years ago.
Signed:
AMARC Europe
ARTICLE 19
Balkan Free Media Initiative
Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE.eu)
European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA)
European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
Index on Censorship
International Press Institute (IPI)
Media Diversity Institute
OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)
Public Media Alliance
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Slovene Association of Journalists
Slovenian Union of Journalists
Society of Journalists, Warsaw
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation