Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, ekrem@www.media-marketing.com
Slowly but surely in Bosnia and Herzegovina it’s becoming the rule that those who were entrusted with some public good snatch it from people, and act as if it’s their private property. Thus, for example, the management of the National Museum a few years ago decided to board up the front door and prohibit entry to citizens for whom the museum actually exists. By nailing those boards, the management nailed their inability to solve the problems of the status of the museum. Rather than resigning and admitting that they are incompetent, management and employees became overnight stars, received wide media coverage. The non-governmental sector, as usual in these situations, screamed and yelled. Ambassadors and other representatives of the international community, led by the High Representative who is incapable of solving any problem in this country, began with their performances, like the one when they took turns in guarding the museum. From whom were they guarding it? From the people from whom the Museum was taken.
Now the Management Board of BHRT (BH public broadcaster) is threatening that they will shut down the signal of the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 30 June. Incompetent of solving the accumulated financial problems, the Board has decided to shut down the signal. A friend of mine says that every problem that can be solved by money – is not a problem. Problems in which money doesn’t play a decisive role, such as health, are serious problems. So, the problems of BHRT are solvable, but to find solutions you need smart and capable people. It’s obvious that the society has given one of its most important resources into the hands of incompetent people. In addition to being incompetent, they are also dishonest. Instead of honestly acknowledging that they are incompetent and resign, they threaten with shutting down the signal. I think that such an act should be treated as a serious crime for which the Board members should end up behind bars.
This is also a big political issue. Public service broadcasting is one of the constituent elements of any country. I can’t help but interpret the possible shutting down of the signal as the definitive victory of the entire political elite of the Republika Srpska in the destruction of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The absence of a Corporation, whose role is defined by the Dayton agreement, is clear evidence of the incapacity of the international community to implement what it had passed, and the incompetence of the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina to do anything smart for the fate of this country.
The situation is the same with the management of BHT 1. According to an unwritten rule, the public radio and television broadcasters (RTV of FBiH, RTV of the Republika Srpska and RTV of BiH) are managed by people who were previously journalists. That makes no sense. In order for public broadcasting services to emerge from the financial problems they need a brain trust that knows how to run the programming, personnel, technical and financial resources, not a journalist and a Management Board. This rule is probably a leftover from the previous (communist) system where regime people came to the top positions. It was important for them to be smart in ways of programming, but the money was taken care of by the people, the state and the Socialist Alliance. I know. I worked at Radio Sarajevo for 15 years. We lived and worked in prosperity relative to this today.
If this is a blackmail which should bring some kind of short-term support to the management board, I see it as a bad move, because blackmail is not the solution, but in any case it’s better than the shutdown of the signal. If the public broadcasting service shuts down, people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, already half-insane because of the overall situation in the country, will be left at the mercy of commercial TV stations, and then they will definitely go mad.
Shutdown of the signal doesn’t mean that citizens will be exempted from payment of mandatory subscription fees. It isn’t charged for watching the program, but for owning a TV. Therefore, BHT1 will not broadcast its program, but the money will still be coming in.
Shutting down BHT1 means the loss of a media that has an important role in the advertising industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
God have mercy on this poor and tormented country, enlighten the fools and make them at least remotely normal human beings.
Sarajevo, 14 June 2016.