Media between Freedom and Dependence

Transcription

MEDIA BETWEEN FREEDOM AND DEPENDENCE
MEDIA AND POLITICAL ELITES IN CONTEXT OF REFUGEES AND IDPS
IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND SERBIA
INSTITUT ZA DRUŠTVENA ISTRAŽIVANJA
FAKULTET POLITIČKIH NAUKA SARAJEVO
UNIVERZITET U SARAJEVU
INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCES SARAJEVO
UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO
edition Science projects
book Vi
Emir Vajzović and Ešref Kenan Rašidagić (ed.)
Media between freedom and dependence
Media and political elites in context of refugees and IDPs
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia
Publisher
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo
Institute for Social Sciences Research
For Publisher
Šaćir Filandra
Editors
Emir Vajzović and Ešref Kenan Rašidagić
Peer review by
Davor Marko, Amer Džihana
Translation
Lejsa Hećimović, Vanda Mandić, Ešref Kenan Rašidagić, Emir Vajzović
DTP
Mahir Sokolija
Front page
Mirza Sokolija
Print
Dobra knjiga
Prepared in the framework of the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the
Western Balkans (RRPP), which is run by the University of Fribourg upon a mandate
of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC, Federal Department
of Foreign Affairs. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and
do not necessarily represent opinions of the SDC and the University of Fribourg.
Contact: Management HQ in Switzerland
•
University of Fribourg
Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe
Prof. Dr. Nicolas Hayoz, Programme Director
MEDIA BETWEEN FREEDOM
AND DEPENDENCE
Media and political elites
in context of refugees and IDPs
SARAJEVO, 2013.
Contents
Ešref Kenan Rašidagić: Issues in Research of Phenomena
of Forced Migrations and Links Between Media and Politics
in the Western Balkan Countries............................................................................ 11
Hariz Halilović: Research and Conceptualization
of Forced Migrations in the Western Balkans...................................................... 19
Siniša Volarević: Analysis of daily newspaper writings in Serbia
about refugees, internally displaced persons
and their return between 1996 and 2012:
What and How Newspapers Report about Resolution
of issues of Refugees and IDPs in Serbia.............................................................. 33
Dejan Vanjek, Emina Ćosić Puljić, Lejla Turčilo:
Media between Freedom and Dependence:
the Role of Print Media in the Process
of Refugee Return in Bosnia and Herzegovina.................................................. 101
Emir Vajzović: Closing remarks: Media (in)dependence –
Politics and Media: cohabitation arrangements ............................................... 151
PREFACE
T
he idea behind the research on the topic of the role of media in the
process of return of refugees and displaced persons, as well as the
existence of links between politics and media, was born in the minds of
researchers from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo. The said researchers – and authors of this publication – have already for a long time
been studying issues affecting post-conflict societies in the Balkans. These
issues include those belonging to the domain of traditional politics, as well
as wider social issues shaping the character of societies such as those in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which are studied in this publication,
but also of other societies in the Western Balkans, which could not be subject of this research.
One of the defining features when it comes to the character of society, chiefly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the problem of refugees and
internally displaced persons. Circumstances under which these persons
were forced to leave their places of residence, their numbers (around half
of the total population of BiH!), the question of their further migrations
inside and outside the country, as well as the circumstances under which
the process of their (non)return is happening, significantly influence the
formation of the character of postwar society in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In other Balkan countries, such as Serbia and Croatia, refugees and displaced persons may have not influenced the character of society to such
an extent, but the circumstances of their displacement, ethnic identity,
and process of return bore significant impact on political processes in the
past two decades.
It is exactly this relationship and mutual influence of politics and the
issue of refugees and displaced persons that is in the focus of interest of researchers of post-conflict societies which are discussed in this publication.
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One of the fundamental features of the work of ethno-political elites which
dominate the political scene in the Western Balkans since the early nineties, is territorial consolidation of people, as necessary precondition for
realization of nationalist formula of one people-one leader (or oligarchy
of leaders, as masters of life and death of people living in particular territory).
Since all social science research to date demonstrated the decisive role
which media play in realization of ruling elites’ goals, it has been decided
that the focus of research be placed on the role that media play in influencing and controlling the process of return of refugees and displaced persons. Media represent necessary instrument of control of people, its mobilization for the purpose of realization of goals set by the political elites,
media support and justify realization of goals by violent means in war,
and assume leading role in post-conflict period, when the use of violent
means is limited.
Results of research based on jointly developed methodology and realized by the researchers from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo,
Mediacentre Sarajevo, and Group 484 and Ebart from Belgrade, represent
gold mine of data and provide a number of clues for further social research
of subject and related phenomena in the region. Regarding the questions
posed by the main research hypotheses, the results indicate some intriguing
trends in behavior and activities of media in observed time periods, as well
as in attitude of political elites towards media and the process of return.
It is also important to emphasize that realization of research and printing of this publication was enabled by the Regional Research Promotion
Programme in the Western Balkans – RRPP, which is coordinated and
managed by the University of Fribourg Interfaculty Institute for Central
and Eastern Europe. The entire program is funded by the Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The research which resulted in
this publication was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in
the period from June 2012 – Jun 2013, by the research consortium composed of the Institute for Social Science Research, Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo, Center for Migrations Group 484 from Belgrade, Mediacentre Sarajevo and Media Archive Ebart from Belgrade.
We hope that the findings of this research, as well as the methodology and data produced as part of the research process, will be of use to
researchers of the phenomena of forced migrations, role of political elites
and media in society in the area of Western Balkans and beyond.
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PREFACE
Finally, regardless of the fact that authors who are signing individual
chapters are those who are the most responsible for their content, it has
to be borne in mind that this study would not be what it is without the
work and effort of all individuals who made up the team of the project
“Media Between Freedom and Dependence – The Role of Print Media
in the Process of Refugee Return”, either as researchers or as logistical
support: Lejla Turčilo, Dejan Vanjek, Emina Ćosić, Selma Mameledžija,
Adnan Ovčina and Vesna Hadžikarić from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo, Sanela Hodžić and Maja Hadžiosmanović from Mediacentre Sarajevo, Siniša Volarević and Miroslava Jelačić from the
Center for Migrations Grupa 484 in Belgrade, and Veljko Glušćević and
Larisa Ranković from the Media Archive Ebart in Belgrade. The entire
team owe special gratitude to Ms. Anđeli Lalović, Local Coordinator in
the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans
(RRPP), for her understanding and support in resolving and overcoming
the challenges faced by the project.
EŠREF KENAN RAŠIDAGIĆ
Coeditor of the publication and Coordinator of the Research
Project “Media Between Freedom and Dependence – The Role
of Print Media in the Process of Refugee Return”
EMIR VAJZOVIĆ
Coeditor of the publication and Chief Researcher in the Research Project “Media Between Freedom and Dependence –
The Role of Print Media in the Process of Refugee Return”
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Issues in Research of Phenomena of Forced
Migrations and Links Between Media and
Politics in the Western Balkan Countries
EŠREF KENAN RAŠIDAGIĆ
Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
Regardless of the fact that the phenomena of refugees and generally
speaking forced migrations from the area of former Yugoslavia is globally
known phenomena, attracting the attention of researchers from the world,
as well as the region, in the relevant literature it is still difficult to find data
demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between the political elites and
return process in the post-conflict period. Tendencies of the ethno-political
elites towards territorial and every other consolidation of their peoples by
violent means are well known to everyone, if for no other reason than for
the consequences such tendencies produced: bloody conflicts caused by
implementing lunatic ideas of ‘humanitarian population transfers’, which
in their Balkan version introduced the new term into the political and legal
vocabulary – “ethnic cleansing”.
Since the historical destiny of wars in the Balkans is that their actors never fully achieve their goals, post-conflict periods are used by the same actors for completing the processes that could not be fully realized due to intervention of the international community. Such processes assume that, in
accordance with the logic of territorial consolidation, that as many members of one’s people as possible is kept in the territories that the elites considered ‘theirs’. In any case, Dayton Agreement itself styles them as such.
On the other side, it is necessary to do everything in order for the members
of other peoples (who became minorities following ethnic cleansing of the
areas where they lived) to not feel welcome in the areas in which members
of different peoples are now dominant.
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Great powers under whose sponsorship the Dayton Agreement was
signed (General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH – GFAP), considered return as key element in securing lasting peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Annex 7 of the GFAP). The problem with the international sponsors
was that it, following logic of least resistance (and cost) mostly tolerated,
if not indirectly participated, in preserving status quo they found, instead
of reverting to far more just status quo ante (situation before the outbreak
of conflict). Instead of genuine return of most refugees and displaced person that would annul the results of ethnic cleansing, preconditions were
created for formal return with multiyear delay, when most potential returnees were already situated in new places of residence. Securing urgent
return would require forceful involvement of international community in
securing safety and implementation of property laws, for which there was
not will of international actors who based their strategies for stability of
postwar BiH on cooperation with ruling ethno political elites.
How therefore to realize one’s goal using only non-violent means, in
the conditions of imposed peace, supervised by the international community? It is necessary to mobilize the members of one’s ‘own’ people,
explaining them how to act in order to enable realization of national programs created before and during armed conflicts. Such programs, among
other presume remaining in ones ‘own’ territories, and preventing the
‘others’ from returning to such territories. In order to achieve the first goal
it is necessary to create preconditions such as allocation of land, materials
and funds for construction of houses and necessary infrastructure. Both
for securing staying of one’s own people and for preventing the return of
others, in the absence of violent means, ethno-political elites used the next
strongest weapon they head at disposal: media.
Media, the number of which exploded in postwar period, were used to
explain to one’s ‘own’ people why it is necessary to remain where they currently resided; for continuing mobilization for the purpose of continuing and
legitimizing resistance to return; for justifying acts of aggression towards returnees; for demonizing the ‘others’, both in case they were trying to return
to their prewar places of residence or were ‘waiting’ for you in case you try to
leave the current place of residence and return to live ‘among them’, etc.
Despite the importance and the role that media played in instigating,
inflaming and continuation of ethnic conflicts during and after the war on
former Yugoslava, media for some unknown reason were not considered
as priority in the process of ending the conflict and reconstructing the state
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ISSUES IN RESEARCH OF PHENOMENA OF FORCED MIGRATIONS AND LINKS BETWEEN MEDIA...
and society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Media are therefore not even once
mentioned in the Dayton Agreement, nor was international community in
any way involved in regulating media scene in the process of ending the
war or in immediate postwar period. In Serbia, international community
was not in position to intervene in media space, hence warmongering media continued its work unimpeded all the time until the fall of Milošević’s
regime, indirectly caused by the armed intervention in Kosovo.
Socio-political context of research
and the role of media
Such stance adopted by the international community is especially surprising in situation in which the same ethno-political elites that fought the
war remained and were legitimated in power in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Key international actors must have been aware that the key role media
played in creating and inflaming interethnic tensions, hatred, and finally
armed conflict, was researched and documented in great detail. Without
active support given by the media, politicians would have exceptionally
difficult task to bring people seeped in several decades old spirit of brotherhood and unity to openly hate and distrust the “other” in very short
period of time. Only on the basis of such efficient demonization of the
“other” was it possible in the short period of time for the people who were
so dedicated to coexistence to accept the war as the only possible instrument of relationship towards their neighbors.
To counter the role that media had in destroying former social order and
inflaming conflicts, it would be logical to presume that the opposite process of
construction of new society and development of democracy could not be realized without active cooperation and the role of media. There is no democracy
without developed, free, professional, and responsible media. Why was the
central role that media play neglected when drafting the plans for development of postwar society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the international
community was the chief responsible actor, remains a mystery.
Regardless of the reason due to which media were left out of the Dayton process of reconstruction of BiH society, its international sponsors
soon realized that without active participation of media it will not be possible to lead the process of democratization of society. Some of the triggers
which finally awoke international actors were the 1996 election campaigns
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conducted by the media in the best warmongering fashion from the beginning of the nineties, but also the efforts by the nationalist elites to prevent
return of refugees and displaced person to their prewar places of residence.
Open displays of hatred and almost racist hysterical demonization of
the ‘other’ threatened to annul any progress made in postwar stabilization of the country. In response to such situation, international community
sponsored establishment of the Independent Media Commission – IMC,
which was tasked to put some order among the electronic media in the
country through licensing and control of media content. The IMC was
eventually in 2001 transformed into Regulatory Agency for Communication – RAK. However, both times print media were left out of the general
effort to regulate the media. This was partially due to the very nature of
print media which are much harder to control without invoking accusation of censorship and anti-democratic meddling into editorial freedom,
but also due to choice of people involved in establishment of both IMC
and RAK, which basically copied British Regulatory Authority Ofcom, exclusively responsible for electronic media.
Solely responsible for writing and editorial policy of print media is inefficient and semi-official Press Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, devoid
of regulatory or executive authorities, through which it could influence
the work of print media in the country. Instead of walking the slippery
slope of trying to regulate print media, international actors tried the approach of funding and caching journalists in media which were considered independent from political structures in power. The purpose of such
support to media was creation of alternative media space, where news
that could be found that would not fit into ‘regime-friendly’ newspapers.
Outcome was mixed at best, partially due to the fact that financial support to the media basically amounted to little more than participation in
already existing market in which allegiance of media was bought by the
highest bidder. There are several examples of mainstream newspapers
which in certain periods acted as alternative to the ruling political elite,
only to switch allegiances later and become the most ardent supporters of
ruling fear mongering policies.
Development of professional and democratically profiled media is a task
that could be realized only through strong, sustained and long-term effort,
which would create not only technical preconditions for existence of such
media, but also the social and political climate in which such media could
survive and flourish. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other countries in
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the regions, especially Serbia, which is discussed in this publication, such
preconditions have not yet been created. Small, limited, and weak market
makes media dependent on funding which is ultimately secured by the ruling political elites, either directly through acquisition of media, or indirectly
through purchase of advertising space of awarding of grants.
Research methodology
The research is focusing exclusively on print media in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This is partially due to the fact that print media in
Bosnia and Herzegovina – due to failure to systematically regulate them
– have for a long time remained stark example of abuse of media space
by the political elites. As such, they render themselves as excellent matrix
for studying the issues that are in focus of this research. The other reason
is that, according to the available indicators, print media in more fundamental and lasting way influence opinion forming among wider public.
Electronic media probably in more efficient way occupy attention of viewers’ or listeners’ mind, but print media represent written document which
in readers’ mind carry bigger specific weight and value. In the subject
area studied in this research, newspapers therefore strongly influenced
opinion setting regarding the return and returnees, but were also capable
of mobilizing masses for the purpose of executing political elites’ goals.
Newspapers also represented an important tool in decision making by potential returnees themselves. Newspapers were read by the returnees to
get information on situation in their prewar places of residence, rate of
return, policies of local and central authorities and international relations,
chances of receiving assistance for return, etc.
Finally, there are reasons of practical nature for placing research focus
on print media, which is that print media by their nature represent lasting document which could be easily studied, unlike electronic media the
product of which – if not especially archived – is transient in nature. What
was published (in newspapers) actually happened, goes the old motto,
especially important from the viewpoint of researcher of phenomena not
yet exhaustively studies and documented in literature.
Lack of studies documenting the interaction between political elites and
media in the problem specific to this region and period represented significant issue for this research. Special methodology had to be developed
15
in order to answer the research questions in the satisfactory way. Prior
to detailed development of the research methodology, it was also necessary to correctly define research goal which would allow the researchers
to eventually demonstrate the existence – or lack thereof – of the link between the political elites and management of the return process. At the
same time, the goal must remain precise and narrow enough in order to
allow its realization within the limitations of this research project.
Based on these preconditions, and prior knowledge of the research
subject, the research goal was defined, whereby the evaluation of media
content is supposed to answer the following research questions: a) how, to
what extent and in which way the print media are informing the public on
the topic of refugees and displaced persons; b) to which extent the media
through their work realize self-proclaimed goal of informing and assisting
refugees and displaced persons, or do they, instead, serve ethno-political
elites in implementation of political goals related to return or non-return.
The analytical process is based on three aspects of evaluation of media
content: a) context analysis; b) analysis of media practices; c) analysis of
cumulative findings of research and identified trends, including recommendations for improving media practices. As part of analysis of the context in which media in BiH and Serbia work and report, the following analyzes are performed: a) analysis of media scene; b) analysis of social and
political context; and c) analysis of legal framework governing the media.
Analysis of media practice is based on studying the frequency, form, and
context of reporting on issues related to refugees and displaced persons,
as well as on studying methodology used to choose issues being reported.
The research, therefore, has the goal to determine how and in which way
print media report on topics directly related to the process of return on refugees and displaced persons. Special attention is placed on the issue of the
manner of addressing this problem and whether newspapers report only on
negative events; whether and to what extent and in which context there exists
sensationalism in reporting; whether the statements of political elites are the
only information finding its way to media, or there predominate reports encouraging returnees, explaining them their rights. The emphasis is therefore
on distinction between reporting on return (for the purpose of media manipulation of the return process) and reporting for return (for the purpose of informing and providing assistance to refugees, displaced persons, returnees).
Finding answers to these question would enable the researchers to make
indirect conclusions as to whether media are in the service of political elites
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whose goal is preserving status quo with the returnees and displaced persons, or whether media act as independent actors whose interpretative and
reporting function is utilized to assist social progress. In order to determine
whether media are acting as independent actors, it has to be determined
therefore whether and to which extent did they perform their social corrective function of reporting on negative policies and social phenomena.
The research utilizes both quantitative and qualitative approach, whereby
inductive method is used to form conclusions on media discourse and relationship between media and political elites, as well as to manner in which this
relationship is shaping dominant media discourse. For practical purposes the
research, which studies the entire postwar period in BiH and Serbia, is limited
to several predefined time periods centered upon events which significantly
impacted the process of return of refugees and displaced persons.
The overall research hypothesis, formulated on the basis of the above
considerations and preconditions, is therefore:
– In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the coverage/discourse in
the media on the issue of the process of return of refugees and displaced persons was unbalanced and biased due to attested links and
influence of political elites with/on media.
In order to demonstrate the validity of the research hypothesis, the following research questions are formulated:
– This study seeks to examine if the reporting was balanced and free
from prejudice (representing equally the positive and negative sides
of the return process, while taking into consideration the existing
social / political divisions in societies in question).
– Prior to this, the research should explore whether there exists the
demonstrable mutually supporting link between the media and the
ethno-political elites. This should be done by applying the context
analysis to demonstrate the lack of political will to support the process of return (establishing, for example, that the entire legislation
related to the return process in BiH has been imposed by the international community, the OHR. Furthermore identifying the obstructions caused by the same elites in the implementation of the
imposed legislation)
– The same hypothesis can be used for Serbia as well, taking only into
account the specifics of the society - political divisions as opposed to
ethno-political.
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– Is there a difference, in practice, between official rhetoric of political
elites and media discourse about process of return of Refugees and
IDP’s (Research will focus primary on media discourse and links of
media with politics and the question of return will be treated in this
research as “case study” - example on which hypothesis is going to
be tested and not as primary research question)
– Is media interpretation of return process dependent on reporting on
the attitudes of political elites as primary media content? Whether
the reporting deals mostly with policies and attitudes toward the return or the return itself (which would be indicated by predominance
of factual articles in the newspapers)?
– When it comes to process of return from the perspective of returnees and situation on the ground, is media portrayal of this topic encouraging for those who want to return or not? (Does media reports
consist mostly of favorable coverage, first-hand reports and factual
articles, or interpretative articles, painting mostly negative picture
of situation returnees find themselves in upon return)?
Eighteen independent variables were developed for the purpose of
this research, each consisting of several supporting variables. Large number of variables was necessary given the ambitious primary goal of the
research, i.e. demonstrating existence of links between politics and print
media studying the case of refugees and displaced persons. Research
findings expounded in the chapters that follow are structured beginning with this introductory chapter signed by the author Ešref Kenan
Rašidagić from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo. The following
chapter titled ‘Research and conceptualization of forced migrations in the
Western Balkans’, written by Hariz Halilović from the Monash University, Australia, aims to contextualize the entire research in the field of
study of forced migrations in this region. The next is the chapter written
by Siniša Volarević from G484, Belgrade, who is presenting findings that
research has produced in Serbia, using identical methodology as in BiH.
The following chapter, written by Dejan Vanjek, Emina Ćosić Puljić and
Lejla Turčilo, presents research findings in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
last chapter, authored by Emir Vajzović, synthetizes and compares the
findings from the two country research studies, and attempts to identify
trends and conclusions for the purpose of demonstrating the validity of
principal research hypotheses.
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Research and Conceptualization
of Forced Migrations
in the Western Balkans
HARIZ HALILOVIĆ
Monash University, Melbourne
Introduction
Researchers and commentators of social and demographic trends in the
region, recently known as the Western Balkans, have a very unenviable
position in relation to their colleagues a bit further to the west from the
Western Balkans. In the modern academic tradition in the West, researchers generally deal with a single social phenomenon and they become experts, after years of detailed studies, in a very clearly defined research area
whereas their counterparts in the Western Balkans, at least in the last two
decades, have been simply forced to deal with a large number of burning
social issues and problems. Moreover, they are not expected to just explore
the complexity of the societies in which they live, but also to offer concrete
solutions as to how to address the existing problems in these societies. At
the same time, the ethno-political elites have politicized and ethnicised
every segment of social reality to such extent that academic communities in the region barely manage to have a significant or any influence on
the policy which has been created and implemented by the elites themselves1. In addition to low research budgets, state institutions and ministries in the region are also very selective when it comes to choosing the
Of course, this does pardon the academic community in the region or some of
its members for flirting and actively participating in the ethno-nationalist projects and policies during the 1990s and today
1
19
research topics and providing financial support to research projects. Some
lingering issues are simply considered as insufficiently relevant or focusing
on the “controversial” topics is considered as somewhat anachronistic, as
something which will present the society in question in a negative light,
which will contribute to the negative image of the country and “distance
it away from Europe”. These are some of the standard excuses repeated
by politicians in the region which could be recently heard in Bosnia and
Herzegovina during a protest in connection with failure to adopt the law
on personal identification number2. Such issues, in addition to those related
to the status of various marginalized minorities (and majorities!), are still
regarded as “unpopular” research topics because they prove that no significant progress has been made in addressing the troublesome issues in many
segments of the society and that countries of the Western Balkans are still
stuck in transition, in post-communist and post-conflict situation, in ethnicized and divided societies... And when these “unpopular topics” become
subject of research, they are often partially explored, with a focus on their
apolitical aspects (if they exist), such as the economic impact (even better,
economic benefit) of studied social trends on the society and the region.
From forced migration to forced identification
The issue that has been pushed under the carpet for years, although it
is one of the most important problems in the region, particularly in Bosnia
and Herzegovina (as well as in Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia) are migration
and massive displacement of the population during the last two decades,
primarily in the first half of the 1990s. This is not a case of any spontaneous
or economically driven migration, but a case of forced displacement (expulsion, deportation, exile, “humane relocation”, “ethnic cleansing”...). As
such, these forced migrations are inseparable from politically motivated
violence and the legacy of the recent wars in the region (Halilovich, 2011b,
2013). Therefore, the migration and displacement were not merely the result of brutal wars; it was ethnic homogenization of the territories and of
the new countries of the former Yugoslavia that was the direct outcome
and goal of those wars.
Cf. http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/01/bosnia-facing-political-inertia-jmbgprotests-call-for-civil-disobedience-/
2
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RESEARCH AND CONCEPTUALIZATION OF FORCED MIGRATIONS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS
Population movement in the war and post-war period, in addition to
ethnic homogenization, also resulted in a number of other demographic
changes unprecedented in the recent history of the region. One of the important facts related to forced and politically driven migration is almost
exclusive migration from rural to urban areas in the region and to the larger urban centres. External migration to European and overseas countries
had a similar trend. Those dramatic changes, in addition to trauma, culture shock and disrupted ties among people and places of origin, resulted
in changes in the abandoned places and in places of resettlement. The former lost the people that made such places the way they were, and the latter received the immigrants with different customs, dialect and a sense of
local identity. Newcomers were often considered outsiders and unwanted
guests (and they have remained as such), regardless of their “adequate”
ethnicity in ethnically homogenized places. Their “otherness” was almost
identically perceived by indigenous people throughout the region, and
their identities were reduced to an informal status of “newcomers”, “newbies”, “incomers”, “rednecks” or simply permanent refugees, highlighting their otherness in relation to the domiciled population. In addition,
the new bureaucratic categories related to certain social welfare payments
and benefits further contributed to stigmatization of those who had been
forced to leave their homes. Those and similar formal and informal identification categories, although related to the everyday life of people whose
internal displacement has become a permanent condition, have remained
neglected in relation to their ethnic characterization while all the issues of
forced migration have been insufficiently and inadequately studied.
Research challenges and barriers
Newly established ethnically homogeneous countries in the region cannot, even if they wanted, ignore the far-reaching demographic, social, cultural and political consequences caused by massive population displacements both within and beyond the borders of the region. Regardless of this
fact, the study of forced migration in the Western Balkans has remained
taboo to a certain extent because forced migrations cannot be discussed
without mentioning the war, and the war is a risky topic which would be
preferably avoided by many, if at all possible. It is therefore not surprising
21
that the dominant concepts and research approaches to migration in the
Western Balkans have become brain gain vs. brain drain, financial remittances transferred from the diaspora to the homeland, the possibility of
transforming the social capital of emigrants into the financial capital directed to the homeland and so on. However, publications such as this one,
as well as a number of publications by authors based outside the region
- such as Franz (2005), Toal and Dahlman (2011), Valenta and Ramet (2011)
and Halilovich (2013) - confirm that the topics of migrations, forced and
other, can be addressed by drawing attention to both the local and wider
regional context without falling into national interpretive frameworks. Finally, the goal of such research is not mere description and statistics, but
empirical evidence for the development of recommendations, concrete
policies and laws based on both the relevant theories and methodologies
and on the actual situation on the ground instead of their further politicization or tabooing.
My personal experience in dealing with these issues, as well as that of
my colleagues in this and similar publications, shows that forced migration cannot be addressed only on higher and broader macro- and mesolevels to draw valid scientific conclusions. Specifically, in order to identify
some established social patterns and morphology of migration trends in
the region, it is necessary to look into lower and narrower, i.e. micro, local
or homeland contexts (Halilovich, 2011a, 2011b, 2012, 2013). In addition,
study and writing about migrations require continuous monitoring of the
population mobility over a long period of time because migrations, forced
and other, usually occur in stages and follow local patterns.
Transnationality and translocality
in cross-border areas
While most of population movement in the Western Balkans occurred
within the region and within the new states formed in the 1990s, a significant number of people, over three million of them, settled, at first temporarily and then more permanently, in other parts of Europe and the
world (Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2008; Valenta and Ramet, 2011).These immigrant and refugee communities have formed transnational communities or diaspora (Halilovic,
22
2006). Before we move to a description of some of these transnational migrations and trends, I would like to emphasize that my research primarily
relates to forced migration from Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the BiH
diaspora3 in Europe, North America and Australia, as well as the forced
displacement and dislocation of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the country and the region. However, the similarities of migrations, especially their organizational forms, between BiH diaspora and
other diasporas originating from the region are multiple and often identical. In many cases they are either complementary or they are modelled (in
competition) by each other.
Based on ethnographic insights into different migration contexts, it
seems that, in their interpretation, we cannot simply observe the events
from the perspective of transnationalism, the dominant theoretical framework within which immigration issues have been described and analysed
the last two decades (Basch et al 1994, Glick Schiller et al, 1992, 1999, Kearney, 1995; Guarnizo and Smith, 1998). While studying transnational connections that individuals and groups in the migration context establish
and maintain across the boundaries of nation-states, the researchers often
remain trapped within (ethno)national patterns of thinking and representation because they rely on the analyses of national / ethnic groups by
considering them primarily in terms of their ethnic homeland/national
state and their national identification (Čapo and Halilovich, 2013). The
dominant ethno-gaze (ethnicised view, Glick Schiller, 2005) or reliance on
the ethnic group / nation as a unit of analysis (Glick Schiller, 2008), which
the researchers of transnational social fields of migration apply in their
research, implies that migrants are primarily determined by some form
of ethno-cultural identity bound by territorialized nation-state (Glick
Schiller, 2005). Such an approach reproduces a national model of thinking and writing, or, paradoxically, given the fact that the researchers are
engaged in transnational phenomena, remains trapped in the methodological nationalism (Wimmer and Glick Schiller, 2003, Glick Schiller, 2005,
2006) or methodological ethnicity (Glick Schiller, 2008). Methodological
Although the majority Bosniak, the Bosnian post-war diaspora includes, in
proportion to the number of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian Croats and fewer Bosnian Serbs as well as a large number of ethnically mixed
families and those who declare themselves primarily as Bosnians without ethnic determinants.
3
23
nationalism explains the behaviour of migrants - both within the host
country and in their transnational practices – based on the assumption
of their ethnicity, presupposing and assuming that the entire migratory
population belongs to a community of people of a certain ethnicity, culture and identity delimited by the boundaries of the nation-state of origin. Therefore, such analyses in the transnational space treat migrants primarily as dislocated members of their nation or nation-state.
By privileging ethnic / national prism in transnational studies, the parallel forms of identification of migrants are overlooked - from professional,
gender, family, generational, class and social to narrow territorial (homeland) identification whereas the migratory populations are perceived as
uniform, homogeneous communities without internal differentiation,
which are defined primarily by their belonging to a particular nation /
ethnic group. At the level of practice and action, that prism disregards the
activities of migrants that transcend the boundaries of ethnic organizations and ethno-national identity or the non-ethnic forms of integration
into the host society and the participation in transnational social fields
- family and friends, business, political, religious and narrow territorial
(local ) identities (Glick Schiller, 2005, 2006, 2008; Povrzanović Frykman,
2010; Conradson and Mckay 2007; Peleikis, 2000, Wise and Velayutham,
2008; Halilovich, 2011a, 2012; Čapo Žmegač, 2003).
In transnational migration space, affiliation is not necessarily linked to
the nation-state of origin or ethnic / national group; it may be narrower, local, native and unrelated to the ethnicity in everyday life. This dimension
of belonging to, in addition to being in a transnational space – heuristically,
it seems difficult to separate the two - prevails in transnational practices of
migrant groups. Therefore, my colleague Čapo Žmegač and I, in our separate and joint papers, have termed it translocality (Halilovich, 2011b, 2012,
2013, Čapo Žmegač, 2003; Čapo and Halilovich, 2013). We came to the
conclusion that translocality rather than transnationality better explains the
social morphology and the lived reality of migrant populations, including
the forms of their social interaction, organizational patterns, cultural practices and various other activities and actions practiced in relation to their
homeland and in relation to their translocal compatriots in other countries.
By choosing the term translocality to describe migrant practices, as opposed
to the term transnationality, we wanted to emphasize that long-term, everyday interests of migrants are not necessarily related to national or state
politics (but they may become related to it in exceptional circumstances
24
such as those in the 1900s during the formation of new states from the
debris of disintegrated Yugoslavia). They are related to quite specific local
issues, especially those concerning the dislocated forms of family relationships in the so-called transnational families (Čapo Žmegač, 2007, 2003)
and investments in the place of origin, thus fostering loyalty and support
for the places of origin, while preserving, reviving and reconstructing local identities through the construction of “home away from home”, etc.
Conceptualization of translocalism
The forms of transnationally (in terms of transstate) contextualized
relationships and practices in the ethnographically researched migrant
groups of BiH indicate their primarily translocal character, demonstrating that they are grounded by their actions at the level of the locality and
homeland (zavičaj), mainly related to family circumstances and investment in the narrower or wider area of origin, along with the assistance,
rehabilitation and reconstruction or, alternatively, through imagining the
abandoned local community within the context of displacement from the
original location. These ethnographies, along with other methodological
approaches, demonstrate that the daily interest of migrants for their places
of origin mostly focuses on the narrow, local place of origin and family circumstances. Even when they are driven by the national interest, the crossborder practices of migrants are being localized and inscribed in specific
places of their origin.
Translocality is not an exclusive characteristic of the Bosnian emigration and similar migrations in the region as a result of the war in the 1900s.
However, the most intense forms of translocal practices are demonstrated in the very context of these forced migrations and are related to the
fact that the original homes were forcibly abandoned, that they were destroyed as well as entire neighbourhoods and villages. Homes and places
of origin of forced migrants are often irreversibly lost, physically and / or
in the sense that the migrants no longer feel “at home” in their places of
origin. Given that the places of origin remain a significant identity marker
for migrants, they tend to recreate them in the new places of residence
through concrete memories, narration, enactment and meetings with former neighbours, thus creating a “new home away from home” which is
25
at the same time similar to and different from the one they had left. The
attachment to the idea of the “old” place as home is therefore not an obstacle to the integration in the new places of settlement (Hage, 1997: 102108). On the contrary, it gives them a “sense of possibility” to create their
new home constructed around “the desire to promote the feeling of being
there here” (Hage, 1997: 102-108). After all, their homeland, or home back
there, no longer exists in the form they knew and remembered it because
the homeland is not just a place but it is made out of people and relationships; homeland represents a familiarity and intimacy with the physical
environment and the social and cultural environment (Halilovich, 2011b:
77). The lost community and sense of belonging can be recreated only
through the memories and stories that the former residents of the former places indulge in during the idle moments of relaxation among their
former neighbours in the towns they live in today. These places are no
longer located in the space back there, but in the previous time and in the
space here. Migrants, exiles and other travellers are finding the new home
in routine practices, meetings with familiar people, in memories and stories of the past times, in the flavours and fragrances, or, as Leslie Van
Gelder said, “people of diaspora do not root in place, but in each other
“(Van Gelder, 2008: 58).
Several authors have dealt with the question of the importance of distance in translocal and transnational practices (Cf. Portis-Winner, 2002;
Baldassar 2007, Brickell and Datta, 2011). At first sight, distance is not
unimportant, but it is not crucial either. Bosnian immigrants dispersed
throughout Europe, America and Australia and they are thousands of
miles away from their native homeland. In the search for intimacy and security of the familiar, these migrant groups intensely immerse in the translocal and they strive to create and maintain social networks among former
neighbours, regardless of their present place of residence and visits to the
“old country.” The distance, therefore, does not appear to be a decisive
factor of translocality, especially in the era of digital telecommunications
technologies such as the internet, mobile phones and satellite television
(Halilovich, 2012, 2013).
Finally, translocality of the diaspora can be realized as the bi-locality,
the relationship between two locations, and as poly- locality, the relationship between several locations. This difference is related to the forms of
cross-border practices of these populations: separate family life, native endogamy and re-territorialisation.
26
More than nostalgia for the lost
Many formal and informal events and connections of migrants in the
host countries represent an opportunity to invoke and to share the memories of a common city/town/native place and to relive or revive a sense of
belonging to a place of origin and former life. This is not a case of the reconstruction of a broader national or ethnic context. Instead, these events
and connections can only be fully understood in the local or native context.
Having the local context radically changed, as was the case throughout
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the people in a migration situation (re)create
their native places through translocal practices with those with whom
they share a sense of belonging and memories of the places of origin.
Local and regional, that is native, ties or “identities from the bottomup” seem to be stronger than the “identities from the top-down”, i.e. national, ethnic and religious identities. Of course, in many cases these relationships of “identities from the bottom-up” and “ identities from the
top-down” are intertwined and congruent, but the former are primary because they are based on direct experiences and shared embodied memories, former social relations and statuses, dialect and manner of speech,
sense of humour, cuisine and drinks and so on. To see others and to be
seen are the ways of maintaining the old identities and former statuses in
the context of a new life in which the old social identities and roles often
become redundant. When they meet, for example, former Brčko residents
living in various suburbs of Melbourne, or former Prijedor residents living
in St Louis, they become “neighbours” again, and the titles and statuses
from homeland are respected regardless of their lack of actual value outside the communities of former Brčko or Prijedor residents. Their mutual
respect and addressing people as “professor”, “doctor” or “neighbour” have
the full affective and social significance only among those who shared the
past in which those titles were tied to a specific social position in the community. In many cases, this status is now largely symbolic because the social context has completely changed. One could say that former Brčko residents (Brčaci) need each other not only to socialize with each other in the
present, but also to affirm, through shared memories, who they were in
the past. Those shared memories of home and homeland back in the past
are complemented by the lived experience of home - the new home, here
and now, in the diaspora (Čapo and Halilovich 2013, Halilovich 2013).
27
Dislocated homelands as dynamic, mobile identities
In addition to those in Austria, Sweden and Australia, I have researched
and recorded the practice of preservation, revival and reconstruction of local identities in the diaspora among the members of the Bosnian diaspora
in the U.S. city of St. Louis, “the most populous town of eastern Bosnia “
where around 75,000 Bosnian immigrants have settled in the last two decades, mostly Bosniaks from Podrinje and Prijedor who had been forced to
leave their homes during the war (Coughlan, 2011; Halilovich, 2012). What
makes this Bosnian community “visible” are numerous restaurants, shops
with products imported from BiH, social and sports clubs, and the fact that
community members also have their own radio programs, newspapers and
magazines, even their television station. However, the true heterogeneity
of this immigrant community can only be fully detected when one peeks
into the homes and neighbourhoods of Bosnian migrants, or sits at a table
in one of the restaurants on Gravois Avenue in the suburb of Bevo – an area
of St Louis where one can find entire Bosnian villages in a single street or in
a neighbourhood. Beneath a number of layers of wider collective identities
– from the American and White to the Bosnian and Bosniak - embodied, intimate identities lived daily by the Bosnians in St. Louis are primarily native,
i.e. translocal. An attentive listener will recognize a number of local dialects
which Bosnian immigrants in St Louis speak. While the local dialects of immigrants (internal immigrants) in the larger urban areas in BiH are quickly
replaced by standardized language and urban slang, these local dialects
from the old homeland are jealously preserved and maintained in the places
such as St Louis, and they represent an important factor which differentiates
individuals and groups within the Bosnian diaspora. It is similar situation
with other forms of embodied and sensory expressions of the local identities
which are displayed through a variety of local specificities such as Kvrguša
pie4, the trademark of people from Prijedor living in St Louis, or traditional
music specific to Podrinje and eastern Bosnia. The taste of food and the taste
in music - as well as the speech and a number of other local customs, stories
and memories - are part of a range of native identities of displaced Bosnians. The performance of the local identities takes place in various ways,
both in the privacy of their homes and in the public spaces.
A pie made of pieces of chicken meat arranged over dough and covered with
sour cream
4
28
Everyday life in translocal communities includes a number of other activities involving relatives, former neighbours, acquaintances and friends
in St. Louis and other cities in the United States as well as with those who
have migrated to other countries or remained in BiH. It’s not just the nostalgia for the lost homeland, but also a matter of reconstructed native identities in a different context and it is confirmed by the almost prevalent
- and certainly desirable - native endogamy; young people are encouraged
to marry “their own kind” thereby referring to the people of the same local
origin. This trend of marriage between members of the same local groups
of Bosnians displaced around the world additionally reinforces and confirms the translocal identities in a very embodied manner.
Conclusion
While affirming the importance of the original places for various migrant populations, this interpretation does not imply the essentialist, static
view of the relationship between people, places and identities. It does not
imply that the translocal diaspora communities are “fixed and unchanging” in their identities located in a previous time and place. Practices of
translocality demonstrate that the cultural place and embodied local identities transcend geographic space and chronological time and the fact that
mobility and attachment to a place are not intrinsically contradictory, but
can be complementary processes (Halilovich, 2011; Čapo and Halilovich,
2013). They confirm the dynamism and fluidity of the complex relationships in which identity of place as a set of embodied practices transcends
its original geographic location and becomes translocal or poly-local. In the
new space of the diaspora, the migrants create a place (place-making) in the
sense that they adopt and appropriate it as a place of meaning and identity
(Gulin Zrnić, 2009) through a translocal process that involves the intervention of other locations (of origin), networks and activities from afar. Given
that the sense of location in the context of migration is necessarily created
and transformed in a translocal environment - which includes at least one
over here and one back there - this process occurs not only in places of settlement, but also in the places of origin, during the visits and the return of
the migrants. Translocality, therefore, covers a wide range of practices and
relationships in the articulation of distinctive (trans) local identities – both
29
in migration and in the place of origin - revealing how these practices and
relationships are reconstructed, adapted and recreated in a mobile world.
Such translocal practices and relationships play a significant, though not
sufficiently recognized, role (also) in the socio-economic transformation
and reconstruction of local places and communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and throughout the Western Balkans. Return migration also
represents an interesting area to explore the interweaving of two or more
locations and related identities, now in the double context of relocation:
the first occurs as a result of emigration, and the other as a result of remigration. Therefore, we would like to encourage researchers of migration
issue in the region to (re)focus their efforts from dominant ethno-national
and transnational levels to local and regional levels.
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Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, XXIV (1), p. 113-131. 32
ANALYSIS OF DAILY NEWSPAPER WRITINGS IN SERBIA
ABOUT REFUGEES, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS AND
THEIR RETURN BETWEEN 1996 AND 2012
What and How Newspapers Report
about Resolution of issues of Refugees
and IDPs in Serbia
SINIŠA VOLAREVIĆ1
Center for Migration, Group 484, Belgrade
Abstract
Newspaper writing about the ways refugee and IDP issues are tackled in
Serbia is the main subject of this paper. The research objectives relate to changes in the quantity and manner of writings about refugees and displaced persons, and special attention is focused on possible impact of domestic political
actors on the content of newspaper articles and their position toward the ways
the refugee and IDP issues are dealt with. The analysis included a sample of
530 articles found in archives, written in the period 1996-2012 and published in
the daily newspapers Politika, Večernje novosti, Danas, Blic and Kurir. Statistical
analyses included 18 variables, mostly nominal, defined by a common methodological framework simultaneously implemented in the Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia research projects. In-depth content analysis, guided by additional research issues arising from the quantitative analysis, included only a
small, selected sample of articles. The results have shown that: A. over the time
period covered, almost none steady changes (increase or decrease) occurred
[email protected]
1
33
with respect to any of the observed variables; B. between articles relating only
to refugees and those referring only to displaced persons there are some significant and interesting differences; C. local representatives of institutions and
political parties are important actors and sources of newspaper articles, but
their influence on newspaper writings about refugee and displacement issues
cannot (at least not entirely) be explained with the hypothesis about political
elites being discouraging the return process. A more complete understanding
of that relation (and possible influence) would require additional researching.
Keywords: refugees, displaced persons, daily newspapers, Serbia, political actors
1. INTRODUCTION
Apart from introduction to research and methodology written in introductory chapter, the research in Serbia also dealt with a distinction between refugees and IDPs, i.e. with differences between articles reporting
exclusively on refugees and the ones dealing with displaced persons only.
This case is specific for Serbia, since refugees on one side and IDPs on
the other represent two entirely separate populations. The historical and
political context, including events from the recent past, the ones that preceded refugee migrations, are completely different and it is not irrelevant
that certain differences also exist in the approach of political elites and
general public with respect to these two issues.
In the next chapter, the analysis of some more significant elements of
the context related to refugees and IDPs and media in Serbia has been
shown. The analysis did not aim to be all-inclusive and only focused on
some of the most important issues that would be of more significance for
any subsequent studies of empirical material.
It is followed by a short chapter on the methodology of research that
pays more attention to significant specifics of methodological elements
used in Serbia, leaving out all methodological details common for both
national researches. They can be found elsewhere in this publication.
The central chapter of this paper contains fairly detailed overview of
empirical results of the research. All basic parameters defined by variables
used in the research have been outlined, followed by the analyses based on
certain crossings and correlations. Special attention was paid to changes
of time dimension (crossing with the “time period” variable), differences
between articles related to refugees and displaced persons respectively,
34
ANALYSIS OF DAILY NEWSPAPER WRITINGS IN SERBIA ABOUT REFUGEES...
and crossings of variables “primary actors” and “primary sources” with
variable “attitude of the article” (to refugee return and/or resolutions of
refugee and IDP issues). The latter correlations were supplemented by the
content analysis of certain number of articles reflecting relationships between quantitative data. Therefore, the findings of this brief and limited
content analysis have been shown at the end of this chapter.
The discussions (in the chapter that follows) are related to several key
research findings; possible reasons are reviewed (factors standing behind
clearly established facts) and limitations and needs for additional analyses
and research are pointed out. The chapter with conclusions is focused on
basic research questions (the ones we started from) attempting to offer concise and specific answers to them, taking into account all methodological
limitations and all remaining ambiguities (that await some future research).
2. BACKGROUND ANALYSIS
2.1. Refugees and displaced persons in Serbia
In early 90s of 20th century, numerous refugees from the areas affected
by post-Yugoslav wars found the refuge in Serbia, mostly from Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Refugee migrations of August 1995 - during and
in the aftermath of the Croatian military and police actions initiated on territories under the control of Serbian authorities at that time - mainly ended
in Serbia marking the greatest refugee migration in Europe after the WW II.
During the census conducted in 1996, almost 538,000 refugees and waraffected persons were counted in Serbia. More than two fifths of refugees
found their refuge in Vojvodina, and more than a fourth in Belgrade area.
Nearly the same number of refugees came from Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Croatia, respectively. The last registration of refugees in Serbia was
conducted in late 2004 and early 2005, and the data from Commissariat for
Refugees and Migrations of December 2012 confirmed that close to 66,000
persons with a refugee status were still living in Serbia.2 More than 250,000
The ratio between number of refugees from Croatia and the ones from BiH,
in comparison to 1996 has been significantly changed. Even the data obtained
by 2004/2005 registration rendered obvious that the number of refugees from
Croatia participated by 75% in the total population with refugee status. This
2
35
refugees from former Yugoslavia obtained the citizenship of the Republic
of Serbia, and around 150,000 refugees returned to BiH and Croatia, while
around 49,000 migrated to third countries (Krstić, 2012).
In 1999, applications forms for migration to third countries, in organization of the UNHCR, were submitted by 400 refugees per week on average.
That year, UNHCR facilitated migration for 1,933 refugees from Croatia
and 620 from BiH. In addition to that, it was estimated that around 15,000
refugees left Serbia to third countries between 1992 until October 1999 in
direct contact with foreign consular representative offices and without
any mediation of UNHCR. (Dimitrijević, 2000)
A new big wave of forced migrants followed after the end of armed
conflict in Kosovo, i.e. after the signing of Kumanovo Agreement, during and immediately after the withdrawal of Yugoslav army and police
from Kosovo and Metohija in June 1999. This was mostly due to a slow establishment and inefficiency of UN civil administration and consequently
explosion of violence and anarchy. Tensions did not abate until the end
of 1999. Violation of rights of minority group members had a massive
and concerning extent. Serbs, Roma, Turks and members of other ethnic
minorities were often exposed to threats and cruelties exclusively for the
reason of their ethnic origin.3 Various estimates indicate that more than
230,000 people left Kosovo and Metohija at that time, mostly members
of non-Albanian communities.4 In 2000, more than 187,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija were registered in Serbia with
new displacements (and new registrations) that followed in the aftermath
as well: the official data of December 2012 speak of 210,148 IDPs in Serbia
outside the area of Kosovo and Metohija.5
The majority of IDPs belong to Serbian ethnic group, and about 25%
of them are of another ethnicity, out of which the most numerous group
is usually explained by the fact that the return process to Croatia faced more
difficulties, and eventually was significantly less successful than the return to
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
3
European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) stated that what Roma population experienced in Kosovo during 1999 was “the greatest calamity that Roma community
had been struck with after the Holocaust of WW II” (Dimitrijević, 2001: 255).
4
On 15 October 1999, Yugoslav Red Cross published that 230,884 of IDPs from
Kosovo were registered in Serbia and Montenegro. (Dimitrijević, 2000: 287)
5
According to UNHCR data, more than 20,000 people have been displaced in
Kosovo itself.
36
make Roma (around 11 %). The highest number of internally displaced
persons resides in Central and South Serbia (almost two thirds), and the
lowest portion of IDPs are located in Vojvodina (around 6%). More than
fourth of total number of IDPs resides in Belgrade.
2.1.1. In the aftermath of Dayton and years that followed: normalization of
interstate relations and regional approach to refugee and IDP issues
Soon after reaching the Dayton Peace Agreement in November 1995,
the Erdut Agreement was signed ending the hostilities with respect to the
territory of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, the only territory in the Republic of Croatia which was still under control of Serbian
authorities (and under the United Nations protection). Like the Dayton
Agreement, the Erdut Agreement also contained provisions on resolution
of refugee issues and the right to return.6 Less than a year later, on 23
August 1996, the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the
Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was signed.
In September, the Agreement was enacted in the Croatian Parliament
and diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in
the same month. By this Agreement, the right to return of refugees was
reaffirmed.7 Several months later, in July 1997, The UN Security Council adopted the Resolution 1120,8 by which the right to return of all refugees to their pre-war homes was reiterated one more time. Moreover, the
Resolution additionally reinforced the process of peaceful reintegration of
Eastern Slavonia in the Croatian constitutional and legal system.
Nevertheless, the reality of return, both then and later, was unlike the
promises given by political documents. In the 2000 Report, the Belgrade
Human Rights Center presented the assessment that “even by 1999, prerequisites for a more substantial return of refugees to the Republic of
Text of the Agreement can be found under http://www.snv.hr/pdf/erdutski_sporazum.pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013].
7
Text of the Decision on Law Enactment (including the Agreement itself) can be
found on the site of Narodne novine, in the section International Agreements:
http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/medunarodni/default.aspx [accessed on 22 June 2013].
8
UN Security Council, Resolution 1120 (1997), 14 July 1997, S/RES/1120 (1997).
The Resolution was adopted on the UN Security Council session of 14 July 1997.
The English version can be found at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00efa03b.
html [accessed on 22 June 2013].
6
37
Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were not met.” (Dimitrijević, 2000:
291). Lack of cooperation by the authorities in Croatia was pointed out
as an aggravating factor, but also the inability to repossession of tenant’s
rights, and limited access to funds for reconstruction of destroyed and
damaged housing. UNHCR made estimates of around 20,000 returnees
to Croatia and 18,000 to Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, numerous
reports confirmed that these returnees, especially in case of Croatia, came
back to Serbia after obtaining personal documents and regulating certain
administrative issues (e.g. related to their property or retirement benefits)
(s. Dimitrijević, 2000).
Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina reached a bilateral Agreement on return of refugees in early October 2003. The responsibilities were defined more precisely in respect of creating conditions for
voluntary, organized or mutually harmonized return of refugees by an
additional protocol. (from SCG to BiH and vice versa).9
On 31 January 2005, a Declaration on Resolution of Refugee and IDP
Issues was adopted in Sarajevo.10 It was a first regional agreement of such
kind that was reached by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Yugoslavia under the auspices and support of UNHCR, OSCE, and European Union. The intention of participating actors was creation of strategic
framework for a joint action of closing the refuge and IDP file in Western
Balkans. The Declaration anticipated each signing party respectively to
pass a national action plan in the following three months and all issues
to be resolved by late 2006. However, the problems occurred shortly after
that mostly with regard to rights of refugees from Croatia, on which no
agreement was reached which eventually lead to a total extinction of the
regional process.
The issue of refugee return and permanent resolution of refugee issues
in the Western Balkans was reopened once more after the UNHCR acclaimed the refugee situation in Serbia one of the five most lasting refugee
crises whose resolution would require special international attention and
The Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro
and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Return of Refugees
from Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Protocol
(Official Gazette of Serbia and Montenegro – International Agreements, No.
6/04)
10
The text of Sarajevo Declaration in Serbian language is available at: http://www.
kirs.gov.rs/docs/SDeklaracija%20v2.1.pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013].
9
38
cooperation of countries in the region. The initiative was launched in Geneva on 10 December 2008 in the framework of a two-day Dialogue with
the UN High Commissioner. Following that, the Republic of Serbia commenced major political and diplomatic activities, and in January 2009 it
already published the non-paper presenting its position on outstanding
issues regarding the status of refugees from the Republic of Croatia, and
made commitments to resolve these issues in accordance with principles
of 2005 Sarajevo Declaration.11
In March 2010, a Ministerial Conference took place in Belgrade on which
four participating countries of Sarajevo Process reaffirmed the goals of Sarajevo Declaration and regional approach to resolution of the remaining
refugee issues, whereas technical working groups had been established
after the conference and started with their activities soon after: six bilateral technical meetings between Serbia and the Republic of Croatia and
ten regional expert meetings of all four countries took place. Also, European Union, OSCE, UNHCR, Council of Europe, and the United States of
America took part in the process. Also, additional expert working groups
were established to answer all outstanding issues and in the framework of
technical meetings and meetings on the political level, the principles and
contents of regional projects were eventually agreed with the objective to
facilitate resolution of the most important refugee and IDP issues in the
region. The draft of the joint regional program was presented in Vienna
on June 2011 and it was finally adopted on a Ministerial conference in Belgrade on 7 November 2011, where a joint declaration to end migration and
secure permanent solutions for threatened refugees and IDPs was signed.
Consequently, a donor conference was held in Sarajevo on 24 April 2012
on which most of the funds necessary for implementation of the Regional
program were raised creating the basis for practical implementation of the
program. The regional program was drafted with the objective to clearly
focus on achievement of appropriate and sustainable housing solutions
for the most vulnerable refugee families. According to the volume of funds
and number of beneficiaries, the program will be mostly realized in the
Text of this document is available on the site of Commissariat for refugees and
migrations of the Republic of Serbia, at: http://www.kirs.gov.rs/docs/regionalniproces/NON_paper_srp.pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013], and more extensive official information about the regional process on the same site at: http://www.kirs.
gov.rs/articles/regionalniproces.php?lang=SER [accessed on 22 June 2013].
11
39
territory of Serbia.12 The activities in Serbia are predominantly focused on
support of local integration of refugees. More information can be found in
the 2011 Migration Profile of the Republic of Serbia, especially in the chapter C2: Policies in the field of integration of refugees and IDPs (KIMRS,
2012), and at the official site of Regional Housing Project.13
2.1.2. Return of IDPs to Kosovo and Metohija: policies and realities
According to the UNHCR data, more than 20,000 displaced persons
returned to Kosovo area until the end of 2012. Nevertheless, the sustainability of these returns is evaluated as weak or dubious while the number
of returnees who remained in their places of return is only estimated to
few thousands.
The process of organized return of IDPs to Kosovo and Metohija started during 2000 and 2001 by assisted return projects to Biča and Grabac implemented by UNHCR and by the return project to Osojane implemented
by the Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija First group of IDPs
arrived to Osojane on 12 and 13 of August 2001. Yet, the return process,
including political initiatives related thereto, did not begin with these projects. First, the cases of so called spontaneous return were even registered
in 2000 (and were in a way encouraged and supported). With regard to
Osojane, various activities were also been implemented after August 2001
(including new groups of returnees), and total outcome of this project including sustainability of returnee community are to the most extent the
result of existing long-term (state!) support.
Pursuant to the Resolution 1244 (1999), the Special Representative of
the General Secretary of UN in Kosovo adopted the Constitutional Framework on 15 May 2001 which included detailed provisions on rights and
duties of self-government authorities, but also provisions on human rights
granted to all residents of Kosovo. Certain provisions of the Constitutional
Framework referred to the refugee and displaced persons protection. In
the preamble, the obligation to facilitate safe return of refugees and IDPs
The total value of the program amounts to EUR 584,000,000. A part of the program related to Serbia shall include resolution of housing issues for 16,780 families, for which international financial support of EUR 302,000,000 was pledged.
13
See in particular: Providing a home for 74,000 people: RHP Highlights 2012/2013:
http://www.regionalhousingprogramme.org/uploads/news/RHP_highlights_2012_
2013_1366809057.pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013].
12
40
was pointed out as well as to make the property restitution possible. In
the chapter 3, among the provisions on human rights, there was a provision granting the right to refugees and IDPs to return and restitute their
property.
In course of 2002 and 2003, the UN Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) established a special Office for Return and Communities (ORC) – and took
other measures to create the comprehensive support system to IDPs. In
the same process, the Handbook for sustainable return was drafted (in
January 2003) and the mechanism of working groups for return was established – on municipal, regional and central level. In a way, various activities implemented for purpose of coordinating various actors and establishing procedures regarding return of IDPs to Kosovo were ended thereby.
However, institutions in charge for the return process of IDPs to Kosovo,
although established in 2002, were operational only during 2004, i.e. five
years after displacement took place. UNMIK revised the Handbook on
sustainable development in 2006, which was supplemented by the Protocol on voluntary and sustainable development soon after, and in that process, the procedures harmonized with international standards on rights
and return of IDPs have been established for the first time. (Group 484,
2011) The revised Handbook came to light after fairly extensive consultations and previously adopted recommendations, and all for the purpose
of improvement of existing procedures and to make the return process
more active. The Protocol on sustainable return, following negotiations of
6 June 2006, was signed by Serbian and Albanian sides respectively.
In March 2005, the Ministry of Community and Return was established
with the mandate to supervise and support various municipal mechanisms
for facilitation of IDP return established in the previous period, including
adoption and implementation of municipal return strategies. During 2006
and 2007, UNMIK continued the process of transferring authorities to Interim Self-Government Institutions, including the competences regarding return process.14 To that end, in October 2009, the Kosovo Ministry of
Community and Return published the 2009-2013 Strategy for Communities and Return.
On the other hand, on 6 April 2009, more than a year after self-proclamation of Kosovo Republic independence, the registration for return of
On 17 February 2008, the Interim Institutions of Self-Government in Kosovo
and Metohija proclaimed independence of the Kosovo Republic.
14
41
IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija commenced in cooperation with the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, the Commissioner for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The objective
was to register IDP families who wish to return to Kosovo and Metohija
in 2009 under the existing circumstances and to estimate their needs. An
active public campaign was launched aiming at giving a new impetus to
the return process to Kosovo and Metohija. In course of that process, 1,212
families, i.e. 4,875 persons, expressed their wish to return to Kosovo and
Metohija during 2009. In 2010, additional 325 families with 1,307 members
were registered.
Nowadays though, statistic data on the return process evidently show
that after 2003 and after a wave of violence of March 2004, the return process was almost staled while the negative trend continued despite all new
activities and measures meant to enhance and facilitate the return. Consequently, the number of returnees of 2003 was not remotely reached (Group
484, 2011). One survey, conducted in 2009 by the Danish Refugee Council
which included 858 displaced households (530 in Central Serbia and 328
in Kosovo), demonstrated that IDPs did not express the wish to return as
often as in some previous survey: in Central Serbia, 24% of interviewed expressed the wish to return, while in Kosovo and Metohija that percentage
was 34,1%. In reality, total of 631 persons returned to the area of Kosovo
and Metohija during 2009, out of which only 187 within the registration
concept. Also, nothing significantly changed to this regard in 2010. The
Serbian Government adopted the Strategy of Sustainable Stay and Return
to Kosovo and Metohija, but the reality of return remained marked by
numerous problems related to property rights – both reconstruction and
property restitution have been implemented with a whole range of obstacles and impediments.
In second half of 2010, European Union announced the initiative for
launching a new dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which finally
resulted in opening a dialogue about practical issues under the auspices of
EU in Brussels on 8 March 2011. Two delegations were led by the political
director of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Borko Stefanović and
vice-president of Kosovo Government Edita Tahiri respectively. Negotiations were focused on resolutions of practical issues affecting life quality
of people in the entire region, but the issues of return of IDPs were not
given any special attention. Nevertheless, the negotiations also included
certain issues of particular importance to IDPs, which primarily referred
42
to issues of birth registration and cadaster records. Despite substantial
political resistance both in Pristina and in Belgrade, especially related to
certain issues in municipalities in Northern Kosovo (which is populated
by majority of Serbian people), several technical agreements were reached
and certain progress was made in their implementation by late 2011. All
of that, however, did not have any obvious effects on return process and
rights of IDPs in Kosovo. In course of 2011, 501 persons spontaneously
returned to Kosovo and Metohija. Assisted by programs of organized return, additional 103 IDPs returned to their homes.
Following that, after the Parliamentary and Presidential election and
major change of political power and establishment of the new Serbian
Government, in August 2011 was confirmed for the first time that the new
Government of Serbia would comply and implement previously reached
agreements, and soon after, i.e. mid October 2012, the first meeting DačićTachi took place leading to commencement of an intensive political dialogue on a relation between Belgrade and Pristina and finally the achievement of so-called Brussels Agreement on normalization of relations in
April 2013. The entire process was, in its final stage, extremely focused on
agreement about the status of four municipalities (with Serbian majority)
in Northern Kosovo, precisely, on reaching some specific agreements on
status of certain institution on that territory and did not in any way touch
the issues of return and rights of IDPs.
2.1.3. Few notes on social and economic status of refugees
and IDPs in Serbia
From 1992 until the end of 2010, 7,844 different housing solutions were
secured with continuous support from various international donor funds
providing home for 30,400 refugees and IDPs (KIRS, 2011). In 2011, the
housing was provided for additional 1,469 families (KIMRS, 2012). To
meet the housing needs of refugees, construction material was donated,
new housing units (including housing compounds and prefabricated
houses) were built, or rural houses with land were purchased.
The major part of constructed housing units aimed at meeting the housing needs of collective centers’ residents following their closing. In 2001,
the total housing surface of 90% of refugee and IDP households in collective centers consisted of only one room and almost half of these households
in collective centers (49%) did not have a bathroom (Dimitrijević, 2002:
43
213).15 Yet, collective centers in Serbia have always provided shelter to a
small minority of people, which used to be less than 10% and nowadays
less than 1%. Significant efforts and funds were invested in the closure of
collective centers and provision of permanent housing solutions for their
residents. In 1996, more than 700 collective centers existed, in January 2002
there were still 308 of them, and in May 2013 – 11 years after – 29 official
collective centers have remained. Nevertheless, like at the beginning of
the process so nowadays, most refugees and IDPs live in extremely dire
conditions of private accommodation.16
By reducing the number of refugees in Serbia, demographic but also social structure of this population has been significantly changed. Generally,
one can justifiably state that refugee status is maintained by relatively higher number of persons of weaker personal capacities for the integration or return process, i.e. persons whose existence is burdened by numerous vulnerability factors. Therefore, a major part of refugee population today consists
of elderly people and persons with lower education background compared
to 1996. According to the data from a research conducted in 2008 on a representative sample of refugees in private accommodation (KIRS, 2008), the
unemployment rate among refugees was much higher than among general
population (amounting to 33%); less than one third of refugees secured the
housing in terms of owning residential units where they lived, and 7% of
refugees was living in premises which do not meet living conditions.
The survey on living standard from 2007 demonstrated that the poverty among IDPs was double than among general population in Serbia.
Out of total number of IDPs, 14.5% lived under the poverty line, while this
percentage was 6.8%17 in total population (Vukmirović and Smith-Govoni,
2008). The unemployment rate of IDPs amounted to 36%, and more than
The data originate from the research on Health Status, Health Needs and Use of
Health Insurance by Serbian Population. The research was conducted by the Institute of Health Protection.
16
The data stated in a press release by Red Cross of Serbia from 2001 can serve as
an illustration that in that period the aid of international humanitarian organizations was received by “146,000 Serbian citizens, 167,586 refugees and 80,000
IDPs” (Dimitrijević, 2002: 207).
17
The survey was conducted prior to the economic crisis which additionally impoverished major part of Serbian population. Last available official data from
2010 speak that 9.2% of Serbian population lived in poverty. See: http://www.
inkluzija.gov.rs/?page_id=1186 [accessed on 22 June 2013].
15
44
90% of unemployed IDPs were unemployed for prolonged period (more
than one year). IDPs among ethnic communities of Roma, Ashkali and
Egyptians represent an especially vulnerable group that face particular
difficulties in exercising their rights, mostly due to lack of personal documents, poverty, homelessness, lower education status and discriminatory
attitudes of state civil servants. Among internally displaced Roma, the
share of households where nobody is employed reaches 70%, while their
education background demonstrates that two thirds of Roma population
never even completed primary education. 10.2 % of total IDPs live in nonresidential facilities, and according to all basic parameters of living quality
the average situation of Roma households is less favorable in many ways.
(Cvejić and Babović, 2008) Less than four years later, in the framework of
the research Needs Assessment of Internally Displaced Persons in Republic of
Serbia (UNHCR and KIRS, 2011) among the IDP population, more than
97,000 IDPs or around 23,000 families respectively were identified to be in
welfare need. These families mostly live as tenants (48.9%) in private accommodation or reside with relatives or friends (21.6%). The employment
rate amounts to 28.5%, and unemployment rate to 39%. It is estimated that
some assistance with housing is required by 21,420 households, predominantly in form of construction material boxes and apartment units from
welfare housing program.
2.1.3.1. Local support to integration
Municipalities and cities are the important partner of the Commissioner for Refugees and Migrations and local and international organizations
involved in providing support to refugees and IDPs. Among other, substantial local funds were invested in housing construction projects in the
process of integration and improvement of local conditions, primarily by
allocating free land lots, securing primary communal infrastructure and
waiving various local taxes and contributions. Based on that established
cooperation, the Refugee Commissariat, with the support of International
Organization for Migration, started with the development of new local
mechanisms for improvement of refugee and displaced persons status in
2008. The data from a recent report (Vučić and Kačapor–Džihić, 2013) state
that local action plans were adopted by 124 local self-governments and
Migration Councils were established in 128 municipalities and cities by
the end 0f 2012. In the same period, the implementation of local action
45
plans was funded by total of 15 million EUR from national budgets and
international aid funds.18 In most cases, the funds were used to support
activities with regard to construction material aid or some other forms
of housing assistance (purchase of houses with land or assembling prefabricated houses, for example), but also to develop income-generation
activities.
2.1.4. Brief reflection on legislation and strategy framework
The status of refugees from “former Yugoslav republics” is governed
by the Law on Refugees adopted in 1992 in Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette of RS, No. 18/92). The Law was passed with the objective to create a
framework for humanitarian management of persons who found a refuge
in the Republic of Serbia due to war atrocities in Ex-Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, some of its provisions, including the narrow definition of a refugee
notion, were considered problematic and discriminating.19 In May 2010,
the Law was amended inter alia by a new definition of a refugee, which
also included “persons committed to integration” or the persons who applied for citizenship of the Republic of Serbia respectively. Actually, the
main objective of adopted amendments was to regulate the refugee integration more comprehensively, in addition to humanitarian management
of refugees, or more precisely to have a comprehensive legal framework
in place for implementation of various support programs aiming at provision of more sustainable housing solutions.
In addition to the legislation framework, defined by the mentioned regulations and some pertaining bylaws, certain strategic documents were
also enacted in Serbia in order to regulate defined objectives and measures for protection and improvement of refugee status. All strategies dealing with refugee issues equally refer to IDPs (from Kosovo and Metohija),
which is of particular importance since no legislative framework was in
place earlier to govern the status and rights of IDPs.
The value of projects is significantly higher as local self-governments in a rule
secure co-financing from 5 to more than 20%.
19
Generally, legal experts evaluated the law as non-complying with the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, inter alia because it unlawfully differentiated between refugees
from the former SFRY and all other refugees. (Dimitrijević, 2000). Such situation was finally remedied by adoption of the Law on Asylum in 2007.
18
46
The first among these strategies – National strategy for resolution of refugee and IDP issues – was enacted by the Government of Serbia on 30 May
2002.20 It was the first national strategy document dealing with resolution of
refugee issues from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (but also IDPs from
Kosovo), including the issue of their return. The Strategy anticipated two
general action lines: 1) to secure conditions for return (emphasizing security
and legal security as well as mechanisms of property restitutions and other
rights) and 2) to ensure prerequisites for local integration (paying particular
attention to housing and employment issues). Eight years later, when measures anticipated by this strategy were mostly obliterated and only partially
achieved, a new strategy, which mostly revised objectives and measure of
the first strategy, was adopted in early March 2011.21 The National strategy
for resolution of refugee and IDP issues for the period between 2001 and
201422 actually set out the same general strategic directions – return and integration, yet anticipating defined and innovated measures more precisely,
taking into account changes that had happened in the meantime, but also
other remaining and outstanding issues. In case of IDPs, it is clearly stated
that the basic strategic objective shall be to provide support to all IDPs for
a sustainable return to Kosovo and Metohija. Only after accepting the fact
of a long-term displacement, other types of support are considered with no
mention of integration but rather improvement of living conditions of IDPs.
IDP issues are particularly dealt with by the Strategy of sustainable subsistence and return to Kosovo and Metohija.23 The strategy was adopted in
Text of the strategy is not available on the Government of Serbia web site, but
it can be found on http://www.prsp.gov.rs/download/Nacionalna%20strategija%20za%20REF_IDP.doc [accessed on 22 June 2013].
21
It is important to note that institutions of Vojvodina self-government established in the meantime an important tool of support to refugees and IDPs. In
December 2006, The Assembly of AP Vojvodina adopted the decision on establishing a Province Fund for Aid to Refugees, Expelled and Internally Displaced
Persons. Since 2007, the Fund has been continuously implementing projects of
various volumes supporting the integration on the territory of Vojvodina, but
also providing support to returnees and returnee communities.
22
Document is available at: http://www.kirs.gov.rs/docs/nacionalna_strategija_
izb_i_irl.pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013].
23
The document is available on the web site of the Government of Serbia: http://
www.srbija.gov.rs/extfile/sr/131175/strategija_odrzivog_opstanka_i_povratka_na_kim0242_cyr.zip [accessed on 22 June 2013].
20
47
April 2010 for the period between 2010 and 2015. The return of IDPs itself
was only defined as one of the general objectives of the strategy in the
framework of a much broader strategic context. Its measures were drafted
rather generally whereas the action plan has never been developed.
Since the significant portion of ID population consists of RAE24 communities, and because the status of Roma is especially problematic, the
policies and measures adopted in Serbia with the objective to generally improve their status are of major importance for the progress of the
overall status of Roma. Finally, a special chapter within the Strategy for
improvement of the status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia adopted in
April 2009,25 was devoted to issues of IDPs, so special recommendations,
measures and activities were developed with regard to issues of internally
displaced Roma (in the Action Plan adopted for the period 2009-201126).
In addition to the afore-mentioned, the Strategy for Migration Management was adopted in July 2009.27 In context of this paper it is important
to note that the strategy recognizes refugees and IDPs to belong to the
population of vulnerable migration groups, and one of the three strategic
objectives anticipates protection of rights of migrants and creation of conditions
for their integration and social inclusion. The first action plan for implementation of the 2011-2012 Strategy for Migration Management was adopted
only in 2011 (Official Gazette of RS, No. 37/11).
2.1.5. Granting citizenship for refugees in Serbia: changes in the
legislative framework between 1996 and 2007
The Law on Citizenship of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Official Gazette of FRY, No. 33/96) was adopted in 1996, and entered in force on 1
January 1997. Pursuant provisions of that Law, granting the citizenship of
Yugoslavia for citizens of the former Yugoslavia (also, for refugees from
Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians
Document can be found on the web-site of the Government of Serbia: http://
www.srbija.gov.rs/extfile/sr/107688/strategija_romi0080_cyr.zip [Accessed on
22 June 2013].
26
Official Gazette of RS, No. 57/2009. Action Plan was adopted by the Conclusion
of the Government of Serbia at the session held on 2 July 2009.
27
The document can be found on the web-site of Commissariat for refugees and
migrations: http://www.kirs.gov.rs/docs/strategija_upravljanje_migracijama.
pdf [accessed on 22 June 2013].
24
25
48
post-Yugoslav wars) was resolved in various ways depending whether
the applicant had the residence in the territory of FRY before or after the
promulgation of the FRY Constitution on 27 April 1992 (Art. 47 and Art.
48). Provisions of the Law granted wide discretion to authorities which
had decision competences over applications of those refugees who obtained the residency in the territory of FRY after 27 April 1992. Therefore,
these persons were generally in a less favorable position and could (could
not) be granted citizenship only upon the discretion decision of the competent authority.
Soon after the democratic changes in the second half of 2000, it has
become much easier to obtain Yugoslav citizenship. Amendments to
the Law on Citizenship was adopted in March 2001 (Official Gazette of
FRY, No. 9/01) making possible to the citizens of former SFRY republics to obtain Yugoslav citizenship without renunciation of their respective foreign citizenship. That is, the persons who are citizens of another
country created on the territory of SFRY and who reside in the territory of
Yugoslavia as refugees, expelled or displaced persons or who found a
refuge abroad were given possibility to obtain the citizenship of Yugoslavia (Art. 48, para. 1). Also, one could have been granted the Yugoslav
citizenship “if residing in Yugoslavia or abroad, and have no citizenship
of any other country established in the territory of SFRY” (Art. 48, Para.
2), i.e. an apatrid or a person who obtained the citizenship of another
foreign country. The time criterion which was crucial for obtaining citizenship of Yugoslavia remained unaltered, therefore the persons, who
had their residency in the territory after 27 April 1992, continued to be
in an unfavorable position, but the powers of the competent authority
deciding upon their application were significantly limited (Art. 48, Para.
3). (BCHR, 2002)
After the Law entered into force, the refugees were in a much better position in terms of exercising their right to citizenship than it was
the case in previous years. According to data of the Federal Ministry of
Interior at that time, 437,077 applications for the citizenship of Yugoslavia were filed in the period between 1 January 1997 and 20 July 2002.
The citizenship was granted to “527,404 persons, out of which 260,440
persons under the institute of admission into citizenship.” (Papić and
Dimitrijević, 2003: 183) In the period after the changes of 5 October,
“125,000 persons were granted citizenship, and 80,000 of them had dual
citizenship.” (BHRC, 2002: 206)
49
The Law on Citizenship of Serbia has been applied since 27 February
2005 and was additionally improved by amendments in September 2007.
This Law legally regulated issues of continuity of citizenship of Serbian
citizens but it also made easier to obtain citizenship for certain categories
of persons. In addition to it, the options of obtaining dual, even multiple citizenships were expanded. Generally, this Law was also valued for
“having adopted the principles of European Convention on Citizenship”
which was not the case with the previous legal regulations in this field.
(Jerosimić, 2008: 168)
Art. 23, Para. 2 of the Law on Citizenship sets out that a person born
in another republic of SFRY, who used to have citizenship of that republic, or a person who is a citizen of another country created in the territory of former Yugoslavia, but currently resides in Serbia as a refugee,
expelled or displaced person, or a person that found a refuge abroad,
can be granted the citizenship of Republic of Serbia.28 Art. 23, Para 1,
also defines the requirements: it is required that a person is of full maturity who has not been dispossessed of his/her legal capacity who
shall submit a written statement that he/she considers Serbia his/her
own country. However, the renunciation of foreign citizenship is not
required. (Jerosimić, 2008)
2.2. Overview of media scene in Serbia
In the period between 1992 and 1995, writing of most print media in
Serbia was marked by war atmosphere whereas examples of chauvinistic propaganda and hate speech could have been found in newspaper
articles. In its analysis from 2005, Jelena Grujić concluded that between
early 1990s and 5th October 2000 “pro-government media”29 violated ethic norms in the grossest manner including discrimination on ethnic basis and hate speech (Grujić, 2005: 18). According to the assessment of the
Center of Human Rights from Belgrade, these trends became significantly
By Art. 23, Paragraph 2, the continuity with Art. 48 of the Law on Yugoslav Citizenship was established, by which these persons were admitted to citizenship
by (then newly introduced) institute of citizenship admission.
29
The print media were marked as pro-government and in this work the daily
Politika and the weekly NIN were analyzed. Otherwise, the analysis was based
on a comprehensive sample of writings from two weeklies (NIN and Vreme)
and two daily newspapers (Politika and Borba / Naša borba / Danas).
28
50
weaker after signing the Dayton-Paris Agreement, and in 1998 were reinforced again with deteriorating situation and armed conflicts in Kosovo
and Metohija. The criminal law had banned ethnic hatred in that period,
in reality however it was continuously present both in state and in private
media close to the government and no criminal procedure for hate speech
has ever been instigated. (Dimitrijević, 2000)
In October 1998, the Law on Public Information was enacted in an urgent procedure. This Law introduced the measures which presented serious violation of media freedom. Perhaps the most problematic part of the
Law were the provisions on offense procedure which anticipated disproportionally high fines while the short time period for conducting a procedure violated the right to righteous proceeding guaranteed by the SRY
Constitution. The government attempted to influence editorial policies of
private media by an open financial pressure and the most frequently the
target was the Belgrade company ABC produkt, which printed most of the
private media in Serbia (BCLJP, 2001).
Nevertheless, the freedom of information in Serbia was mostly threatened by regulations related to establishment and operation of electronic
media in that period. Relevant regulations were dispersed everywhere
and often were not in compliance, while major powers were granted to
the state radio and television, thus making the legal establishment and
operation of a private radio and television station “practically impossible”
(Dimitrijević, 2000: 104).
Furthermore, some provision of the criminal law, particularly provisions related to broadcasting of fabricated news, clearly provided for the
“opportunity to violate freedom of expression and media prosecution”
(Dimitrijević, 2000: 177).
After the turn of 5th October in 2000, a major change in freedom of expression occurred, the position of media however was not visible immediately. In early 2001, the Federal Constitutional Court made a verdict confirming that numerous articles of the Law on Public Information did not
comply with the Constitution, international law, and federal laws. Following that, most of the provisions of that law, save the ones related to media
founding, were abolished. Yet, the new law was not adopted and a new
law on radio diffusion was also not adopted in 2001, thus introduction of
moratorium on granting work licenses for the media preserved the privileged status of those media that obtained it during the regime of Slobodan
Milošević to a great extent (BCHR, 2002). With respect to regulations, the
51
status of media in Serbia was only improved in 2002 when the Law on
Radio Diffusion was adopted. The Law set out new conditions and procedure for granting broadcasting licenses, and the main achievement of
that Law was establishment of independent and non-partisan regulatory
body: the Republic Radio Diffusion Agency. In general, provisions of this
Law were in compliance with international standards and Recommendation of the Ministerial Commission of Council of Europe on independence
and operation of regulatory agencies in the field of radio diffusion. (Papić
and Dimitrijević, 2003) Yet, due to resilient controversies with regard to
election of members to the Agency, which later lead to amendments to the
Law on Radio Diffusion, the status in the area of granting licenses, operation of media, and their ownership was marked as unregulated even three
years later (Petrović, 2006).
In 2003, the new Law on Public Information was finally adopted. The
Law was evaluated as modern regulating also the right to public information as the right to freedom of expression. Also, the Law regulated the
hate speech in detail and set out precisely the basis for exclusion of responsibility. However, the criminal law continued to contain provisions
on acts against honor and respect which did not comply with contemporary standards of human rights. The main problems were that the law for
offenders of such criminal acts anticipated imprisonment which was considered disproportional restriction of freedom of expression, especially if
these acts were committed by media. Also, it was problematic that the Law
did not differentiate whether the complainant was a private person, civil
servant, or a politician. Consequently, the practice of public figures filing
charges for slandering continued while on the other end, the actions and
public debates were organized to emphasize such situations and required
decriminalization of defamation and slander. (Papić and Dimitrijević,
2004) However, it has not been realized to date.
Journalists are exposed to threats and attacks and threats are mostly
addressed by politicians and other power figures of public life (Petrović,
2006: 379). In the period between 2007 and 2011, according to the data
of Independent Journalist Association of Serbia, out of 212 physical and
verbal attacks to journalists, only 17 cases were processed, mainly in minor offence procedures, although they included death threats and serious
physical attacks. (Petrović, 2012).
On the other hand, a serious problem of violating standards of journalist profession is in place. The Media Center from Belgrade published
52
the analysis of two-month reporting of six daily newspapers in September
2004 identifying 172 articles in which journalists did not comply with professional standards. As a major issue it was found that journalists allowed
to public figures to use the newspapers as platform for their “own promotion or promotion of a group they belong to” (BCHR, 2005: 252) Frequent
violations of professional and ethical standards are also confirmed in the
following years, and it was especially concerning that among media which
had such incidences were some of the most popular local media (Petrović,
2006: 384).
In March 2006, journalist associations agreed on a proposed code of ethics, and by late December the code was adopted. Nevertheless, in the coming years many violations of this Code were observed. In course of 2006,
based on continuous monthly analysis by Media Center, it was confirmed
that print media massively violated human and citizen rights, especially
frequent was the violation of presumption of innocence and demonstration of “exaggerated inclination to sensationalism and political instrumentalism” (Dobrković, 2007: 229). In 2010, the Media Council was founded as
a first self-regulatory body in the media sector with the goal to influence
a more consistent application of professional standards through its activities and strengthening of respectability of media. The Council started receiving complaints to contents of print media in September 2011 and during the first year of its operation 38 complaints were received, and in six
cases it was verified that the journalist code had been violated (Petrović
and Joksimović, 2013).
In course of 2009, many laws relevant for freedom of expression were
adopted or amended. The journalist associations particularly protested
against the proposed amendments to the Law on Public Information, and
after the amendments to this Law were adopted, the citizen advocate filed
the initiative for evaluation of its constitutionality to the Constitutional
Court (Dobrković, 2010). In July 2010, the Constitutional Court of Serbia
declared five out of seven amendments to the Law on Public Information
unconstitutional. The onset of the economic crisis additionally aggravated
an already bad status of media and in course of 2010 the situation continued to deteriorate: significant sale downfall of print media, major drop
of revenues from advertising, termination of employments and journalist
strikes were observed (Petrović, 2011).
In 2010, the Government of Serbia adopted the Strategy for Development of Public Information until 2016. The key novelty was the guidelines
53
anticipating the privatization of state media, and special attention was
paid to public ownership and media concentration. However, European
Federation of Journalists, almost simultaneously, assessed the freedom of
media in Serbia as seriously threatened and the financial status of journalists horrific. (Petrović, 2012) Moreover, the Council of Anti-Corruption in
its report about pressure and control of media emphasized various issues
regarding ownership structure of media and impact of state authorities to
the media. The report stated that funding of media from state budget had
reached one fourth of total revenue on media market and evaluated such
budget funding as very non-transparent. Similarly, private capital in media has also been assessed non-transparent, and for purpose of substantiation of that statement it pointed out that real owners of 18 out of 30 most
influential media houses in Serbia were unknown, indicating numerous
details on ownership structure of these media and disclosed that the main
reasons of such status often was the presence of offshore companies in
ownership structure of the media. The public budget funds are also placed
in media, in addition to public bids, mainly through advertising. Also,
agencies for public relations and marketing and production agencies have
a significant role in media funding which are mostly owned by political
party activists and persons related to them (Barać, 2011). Despite continuous emphasizing of such issues by journalist associations, the appropriate
legislation on prevention of illegal media ownership concentration and on
public ownership over media still does not exist in Serbia. Media sphere is
still marked by a delayed media legislation reform, non-transparent ownership, inadequate role of the state and deep economic crisis.
Although constitutional and legal framework, as per relevant international institutions, allows for legal protection of freedom of expression, in
the entire period between 2004 and 2012 in Serbia, a continuously strong
trend of violation of freedom of expression had been noted in Serbia, but
also violations of standards of journalist profession. In 2007, Reporters
without Borders ranked Serbia on 67th place for its level of media freedom
(the worst ranking of all states of the former Yugoslavia). In 2010, Serbia
fell down to 85th place on this list. (Jerosimić, 2008; Petrović, 2011) The
Media Organization of South-East Europe, in its analysis of 2008 evaluated the status of journalists in Serbia as catastrophic, stating that media
continued to suffer from pressures of political parties and owners of major capital (Dobrković, 2009). In 2012, the index of media sustainability
54
in Serbia was 1.92.30 The freedom of expression was estimated to 2.03,
and journalist professionalism had the index of 1.67 (IREX, 2013). Looking
at the entire period of last 12 years, it can be concluded that the sustainability of media in Serbia significantly increased only between 2000 and
2003, while almost a continuously negative trend has been present ever
since 2006, therefore the final result of sustainability index is only slightly
higher than the one from the year 2000.
Daily newspaper in this research sample. In early 2003, 14 daily newspapers were published in Serbia. Five daily newspapers, that were included
in this research, are some of the most influential, but selection of these
papers also reflect certain differences in editorial policies and significant
diversity of various attitudes towards social reality in Serbia.
Politika and Večernje novosti during the regime of Slobodan Milošević
were denominated as pro-government media, while Danas (along with its
predecessors Borba and Naša borba) represented consistently an independent newspaper. Politika and Novosti have the longest tradition in Serbia.
Even nowadays they belong to those with highest circulation and most
significantly influence the public opinion.
Danas is one of the exceptional media whose owners are journalists and
belongs to those daily newspapers with a very low circulation, yet it succeeded to preserve certain influence and significant professional credibility. Blic has, in a certain way, arisen from civil protests of 1996-97 making
it perhaps one of the most read pro-democratic dailies in Serbia until the
changes of 5th October. Its popularity and impact have also been preserved
after 2000 to a great extent.
Kurir appeared in June 2003 and such daily newspaper is normally
marked as tabloid. Writings of this newspaper are frequently marked as
an example of violation of journalist ethics.
Generally, such index marks the countries in which basic dimensions of sustainability of independent media are averagely developed. Media system also
includes elements of independence and elements that directly jeopardize media independence. The index is calculated based on research which is, according to the unique methodology, conducted by the IREX organization on annual
level in the past 12 years in around 80 states. The basis of the methodology consists of evaluation of numerous indicators on the scale between 0 and 4, within
five main dimensions: 1) Freedom of speech; 2) Professionalism in journalism;
3) Plurality of sources; 4) Media business operations; 5) Media institutions.
30
55
3. METHODOLOGY FRAMEWORK
In addition to objectives which are common for the entire study, i.e. for
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia,31 the research in Serbia also aimed to
answer an additional research question: whether and in which way the
newspaper writing about refugees (from Croatia and BiH) was different
compared to reporting about IDPs (from Kosovo and Metohija)?32
To answer this question, in the research the variable Origin of refugees or displaced persons (which are referred in the article) is introduced, thus the statistical
analysis of data obtained in a sample of articles found in archives in Serbia were
done especially within three sub-samples: first, the articles referring exclusively
to refugees; second, articles referring exclusively to IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija; and third sample was referred to both: refugees and IDPs.
The research included articles published in daily newspapers distributed in the territory of the entire Republic. These include: Politika, Večernje
novosti, Blic, Danas and Kurir. These daily newspapers were selected as the
most relevant in terms of most-read and their impact on the public opinion and decision makers. Simultaneously, it was assessed that these dailies
were the ones that reflect relationship between society and political elites
towards issues of refugees and IDPs in Serbia in the best way.
Not all five dailies were published in all observed periods, i.e. Danas33
and Blic were not published during the relevant period in 1996, the issues
In short, two main study objectives implemented in the framework of the project referred to the volume and manner of writing about issues concerning refugees and displaced persons but also to the standpoint of newspaper articles on
an imagined scale, which on one end stands for an objective information provision to refugees and returnees about return possibilities, and on the other - reporting about return and possibility of return in a way which primarily serves
realization of political goals of certain political options.
32
It is important to note here that notions displaced persons and refugees are
primarily used in this paper in order to mark two specific forcedly migrating
populations in Serbia. The first consists of refugees from Croatia and Bosnia
and Herzegovina, who sought the refugee in Serbia during post-Yugoslav wars
in Croatia and BiH, i.e. mostly between 1991 to 1995, while the other population
is made of displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, who left their places
of origin in the province mostly during 1999.
33
Instead of Danas, for the relevant time period from 1996, available issues of the
newspaper Naša borba were reviewed, from which Danas emerged later, thus
we considered it entirely justified in methodological terms.
31
56
of Danas were also not available in archives from 2001 and 2002, and Kurir
started coming out only in June 2003. The research on selected issues of
these five dailies was conducted to the most part in electronic archives
of Ebart Media Archive, and to a smaller extent, i.e. for relevant periods
before 2003, in paper archives of the University Library of Belgrade. Also,
for research of archive issues of Blic, the electronic archive was available
on the web site of this daily for relevant periods of 2001 and 2002.34
The research studied the period between mid-1996 until the end of 2012,
yet not all the issues from the given period were included, but only 11 particular periods (of various length) were defined for the needs of this research:
1. 9th August – 10th October 1996 (9 weeks)
2. 29th July – 29th September 2001 (9 weeks)
3. 16th – 17th July 2002 (9 weeks)
4. 1st January – 1st April 2003 (13 weeks)
5. 1st January – 20th May 2005 (20 weeks)
6. 1st July – 29th September 2006 (13 weeks)
7. 26th November 2008 – 14th April 2009 (20 weeks)
8. 1st April – 30th June 2009 (13 weeks)
9. 25th March – 23rd June 2010 (13 weeks)
10. 24th October 2011 – 29th April 2012 (27 weeks)
11. 1st October – 23rd December 2012 (12 weeks)
Defining these observed periods was not lead by any chronological reasons (thus the difference in length and distributions, i.e. distance between
periods). Periods of both national researches were primarily determined
in relation to certain benchmark events (and processes) which were recognized as (tentatively) important for solution of refugee and IDPs issues.35
Within these periods, the analyzed issues were selected on the basis of
the so-called rotating sample design.36 Total of 665 issues were reviewed
and 530 relevant articles were found and analyzed in accordance with previously defined codifying guidelines that make the basis of this analysis.
The research in archives and coding of all found relevant writings - in accordance with previously defined guidelines - were conducted by researchers of
Ebart Media Archive.
35
Such methodological solution was also determined by entirely practical reasons: by limitation of available time and other resources. It is completely certain
that all relevant events (and periods) could not be taken into consideration.
36
It was elaborated more thoroughly elsewhere.
34
57
4.ANALYSIS OF MEDIA PRACTICE – OVERVIEW OF KEY
RESEARCH FINDINGS
4.1. Basic statistical data about characteristics of newspaper articles
related to issues of refugees and IDPs
The table below demonstrates how many relevant articles were found
in each of the observed time periods. The number of articles in certain
periods was not equal, yet it is not justified to draw any direct conclusions since individual periods were neither equally long, nor all of the
five observed newspapers were available in certain periods. For example,
in the period in 1996, the research observed only three daily newspapers.
However, differences in frequency of relevant articles cannot certainly be
explained by these methodological reasons. Primarily, this applies to the
relevant period of 2005. In this period 16.4% of total number of articles
was found, which is significantly higher than any number of articles in the
equally long period between November 2008 and April 2009 or in an even
longer period between October 2011 and April 2012.
Table 1: Number of relevant articles in 11 observed periods
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
per cent
August - October 1996
34
6.4
6.4
July - September 2001
31
5.8
12.3
May - July 2002
42
7.9
20.2
January - April 2003
51
9.6
29.8
January - May 2005
87
16.4
46.2
July - September 2006
46
8.7
54.9
November 2008 - April 2009
61
11.5
66.4
April - June 2009
43
8.1
74.5
March - June 2010
31
5.8
80.4
October 2011 - April 2012
66
12.5
92.8
October - December 2012
38
7.2
100.0
530
100.0
Observed Period
TOTAL
58
Differences in number of relevant articles in issues of five observed
newspapers shall not be interpreted only by publishing length of individual dailies. On contrary, analysis at the level of individual periods demonstrates that the number of relevant texts in almost all periods between 2005
and 201237 was higher in issues of Politika and Večernje Novosti than in Blic
and Kurir. Number of relevant articles in Danas is equal to those in issues
of Politika and Novosti, whereas a less number of articles found in Danas (s.
Table 2) was mostly the consequence of the fact that this newspaper was
not available in archives from 2001 and 2002. In some periods, number of
texts found in Blic is close to the one found in other three dailies, while the
number of relevant articles in Kurir is almost always the least. It is justified
to assume that these differences also reflect certain differences in editorial
policies of observed daily newspapers.
Table 2: Number of relevant articles found
in archived issues of five daily newspapers
Daily newspapers
Frequency
Percent
158
29.8
Blic
80
15.1
Kurir
33
6.2
Danas
110
20.8
Večernje novosti
149
28.1
Total
530
100.0
Politika
Articles dealing with refugees and IDPs, return process or any other
concern related to the refugee status, are not in a rule published on first
pages of newspapers. Among observed issues, only 2.3% of these articles
were found on the front page. Nevertheless, more than 40 % of articles are
found on one of the first five pages of the newspaper.
It is the case of periods for which all editions of five daily newspapers were
available in archives (thus in each of these periods, the equal number of issues
of all five daily newspapers were analyzed).
37
59
Table 3: Number of articles published
on certain pages of analyzed newspaper issues
Frequency
Percent
Valid
percent
Cumulative
percent
12
2,3
2,3
2,3
1
12
2.3
2.3
2.3
2
72
13.6
13.8
16.1
3
36
6.8
6.9
23.0
4
63
11.9
12.1
35.1
5
35
6.6
6.7
41.8
6
33
6.2
6.3
48.2
7
36
6.8
6.9
55.1
8
35
6.6
6.7
61.8
9
18
3.4
3.5
65.3
10-39
181
34.1
34.8
100.0
Total
521
98.3
100.0
9
1.7
530
100,0
Page
No data
Total
Table 4: Frequency of various newspaper forms
containing references to issues of refugees and IDPs
Form of newspaper text
Frequency
Cumulative
percent
Percent
Report
252
47.5
47.5
News
166
31.3
78.9
Press release
47
8.9
87.8
Interview
33
6.2
94.0
Comment
24
4.5
98.5
Other
8
1.5
100.0
Total
530
100.0
60
In terms of the form, the relevant newspaper articles appear in most
cases as reports and news. All other forms of newspaper articles are far
less represented (however, they make together a little over one fifth of
all articles).
More than three thirds (precisely 77.2%) of article headlines belong
to informative type. Only 13.6% of them were marked as sensational,
and 7.2 % as emotional, while all other types of headlines appear extremely rarely (2.2%).
Almost two thirds of texts (62.1%) were signed by editorial journalists,
while in regard to copyright texts the second largest group is made of articles taken from news agencies (17.4%). Comments (3.6%), press releases
(3.4%) and articles taken from other media (0.6%) are less frequent, and
articles, whose authors are unknown (unsigned articles) make 13% of total
number of relevant articles.
For each article, the primary and secondary theme (if any) was determined. Methodology guidelines defined 17 theme categories. Consequently, the themes of all 530 articles were codified according to these categories.
Among primary themes, three most represented theme categories were:
housing provision and other issues related to local integration (15.7%);
other issues of status and access to rights unrelated to return (12.3%); and
(at last) living conditions in return areas (10.8%). However, the most numerous group of articles are made of various texts which could not be classified in any of specific theme categories: 22.6% of texts are classified in the
category Other. Only in 16% of all analyzed texts, the existence of another
secondary topic was confirmed and almost one third of these secondary
themes belonged to the category related to the return process in another way.
When the data about primary themes were classified in three broad
categories, with the intention to separate the articles clearly related to
return from those that exclusively contain references to processes of
local integration or to living circumstances in places where refugees
found their refuge, as well as from texts which do not contain direct
references either to return or to local integration, the data stated in the
lower table were obtained. The data clearly indicate that only slightly
over one fifth of articles contain direct references to the return process
of refugees or IDPs. One third of articles deal with various issues related to refugee circumstances and/or some aspects of local integration,
while all other articles do not show clear link with issues of return or
local integration.
61
Table 5: Frequency of primary themes of relevant newspaper articles in relation to their
link or absence of link with the process of return or integration
Primary theme
of the article
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
Related to return
118
22.3
22.3
Related to the process of
integration and/or refugee
status
176
33.2
55.5
Other
236
44.5
100.0
Total
530
100.0
The primary actors of analyzed newspaper articles are defined in relation to 35 specific categories described in methodological guidelines. In
the table below, the data for seven categories listed in this research are
presented containing more than 80% of all analyzed articles.
Table 6: Frequency of specific categories of primary actors
in observed newspaper articles
Primary actors
of press articles
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
Individuals, group and
refugee population, IDPs and/
or returnees
104
19.6
19.6
Executive power represen
tatives – national level (Serbia)
79
14.9
34.5
Agencies, institutes, regulatory
bodies, etc.
56
10.6
45.1
Executive power representative
– city or municipal level
53
10.0
55.1
Local NGOs
51
9.6
64.7
International community
31
5.8
70.5
International organizations
30
5.7
76.2
Political parties and politicians
29
5.5
81.7
Others
97
18.3
100.0
TOTAL
530
100.0
62
However, when various categories of actors representing state authorities and institutions or local government authorities and political parties
and politicians merge in one category, and when all categories representing
international and foreign categories are joined into one, a substantially different picture is obtained, the one presented in Table 7. It becomes very clear
that various government and political party representatives are the major
actors of newspaper articles about issues of refugees and IDPs in almost
50% cases. In the same role, the refugees and IDPs or returnees – what is primarily their own concern –appear only in 20% of cases on the average. Later
data will demonstrate that these people appear even less often as secondary
actors in newspapers articles. Also, among secondary actors of newspaper
articles, the representatives of government and political parties and various
international and foreign actors make the most frequent appearance.
Table 7: Frequency of primary actors from five general categories in newspaper articles
referring to refugees, IDPs and returnees
Primary actors
of press writings
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
Civil servants and local
politicians
240
45.3
45.3
Refugees, IDPs and
returnees
104
19.6
64.9
Various international and
foreign actors
95
17.9
82.8
Local NGOs
51
9.6
92.4
Various other actors
40
7.6
100.0
530
100.0
TOTAL
In 60.6% of articles, the existence of secondary actors was observed; the most
specific categories of secondary actors are the representatives of local executive
powers (12.8%) and international community (12.8%), followed by: individuals
and groups of refugees, IDPs and/or returnees (10.9%); representatives of executive power on the national level (10.6%); representatives of various foreign
countries and governments and representatives of international organizations.
In addition to the actors, the sources of relevant newspapers articles
were also closely observed and determined. The sources were identified
in relation to previously prepared classification containing 16 specific
categories. Primary and secondary sources of newspapers articles were
63
identified and the research demonstrated that in case of primary sources,
the most frequent sources of relevant newspapers articles were:
(A) Executive power representatives (13.4%);
(B) Individuals, groups and refugee, IDP and returnee population (11.3);
(C) Agencies, institutes and regulatory bodies (10.9%);
(D) Local NGOs (10.6); i
(E) Representatives of local authorities (6.6%).
The sources could not be established in approximately every tenth
text (10.6%), and existence of secondary sources was established only in
a fourth (25.1%) of analyzed texts. Among secondary sources, again, the
representatives of executive governments (18%) and refugee, IDP and returnee representatives (12.8%) were relatively most frequent specific categories of newspaper sources.
For almost three quarters (73%) of texts, it was established that they
were based only on one source. Two sources were observed in 17.4%, and
more than two in approximately every 10th text (9.6%).
In order to make the picture of analyzed texts somewhat clearer, we
grouped the data in five broader categories. As a result, we obtained the
results shown in the Table 8.
Table 8: Primary sources of newspaper articles related to refugees, IDPs and returnees
Primary sources of
newspaper articles
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
206
38.9
38.9
Refugees, IDPs and
returnees
60
11.3
50.2
foreign actors
57
10.8
61.0
Local NGOs
56
10.6
71.6
Various other sources
95
17.9
89.5
Non-identified sources
56
10.6
100.0
530
100.0
Civil servants, representatives of local authorities and
local politicians
TOTAL
The results clearly demonstrate that the representatives of the state and
local government and political parties were relatively dominant source of
newspaper articles about refugee, IDP and returnee issues. Essentially, the
64
same can be applied to secondary sources: more than 40% of established secondary sources consist of government and political party representatives.
We already demonstrated that more than 70% of articles were created
based on only one source. Additional information about quality of analyzed newspaper themes dealt by in observed writings are obtained by
analyzing relationships between the sources used in the texts as well as the
extent to which various sources represented various standpoints and how
they were dealt with by authors of these writings:
(A) Homogeneity of sources. It was established that 35.1% of writings did
not include any question to which the sources used in the text might
have any standpoint (or they were not clearly expressed). On the other
side, when a certain controversy existed in regard to the theme of the
article, in more than half of writings (52.1%) the sources were not consistent or only one source existed. In approximately every eight text
(12.9%), the use of two or more sources were recognized that have
somewhat different attitudes, while the use of sources with clearly opposite standpoints were the least utilized approach (3.8%). The Table
9 demonstrates in more details the cross-sectional data on number of
sources and data on homogeneity of sources. It is also important to note
that more than 40% of texts containing more than one source do not
demonstrate different standpoints toward the theme of the article but
these formally different sources take the same attitude, i.e. the theme is
not debated and actually other standpoints in the text are not shown.
(B) The interrelation between standpoints expressed in an article. For 34%
of analyzed texts, it was established that they did not contain any standpoint. In 58% of texts, a certain standpoint was expressed but it was
only one opinion, thus we are left only with about 8% of texts in which
more than one opinion was depicted regarding a specific theme: more
precisely, 4% of writings contain different standpoints, however they
are presented in an unbalanced manner, i.e. the author clearly showed
preference to one of the standpoints, and in another 4% of writings different attitudes were presented in a balanced manner.
If we look at texts which contain more than one source, we can establish
that 60% of these writings contain only one standpoint, and different attitudes – equally expressed in both balanced and unbalanced manner – are
present only in 29% of writings.38
11% of articles do not express any kind of standpoint.
38
65
Table 9: The relation between numbers of sources used in the texts
and heterogeneity of standpoints represented by these sources
Sources of newspaper articles include …
No. of
sources
One
Two or
more
TOTAL
one or
identical
interest
groups
two or
more
interest
groups
opposite
interest
groups
Not
applicable
TOTAL
215
0
0
172
387
55.6%
0.0%
0.0%
44.4%
100.0%
61
48
20
14
143
42.7%
33.6%
14.0%
9.8%
100.0%
276
48
20
186
530
52.1%
9.1%
3.8%
35.1%
100.0%
In terms of origin of refugees mentioned in the articles, the research
pointed out some significant facts:
1) a substantially higher number of articles deals with issues of refugees from Croatia rather than issues of refugees from Bosnia and
Herzegovina (or with both);
2) the same number of articles in daily newspapers deal with issues of
refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as issues
of IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija; and
3) there are articles in newspapers which simultaneously deal with the
issues of refugees and IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija.
Table 10: Origin of refugees and/or IDPs referred to in analyzed articles
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
37
7.0
7.0
125
23.6
30.6
Refugees from Croatia and BiH
22
4.2
34.7
IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija
186
35.1
69.8
Refugees from Croatia and/or
BiH and IDPs from Kosovo and
Metohija
160
30.2
100.0
TOTAL
530
100.0
Origin of refugees and/or IDPs
Refugees from BiH
Refugees from Croatia
66
In the framework of this research, performed analyses aimed to establish whether any differences existed and, if any of what kind, among
articles dealing with refugees and IDPs of different origin. Significant
findings are presented in the Chapter 4.3. Since our research exclusively
focused on media dealings with refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina on one, and IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija on the other
side, all the analyses were conducted following prior data pooling of articles related (exclusively) to refugees in one single category [refugees from
Croatia and/or BiH].39
In course of the archive research, the relevant articles were also analyzed with respect to whether refugees or IDPs referred in the specific
article were of (predominantly) the same or yet of another ethnic origin in
relation to the target group of a respective daily newspaper. This analysis
demonstrated that:
(A) 68.7% of the articles referred mainly to refugees and/or IDPs of the
same ethnic origin as the target group of the respective daily newspaper;
(B) 4.5% of the articles wrote about issues related to (mostly) refugees
and IDPs of other ethnic origin, and 7.2% simultaneously wrote
about refugees of the same and refugees of different ethnic origin.
This analysis was not applicable to almost one fifth (19.6%) of analyzed
articles.
Finally, the primary analysis of relevant newspaper articles included
the assessment of general attitude toward the return process or in general
toward resolution of refugee and/or IDP issues. The evaluation was presented by a five degree scale. The values on the scale and results obtained
are presented in the Table 11. Here it should be noted that all measures of
central tendency equal 3, i.e. the central value of the scale.40 For requirements of further analysis, however, we considered more important to deal
with (non-)balance of total volume of negative on one and positive articles
on the other side.
That is, three first categories from Table 10 were pooled. The obtained category
of refugees from Croatia and/or BiH includes 184 articles and represents 34.7%
of all analyzed articles.
40
Arithmetic mean equals to 3.09, however it is important to note that distribution significantly deviates from forms of normal distribution (it is asymmetric
and narrower than usual distribution).
39
67
Table 11: Evaluation of general attitude
of newspaper articles toward the return process and/or resolution
of refugee and IDPs issues
Attitude in the article
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
percent
8
1,5
1,5
Very positive
8
1.5
1.5
Positive
157
29.6
31.1
Not expressed (neither
positive nor negative)
190
35.8
67.0
Negative
127
24.0
90.9
48
9.1
100.0
530
100.0
Very negative
TOTAL
4.2. Differences between time periods observed:
newspaper articles on refugees and IDPs
in different time periods – different or identical?
The research included 11 different time periods, while the beginning
and the end of the periods were defined according to certain important
benchmark events that took place within these periods, i.e. the processes
that began and lasted within these periods.
One of the ideas in the core of such methodological approach is the assumption that new processes or new events may also cause certain changes
in reporting manner about refugees and IDPs (and their return!) or bring
changes in the volume of relevant newspaper articles, their contents, and
some formal characteristics of texts.
In order to prove this hypothesis, the analyses comprised cross-section
data from all variables defined by the methodological research framework with the category time periods. Statistical significance of the correlation was verified by calculation of Phi and Cramér’s V ratio. The results demonstrated that, with respect to only few observed variables, the
data observed within different time periods were significantly different,
68
however these differences did not indicate steady and obvious changes
during the entire observation period (1996–2012). It was almost entirely
the matter of some significant oscillations (in various directions!) from
one to another time period.
It will be demonstrated what kind of changes took place with respect
to time periods in case of variables primary sources and press contents and
article’s attitude toward the return and resolutions of refugees and IDPs. Both
charts below illustrate the general findings described in the previous
paragraph.
In case of the primary sources of newspaper articles, the chart 1
clearly demonstrates that government and political party representatives were mainly used as the source of newspaper articles (with one
exception of the relevant period in 1996 when various international
and foreign actors equally often appeared in this role). The chart is,
however, showing that through various time periods no systematic
decrease or increase of frequency of utilization of these sources, and
the same applies to other categories of primary sources analyzed
newspaper articles.
69
The chart 2 shows somewhat a different general image. It is obvious,
that after 2005, a substantial decrease of frequency of newspapers articles
could be observed which expressed neither negative nor positive attitude
toward the return issues or issues of refugees and IDPs. On the other
hand, in the entire period from 2001 to 2012, fairly constant increase of articles expressing positive attitude was present, but at the same time those
in which a negative relation towards return and resolution of issues of
refugees and IDPs was also (implicitly or explicitly) expressed.
Similarly, it is important to note that the ratio between the number
of texts with positive and those with negative attitude at the level of
individual periods is fairly different than the one suggested by the total
sum of both of them. In general, among found articles, the number of
those with negative attitude is only slightly higher than the number of
articles with positive attitude toward the return and resolution of refugee and IDP issues.41 However, the Chart 2 convincingly demonstrates
that this relation was different in different periods: in some periods the
frequency of appearance of one or the other are identical, however in
some other periods the texts with negative or positive attitude respectively significantly prevailed.
41
See Table 11 on p. 41
70
4.3. Daily newspaper writing about refugees and IDPs in Serbia:
different topics and angles?
The newspaper articles in relevant daily newspapers in Serbia dealing with refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina differ from
articles on issues of IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija in terms of many
parameters. We came to this conclusion according to the analysis of the
relation between the variable Origin of refugees and all other variables used
in this research. The significance of the interdependence was evaluated
based on Phi and Cramér’s V ratio. The original variable Origin of refugees
was recodified and reduced to three categories: first category included
texts referring only to refugees (from Croatia and/or BiH), the second one
included texts referring only to IDPs from Kosovo, and the third one the
texts referring to both refugees and IDPs. The most significant results are
presented here.
Regarding the articles published in various newspapers, the clear difference can be primarily observed between Politika and Vecernje novosti: the
articles referring to refugees are mostly present in Večernje novosti (34.8%)
whereas the articles referring exclusively to IDPs most frequently appear
in Politika (36.6%). Relatively the highest number of articles referring to
both refugees and IDPs were published in Danas (28.8%). The share of
these articles was also relatively more in Blic.
4.3.1. Formal characteristics of articles.
Considering various journalist forms, no major differences between articles on refugees and IDPs can be confirmed, however the articles referring to both refugees and IDPs significantly differ from the first two categories by relative share of news and reports: more than half of all articles
referring to refugees or IDPs only appear in the form of reports; on contrary, 46.3% of articles referring to both of these populations are published
in the form of news.
The differences also exist regarding the type of headlines and to that
end differences appear with all three categories of texts. The informative
headlines are most frequent in texts referring to refugees and IDPs (85.6%),
while headlines of sensational and emotional type appear less often. Clear
differences, however, also exist between the other two categories of articles: informative headlines are relatively less represented in articles related to refugees (69% to 78% in articles on IDPs). Also, sensational headlines
71
appear more often in the latter articles (17.4% to 14%) as well as emotional
(11.4% to 6.5%).
With regard to authorship of articles, it is obvious that journalists of
editorial board appear as authors relatively more frequently in texts referring to refugees and IDPs (70%). Also, more texts taken from the news
agencies are observed when these texts refer to IDPs: 25.3% compared to
14.1% of texts referring exclusively to refugees.
Generally, the place of articles of newspaper editions significantly depends on which refugee and IDP populations they refer to: on first nine
newspaper pages, 76.8 articles referring only to IDPs appear, and 66.1%
of texts referring exclusively to refugees. In addition to that, texts referring only to IDPs appear more often on pages 2 and 3 (26.5% compared
to 19.4% of articles referring only to refugees), and the texts referring only
to refugees appear relatively more often on pages 4 and 5 (25% compared
to 18.2% of texts referring to IDPs only). Also, almost half of all articles
(48.8%) referring to both refugees and IDPs in newspapers appears after
the page 9.
4.3.2.Themes
The articles referring to various (refugee and IDP) populations also differ by topics they deal with to a significant extent. Primarily, the articles
dealing with IDPs only are considerably more devoted to topics related to
return (31.7% compared to 17.4%). As opposed to this, the texts referring
to refugees only deal with the status and rights more often, i.e. the themes
which are not directly related to return (29.9% compared to 16.7%).42
Compared to texts that exclusively deal with refugee issues, considerably more texts related to IDPs only deal with IDPs of the same ethnic group
as the target group of the respective daily newspaper, and significantly less
with persons of different or simultaneously the same and different ethnic
origin. In addition to that, it is interesting that articles referring to both refugees and IDPs can be analyzed more often with respect to this parameter.
Themes of more than 50% of articles referring to either refugees or IDPs belong
to heterogenic category other themes, containing ten different specific themes
(from challenging application of laws and strategies to personal stories of refugees and conflict situations that involve refugees). Unlike that, the articles referring to both refugees and IDPs deal in 56.3% cases with issues of status and
rights which in no way relate to the return.
42
72
Table 12: The differences between articles referring to refugees of various origins:
ethnic origin of refugees and/or IDPs referred to in articles compared
to ethnic origin of the target group of the respective daily newspaper
Refugees
from
IDPs from
Croatia
Kosovo
and/or BiH
Mostly
identical
Ethnic origin
compared
to the ethnic
origin of
the target
group of the
newspaper
Mostly
different
Identical
and
different
Not
applicable
TOTAL
Both
refugees
and IDPs
TOTAL
145
173
46
364
78.8%
93.0%
28.8%
68.7%
18
6
0
24
9.8%
3.2%
0.0%
4.5%
19
3
16
38
10.3%
1.6%
10.0%
7.2%
2
4
98
104
1.1%
2.2%
61.3%
19.6%
184
186
160
530
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100,0%
4.3.3. Attitude toward resolution of refugee and IDP issues
Significant differences between articles related to forced migrants of
various origins also exist with regard to the attitude of the article toward
the return process or resolution of refugee and IDP issues in general.
Three categories of articles differ primarily by the frequency of articles
with negative attitude and articles without any attitude. The frequency of
articles with positive attitude is mainly balanced.
Among the articles related to refugees only, there is significantly higher number of them with negative attitude and considerably less texts in
which no attitude was expressed at all. The data in the Table 13 clearly
demonstrates that all 45% of articles referring only to refugees contains a
negative attitude toward the return or resolution of refugee issues, while
the texts with negative attitudes related exclusively to IDPs do not amount
to more than one third, and among those related to refugees and IDPs simultaneously are less than one fifth.
73
Table 13: The differences between articles related to refugees of various origins: article’s
attitude related to return process and/or resolution of refugee and IDP issues
Very
positive
Article’s
attitude
toward return
process and/or
refugees and
IDPs
Positive
Neither
positive nor
negative
Negative
Very
negative
TOTAL
Refugees
from
Croatia
and/or
BiH
IDPs
from
Kosovo
Both
refugees
and IDPs
TOTAL
2
3
3
8
1.1%
1.6%
1.9%
1.5%
48
55
54
157
26.1%
29.6%
33.8%
29.6%
50
66
74
190
27.2%
35.5%
46.3%
35.8%
56
48
23
127
30.4%
25.8%
14.4%
24.0%
28
14
6
48
15.2%
7.5%
3.8%
9.1%
84
186
160
530
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100,0%
4.3.4. Sources and actors
In writings referring to both refugees and IDPs, the existence of only
one source was more frequently observed: 85.6% of these articles are written based on one source only, and less than 70% of articles referring exclusively to refugees or IDPs. There are no major differences between writings referred only to refugees or IDPs in that regard. However, other (and
more interesting!) types of differences are observed in terms of the type of
primary sources on which these writings were based.
Among articles related to IDPs only, civil and public servants and the
representatives of political parties appear as primary source significantly
more often than in articles related to refugees only (44.6% compared to
32.1%). Also, local NGOs appear to some extent more often as the primary
source in articles related only to refugees (13% compared to 9.1%).
74
A similar image is obtained by the analysis of primary actors: in writings related only to IDPs the government and political party representatives have considerably more frequent the role of the primary actors (46.2%
compared to 37%), while in writings related only to refugees, the same role
is more often occupied by various international actors (22.3% compared to
17.2%) and local NGO representatives (12% compared to 7.5%). In case of
writings related to both refugees and IDPs, more than 50% of articles have
government and political party representatives for the primary actors.
4.4. Actors and sources as possible generator of topics
in newspaper articles related to refugees and IDPs
The data presented here answer the question: Were certain topics analyzed more or less when the government and political parties’ representatives appeared in the articles as primary actors or primary sources respectively, compared to those in which some other entities and persons appeared as primary actors or sources?
The variable primary actors and primary sources were re-codified in two
ways. The first re-codified version of the variable primary actors includes five
categories,43 and the second is reduced to only two categories: government
and political party representatives and various other actors. In almost the
same manner, the variable primary sources had been recodified. On the other
hand, the variable primary topics is summarized in three categories: 1) topics related to return; 2) topics related to issues (of status and exercising of
rights) which are not directly related to the return; and 3) other topics.
4.4.1. Primary actors and topics of newspaper articles
The results show us that an interrelation exists between the variables actors and topics which is significant only on the level p<0.05 (i.e., on a lower
level of significance), and only in cases when the variable primary actors is
reduced to differentiation between government and political parties representatives on one side, and all other actors on the other. The data demonstrate that between the articles in which government and political party
representatives are primary actors, 39.2% of them refer to topics related to
1) Representatives of government and political parties; 2) various international
and foreign actors; 3) local NGOs; 4) refugees, IDPs and returnees; 5) various
other actors.
43
75
exercising of rights by refugees and IDPs and are not directly related to the
return. Among articles in which some other entities appear as the primary actors of newspaper articles, these topics are significantly less present (28.3%).
Other differences are less expressed and can be observed in the Table 14.
Table 14: The relationship between the variable primary actors and the variable primary
topics of newspaper articles related to refugees and/or IDPs
Primary theme of the article
Primary
actors
Representatives
of government
and political
parties
Various other
actors
TOTAL
Related to
return
Issues (of
status and
rights)
which are
not related
to return
Other
themes
48
94
98
240
20.0%
39.2%
40.8%
100.0%
70
82
138
290
24.1%
28.3%
47.6%
100.0%
118
176
236
530
22.3%
3.2%
44.5%
100.0%
TOTAL
4.4.2. Primary sources and topics of newspaper articles
The analyses demonstrate that the variable primary sources significantly
correlates with the variable primary topics of newspaper articles. The nature
of this relation is yet fundamentally different from the one established by
the analysis of relation between primary actors and topics of newspaper articles.44 Namely, it is established that the significance of the interrelation
between the two variables here is not predominantly based on differences
between the categories government and political party representatives
and other categories of sources, but on various differences between other
categories of sources.
This additionally confirms the significance of differentiating between the role of
source and the role of actor on occasion of analyzing of newspaper article.
44
76
Table 15: The relation between the variable primary sources and the variable primary
topics of newspaper articles related to refugees and/or IDPs
Primary theme of the article
Government
and political
parties’ representatives
foreign actors
Primary
sources
Local NGOs
Refugees, IDPs
and returnees
Various other
sources
No other
sources were
established
TOTAL
Related to
return
Issues (of
status and
rights) which
are not related
to the return
Other
themes
TOTAL
43
73
90
206
20.9%
35.4%
43.7%
100.0%
18
17
22
57
31.6%
29.8%
38.6%
100.0%
16
20
20
56
28.6%
35.7%
35.7%
100.0%
11
15
34
60
18.3%
25.0%
56.7%
100.0%
17
22
56
95
17.9%
23.2%
58.9%
100.0%
13
29
14
56
23.2%
51.8%
25.0%
100.0%
118
176
236
530
22,3
33.2%
44.5%
100.0%
The following three facts obvious from Table 15 will be emphasized here:
A.Thematically, the texts whose primary sources were international actors
and local NGOs were more often linked to the process of refugee return.
B. Among articles dealing with issues, which are not directly related to
the return, the sources could not be established in more than half of
these articles (51.8%).
C.In cases where the primary sources of newspaper articles are the
persons or other entities from refugee, IDP and returnee population,
they thematically belong to heterogeneous category other topics to
a more significant extent and are seldom related to categories that
refer to return and issues (of status and rights) unrelated to the return.
77
4.5. Actors and sources as possible factors of newspapers attitudes towards
return and resolution of issues of refugees and IDPs
4.5.1. Primary actors of newspaper articles and their attitudes toward the
return and IDP and refugee migration issues
The character of primary actors is substantially related to the article’s
attitude to refugees and return, and the character of that relation is presented in the Table 16. Several elements of this interrelation should be especially pointed out:
A.When international representatives appear as primary actors, the
relevant articles have more frequently a positive attitude toward the
return and resolution of refugee and/or IDP issues.
B. The articles in which local NGOs have a role of primary actors have
a positive attitude considerably rare and an unexpressed and negative standpoint more often.
C.Significantly more often than in any other writings, an extremely
negative standpoint is found in articles in which the role of the primary actors belongs to persons and other entities from refugee, IDP
and returnee population.
In general, the articles with positive attitude (in comparison to those with
a negative one) are predominantly present in articles where international and
foreign representatives appear as primary actors (+19.0%) and representatives
of local institutions of government and political parties (+5.5%), while the articles with a negative attitude appear mostly when the primary actors are local
NGOs (-37.3%), refugees and IDPs (-18.3%) and various other actors (-7.5).
Table 16: The link between the variable primary actors and the variable attitude toward
return and resolution of refugee/IDPs issues
Attitude of the article towards return process and/or
refugees/IDPs
Government
and political
parties
International
and foreign
actors
78
Neither
Very
Positive positive nor Negative
positive
negative
4
76
93
55
Very
negative
TOTAL
12
240
1.7%
31.7%
38.8%
22.9%
5.0%
100.0%
1
39
33
19
3
95
1.1%
41.1%
34.7%
20.0%
3.2%
100.0%
Attitude of the article towards return process and/or
refugees/IDPs
Neither
Very
Positive positive nor Negative
positive
negative
Local NGOs
Refugees, IDPs
and returnees
Various other
actors
TOTAL
Very
negative
TOTAL
0
4
24
16
7
51
.0%
7.8%
47.1%
31.4%
13.7%
100.0%
2
26
29
24
23
104
1.9%
25.0%
27.9%
23.1%
22.1%
100.0%
1
12
11
13
3
40
2.5%
30.0%
27.5%
32.5%
7.5%
100.0%
8
157
190
127
48
530
1.5%
29.6%
35.8%
24.0%
9.1%
100.0%
4.5.2. Primary sources of newspaper articles and their attitudes toward the
return and refugee and IDP issues
The interrelation between these two variables is noteworthy, and a
close cross-section analysis of the Table discloses few essential facts:
A. The articles in which local NGOs have the role of primary sources
have a negative attitude considerably more frequent (precisely, six
times more than the positive one). The same trend is present (yet significantly less expressed) with articles in which the role of primary
sources is given to persons or other entities from the population of
refugees, IDPs and returnees.
B. Among the articles in which the refugees and returnees are the primary sources, there is significantly less number of articles in which
no attitude was expressed toward the return or to the resolution of
refugee and/or IDPs issues in general.
C. The articles, in which the primary sources come from various international representatives and representatives of local governments and
political parties, have a balanced ratio between positive and negative
attitudes to the most extent. Also, the articles with positive attitude
appear more often with both these categories of primary sources.
D. Significantly highest number of articles with a positive attitude and
the articles with unexpressed attitude are found among articles in
which the primary sources could not be identified.
79
E. Generally, in comparison to other specifically established primary
sources, when representatives of government and political parties
appear as primary sources in articles related to refugees and IDPs,
they have significantly less negative and much more positive standpoint to the return process and solution of refugee and IDPs issues.
Table 17: The relation between the variable primary sources
and the variable attitude toward the return and resolution
of refugee and/or IDP issues
Article’s attitude toward return process and/or refugees/
IDPs
Government
and political
parties
International
and foreign
actors
Local NGOs
Refugees,
IDPs and
returnees
Various other
sources
Source not
established
TOTAL
80
Positive
Neither
positive
nor
negative
Negative
Very
negative
TOTAL
4
67
82
49
4
206
1.9%
32.5%
39.8%
23.8%
1.9%
100.0%
1
19
21
13
3
57
1.8%
33.3%
36.8%
22.8%
5.3%
100.0%
0
5
20
18
13
56
0.0%
8.9%
35.7%
32.1%
23.2%
100.0%
2
12
14
17
15
60
3.3%
20.0%
23.3%
28.3%
25.0%
100.0%
0
27
29
27
12
95
0.0%
28.4%
30.5%
28.4%
12.6%
100.0%
1
27
24
3
1
56
1.8%
48.2%
42.9%
5.4%
1.8%
100.0%
8
157
190
127
48
530
1.5%
29.6%
35.8%
24.0%
9.1%
100.0%
Very
positive
4.6. Content analysis of articles: some observation about the relation
between primary actors and the attitude toward return and resolution of
refugee and IDP issues
This paper does not include the complete content analysis of all relevant articles. Statistical analyses of data collected during the archive research are supplemented with the content analysis and other illustrative
examples only to a partial extent. This partial content analysis of the relevant articles is mainly related to articles in which the representatives of
the government and political parties appeared as primary actors. The articles with a positive and negative attitude respectively toward the return
or resolution of refugee and IDP issues in places of their refuge or migration were particularly observed. Also, the analysis was performed on the
articles related only to refugees or IDPs respectively. Moreover, this short
analysis included only some articles in which local NGOs are primary actors and whose attitude was evaluated as negative.
4.6.1. Articles with a negative attitude in which the role of primary actors
belong to representatives of government and political parties
Generally, the articles which attitude was marked as negative usually
do not contain extremely negative relation of the primary actors toward
the return or different approach to resolution of refugee and IDPs issues,
yet the actors in the article rather indicate, for example, to difficulties existing with regard to return of refugees or express negative attitudes and
comments in relation to the return process to date and its outcomes or
emphasize various (still) unresolved issues and difficulties which the huge
number of refugees or IDPs or returnees face with.
In the 2001 interview related to foreign policy and the objectives of Yugoslav diplomacy, Goran Svilanović, Yugoslav Minster of Foreign Affairs
at that time, talking about relations with Croatia, said that outstanding
issues existed in the relationship between these two countries and one of
them was the status of “Serbian returnees – whose return, despite having citizenship of Croatia, is discouraged by the Croatian authorities in
so many ways.” (Politika, 30 August 2001, p. 2) Similarly, another example
of a short article that was published much later in 2009 features the vicepresident of the Government of Serbia talking on occasion of the International Day of Refugees: “…it is an occasion to remind the international
community and our neighbors that problems of Serbian refugees and
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internally displaced persons in Serbia have not remotely been resolved
[…] because Serbia still struggles with problems of 300,000 persons that
have the status of a refugee and IDP, and more than 200,000 of those who
took its citizenship, out of which the majority have neither their own roof
nor permanent employment.” (Večernje novosti, 20 June 2009, p. 7)
In the article published in Večernje novosti in 2001, it is talked about
the standpoint by the DOS Presidency on occasion of the elections in Kosovo. The Presidency concluded that the prerequisites for democratic
elections had not existed and that the participation of Serbs in elections
could be discussed only when some progress regarding certain issues had
been achieved. Among others, one can conclude from the article that no
progress has been achieved regarding the return of IDPs and that the international community in Kosovo should be re-addressed and reminded
about its duty to deal with resolution of IDP return, establishment of safe
living conditions, and provision of institutional guarantees for minority
rights exercise. (Večernje novosti, 29 July 2001, p. 4) Eight years later, in a
short article from 2009, speaking of a planned return program implemented together with UNHCR, the Minister of the Serbian Government stated
that the state was obliged “to try to return these people to their centennial
places of origins in cooperation with the international community”. However, soon after that, he expressed a clearly negative observation about the
outcomes of the return process to date. He said that “less than 3000 people
returned to Kosovo and Metohija in the last ten years whereas an exodus
trend was much stronger”.” (Večernje novosti, 28 June 2009, p. 8)
4.6.2. The articles with positive attitude in which the role of primary actors
belong to representatives of the government and political parties
The articles that can be marked as positive toward the return process
contain, for example, the news on reaching an inter-state agreement or
some specific activities significant for the refugee and IDP return. Usually,
these articles feature the government officials or other political representatives inviting refugees to take part in the elections, for example, in Croatia
and write about the importance of such participation for the refugee return process.
Quite typical examples of articles positively reporting about the resolution of refugee and IDP issues in their places of refuge are the news and
reports about some construction projects of apartments or houses ensuring permanent housing solutions for some refugee and IDP families.
82
Generally speaking, it may be concluded that the articles with a positive
attitude do not usually differ from the articles with a negative attitude in
an obvious (drastic) way, it is rather a matter of pointing out the activities
which aim at resolving an issue or writing about some specific results of
previous activities, although a clear critical or negative observation about
weaknesses of what has been done or problems which continue to exist,
and difficulties that refugees or IDPs continue to face with (at least in some
of these articles) may be present.
The news report from 2003 writes about the agreement on the return of
refugees which was signed by SR Yugoslavia and BiH. The words of Yugoslav Commissioner for Refugees of that time are quoted: “The Agreement
shall serve as the framework for drafting protocols and other documents that
will support the return of refugees from SRY to BiH. […] an indication that
two countries have not given up the return and that both sides firmly support
people who want to return.” The article later writes that some projects have
already been commenced and that plans for regions of Drvar and Bosanski
Petrovac exist. (Večernje novosti, 27 January 2003, p. 4) A positive attitude toward the return was also expressed in a newspaper article from 2009 in a different manner. The article conveys the statement of the Serbian Minister of
Diaspora at that time, who invited refugees from Serbia to vote on the local
elections in Croatia, and later quotes the Minister’s argument that co-relates
the participation in the elections to creation of better conditions for the return: “Srećković said that, thanks to a similar organization, more than 6,000
voters travelled to Croatia in the previous local elections of 2005 enabling the
absolute power in 18 municipalities and cities, but also significant share in
power in 25 cities and municipalities. The minister pointed out that increase
of municipalities with Serbian absolute power had an extreme importance,
but also the election of more Serbs for mayors in municipalities and cities,
and more councilors in counties’ assemblies. He said that participation of
Serbs in local government in Croatia was an important element for the return
of displaced persons and a faster housing reconstruction, enhancement of
security and possibly employment.” (Danas, 11 May 2009, p. 9)
On the other hand, in a short article published in April 2009, a positive
approach to local integration of refugees has been promoted by mentioning
some specific activities and plans. The article provides information about
18 refugee families moving in newly constructed apartments and conveys
the statement of the Vice-President of the Serbian Government that “about
1,000 apartments and houses will be allocated to refugees in Serbia in course
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of 2009.” (Blic, 25 April 2009, p. 1) The other similar example is a rather
lengthier article from 2008. The article writes about signing a memorandum
formalizing the cooperation between the municipal self-government with
the local Center of social welfare and an NGO which was to implement the
project of construction of a 20 apartment building –16 of them dedicated
to refugee families from a collective center in that municipality. In a fairly
detailed text, some other already implemented and planned projects in the
municipality are mentioned. (Danas, 12 December 2008, p. 2)
We will also have a look at those articles that positively write about the
return of IDPs. The first example is the article from 2005 which conveys
the official information about the meeting of the Serbian Prime Minister at
that time with representatives of IDP associations from Kosovo and Metohija. The importance of the IDP return is clearly supported, yet it is quite
obvious that this issue is considered for purpose of a broader political context and responsibility of “the other side.” The newspaper conveys that
the Prime Minister said “that no solution for standards and status shall be
discussed without the return of all displaced and expelled people to Kosovo and Metohija.” (Politika, 24 March 2005, p. 5) Another similar article has
the Government Commissioner for Displaced Persons of Montenegro as
the main actor, and it writes about specific “go-and-see” activities which
the Montenegro government organizes with UNMIK. Such activities are
presented as very important for the return process, and the return of some
400 displaced persons to the area of Peć District has been mentioned in this
context. (Kurir, 2 August 2006, p. 4)
Positive attitude toward the return of IDPs to Kosovo is also expressed in
articles conveying the information about humanitarian activities of political
activists. To that end, an article conveys words of the Spokesperson of Nova
Srbija on occasion of Christmas gifts distribution in an informal collective
center in Belgrade: “Neither Serbia is allowed to give up on Kosovo, nor the
people who live here shall loose hope about the return to their centennial
places of origin.” (Kurir, 5 January 2009, p. 4) Another example of article
writing about humanitarian activities of political parties, and in regard to
IDPs, is the article featuring the leader of the Serbian Progress Party as a
primary actor. The article, to a certain extent, promotes another approach
to resolution of IDP issues (it does not include any references to the return)
and writes about allocation of a farm house to an IDP family of 12 members
and contains a very explicit reference to the integration in the new environment as a permanent solution. (Večernje novosti, 11 May 2009, p. 17)
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Permanent solutions through programs of housing and economic support in places of refuge are quite often represented in articles related to
refugees. Such topics can also be found among articles referring to IDPs (it
seems, only recently though). One such articles conveys the statement of
the Vice-President of the Serbian Government, who spoke about (on occasion of signing an agreement with representatives of 60 municipalities and
cities), a new – seventh - installment of financial aid to the implementation
of local assistance programs to refugees and IDPs amounting to 183 million Dinar. (Večernje novosti, 27 December 2011, p. 4)
4.6.3. Articles with negative attitude in which the role of primary actors
belong to representatives of local NGOs
Statistical analysis of the data obtained by the archive research of newspaper articles demonstrated that the articles, in which local NGOs had the role
of primary actors (and primary sources), are mostly negative – and that these
actors are the most frequent category in newspaper articles linked to negative
attitudes toward the return process or resolution of returnee and IDP issues in
their places of refuge. As such, an outcome mainly contradicts the widely present opinion about NGOs being committed to exercise of rights of refugees
and IDPs and who often stand for fair solutions for refugee and IDP issues in
their public statements, a special part of this basic content analysis of newspapers is devoted to those articles in which the local NGOs appear in the role of
primary actors, and whose position toward the return or resolution of refugee
and IDP issues was evaluated as negative or very negative. 13 relevant articles
were analyzed which met both mentioned criteria.45
The results of the analysis clearly indicate that negative attitudes arise
from critical and negative comments or assessments of current conditions
for return, to-date return outcomes and the lack of support by the government and institutions of Serbia, and on the other hand, the same articles
do not bring out positive examples or positively articulated action plans or
information about specific activities of support to the return or resolution
of refugee and IDP issues in general.46 Few of the following excerpts from
analyzed newspaper articles illustrate the typical examples:
Primary actors = 29 (local NGOs) and article’ attitude = 4 (negative) or 5 (very
negative).
46
For purpose of a more comprehensive understanding of these findings, it is important to take into consideration the fact that NGOs represented in these texts are mostly organizations and associations of refugees or displaced persons organizations.
45
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The support to the Croatian candidacy for EU accession by Serbia and Montenegro expressed in the statement of Minister Svilanović in Zagreb, without prior
necessitating the resolution of major return issues of expelled Serbs, their property and other rights, generated protests of all refugee associations in Belgrade.
(Večernje novosti, 8 March 2003, p. 4)
We live on the verge of poverty and the scarce food supply we receive comes
every other month. We ask for human-worthy living conditions to be ensured for
us here in Montenegro, or to allow us immigration to third countries. There is no
more return to Kosovo for us, our houses are destroyed, and all that was happening
in front of the eyes of those who are delivering us aid now – stated Skender Šalja,
the chairman of NGO “Egypt” and the representative of Roma from refugee camp
“Konik 2”. (Večernje novosti, 1 April 2005, p. 19)
The return of displaced Serbs in the region of Prizren is difficult to imagine,
because only two percent of formal residents consider the return as an option, while
45.5 per cent of local Albanian population “has no interest at all”, and additional
38.5 per cent has “no interest” in return of their former neighbors, show the results
of the newest research. (Politika, 9 April 2005, p. 8)
Serbs can work on their fields in enclaves undisturbed, in the rural areas in the
vicinity of their homes, but not in the fields which are far from them. Rarely, Serbs
can fell trees in their own forests. In many areas, Serbs secretly, but also publicly,
sell their properties to Albanians, says Hisari. (Danas, 26 August 2006, p. 12)
The results of return to Kosovo in 2008 are devastating, and this is confirmed
by the fact that only 386 people decided to take that step, was stated in Belgrade
yesterday on an annual conference of Federation of IDP associations - Unija. […]
She reminded that even nine years after the end of the war in Kosovo it was not
clear whether the solution for IDPs is the return, integration or something else.
Palić also mentioned that the bad return process was influenced by unclear national strategy, because the return was not coordinated and because citizens, due
to parallel municipal institutions - Serbian and Albanian, do not know whom to
address. (Danas, 12 December 2008, p. 2)
The associations of refugees state that Croatian government wants to impede the
return by refusing to resolve these problems, so that the agricultural fields which
nobody works on can be leased to third parties. (Danas, 13 January 2009, p. 5)
In their letter, it is required from the president Boris Tadić not to allow signing
the proposed declaration and to have this political document amended, because it is
detrimental to interests of Serbs and IDPs from Croatia, as well as other citizens
of Serbia whose property rights have been denied in this country. (Politika, 1 November 2011, p. 8)
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5. DISCUSSIONS
5.1. Factors of frequency of articles
about refugees/and IDPs in newspapers
One of the objectives of this research was to establish the volume of
newspaper articles related to refugees and IDPs in Serbia. 665 of archived
editions of five daily newspapers were reviewed and 530 relevant articles were found providing a density index of 0.80 articles per issue. It
rendered obvious that articles regarding refugees and IDPs were found
more often in newspaper Politika, Danas and Večernje novosti than in other
two observed dailies. This fact is likely to be related to the editorial policy
of analyzed newspapers, however it is worth noting that the described
relation was not equally present in every of the 11 observed periods,
which again can indicate that editorial policies were not permanent, that
the general attitude of editorial boards toward refugee and IDP themes
could have changed over time, yet it can be the case that specific issues
or themes (events or processes) attracted more attention of editors who
previously had showed less interest in refugee and IDP issues. All this
should be the subject of further research, it is justified to assume however
that the frequency rate of newspaper articles on refugees and/or IDPs in
a daily newspaper is a function of more factors, both those defining the
entire editorial process in a relevant newspaper and the ones related to
processes and events with respect to refugees and IDPs (prevalence and
‘freshness’ of the topic, interest of the public, ‘political’ and ‘humanitarian’ relevance, etc.).
Changes in the volume of articles observed in the daily printed media
in various time periods (from August-October 1996 to October-December
2012) indicate no continuous and steady trend either of increase or decrease of ‘concentration’ of articles on refugee and IDP issues.47 Generally,
the oscillations are followed by a stagnation (which lasted two or three periods in succession) then by oscillations again – the pattern that has been
One should bear in mind that we speak only about articles which in a way or
another touch upon the issues of refugees and/or displaced persons in Serbia.
The database of relevant writings include the articles of thematically very varied articles, but also the ones in which refugee and displaced person issues
appear as secondary topic, and the ones in which refugees and/or displaced
persons issues are mentioned in a more broader context.
47
87
observed throughout the analysis period. Nevertheless, in addition to
this, a sharp difference existed in two periods: in the period between 1996
and 2005, the ‘density’ of relevant articles in individual editions - within
any of the five periods - is higher than 1.0 or is very close to 1.0, while in
the period between 2006 and 2012 the index was always far lower than
1.0 (and varies between 0.77 to 0.52). The rate of articles in newspaper
editions after 2005 was substantially reduced. A more precise identification of reasons would require an additional research, it seems however
that the reason was not the lack of interest for some specific topics and
certainly not the lack of relevant events (which could be covered by daily
press), but rather a case of general decrease of media interest in issues of
refugees and IDPs.
On the other hand, in the entire observed period (from 1996 to 2012),
frequent and significant oscillations were present on a weekly basis, hence
a sequence of several weeks48, in which no relevant text was noted, was
suddenly interrupted by the issue in which, for example, two articles related to refugees or IDPs could be found, or in a sequence of several issues
without any article or with only one relevant article, suddenly comes an
issue with three or even more relevant articles. This additionally reaffirms
the presumption that the frequency rate of articles about refugee and IDP
questions is determined by relatively complex structure of various factors.
5.2. Analytical approach of articles to issues of refugees and IDPs…
or absence of analytical approach?
News and reports are predominantly used forms of writings in daily
press (primarily) regarding refugees and IDPs (or related to other major
topics), their return or resolution of the issues which burden their lives.
Precisely, almost 80% of articles appear in the form of a report or news
however, the reports are considerably more present and make almost a
half of all relevant writings.
Slightly less than three thirds of writings are signed by the editorial
staff journalists, 17% of articles are taken over from news agencies, and
13% of them were not signed at all. All other ‘types of authorship’ appear
considerably less often.
In course of reviewing the archive, the principle of rotating sample was used;
in brief, the sample included newspaper editions from each eight day (with
deflection of +/-1 to +/-3, in case the issue of certain date was not available).
48
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Later on, what do the data reflecting the degree of journalistic analysis of the articles’ topics disclose to us? We will begin with the number
of applied sources: some 73% of articles are based on solely one source.
Even that single fact speaks of ‘non-complexity’ of the most information the daily print media bring about refugees and IDPs. Yet, a more
comprehensive answer will be provided by consideration of some other
variables.
The research also observed the extent to which various sources used in
articles had included the entities (individuals and groups) with different
interests and how many different standpoints in the text were presented
and what was their mutual relation.
It is established that some 35% of articles does not include any issues to
which different sources might have had a different standpoint, while 34%
of articles do not contain any standpoint at all. When an article, however,
deals with an issue where different interests may be articulated, more than
half of texts use only one source or entirely consistent sources.
Or otherwise: among articles that use more than one source, in approximately 53% of them no different opinions were presented. Also, among
articles using more than one source, only 29% of them presented two or
more different standpoints about topics they dealt with, and 60% of them
contain only one of (possible) standpoints.
All these data clearly indicate that the articles related to refugees and/or
IDPs seldom problematized the topic, even in cases where an issue dealt
by the respective article may be the source of certain controversies. The
reasons for that can be multiple, it is certain however that the approach to
refugee and IDP issues was and still is predominantly one-dimensional,
and that newspaper editorial boards often did not use the chance to problematize certain issues (in articles they published), and rather remained
with presentation of ‘only one side of the story’ and one of the possible
attitudes. By making such a conclusion we definitely bear in mind that
for purpose of a more thorough understanding of this finding, the results
should be put in a comparative perspective, i.e. be compared to the selected sample of texts dealing with some other topics, which is certainly not
provided by this research. Therefore, a question remains open: is/to which
extent (and in what way) the journalistic analysis applied on refugee and
IDP issues in daily newspapers different from the manner some other (related and non-related) topics are analyzed in the same daily newspaper in
the same period of time?
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5.3. Topics and general attitudes toward the return and
resolution of refugee and IDP issues – in a function
of primary actors and sources of a newspaper article?
Our thematic analysis was primarily focused on differentiation of articles dealing with the return (or containing any references to return) from
the articles that have no direct reference to the refugee and IDP return.
It is demonstrated that only 22% of articles are related to the refugee
return to some degree, and almost a half of them write about living conditions in the return areas. On the other hand, one third of articles deal with
the refugee or IDP status and/or integration processes in places where refugees and IDPs found their shelter. Among these articles, the most numerous ones deal with processes of (permanent) housing solutions, followed
by articles dealing with various status issues and access to justice. Nevertheless, the most numerous (a broad) category of articles is comprised of
articles related to refugees and/or IDPs, which however contain no direct
reference to either return or the life in places of refuge or immigration.
These data will be supplemented by data on evaluation of the general
attitude of articles toward the return or (when an article does not have a
reference to the return) resolution of refugees and IDP issues. Each article
is evaluated on the five degree scale,49 and the results demonstrate that approximately the same number of articles occupies three basic segments of
the scale: 31% of them had a positive and 33% of them a negative attitude.50
The content analysis of a certain number of articles (s. chapter 4.6.1. and
4.6.3) shows that negative attitudes of articles in a rule do not directly stem
from a negative attitude toward the return, but mostly from various negative observations and comments regarding conditions for return or in relation to the outcomes of return process to date, and the lack of institutional
support (or international organizations and other actors).
Generally speaking, the results show that the articles in daily print media fairly seldom deal with the return process, and that even less number
of articles features positive examples of the return or existing circumstances and support programs to the return. Without an additional analysis,
it is not possible to present relevant evaluation of the reasons for such
trends, however the obstacles and difficulties which existed in the reality
Possible degrees on this scale were: 1 – very positive; 2 – positive; 3 – neither
positive nor negative (unexpressed); 4 – negative; 5 – very negative.
50
36% of articles had neither positive nor negative attitude.
49
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and which discouraged aspirations to return should definitely be taken
into consideration, as well as dominant attitudes (stereotypes and prejudice) in the public shaped by the influence of various political (and apolitical) actors. Lastly, the interest of media for the topics unrelated to the
return could also be explained by reasons of ‘practical nature’, i.e. by the
fact that “local refugee stories and sufferings” were more accessible and
perceived as more important and urgent.
The attitude of representatives of the government and political parties
toward return issues, as it is reflected in daily newspapers, is not unambiguous. First, it has been seen that themes regarding the return do not
appear more often when the representatives of government and political
parties are primary actors of newspapers articles.51 A more obvious difference, however, appears in articles referring to the status and exercising of
rights in places of refugee and displacement, or with regard to processes
of local integration. Such topics are present more frequently when the authorities and political parties have the role of primary actors of newspaper
articles.52
On the other hand, apart from the international representatives as primary actors, government and political parties’ representatives are solely
linked to a higher number of positive rather than negative attitudes toward the return process or resolution of refugee and IDP issues.53
In general, it is clear that representatives of local governments and political parties are not the major generator of media dealings with topics
of the refugee and IDP return however, at the same time it can be stated
that their public standpoint expressed toward issues or the return was not
It is important to bear in mind that representatives of government and political parties were primary actors in even 45.3% articles, and primary sources in
38.9% of articles.
52
When the representatives of government and political parties had the role of
primary actors in newspaper articles, the relation with themes of articles also
appear more obvious: this relation is not predominantly based on differences
between representatives of government and political parties and various other
actors, yet, the fact renders obvious that themes related to return appear more
often when some international actors or local NGOs have the role of primary
sources.
53
Yet, this dominance of positive attitudes is significantly more present in articles
with international representatives as primary actors (+19%) than in those where
primary actors are representatives of governments and political parties (+5.5%).
51
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predominantly negative. On contrary, the results of this research demonstrate entirely opposite findings. Nevertheless, it is entirely legitimate to
assume that such a situation was a product of the ‘political necessity’ in
order to reach an agreement with representatives of international community regarding return issues, while the real commitment to implementation of policies aimed at encouragement of the return was completely
different. Yet, the data collected here and the analyses conducted within
the framework of this research are remotely not enough to make any conclusions about such assumptions.
5.4. Refugee and IDP issues – “differences mirrored in the daily press”
This research clearly demonstrates that newspaper articles about refugees from Croatia and BiH with regard to several important parameters
differ from those about IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija. Although the
links between these parameters should need additional analysis, we believe that - based on relations and differences established in this study the assumption (i.e. conclusion) on certain internal consistency is justified
and this brief discussion will be based on that.
Let us begin from the review of the most important findings. In the
articles referring solely to IDPs, the government and political party representatives have the role of primary actors significantly more often as
well as the role of primary sources of the press information. Also, these
articles have a negative attitude toward the return process and resolution of refugee and IDP issues less often than the ones referring only
to refugees,54 and in case of topics, the ones related to the return are
more often represented and the topics referring to the status and rights
or with no references to the return process are significantly less present
(in articles referring to IDPs only). Finally, this should be accompanied
by the fact that 93% of these articles are related to IDPs of Serbian ethnic
group only, which is significantly more than in articles solely related to
refugees.55
Also, they often have more positive attitude but the difference is less emphasized in that regard.
55
In articles referring only to refugees, the portion of articles also referring to
other ethnic origin (different from the ethnic origin of the majority part of
newspaper target group), is four times higher than in articles referring exclusively to IDPs.
54
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These differences between articles referring only to refugees or IDPs
respectively are in agreement to a great extent with some observations
frequently expressed about ambiguity of Serbian state policies toward the
refugees on one, and IDPs on the other side. Primarily, the general assessment is that official policy toward the resolution of IDP issues from Kosovo and Metohija is focused on the return to a much greater extent, i.e. on
creation of favorable conditions for IDP return and exercise of their right
to return. It is entirely justified to assume that such attitude was mainly
determined by aspirations to strengthen its own political position in the
dispute about Kosovo, but also to preserve certain elements of (sovereign)
national and political power in Kosovo itself, and to reaffirm the statement
on the local political scene that repossession of Kosovo sovereignty was
not given up.
The results of this research additionally suggest that issues of IDPs
are ‘more interesting from the political point of view’ from refugee issues
from Croatia and BiH (since the representatives of government and political parties obtain the role of actors and sources of information more often
in this first case). Also, it is entirely clear that, despite all the importance
which is attached to the closure of regional refugee issues, ‘in the mirror’
of daily press in Serbia, the attitude toward the return and full resolution
of refugee and IDP issues, in general, is considerably more positive (or
less negative respectively) in articles referring to IDPs from Kosovo than
in those referring to refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Yet, has this type of stronger interest in the return of IDPs and generally more favorable attitude toward the resolution of IDP issues - reflected
in media - dictated more positive trends related to the return of IDPs in
reality? This can neither be stated nor is based on facts. All relevant analyses on the return of IDPs to Kosovo and Metohija emphasize its volume
and sustainability by clearly indicating that the return process to Kosovo
is quite unsuccessful or less successful than the return to both BiH and
Croatia. Even in case of their status in Serbia, despite some parameters indicating to a relatively more favorable status than the status of refugees (in
terms of housing or access to welfare programs, for example) in general,
the status of IDPs certainly cannot be marked as a more satisfactory one.
And this is perhaps the right moment to question ourselves about the
role and tentative impact of printed (or any other) media onto real political and social processes. The question is not easy and the answer cannot
be simple.
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How much could the media (and how much can the media nowadays)
in reality affect the status of refugees and IDPs in Serbia, mitigate exercise
of their valid (yet deprived) rights… to return or integration?
6. CONCLUSIONS
I. Having observed 11 specific time periods between 1996 and 2012, we
can certainly conclude that the issues related to refugees and IDPs, including the issue of their return, were neither permanent nor particularly frequent topic of writings in daily newspapers. The frequency of such articles
is not balanced – there are periods when they do not appear in newspaper
issues at all, and periods when in one issue two or more relevant articles
can be found, however on the average level, the appearance rate of articles related to refugees and IDPs is less than one article per issue (more
precisely 0.80 per issue). Also, it is clearly established that the frequency
rate of relevant articles after 2005 was significantly lower, even though
there were no steady trends (increase or decrease) before 2005 and after
as well. And generally, analyses that were focused on differences between
individual periods (in which the articles appear) demonstrated that no
stable or significant trends existed in regard to a majority of variables.
Actually, apart from the afore-mentioned, certain trends were additionally observed solely with regard to general attitude of articles toward the
return process or resolution of refugee and IDP issues.56
Moreover, it is very clearly established that articles relevant for issues
of refugees and/or IDPs do not appear equally in each of the analyzed
daily newspapers. On contrary, even though there are certain oscillations
here (from one period to another), it can be generally stated that the relative frequency rate of articles referring to refugee and IDP issues in certain
daily newspapers were also affected by differences in editorial policies.
Physical placement of these articles in issues of daily newspaper also
discloses certain regularities. In the first line, the articles referring to refugees and IDPs almost never appear on the front page. Yet, more than 40%
of articles are found somewhere between second and fifth page, and more
than 65% of them on the first nine pages. Also, on the first nine pages, the
articles referring solely to IDPs are found more often.
See graphic 2 on page 44.
56
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II. Concerning the manner of presenting information relevant to refugee
and IDP issues in newspapers, few very obvious findings can be stated:
A.The articles appear in 80% of cases in the form of a report or news.
B. The article headlines belong to an informative type in more than
75% of cases, and in slightly more that 20% of articles the headlines
have sensational or emotional nature.
C.The articles are usually signed by editorial staff, however the agency
news are also relatively frequent, while approximately every eight
article was not signed at all.
Also, an in-depth analysis of articles demonstrates that:
D.Almost 75% of articles are based solely on one source, while the
character of the source was not possible to establish approximately
for every tenth article.
E. More than 35% of articles do not contain issues toward which different sources may tentatively express different attitudes, and if such
an issue exists in the article, less than 20% of articles include sources
which provide at least somewhat different standpoint regarding the
specific disputable issue. Also, among articles using more than one
source, in more than 40% of articles it does not contribute problematizing certain issue: formally different sources actually hold identical standpoints.
F. Only in 58% of articles, a determined (but only one!) standpoint
regarding certain issues has been expressed, while more than one
standpoint can be found in less than 10% of articles.
G. A general attitude toward the return or resolution of refugee and
IDP issues can be established in more than 60% of articles, while
the frequency rate of articles with positive and negative attitude is
equal. Nevertheless, a significantly different image is depicted by
the analysis on the level of individual periods: in some time periods, there is no significant difference in frequency rate between
one and the other type of writings, yet in some other time periods
a conspicuous difference exists and the number of articles with
negative standpoint is significantly higher – or vice versa. Also, it
is important to note that articles with negative standpoint appear
more frequently among articles regarding refugees; actually, the
articles with negative standpoint are represented by over 45% in
this category.
95
III. The articles referring solely to refugees in daily press appear equally frequent as the articles referring solely to IDPs, and the articles referring
to both refugees and IDPs appear less frequently and make about 30% of
all relevant writings. Another look into the origin of the forced migrants
discloses that only 4.5% of articles write about issues (predominantly) related to refugees and IDPs whose ethnic origin differs from the origin of
the majority target group of the observed daily newspaper, and 7.2% of
them simultaneously write about refugees of the same and another ethnic
origin. In addition to that, such articles are significantly less represented
among articles that refer solely to IDPs (and which, in great majority speak
exclusively of IDPs of Serbian ethnic origin).
IV. Just slightly above 20% of all articles deal with topics which are directly related to the return process. Among 17 specific theme categories,
two most represented ones are housing and other issues related to local integration (approximately every sixth article) and other issues of status and
access to justice which are unrelated to return (approximately every eight
article). Nevertheless, there is a clear difference between articles referring
solely to IDPs and those referring to refugees: articles dealing only with
IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija have more than double rate in dealing
with return issues or specific themes related to the return process.
V. Representatives of local institutions of government and political
parties are the most frequently used primary actors and sources of newspapers articles related to refugee and IDP issues: in 45% of articles they
appear as primary actors, and in 39% as primary sources. Less frequently, persons and groups from refugee and IDP (and returnee) population appear in the same role: as major actors in every fifth and as primary sources in every ninth article. Furthermore, it is important to note
that government and political party representatives appear significantly
more often as primary actors and primary sources in articles related solely to IDPs (compared to articles referring solely to refugees: 46% to 37%,
respectively 45% to 32%).
VI. When the government and political party actors appear as primary
actors and primary sources of newspaper articles, the standpoint of these
articles regarding resolution of refugee/IDP issues are often more positive
than negative. The entirely opposite trend (the presence of more negative
96
than positive attitudes) exists in cases of articles in which the role of primary actors and primary sources are given to local NGOs or individuals
and groups from refugee and IDP population. On the other side, the articles, where government and political party representatives appear as primary actors, are more likely to deal with the status and right issues which
are not related to return in any way (they mostly contain certain references
to the process of local integration or living conditions in the refugee and
displacement areas).
VII. The results of this research do not confirm the thesis that the influences of local political elites in media contributed to creation of a discourse
that discouraged the return and resolution of refugee and IDP issues. It is
clearly established though, that the themes related to the return process
of refugees are relatively less represented in newspaper articles whereas
some other issues related to refugees and IDPs were much more present.
Also, it is demonstrated that topics related to the return are neither more
(nor less!) frequent in those articles in which the representatives of government and political parties have the role of primary actors or primary
sources. The content analysis of some articles in which government and
political parties have the role of actors and sources of the text, demonstrate that the articles with negative standpoint do not promote negative
attitude toward the return in a direct way, however the negative attitude is
actually, to a certain degree, built by a discourse predominantly including
comments and observations about obstacles and unresolved issues, bad
experiences and outcomes, etc.
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100
Media between Freedom and Dependence:
the Role of Print Media in the Process of
Refugee Return in Bosnia and Herzegovina
DEJAN VANJEK
EMINA ĆOSIĆ PULJIĆ
LEJLA TURČILO
Faculty of Political Sciences Sarajevo
Abstract
This report is part of wider comparative research whichintegrates specific
country researches based on harmonized methodologies, and as such it renders full value only in conjunction with findings in Serbia and there conducted
media analysis.Bosnia and Herzegovina’s country report features results of
research which has been based on data analysis conducted in five representative printed media in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The gathered sample displays
general disposition within BHs public space in relation to media reporting on
refugees/Internally displaced persons (IDP’s). Apart from general data sampling wide variety of data crossing and frequency timelinesare featured. Empirical data were anchored in wider socio-political and media space context,
focusing on after-war fragmentation of BH’s social and public space alongthe
overall ethno-territorial organizational matrix and dominant political culture of
ethno-national elites.Among other, this Research features lack of connection between the administrative-political establishment of BiHwith vulnerable groups
(ref./IDP’s), one-sided and pro-group oriented media behavior, lack of critical,
proactive and challenging approach toward official authorities, as well as the
lack of coordinated and systemic effort to keep ref./IDP agenda at the top of
socio-political priorities which provokes further investigation of the underlying
causes. Thoughslowly democratizing over time and becoming more subtle in
performing their social functions, media still follow major political, post-conflict
101
tendenciesvisible through media aloof approach toward ref./IDPagendathat is
of vital importance for regeneration/reconstruction of BHs society.The research
positions major actors of media reporting on ref./IDP’s and those are executive
authorities, targeted individuals/groups and civic sector actors, whose mutual
interaction provides key feedback in fulfilling major research goals.
Key words: print media, refugees, internally displaced persons, political elites
1. INTRODUCTION
This report is based on theresearch conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter BiH). Itshows how and in what way the print media were
reporting on topics directly linked with process of return of refugees and
displaced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim was to assess information, quantity and discourse in the media related to the process of return
of refugees and internally displaced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Putting it in more succinct way, the analysis was conducted in line with
major aims of the Study in order to determine:
• how and to what extent the print media reported about refugees and
displaced persons, and
• how much they fulfilled purposein their work to inform and assist
refugees and IDP’s, and to what extent they served political establishments in implementation of the policy/political objective of return, i.e. staying.
The analysis is composed of three major parts: theoretical, empirical/analytical and conclusive:
• The theoretical part focusedon socio-political context, namely general
positioning of subject topic within overall public setting, general media
context with focus on minority media as well as specific legal context;
• Analytical part of Country (BiH) report coveredanalysis of media
practices and cumulative findings of the research (trends and recommendations for improved practices and diverse media works).
Media practices in the process of reporting about refugees and IDPs
were quantitatively measured and qualitatively evaluated;
• Finally the results of research were summarized, major trends registered as well as recommendations for better and different practice
of media.
102
MEDIA BETWEEN FREEDOM AND DEPENDENCE: THE ROLE OF PRINT MEDIA IN THE PROCESS...
In addition to context analysis of the general political, media, and legal
frameworkin the first part of this studymajor methodological approach
and techniques are explained, in particularly those related to empirical
data sampling and analysis used for further interpretation and integration of the findings in this report. For further comparative credibility of
the overall research, two methodologies were designed completely commensurable in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, so that here provided
methodological inputs are also applicable inthe Report for Serbia and
vice versa, with emphasizedoutstanding peculiaritieswithinBiH’s sample.
Naturally, wider methodological inputs, esp. those relevant for further
comparative analysis of the two reports,are provided in the first part of
the overall comparative analysis.
Overview of empirical data focused major findings related to master
sample, individual media analysis with comparative perspective and special variable correlations such as primary actors, sources and topics of
analyzed articles, with special focus on their mutual correlations as well
with the variable ‘position of article’ towards the return process. Thereby
diachronic perspective has been represented with special emphasis on
variations. Since the research applied both quantitativeand qualitative
approach, empirical analysis was complemented with content analysis of
number of articles shading interpretative light to already obtained and
systemized quantitative data.
Discussions part deals with major research findings in terms of causal
factor analysis, points to plausible and less plausible results which require additional scrutiny and interpretative option analysis. The report
aims to exploits attained resultsas much as possible in line with research
goals and methodological capacities; it also delimits limitations and
brings forward questions that require further considerations and more
narrowed research focus.
2. CONTEXT ANALYSIS
The role of here provided context analysis is to provide the overview of
relevant research background, with focus on major observations concerning refugee/IDP population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the outset
of humanitarian crisis that followed, during and after the war in Bosnia
103
and Herzegovina. This chapter also portrays media landscape in Bosnia
and Herzegovina immediately after the war and its later development,
focusing documented dependency of media and their functioning on ethno-national political dispositions in the post-war period. Third pillar of
this context analysis represents relevant legislative framework, its major
traits, focus and development. This aspect is relevant due to the fact that
its design and implementation are almost completely dependent on the
readiness of the political/administrative apparatus to provide effective
remedies for refugee/IDP problems and thus intervene for the benefit of
reconstruction and normalization of BH society and its internal relations.
2.1. Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Issue of refugee/IDP can be chronologically viewed in terms of outlining major events related to forced displacement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is worth mentioning that these events were also used for benchmarking purposes in relation to methodology of data sampling, which is also a
good reason to provide more contextual information about them. Former
should ease digestion of the whole of analysis, esp. quantitative and qualitative empirical data analysis.
Relevant events chronologically ordered read as follows:
• 1992 -1995 - Massive scale displacement caused by the war in BiH
• 1995 - Signing of Dayton Peace Agreement (Annex VII)
• 1995 - Establishing of the Commission for Real Property Claims of
Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC)
• 1996 - General Elections
• 1999 - Property Law Implementation Plan (PLIP)
• 2003 - Strategy for the Implementation of Annex VII
• 2010 - Revised Strategy for the Implementation of Annex VII
The 1992-1995 war inBiH, as a consequence of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, caused about half of the country’s population to be forcefully
displaced.Out of 3.5 million of the pre-war population 2.2 million were
displaced, approximately 1.2 million persons became refugees in neighboring and other countries, while those remaining became internally displaced (MHRR 2010).
In November 1995 the Dayton Peace agreement (DPA) was brokered
and ratified in December the same year. This was the first peace agreement
104
in contemporary history to annex a country’s constitutions as an integral
part of the document (Annex IV), therefore imposing a completely new
legislative framework for the Country’s future. Considering devastating
effects and mass scale displacement, the demographic re-composing of the
ethno-national structure throughout BiH, the DPA, on the one side, aimed
to reverse the war results of ethnic cleansing, but also to secure the right of
displaced persons to return home.
Out of eleven annexes three of them are of particular importance, namely Annex VII of the DPA which is entirely devoted to resolution of ref./IDP
crisis and Annexes IV is in fact BiH Constitution, whereas Annex VI regulates the exercise of human rights. However, one could argue that Annex
VII is actually the most important part of DPA,aiming for reconstruction
of social tissue through systemic return process, as the only way to reverse
results of the war: in fact “the return of refugees and displaced persons to the
areas under the control of another ethnic group has often contributed to marginalization of extreme ethno-nationalists and softening of tensions between different
communities”(Belloni 2007:7).
The implementation of DPA was very problematic from its outset facing serious challenge of legitimacy, since it had not been adopted in a
regular parliamentary procedure or through a referendum. The former
caused that the Constitution and its annexes could not be observed otherwise than as a part of peace agreement, which seriously limited its democratic character and henceforth progressive potential. There were many
obstacles: not only related to return process in line with the provisions
of Annex VII, but of the DPA in whole. In line with Annex VII, both governments in FBiH and RS have nominally declared their willingness to
undertake all necessary steps to enable the process of return of displaced
person. However, things in practice worked differently. There were many
incidents particularly in the areas where minority return should have taken place. Returnees were molested by those who illegally claimed their
property. In order to overcome this situation, the international community had to use force to ensure implementation of Annex VIIthrough IFOR
(Implementation Forces) and SFOR (Stabilization Forces).
Although the war had ended and conditions for peace building were
met, many repatriated refugees from abroad faced difficulties while attempting to return home. As a result they maintained the status of internally displaced persons (IDP’s), likewise those who were already internally displaced being unable to return to their homes. Many different factors
105
protracted situation, such as: initial unwillingness of the population to return to places of traumatic memory, feeling insecure or threatened under
unstable socio-political conditions; weak institutional framework unable
to guarantee basic rights and security; reluctance of local ethnic population and its leadership to embrace returnees and facilitate their re-socialization; as well as deficient regulative framework, which was influenced
and governed immediately after the war by international community and
multilateral organizations, which had special competences in implementation of DPA and its particular segments. Consequently, among other,
post-war insecurity and ethno-national animosities motivated further internal migration of individuals departing to places where their group was
in majority.1
In 1996 the first post-war democratic elections were held. At that time,
the return process was just initiated and most of those in displacement
were confused about the place where they should register to vote. That
circumstance was used by some ruling parties to work on consolidation
of their constituency territorially in order to secure desirable election
results. The electoral regulations imposed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) largely made this possible –
some ethno-political elites encouraged IDP’s to stay in localities of their
displacement as long as possible. (Phoung2000: 6-7). Generally speaking the return process was too much hinged on property issues and national/local politicians were unwilling to carry out the eviction orders.
Not only that this made full implementation of legislation in the field
of return processimpossible, but it had also underlined the process of
ethnic cleansing (Lyon 2007: 52). The qualitative analysis of the media
furthermore substantiate these tendencies with a much higher presence
of negative life stories such as criticism of failure of governments on all
sides to ensure security and address humanitarian crisis, in comparison
to positive stories and information relevant to the public and refugees
“Media widely reported about the case of integration of Sarajevo after the war; however,
there were divergent presentations of this process in the media form RS and the media
from FBiH. While the FBiH media interpreted this event primarily as ‘reintegration’,
the RS media were primarily reporting about flee of ethnic Serbs to RepublikaSrpska
as a forced phenomenon, appealing to the sentiments of insecurity and fear of territorial domination of other ethnic group (Bosniaks)”:Fromthe Qualitative analyisis
conducted for the puposes of this research, which showed how the examined
media treated subject issue.
1
106
on their rights and how to obtain them.2 Thereby “The main massages that
were delivered through the media were to a significant degree differentiated on
ethnic and entity basis”.3
The effects of such and similar policies in the first year after brokering DPA were quite modest and unpromising, precluding further lack
of strong initiative and unambiguous steps focused solely on full implementation of Annex VII of DPA. Namely, Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugee (hereafter: UNHCR) “reported that situation remains volatile in many parts of the country and that the challenge now
is to consolidate the return that have taken place and make it sustainable. Since
1996, 446,795 people – or just half the total number of returnees – have returned
to municipalities where they are currently minority” (UNHCR in Council of
Europe 2004).
The international community assumed great responsibility under provisions of DPA and its annexes, but it was not up to the tasks. In that
sense any analysis of implementation of DPA as well as Annex VII should
consider the engagement of international community, especially in light
of the fact that BiH could not handle these issues on its own immediately
after the war - at least until the year 2000 when the competent Ministry
was established on the state level. However, the latter had limited competences and mostly a coordinating role between the two entities ministriesthat were monitored by OHR.
“A large scale return process did not commence until 2001, six years after
the Dayton Peace Agreement. Yet even now, there is still a striking imbalance
between RS and Federation in terms of minority return” (Kleck, 2007). The International community became aware of the fact that implementation of
Annex VII was not going according to the plan therefore it was decided
to shift the focus from agreements with politicians to voluntary return
based on the rule of law(Kleck, 2007:12). After persistent obstruction by
local authorities to support the return of their constituencies in order
to avoid their watering down for political reasons, in 1999 the international community decided to depoliticize the process by shifting the focus away from the politicized right to return to an individual right to
property, making null and void any allocations and transactions of property mitigated by local government post 1992. Under this new Property
Qualitative analysis conducted for this research.
Ibid.
2
3
107
Law Implementation Plan (PLIP), a legal-administrative framework was
set up that required property claims to be processed on a neutral ‘firstcome, first-served’ basis and in a standardized and transparent manner”
(Haider, 2012).
The fact that local authorities did not support property-based approach
to individual rights is evident through OHR’s interventions on domestic
regulation required to facilitate the return process. Between 1998 and 2001,
the OHR issued 120 decisions that were to secure property restitution and
return, including socially owned property that was distributed by local
governments to own constituencies as incentive to remain in displacement
localities (see table below for dates on OHR decisions).
OHR Decisions on restitution and property return
1998
1999
15.9.1998. (first decision
related to Annex VII
and property return
legislation, after the
HR empowerment with
Bonn Powers.
10.03.1999
1.4.1999
14.4.1999 (4 decisions)
26.5.1999
15.6.1999
30.6.1999
1.7.1999 (3 decisions)
2.7.1999 (3 decisions)
30.7.1999 (4 decisions)
27.10.1999 (14 decisions)
11.11.1999
16.11.1999
10.12.1999
30.12.1999
17.9.1998.
5.11.1998
2001
5.2.2001
30.3.2001
1.5.2001
4.7.2001
17.7.2001 (3 decisions)
04.12.2001 (13 decisions)
2004
No decisions passed
108
2002
24.1.2002
17.4.2002 (2 decisions)
30.4.2002
22.5.2002 (3 decisions)
31.7.2002
1.8.2002
14.8.2002
2005
21.3.2005 (4 decisions)
2000
12.1.2000
27.04.200
28.6.2000
30.8.2000 (3 decisions)
25.10.2000
28.10.2000 (2 decisions)
5.12..2000
20.12.2000 (2 decisions)
2003
1.1.2003. (new year
decision)
21.3.2003
25.3.2003
31.3.2003
16.5.2003 (7 decisions)
2006
18.3.2006 (3 decisions)
29.9.2006 (3 decisions)
2007
31.5.2007 (3 decisions)
25.6.2007
14.9.2007
28.9.2007 (3 decisions)
19.12.2007 (3 decisions)
2008
25.6.2008 (3 decisions)
2010
No decisions passed
2009
2011
5.1.2011
12.9.2009
2012
No decisions passed
Source: Office of the Higher Representative
2.2. Legal - institutional framework
Repossession of the property for refugee/IDP was introduced as a human
right and was considered as one of the priorities for the implementation
of Annex VII. However, an institutional framework had to be established
to carry out the process. The international community established a special body with a specific assignment - to process property claims, namely
the Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC). In order to solve property issues, the parties to the DPA took
unprecedented step of creating a specialized institution: the CRPC to be
concerned with property issues, while its work was complemented by the
activities of the UNHCR, OSCE and especially OHR. (Phoung, 2000).“The
international community and subsequently the B&H Government had taken a
narrow view of ‘homes of origin’, focusing solely on geographic locality and the
physical structure of a house. Since ‘home’ has been equated with property, property restitution has been associated with the fulfillment of the right to return to
one’s original home. Programming and funding were thus directed primarily at
restitution and reconstruction processes” (Haider, 2010).
CPRC covered all cases of property that occurred after April 1. 1992,
making all other decisions null and void, except for situations where a
voluntary sale or transfer occurred which was not apprehended under
life threatening situations. In 1998,the OHR adopted Property Law Implementation Plan (PLIP)(Arnaut, 2012) in accordance with Annex VII, which
gave to CPRC the mandate to “receive and decide any claims for real property
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the property has not voluntarily been sold or
otherwise transferred since April 1, 1992, and where the claimant does not now
enjoy possession of that property. Claims may be for return of the property or for
just compensation in lieu of return” (Arnaut, 2012).
109
Furthermore, the CRPC did not recognize any decision of courts ruled during or just after the war.4 Furthermore, the OHR imposed the laws in every entity for the enforcement of CPRC’s decisions, and changed them on several instances. As a result CRPC became the most important body for property return
and BiH authorities were obliged to implement CRPC’s decisions. This was not
always the case and local authorities were reluctant to respect decisions, which
led to further steps of the OHR and issuing of number of decisions during the
first few years to enforce CPRC’s decisions. The former included dismissal of all
public officials who used claimed properties or obstructed their repossession,
intervening directly on entity laws and changing the regulation.
In April 2000, the Ministry for Refugees and Human Rights was established on the state level, with the mandate to coordinate all activities of the
lower levels of governance in affairs related to protection of human rights
and ref./IDP issues (MHRR).Its first assignment was to prepare the Strategy for implementation of Annex VII, which was adopted only in 2003,
and a revised strategy was adopted in 2010. In the case of the revised strategy it faced number of obstacles between the opposing parties and entity
authorities, primarily in relation to securing the rights of displaced persons to return, but also the rights of those who chose not to return to their
pre-war homes (Haider, 2010).The revised strategy was adopted in 2010,
and it is still mainly focusing on the persistent issues of collective centers,
property restitution, but includes significant objectives to deal with the
challenges related to sustainability of return, such as:
1.) reconstruction of residential units of refugees, displaced persons and
returnees, closing collective centers and solving issues of alternative
accommodations of displaced persons and returnees and social nonprofit living, with special accent on problems of displaced persons;
2.) finishing property return and tenancy rights of refugees, displaced
persons and returnees;
3.) electrification of returnees settlements and individual settlements
of returnees;
4.) reconstruction of infrastructure in places of interest for refugees,
displaced persons and returnees;
5.) health care of displaced persons and returnees;
6.) social care for displaced persons and returnees;
7.) the right to education of displaced persons and returnees;
See Arnaut S., Komisijazaraseljenalicaiizbjeglice, available at: http://crpc.blogger.ba/
4
110
8.)the right to work and employment of displaced persons and returnees;
9.)security of displaced persons and returnees and demining of areas
of return;
10.)the rights for compensation to displaced persons, refugees and returnees
As for the Revised Strategy for the Implementation of Annex VII of DPA (MHRR
2010): The implementation of the strategy was not fully initiated in 2010, due
to inability of the 2010 elected parties to form a coalition for state-level government, leading the Country into political stalemate for over a year, which affected the decision making processes and adoption of the budget for the forthcoming period. In 2012, the situation was better, the budget was adopted and initial
funds (1.5 million BAM) were directed towards implementation of the strategy,
which has been criticized as insufficient to meet the strategic objectives.
The process of refugee and IDP return in BiH has been colored by a number of difficulties since the peace agreement was signed. On one side,BiH
was faced with the need to address the issue of massive scale displacement
immediately upon the peace accord was reached in a still hostile political
environment, under severely damaged infrastructure and economic devastation. In addition to that, the political objectives were diverging and
the new territorial reorganization additionally affected implementation of
those objectives. The domestic political will was absent and had to be imposed on the elites by international community, which, to a high degree,
resulted in higher number of property returns.5 Furthermore, the role of
the Media may not be dismissed in the processes of refugee return considering that the public was primarily forming their knowledge upon media
information. Yet, one still has to establish how politics influence policy
and which actions media inspire by its chosen discourse and information.
2.3. Media Scene in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia-Herzegovina has a very complex media scene. The number of
media in comparison to the size of a population is quite high.6 Many me for which there is still no objective data to what degree they have actually contributed to a sustainable return. The population census to be carried out in 2013
will enable a concrete evaluation of these processes in BiH, the last population
census was carried out in 1991 – before the war.
6
It is important to say that most of statistics in B&H are mainly approximate,
since the last census was held in 1991.
5
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dia were established during and immediately after the war with strong
support of the international organizations and international community,
which was a result of an idea that media in B&H should be the pillars of
developing democracy.7 However, most of these media failed to cope with
market-oriented environment once international support ended, which
caused them to perish from the media market. On the other hand, some
media established during the war time with the support of political elites
managed to survive and become one of the most successful businesses and
the most powerful institutions in years after the war8.
In general, we may say that international support to BH media was
enormously strong during the war and immediately after. Donations in
equipment, money, consulting, education etc. were provided by many
international media,9 NGO’s and foundations10and governments.11 However, some mistakes were made in this process: first of all support was
given to media infrastructure (in terms of equipment and money) and
journalists’ education (in terms of their additional education), but not to
media management (that is why many managers of these media failed to
sustain their media in the market after donations faded). The most fruitful
intervention of international community in media in Bosnia-Herzegovina
occurred in the field of media laws and regulations. As a result, there are
optimal laws and regulations in place when it comes to media in BiH12.
The media market during all years after the war has been very complicated
and un-transparent. However, in spite of un-transparency it is obvious that,
although there is generally high number of media, there are only several of
those really (politically and socially) influential, usually owned by politically
or economically powerful individuals, groups or companies. All media (both
The most known examples were Radio ZID and Radio FERN in Sarajevo, as
well as OBN TV.
8
“Dnevniavaz” a daily newspaper was established in 1993. and it is a daily with
the biggest circulation in 2010. Its first owner Fahrudin Radončić built an empire which now includes not only newspapers, publishing company, but also
building company, hotel and other businesses. He runs for Presidency in 2010.
Elections and his media empire supported him strongly in that effort. In 2012
he became Minister of Security
9
BBC, DeutcheWelle, Voice of America etc.
10
Internews, Soros Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Heinrich Boell
Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation etc.
11
US Government for example.
12
Defamation Law, Law on Free Access to Information etc.
7
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print and broadcast) are owned by domestic or regional elites. Number of
media is constantly growing, but it would be a mistake to say that reasons for
that are strictly economical. The media industry has become very profitable.
For that reason companies dealing with other businesses find it economical
to invest in the media.13 However, that lesson was quickly adopted by political elites which realized that media were linked to power and by controlling
them they could increase their overall political prospects, so they either established their own media or try to influence the existing ones.
According to the data obtained by the Communication Regulatory
Agency14 and Press Council,15 there are 9 daily newspapers: 4 political
news magazines, 98 periodical magazines (50 in Federation BiH and 48
in Republic of Srpska), 46 TV stations (3 are part of PBS: FTV, RTRS and
BHT1) and 151 radio stations (3 are part of PBS: Radio Federacije, Radio RS
and BH Radio 1). When it comes to print media, it is fair to say that newspaper readership has always been limited in Bosnia-Herzegovina and it
is at even lower levels today due to bad economic conditions and limited
quality of available media. Print media content is largely divided or restricted by ethnic character of the audience.16The former prevents print
media reaching a broader audience on a state level and forces it primarily
to target ethnic group that is dominant in the region where each particular
paper is published. Furthermore, print media target citizens devoted to
ideas of certain political option they are close to.
The position of print media in Bosnia-Herzegovina, when it comes to
their relations to elites and/or citizens, is quite complicated: it is not too
much to say that print media represent voice of the elites, not of the citizens.
They are mostly owned by politically or economically powerful people17
and close to political elites.18 Most of print media accepted directly to pro One of the biggest investors in media is Sarajevo Brewery, which owns one
daily newspapers (“Oslobođenje”) and one weekly magazine (“Dani”)
14
Communication Regulatory Agency, available at http://www.rak.ba
15
Press Council, available at http://www.vzs.ba
16
DnevniAvaz is, thus, considered as Bosniaks’ newspaper, Nezavisnenovine
and GlasSrpske as Serbs’ and Dnevni list as Croats’ newspaper.
17
Dnevni avaz, Oslobođenje for example.
18
Pre-election campaign for General elections in 2010 displayed direct connections between print media and political actors (Udovićić at al 2010). More information: Udovičić et al (2010) Izbori 2010 u BiH: Kakosumedijipratiliizbornukampanju, Media Plan Institute, Sarajevo.
13
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mote certain political parties and candidates19, while others were used to
discredit opponents.20 In general, political actors set the agenda and print
media only followed that agenda (which is trendy not only in pre-election
campaign but in general as well). The print media promoted their favorite
political leaders and parties not only in the sections of newspapers that were
related to elections, but also in parts of newspapers related to sport, entertainment etc. It was evident that political parties which advertised the most
in certain media got the best treatment in those media. However, advertisement was not the only pre-condition for favoring some parties: “Good relations”, as political leaders like to call their propinquity with certain media
owners, determined treatment of certain parties in the specific media.
In general, most researches and surveys(Press Council, 2012),feature
more or less the same results when it comes to print media: namely, the
print media are either owned or closely connected to political or economic
elites. Due to lack of sanctions behind self-regulation of print media, extremely low standards (even a specific form of hate speech) are dominant
in the majority of daily newspapers. The former causes a lack of confidence of the publicity in print media, which may be one of the reasons for
low circulation of daily newspapers.21 Citizens have also learned that print
media easily fall under influence of elites, which (along with apathy of
people) reflects in lower circulation of weekly magazines.22 In addition to
that, younger population tends almost exclusively to use Internet, which
also contributes to lower circulation of print media.
When we speak about pressures on media and journalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a structural mistake was made in transition time and that mistake
is being repeated now again. The mistake was to believe that once we liberate media from the influence of the state (which was imminent to one-party
communists’ system), all problems of media freedom will be solved. That,
of course, was not the case. One may even say that media reform did not
Dnevni list for example suported HDZ 1990 and its candidate Martin Raguž,
Nezavisne novine promoted SNSD and Milorad Dodik, while Dani supported
SBiH and Haris Silajdžić.
20
Dnevni avaz had more articles which discredited SDA and Sulejman Tihić than
articles that promoted Fahrudin Radončić and SBB.
21
Maximum 100 000 copies on Friday, which is traditionally a day when people
by newspapers the most, since they can find TV program for the whole week in
them. 30 000-50 000 copies on “regular” day.
22
20 000 – 30 000 copies
19
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liberate media from the influence of the state, but that influence has just
been replaced (or complemented) with the influence of political elites. To
be more precise, the only reason why the state does not influence the media
any more is the fact that the state is not strong enough. Namely, the political elites, vested into the state bodies, very often work as autonomous actors (sometimes even contrary to the logics of state interests), being strong
enough to apply hard pressures on both media and journalists. For that
reason ongoing debates are oriented toward liberating media from political
pressures, whereby the political elites work closely with economic elites and
jointly pressure media sphere. Hence, state pressure was replaced by political one, and political pressure is now closely related to economic pressures.
Particularly precarious to media independence are incentives given
to media by the elites.Pressures on journalists are more visible, although
situation may at first seem less problematic in comparison to situation immediately after the war. However, there are still journalists who live under
police protection, as they are facing serious threats to them and their family members.23 Additional form of pressure on journalists reflects in bad
working conditions: many of them work without contract or under those
very suspicious, with low salaries etc. The former is one of the reasons
why experienced and well-educated journalists often transfer to PR sector
or to other businesses, leaving the space in media which is then “filled up”
with “cheap labor force”.24 Those brave journalists who, in spite of these
bad conditions, continue to engage investigative stories are often faced
with various forms of discreditation by political and economic elites.25
In general, we may say that pressures on media and journalists are many:
from direct threats and obstructions of the work of journalists,26 to latent and
hidden pressures in the form of symbiosis between political and economic
elites and media owners, who jointly define “policy and strategy of media”,
which then excludes possibility of critical writing. All mentioned, along
Bakir Hadžiomerović, journalist and editor of TV magazine 60 minuta (60 Minutes) was under police protection, while DženanaKarupDruško journalist from
magazine Dani experienced direct threats by one of members of mafia.
24
That is less educated people with weak references and work experience.
25
One of forms of this discreditation is writing letters to their editors, in which
politicians insist on getting an apology from journalists and threatening with law
suits. Law suits are quite usual as well, and politicians are suing journalists for
different reasons: from publishing their pictures to writing about their businesses.
26
Unwilling to communicate and provide critical information that are required.
23
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with low or even non-existent reaction of publicity towards media stories27,
de-motivates journalists to persevere in the investigative journalism.
While summing up media situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one may
say that there is a high number of media on the scene as well as news circulating, but with limited number of true and unbiased information.28 As
a consequence, in spite of many informational channels available, citizens
increasingly become more and more confused and disoriented.
3. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
The main methods used in this research were data and content analysis of selected print media. Research was quantitative and qualitativeand it
focused on media content with an aim to ascertain how media reported
on issue of refugee and IDP’s. To that purpose variables were devised and
codified for further measurement purpose.
3.1. Periods of analysis/benchmark events: 1995 – 2010
The analysis focused on the most important periods for Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the developments in regard to refugee crisis from 1991
onward. The research identified important milestones in legislative and
policy frameworks for return of IDP refugees. The periods of interest were
identified during the initial desk research and checked through a pilot
research. Following periods29 were identified as significant for research
and the process of return of refugees and IDPs in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Apathy of general public is one of the great problems. Public rarely reacts to
media stories and even if there is a reaction it is “half-private”: people discuss
in their homes or in coffee shops, but do not protest loudly.
28
We consider the “news” as a term describing content which is new and interesting, and “information” as term describing content which informs us, orientates
us and educates us.
29
Notes: These five stages are significant because they provide the ability to track the
return in periods when was de facto happening in full intensity, and certainly had
to be adequately represented in the media. In all five periods’ media and politics
influence was relevant in the refugee-returnee issues. However, it is necessary to
take into account the market-consumers factors of media behavior towards each
topic, including this one, in terms of its “market interest” for readers.
27
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a. 1995/1996 (adoption and start of implementation of official policies
regarding the return after DPA and Annex VII)
i. The basic questions on which the answer is expected is “whether
and how political elites were interested in the implementation of
Annex VII and in as much and how media did covered this issue
with particular emphasis on possible deviations from the usual
discourse and critical review on performance of media actors and
policies);
b. 1997/1998 (Beginning of direct involvement of the OHR and adoption of Property Law, followed by problems which occurred during
application of the law)
i. The basic questions on which the answer is expected is “if there
was resistance at different administrative levels to the application of the adopted legislation and to what extent the media exercised ‘monitoring’ and criticism role pointing out to and following treatment of the problems of implementation of the laws on
returnees”;
c. 1999-2001 (when the property laws were improved and key obstacles
for its implementation removed), which is connected to establishment of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees on the state
level with purpose to coordinate all activities pertaining to refugee
and IDP return.
i. (It is interesting to see how the media ‘perceive’ positive trends
and use them to animate the public and create a wider social support for such trends)
d. 2006 was the year in which implementation of property law was finished (by that time 129 registered municipalities have fully implemented the measures. Also, that was the year in which the general
elections were held on 01 October 2006;
e. 2010 when the Revised Strategy for the Implementation of Annex 7
was adopted. The process had been de facto ended a few years ago
but it was clearly not a ‘real’ return, but the projections of implementation of property law. Since the demographic dispositions caused
by the war (1992-1995) were still in force, it has become evident that
the ‘real’ return had failed as well as the policies that were supposed
to ensure return. In this sense, one can observe revision strategies attempt to make some positive changes in section of return of refugees
and internally displaced persons.
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3.2. Data analysis
3.2.1.Quantitative
The research quantitatively recorded number of relevant texts in five targeted printed media. The sample of selected print media in Bosnia and Herzegovina took into account their general distribution level, geo-political significance
and influence on public opinion of ethno-political elites in particular areas,
as well as the number of editions of print media, which equally applies both
for quantitative and qualitative analysis. Following given criteria, five print
media were selected and analyzed in Bosnia and Herzegovina:Oslobođenje,
Dnevniavaz, GlasSrpske, and Nezavisnenovine andDnevni list.30
Following general types of analysis and data-crossing were used for
quantitative analysis:
(1) General analysis encompassing cumulative data and periods
(2) Individual media variable analysis
(3) Additional correlations
Sample:
Data analysis identified relevant articles and sorted tabular under correspondent variable columns. During initial phase of media content analysis, research team quantitatively registered number of relevant media editions as well as articles within those:
• 800 – reviewed editions
• 2257 – total number of relevant texts related to refugees/IDP
Main rules applied for sampling:
• Each period/milestone was scrutinized within 3 months timeframe
(a month before the event, the month in which it took place and one
month post).
• Principal of rotational sample period/day was used (first Monday in
the month, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. in the next).
Following fourteen variables were devised and followed: 1. Newspaper code, 2. Primary/secondary topic of article, 3. Primary/secondary actors of
media content, 4. Journalistic form, 5. Type of headline and sub-headline, 6. Author of text, 7. Primary/secondary source of media content, 8. Number of sources,
Furthermore, Večernjenovine, a daily, was identified as newspaper of interest
but due to difficult access to archive and project / budget limitations they were
omitted from the sample.
30
118
9. Representatives included by the sources, 10. Attitudes referring to refugees,
11.Position of article towards return process, 12.Population of refugee, 13.Descent of refugees, 14.Whether article deserves particular attention.
It is important hereby to note that secondary topics, actors and sources
were used as control variables to insure that there are no significant variations within the text of article diverging from those situated in headlines
and sub-headlines. Data analysis showed that secondary topics, actors
and sources were rarely present within the same article. Hence,the articles
were mostly consolidated and issue-oriented, but in the same time void of
comparative perspective or approach rendering different descriptive situations which could substantiate primary variables in the article.
Key words/phrases:
Refugees and IDPs, return, Annex VII, Dayton agreement, Committee for
property claims (CRPC), Proprietary Fund, PLIP or Proprietary Laws, minority return, double citizenship, sustainable return, permanent residence, pre-war
residence, humanitarian aid, donations, expelled/driven, forced migrations etc.
3.2.2. Qualitative (Content analysis)
Selected print media, apart from quantitative, were also qualitatively analyzed/content analysis, with intention to determine which topics dominate, and
what messages related to the return process in BiH were sent in journalist texts
and if there was any inclination of the media towards return process as well as
towards the political, international, operative or returnee (civic or ethnic) roles.
The content analysis covered following periods: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000,
2001, 2002 (only January), 2006 (three months) and 2010. From the regional
perspective, daily newspaper focused:Dnevniavaz and Oslobođenje from
Sarajevo, Nezavisnenovine and GlasSrpske from Banja Luka, and for the
year 2010 the sample was enlarged by Dnevni list from Mostar, as the
youngest BH daily newspaper.
The daily newspapers from Banja Luka, during monitoring period
underwent certain corrections of their official titles. Until the year 2000,
Nezavisnenovine were titled ‘Dnevnenezavisnenovine’, because they had
also weekly edition, and for that reason the distinction was made. Conclusively in the year 2002, GlasSrpske was renamed intoGlasSrpski. The
reason for this alteration was the intention to substitute ethnic component
with the entity one. GlasSrpske, which was the only state-owned newspaper at the time, got purchased by Nezavisnenovine in 2008.
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4. QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
This segment is tripartite: it covers master sample analysis for each represented variable, selected correlations – crossing of variables and main
variable traits for individual newspaper.
4.1. Master sample – variable analysis
Table 1. Total number of examined articles by newspaper
Valid
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Oslobođenje
652
28.9
28.9
Dnevni avaz
565
25.0
25.0
Nezavisne novine
431
19.1
19.1
Glas Srpske
565
25.0
25.0
Dnevni list
44
1.9
1.9
Total
2257
Table 1 shows the share of articles gathered in five examined newspapers. It can be seen that refugee/IDP’s related issues were more or less
covered in balanced quantities by the observed newspapers, which may
suggest presence of overall public interest in returnee/IDP’s issues. The
exception was‘Dnevni list’, as the youngest printed media withsmallest
number of editions and correspondent articles related to subject topic.
These data ascertain that ‘return’ is still anall-presenttopic; however, as it
was later shown, there were significant variations and overall descendant
trajectory from late 90s onwards.
Frequency Table and narrative interpretation:
(Frequencies in following tables are sorted hierarchically and grouped
into three categories: highest frequencies are bolded, middle italicized
while under-values remained unmarked)
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Table 2. Primary topic of article
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Policies and action directed to
resolving ref./IDP status and
rights
317
14.0
14.0
Something other
312
13.8
13.8
Anything related to return
243
10.8
10.8
General reporting on return
process
204
9.0
9.0
Reconstruction
of housing objects
183
8.1
8.1
Implications
141
6.2
6.2
Incidents
137
6.1
6.1
Personal stories of ref./IDP's
129
5.7
5.7
Activities of ref./IDP's
125
5.5
5.5
Attitudes and opinions of
politicians
98
4.3
4.3
Status and rights
90
4.0
4.0
Activities of ref./IDP’s
86
3.8
3.8
Houses of ref./IDP’s
71
3.1
3.1
Ref./IDP’s personal stories
55
2.4
2.4
Interaction between politicians and
refugees
28
1.2
1.2
Collective centers
27
1.2
1.2
Reconstruction of sacral institutions
11
0.5
0.5
Table 2 reveals that there seem to be a variety of topics covered within observed sample. Most of it is about general reporting and policies/
actions directed toward settling ref./IDP’s status, which is farfetched
due to evident lack of success of given policies and actions. The only
121
concrete topic represented is reconstruction of housing units. Truly,
that was the essential part of the official agenda for several years after end of war, but it underscores by far all other required conditions
needed for self-sustainable return. Coverage of issues narrowly directed to living conditions of ref./IDP’s does not seem to be in the focus
(reconstructions, self-articulated attitudes and needs, ref./IDP’s activities, collective centers, houses and living conditions of ref./IDP’s, their
status and rights).
It seems that media cover ref./IDP’s issues rather indirectly than
through direct contact with vulnerable group. Their attitudes thus can
be leveled with the behavior of political elites who, obviously, did not
uphold return as priority socio-political agenda, otherwise, notwithstanding motivational factors; their interaction would rank higher
among represented themes.
Table 3. Primary actors of media content
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Individuals, groups of refugees
560
24.8
24.8
International Community
186
8.2
8.2
Local NGOs
168
7.4
7.4
Unknown
155
6.9
6.9
Local executive
149
6.6
6.6
133
5.9
5.9
Gvt. of RS
130
5.8
5.8
Political parties
127
5.6
5.6
Council of Ministers BiH
93
4.1
4.1
Gvt. of FBiH
87
3.9
3.9
Agencies, regulatory bodies
70
3.1
3.1
Representatives of EU
66
2.9
2.9
Cantonal executive
56
2.5
2.5
Local legislative
47
2.1
2.1
122
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Other foreign countries officials
42
1.9
1.9
Non-refugee individuals
34
1.5
1.5
USA representatives
27
1.2
1.2
Croatian officials
27
1.2
1.2
Religious communities
26
1.2
1.2
Public personas
14
0.6
0.6
Federal legislative
9
0.4
0.4
RS legislative
9
0.4
0.4
BHs legislative
9
0.4
0.4
Gvt. Of BD
6
0.3
0.3
Cantonal legislative
5
0.2
0.2
Serbian officials
5
0.2
0.2
BiH officials
4
0.2
0.2
Author of text
3
0.1
0.1
Judiciary of BiH
1
0.0
0.0
Judiciary of RS
1
0.0
0.0
Municipal judiciary
1
0.0
0.0
Judiciary of FBiH
1
0.0
0.0
Table 3 clearly displays that variable ‘primary actors of media content’
is also widely differentiated with multiple options offered. However, there
are some conspicuous figures. Namely, individually dominant primary actors of the analyzed volume are ‘Individuals, groups and population (refugee, returnees and displaced persons’. The second individually important category is ‘international community’, which is quite peculiar, since it
leads in front of any domestic actor (governmental or non-governmental).
Than after, there are different executive levels as well as local NGOs (association of returnees, NGO for human rights etc.). It is especially interesting
123
that lowest executive levels (local executive) are more occupied with issues of IDP and refugees instead of higher. It appears that the essence of
discussion, problem resolution and general communication is conducted
among these two clusters as beneficiaries and beneficent (executive and
ref./IDP’s). On horizontal - entity level slightly more focus is given to
ref./IDP agenda in RS than in FBiH. Former can be viewed in light of
RS being a centralized entity and hence more capable to handle subject
issues. It is worth mentioning that Executives in Brčko District are not
represented at all, which could be due to different reasons: lack of competencies or resolved returnee issues on the small and relatively controllable administrative space of BD. Perhaps results would be different if
BD had its own public newspaper which would than pay closer attention
to ref./IDP agenda.
Frequency score of Local NGOs suggest that there is more effort to tackle
ref./IDP’s problematic by the hand of civil society actors than by the side of
the governmental actors. This could be due to better availability and openness of this group in relation to public officials, who are very often reserved
and less open towards the media. In whole, there seems to be sound arguments concerning aloofness of the administrative-political sphere toward
subject issues, where the reasons still need punctually to be stated.
Primary actors of media content when grouped together result with
more clear and informative picture:
Table 4. Grouped primary actors of media content
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Executive
authority
591
28%
28%
28%
Legislative
authority
79
4%
4%
32%
Judicial
authority
8
0.4%
0%
32%
Foreign states
and their
representatives
491
23%
23%
56%
Civil society
806
38%
38%
94%
Political parties
127
6%
6%
100%
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Chart 1. Grouped primary actors od media content
Chart 1 displays grouped variables and results in similar, yet somewhat
different picture. Namely, within this arrangement civil society becomes the
most convincing primary actor. Second best are executive authorities on all administrative levels and right behind are foreign actors. Thus, these three general groups could be considered as primary actors on the master sample level,
since they lead in front of all other actors anticipated and measured within this
variable. The other variable groups are far behind including political actors
and legislative instances, whereby the latter have marginal frequencies.
As for the ‘secondary actors of media content’, likewise in the case of primary actors, most of the secondary actors of media content are individuals,
groups and population (refugee, returnee and displaced person). The former
suggests that there is correspondence between primary and secondary actors
of the media content. Secondary actors are also generally versatile, featuring
mild dominance of direct groups/refugees and returnees, individuals. That is
understandable while true problems concern vulnerable groups and henceforth more thematic space was allocated to them throughout the texts.
Table 5. Journalist form
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Report
1133
50.2
50.2
News
914
40.5
40.5
Statement
104
4.6
4.6
Interview
77
3.4
3.4
Commentary
29
1.3
1.3
125
Chart 2. Journalist form
Table 5 shows that mostly used journalistic form was a report31 – up to
50%, than the News32 which is little bit less represented – by 40%, while
the other journalist forms such as Interview33, Release/Reaction/Statement,
Comment,34 Other (photo news, and everything that does not fall into primary categories) are only marginally represented. These results suggest
that reporting is systematic and that, at least formally, required attention is
given to this very important issue. The process of reporting is continuous
but less news than reports might signal that there is no outstanding/visible
events/policies worth of media attention. Comments are scarcely applied as
journalist form, suggesting that redactions are not particularly interested to
engage publicity in order to provide incentive for the return process.
Chart 2 displays remarkable disproportion between the news and report. In second half on 90s, after DPA conclusion and during fist years of its
implementation there were frequent oscillations between these two forms
on annual basis, except for biannual in 1998/1999, when there was enactment and beginning of implementation of property laws with plenty of
(in the sense of more detailed treatment of the subject than in the news, with
possibility to use more free style by the hand of authors, whereby possible conclusions or direction must be clearly separated from stating a fact, or must be
clearly referred on specific facts)
32
(Information containing 5 or fewer answers to key questions from journalists
(who, what, where, when, why, how). Usually consists of introduction, body
and certain form of conclusion, although and different structures is possible.
Length is mainly one journalist card)
33
(form in which there are at least two direct questions and direct answers which
are asked to one or more interlocutors)
34
(author in the name of editorial or independently determines according to an
event; warns of certain phenomena, criticize or praise actors, etc.)
31
126
biases which obviously required more significant involvement of relevant
parties and media among them in elaborating rather new legal-institutional framework, its reach and practical contentions. Since 2001 and further
on in the subsequent years, these two forms stabilize with overwhelming
domination of news. The former could be result of resolved ambiguities
and for the first time since the war the inception of legal – institution regulation mostly through establishment of the Ministry for Human Rights
and Refugees. With the start of Ministries functioning, media rely on it as
the main authority in subject area and therefore opt to non-analytical form
as is the journalist news, which is more comfortable and less time consuming then the report, which implies certain level of research and analysis.
Table6.Type of headline and sub-headline
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Informative
1811
80.2
80.2
Sensationalistic
269
11.9
11.9
Emotional
121
5.4
5.4
Expert
56
2.5
2.5
Chart 3. Type of headline and sub-headline
Table 6 reveals that by far mostly utilized type of headlines and subheadings are informative – factual (80.2%). Those of sensationalistic, emotional or expert nature are represented between 2.5% and 12%, with visible
advantage of those that are sensationalisticin comparison to emotional,
as well as slight advantage of emotional against expert type of headlines
127
and sub-headlines. These results suggest that media have been mostly up
to the task, but real value of these figures will come to light when compared diachronically throughout different periods of the analysis and in
relation to data obtained in Serbia.
Chart 3 shows that informational headlines have dominated with minor
variations over the course of years, which is also the case with other types.
Slight variation is noticeable in this chart meaning that in the periods where
informative headlines were going slightly up, those being sensationalistic
were going slightly down. However, that is quite understandable due to opposite/contested character of these two types of headlines and sub-headlines.
Table7. Author of text
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Redaction journalist
1373
60.8
60.8
Agency
794
35.2
35.2
Statement for media
36
1.6
1.6
Taken from another
media
32
1.4
1.4
Commentator
22
1.0
1.0
Chart 4. Author of text
Table 7 suggests that articles signed by redaction journalists dominate,
which is quite normal in journalism. Second best are agencies, while other
categories are symbolically represented: takenfromanothermedia and by a
commentator. There is however considerable percentage of unsigned articles,
which should be closely scrutinized in order to ascertain whether there is something compromising in the content influencing authors to conceal their identity.
128
Media are also autonomous in relation to other media and rarely quote
one another, which is also quite understandable, while they generally operate in the same market and therefore as competitors. One could also ascertain that agencies are very important source of information, which provides
bulk of information later on widely distributed or used by the media.
Chart 4 reconfirms domination of journalist reporter and agencies as
two main authors. However, these twointersected in 1996 and especially
in 1998, in the sense that journalist reporting plumed and agencies went
up, which could be due to delicacy of reporting in relation to ongoing
controversies, complexity of intensive debate and expert work connected
to property laws and establishment of the executive framework. In the
same time, it appears that the agencies were conducting bulk of reporting
work while individual journalists were less exposed and concentrated on
following the news.
Table 8. Primary source of media content
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Executive authorities
426
18.9
18.9
//
246
10.9
10.9
Local NGOs
215
9.5
9.5
Author of text
182
8.1
8.1
International community
178
7.9
7.9
Individuals, groups of ref./
IDP’s
166
7.4
7.4
Political parties
149
6.6
6.6
Representatives of local aut.
149
6.6
6.6
143
6.3
6.3
//
96
4.3
4.3
Agencies
87
3.9
3.9
Legislative authorities
69
3.1
3.1
Religious communities
25
1.1
1.1
Public personas
19
0.8
0.8
Judiciary
8
0.4
0.4
129
Table 8 provides insight to number of categories devised in order to
cover range of possible actors and sources used by authors.35 The mostly
used primary source are Executives (President/presidential, the Council
of Ministers, government ministries) participating with up to 19%. Local
NGOs were referred to up to 9.5%, whereas international community
closely up to 8%.
Political parties and politicians are used as a source in up to 6-6% of
analyzed texts. This suggests that issues were dealt mostly by institutional
actors/politicians in specific positions, instead as a pure political matter.
Politics did not promise much in this respect and ref./IDP agenda did not
count for winning political capital and elections, which can be interpreted
as silence approval of ethno-territorialization of the country promoted by
political elites and widely accepted by the society.
35
1. Executive (President/presidential, the Council of Ministers, government
ministries / ministers)
2. Legislative (Parliament, Council)
3.Judicial (Courts - all levels)
4. Agencies, institutes, etc.
5. Political parties and politicians (in the capacity of political parties and not
any function that holds the individual - for example, XYZ Minister and party
president)
6. International organisations (Concrete entities as statutory multilateral int.
Organisations; IGO and NGO) (Amnesty International, the Red Cross /
Crescent, UNDP, UNHCR ...)
7. International community (non-specific entities such as forums, groups, initiatives; states and international organizations – OHR, EU, PIC, NATO,
EUFOR/SFOR, EUPM, EULEX, OSCE, PIC and its individual members,
CoE,...)
8. Local NGO (e.g. Association of returnees, NGO for human rights etc.)
9. Public persons/intellectuals
10.Individuals, groups or population of (refugees, returnees, displaced persons)
11.The author of the text (a column, a commentary, etc.)
12.Local government authorities (mayor, municipality, local police)
13.Religious communities / clerics
14.Unidentified sources
15.Other media
16.Other sources (nor included in the list above)
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Relatively noticeable is the presence of international organizations
(6.3%) almost equally used as a source as local executive authorities
and political parties, but all the other sources are underrepresented
and especially legislative, agencies, public personas, religious communities and judiciary. Individuals, groups or population of (refugees, returnees, and displaced persons) were generally represented
up to 7.4% with a conspicuous incident in 2006 rising up to 18%. Considering that this category should be in the focus, it can be generally
inferred that it is underrepresented. The former allows for criticism of
journalist approach whereby direct inputs and grievances of threatened groups are comparably less sourced than it should normally be
the case.
As for the various administrative bodies, agencies and institutes, it
is worth noticing their general low representation as sources, namely
Legislative instance has been used in less than 4% of the cases; Agencies and institutes as well (4%). Participation of judicial authorities is
virtually nonexistent as well as religious communities, which is quite
surprising and it could suggest that religious communities, for some
reason, have not been consulted as a source by authors and/or RC’s
didn’t want to expose publicly on subject matter. Worth mentioning is
also marginal presence of public persons/intellectuals positions and
opinions, being validated in only 3% of the articles.
As for the ‘secondary sources of media content’ one can reassert that
this (validation) category is generally very scarce and mostly not applicable (84%), which suggests that secondary sources in the content or
indirect sources are rarely used. However those are already present in
the form of primary sources and in minor percentage as primary, such
as: author of the text, international community and executive government. Directly affected Individuals, groups or population of (refugees,
returnees, and displaced persons) are scarcely used as secondary source
- only in 2% of articles.
Basically, the use of secondary source is not usual journalistic practice
and if it does occur it mainly corresponds to primary sources already
applied. This could also mean that journalistic approach doesn’t aim for
reflective or critical articles related to ref./IDP’s.
131
Table9. Number of sources
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
One
1723
76.3
76.3
Two
392
17.4
17.4
Three
79
3.5
3.5
Four
37
1.6
1.6
More than four
26
1.2
1.2
Chart 5. Number of sources
Table9 delineates information that the observed pattern used in most
of the articles is single source application (76.3%), which does not contribute to the overall assessment of the media as objective and non-biased; in
contrast to that, there are more likely subjective and instrumental projections that distort the perception of relative independence and autonomy
of the media. Two sources are used up to 30% with significant and steady
tendency of rise over the years. Percentage of articles with 3, 4 and 5 sources is minor with no tractable tendency of growth.
Chart 5 is a time line which displays again domination of single sourced
reporting, with absolute dominance immediately after the end of the war.
It had plummeted down in 1996 - as the firstafter-waryear highlighted by
the relief caused by seizure of violence and hostilities, as well as wholehearted expectations from the DPA’s implementation and announced
refugees/IDP’s return process. Also at that time the first wave of return
was initiated based on the provisions of DPA and its Annex VII. However,
already next year in 1997 indicators worsened. Media and political pressures both on local and macro levels seemingly have discouraged return
132
and the issue underwent increasing politicization, possibly in connection
to unwillingness of ethno-political elites unambiguously to support the return process (see context analysis). After the setbacks in 1997, things have
relatively stabilized in 1998 and maintained on the more or less same level
of intensity over ensuing years.
Table10.Sources included representatives of interest groups
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Same group
1143
50.6
50.6
Two or more groups
299
13.2
13.2
Opposite groups
63
2.8
2.8
Not specified
752
33.3
33.3
Chart6: Sources included representatives of interest groups
Table10reveals that sources which mostly included representatives
of the same interest group (for example one political option, party, or
side in a conflict) were up to 70% - this is very indicative figure, as an
argument in favor of general instrumentalisation and overall division of
BH public space along ethno-national lines. Given the ethno-territorial
organization of the Country and general professional view about likewise division of its public space, which is here reflected in the single
group support and openness, it is plausible to infer that behavior of media elites closely observes existent structural dispositions in daily performance of their socio-political and professional functions and duties. The
only dilemma is whether media intentionally support that division or
133
simply adapt to contemporary socio-political circumstances and prevalent ethno-political discourses. Other sub-variables have marginal value,
meaning that media rarely observe two or more groups36, and especially
opposite37 group.
Chart 6 also reaffirms domination of single group usage as a source of
information. However, variations of that sub-variable is not completely
reliable because it contrasts undetermined group of data, which leaves
possibility that single group usage might be even more present over the
course of time than suggested in this chart.
Since 2001, single-group sourcing is little bit less applied through implicit sourcing techniques, which could be rather due to perception of increased professional standards or political correctness. This could mean
that media have been pacified and far less explicitly positioned as adjacent
to ‘warring’ parties as it was the case immediately after the war. Their support for shared narratives of specific groups have become more refined;
However, on the other side, long term decline of single sources usage does
not match any visible rise of two and more or opposite groups sourcing in
the articles, which might be a critical aspect of media independence and
political affiliation.
Table 11. Expressed attitudes toward issues of return
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
One-sided
626
27.7
27.7
Opposing
attitudes
62
2.7
2.7
Balanced
attitudes
58
2.6
2.6
1511
66.9
66.9
Not specified
This group can be viewed as a package with the first, because these are mainly
trying to fake inclusive approach but essentially servicing existing opinion,
stance or conclusion on a particular issue
37
This information can be subsumed under the hypothesis of the absence of ‘national’ (in the sense of state) media - at least among the observed daily newspapers, that the thesis of regional fragmentation of media space in BiH (with the
regionalization of BiH corresponds to its ethnicization)
36
134
Chart7:Expressed attitudes toward issues of return
Table 11 informs thatOne-sided views dominate in analyzed articles,
being represented up to 41%. However, there are lots of Not applicable
measurements (in which no stance is expressed, and / or the issue does not
involve any social controversy). Opposite and balanced attitudes are marginall y represented. These results signify that authors of articles rather
opt for neutral position than actively involve into critical weighting of different positions / attitudes on potentially biased and controversial questions. That indicates a relatively passive position of the media towards
‘sensitive’ but important issues, which again may be associated with the
conformity practices following corporate attitude that these issues don’t
have a dose of media stickiness. As a result media do not perform role of
setting the agenda in full capacity, they rather follow and adapt to needs
and agenda of other relevant social and political actors (presumably to
ethno-national political elites) and in that way miss their potential to assume corrective function.
Chart 7 as expected displays correlation between single-sources usage
and one-sided attitudes, as well as their contrast to undefined and possibly concealed or intentionally eliminated attitudes in the media content.
Also, there was noticeable decline of one-sided attitudes in 1997, which is
probably connected to inter-ethno political debate and exchange of different socio-political views regarding, at the time being, relevant topics on
ref. / IDP’s, such as return strategies, policies, plans, institutions etc. Likewise in the case of single-group sourcing, there was decline of one-sided
attitudes in the same period - 2000/2001, however, followed by almost
complete absence of balanced and opposite attitudes butwithstabilized intensity in later years.
135
Table 12. Position of the article toward return
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Very positive
130
5.8
5.8
Positive
733
32.5
32.5
Unexpressed
907
40.2
40.2
Negative
446
19.8
19.8
Very negative
41
1.8
1.8
Chart 8: Position of the article toward return
Table 12: In this segment articles, are mostly optimistic towards return process while providing positive information and emphasize the important questions at the same time. Extreme options are scarce, namely
very positive or very negative. This suggests the fact about sensitivity of
the editorial boards, which approach subject issue with sense of public
accountability or political correctness. However, confusion is caused by
47% of articles that have non-expressed character (meaning that article is
not engaged and does not include any value attitudes; remaining on superficial / formal level). There is slight convergence among positive and
negative positions starting from 2001 onwards in connection with abrupt
increase of articles that are neutrally positioned.
Chart 8 shows general downfall of positive reporting on return process,
with some variations and the peak year 1998. Positive reporting downfall is visible in the year 2001, but already in the next year (2002) it went
up significantly and later on stabilized with minor values. The concern
can be spurred by the general rising of negative reporting over time and
136
since 2001 it almost intertwines with positive, unlike previous years when
these two values were completely separated meaning that positive reporting had quite higher intensity. However, non-defined reporting was in
place all the time and since 2005 onward it has stabilized at higher level as
dominant feature of articles, meaning those were mostly non-positioned
toward the return process.
It looks that media had become disinterested for ref./IDP issues after
pushing several years for it, but also against the return. It might be that the
failure of substantial return rendered this issue less interesting to media,
which in the meantime got tied to new ethno-politically relevant ideas
and agenda. How ever, visible oscillations of positive and negative positions over past years show that there are certain factors powerful enough,
spontaneously or intentionally, to influence both socio-political and media
focus given to ref./IDP issues.
Table 13. Returnee population belongs
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
almost entirely the same
ethno-groupasthetarget
group of the media
817
36.2
36.2
almostentirelydifferent
ethno-groupthenthetarget group of the media
289
12.8
12.8
both – the same and differentethno-national groups
819
36.3
36.3
Not applicable
332
14.7
14.7
Chart9:Returnee population belongs:
137
Table 13 shows results in this segment that are approximately balanced:
articles almost entirely treat ethno-groups that are dominant group of the
media. In this sense, if not the sole target of ethno-national group, then
media at least have a primary identity group which they address - this can
be verified by examining general political attitudes prevailing in particular areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where dominant constituent groups
match general ethno-political discourse dispersed by elites, institutions,
media and vice versa. However, media only slightly more favor ‘their’ target group or ethnicity, thus reflecting relative democracy and professional
approach while reporting on ref./IDP’s issues.
Chart 9 features dominant orientation of individual media to particular ethno-national group, which was not that poignant only in years 1996,
1998 and 1999. It is possible that ongoing discussions about the political/
policy and legal-institutional course of actions towards ‘resolution’ of ref./
IDP problems was partisan by nature, in the sense that political parties
draw attention to their identity groups in order to legitimize certain interest-political actions. It is also worth noticing that attention given to opposite ethno-national group mismatched most of the time attention given to
single ethno-national group. However there was ostensible convergence
since 2006 onward and with oscillations which might suggest two things:
first and more likely that ref./IDP affairs are no longer worth of media attention in relation to other socio-political actors, and second - that media
have liberalized their approach to reporting on relevant socio-political reasons due to myriad of possible reasons (results of wider democratization
processes conditioned by internal and external factors).
Table 14. Origin of refugees
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Refugees from BIH
1901
84.2
84.2
Refugees from Croatia
78
3.5
3.5
Refugees from BiH and
Croatia
51
2.3
2.3
Refugees from Kosova
42
1.9
1.9
Refugees from Kosova in
BiH and CRO
5
0.2
0.2
180
8.0
8.0
Irrelevant origin
138
Chart10: Origin of refugees
Table14: Reviewed articles in 89% of cases are related to IPD (refugees and displaced persons) from Bosnia and Herzegovina (actually displaced), as much as 6% to refugees from Kosovo, 2% of refugees from the
Croatia, while results for the other variables are negligible (not exceeding 1%). It can be concluded that media in BiH are mostly concerned
with refugees from BiH, i.e. persons who for some reason do not manage to fulfill their return rights fully and permanently return to pre-war
places of residence.
Chart 10 and its time-line reassert data from the previous table
and dominance of BH population, which was mostly affected by wars
in ex-Yugoslavia. This was more closely argued in the first part of
the report (context analysis) where it was said that portion of BHs
ref./IDP’s population oversized by more than half population from
all other ex-Yugoslav republics, which were engulfed by armed conflicts and wars during 90s. Since 2006 onwards, there has been slight
rise of media attention given to Serb refugees from Croatia, mostly
accentuated by two print media from Banja Luka (GlasSrpske and
Nezavisnenovine).
Table 15. Does the article deserve particular attention
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Yes
1402
6.21
6.21
No
855
37.9
37.9
139
Chart 11: Does the article deserve particular attention
Table 15 displays higher percentage of articles that have special significance
in terms of media treatment of issues related to refugees / internally displaced
persons. In other words, almost every other article was useful in terms of determining the relevance of the media on the issue of refugees. This might suggest that media rather boldly approached ref./IDP’s issue and treated it in
order to strengthen its social significance and raise awareness about it, or they
just took particular position regarding this question, either autonomous or
instrumental, which is one of the prominent questions in this research.
Chart 11 shows a downfall of particularly interesting articles worth of
further analysis in 1996; than after significant rise in 1997 and once again
downfall in 1998/1999, and finally steady but short rise in 2000/2001, with
stabilized frequencies afterwards. It coincides with period 2000/2001
where official records noted success of properties return. The truth however is that this –‘equaling’ of property claims with the return process,
proved to be misleading benchmark also for the media, considerably disengaging them afterwards from these issues.
4.2. additional correlationS
Additional correlations included correlations of several variables, but
the accent was on primary actors and primary sources, because those two
variables very often intersect around same actors, differentiated only according to their function in treated article.
Chart12: First relevant correlation is the one between primary actors
and covered topics. Chart below shows that NGOs dealt with personal
stories of ref./IDP and tracked their activities, overhauling in this segment
all other actors.
140
Chart 12: Primary actors and topics
The former also includes incidents, which were not significantly present in the overall sample, but the peculiar thing is that the attention on
this matter was almost exclusively given by civil society actors. One can
see that political parties paid marginal attention to the issue of ref. /IDPs
in whole, which clearly signals lack of their will to reverse effects of ethnic cleansing produced during the war. Among all institutional and governmental actors, the executive authorities seem to be the most occupied
actors with relevant topics, which is contrary to legislative and court instances that were completely detached from these issues.
Chart 13: Primary actors and position to return process
141
Chart 13 features correlation between primary actors and position of articles towards return process. It shows again which actors pay most of their
attention to ref./IDP issuesand interfere, more or less, with all position values. However, ref./IDP population is at the center of all types of reactions and
interestingly attracts almost all negative and very negative contents, which
is probably due to perpetuation of unresolved grievances and unanswered
needs of this population. This also suggests how the return process pretty
much failed to meet expectations of ref./IDP actors, who lead up to 25% of
all actors registered in this sample. Former figure should be presentable due
to applied methodology and number of examined editions. Positive contents
connected to vulnerable groupsare mostly positioned in the middle of the
scale in-between positive and negative extremes, but still by full-length short
of very negative contents. Other actors are far behind, but first next to ref./
IDP population are NGO’s, which also appear to trigger on negative contents,
probably because they usually support ref./IDP demands and often advocate
for them trying to bring forward problems and challenges which they face
in human and sensitive manner. NGOs also bring forward positive contents
more than other relevant actors and position them in front of those that are
neutral. Other actors such as international organizations, foreign representatives, regulatory bodies and different governmental instances appear to be
prone to reflect in neutral way on subject matters, which might to be due to
technocratic nature of their involvement and different practical project activities, or their general orientation on correctness of public appearance.
Chart 14: Primary sources and primary topics
142
Chart 14 shows that ref./IDP population is intensively used as a source
when it comes to treatment of topics directly related to them. Next to them
are local NGOs which are often consulted when it comes to personal stories of ref./IDPs as well as their activities. Normally, executive instances
- governments are consulted on issues such as politics, strategies, action
plans and similar outputs developed by them, as well as on concrete projects such as building and reconstruction of houses, different implications
and issues generally related to return process etc. Executive sources are
consultedhorizontally on widest spectra of topics, unlike ref./IDPs and
NGOs which are intensively exploited on a particular set of topics. The
former suggests that NGOs might get more involved into practical project
activities and increase their expertise on certain matters which could be
beneficial for the sustainable return process; Former refers to ref./IDPs as
well. Involvement of these two groups in more productive/practical manner could increase prospects of successful returns. Attitudes and opinions
are mostly derived from individual authors in the capacity of primary
sources of information, which is a quite expected result.
4.3. Specific media traits
Individual media results show that there is correlation between primary actors and primary sources. In other word, results on dispositions
of these two variables show that they reinforce each other. In terms of
usage of primary sources media have tendency to consult executive – governance instances within different levels. The two print media from RepublikaSrpska (RS)entity, among all institutional actors, mostly consult
Government of that Entity, but local executive authorities as well. Media
from Federation BiH are generally less oriented to institutional actors;
they rather address civil society actors, members of vulnerable groups
and international community. In that sense media in RepublikaSrpska are
more institutionally oriented from the point of view of primary actors and
sources accentuated or active in that Entity, whereas media in Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) have less institutional focus and opt
for other actors and sources. This can be due to more complex and highly
decentralizedorganization of Federation BiH, which cause difficulties to
penetrate complex administration and find competent and adequate collocutors. However, within entities media usually function as opposition
143
to each other, meaning that they hardly opt to concentrate on the same
actors/sources and rather have different strategic focus.
In addition to previously said it was noticed that attention of media shifts
over time as well as their approach in terms of the way they address relevant
issues. For example in 2010,GlasSrpskewas concentrated on the Government
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Council of Ministers), whereas NezavisneNovine on political parties. In 2006,GlasSrpske placed its attention on RS Government and Nezavisnenovine on local authorities and vulnerable groups.
In contrast to that in Federation BiH in 2010,Dnevniavaz dominantly targeted individuals and groups of ref./IDP’s (vulnerable groups) as well as agencies and regulatory bodies. On the other hand,Oslobođenje had dispersed its
attention with no dominant focus, except for mild advantage in favor of political parties and certain governmental instances. Unlike media in RS, both
these media relied pretty much on international community and especially
EU representatives. Dnevni list had followed similar pattern as Oslobođenje
in 2010. In 2006,Dnevniavaz paid lots of attention to vulnerable groups and
religious communities. Oslobođenje also covered vulnerable groups but interacted considerably with other actors/sources as well, such as local NGOs,
local legislative and executive. In the same time,Dnevni list fully interacted
with representatives of the Government FBiH and EU representatives. In
2002,print media in Federation BiH also had quitedifferent focus, namely
Dnevniavazdirected its attention to International community, representatives of the EU, Government of FBiH, cantonal authorities and Government
of BiH as well as political parties.Oslobođenje was at the time at the peak of
their interaction with local NGOs and vulnerable groups (ref./IDP’s), with
considerable attention given to executive actors on Cantonal and Federation
level. The results for Dnevnilist – as a third print media with the seat in Federation BiH were not available at that time (2002). In the other entity, thenewspaper daily Nezavisnenovine practiced balanced approach covering
wide spectra of actors, including institutional and non-institutional actors.
Much of attention was also placed on state level, concretely BiH government
and legislative. GlasSrpske, on the other hand, dominantly referred to Government of RepublikaSrpska and its legislatives as well as to local instances
within this entity. Among non-institutional actors,GlasSrpskefavored at the
time local NGOs, agencies and regulatory bodies.
The bottom line is that media are pretty much autonomous in picking
their focus, perspective and required information. However, they either
concentrate on institutional or non-institutional actors or rarely manage
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to balance these two aspects. That could also suggest that media have certain sorts of affiliations, not only those of identitary character connected
with post-war demographic dispositions in BiH, but also in connection
to political circumstances. It is known fact that media affiliate to certain
political parties and in that way manage to acquire better position and at
least facilitate their access to ordinary and exclusive information. After
‘their’ affiliates enter political positions media tend to support and follow
their activities. Since the political scene in BiH is quite instable with often
shifts of alliances, media can hardly assume strategic orientation in terms
of coverage, but rather act and/or react in line with given circumstances.
However, certain level of autonomy should be in place because all selected
media record continuous and increasing expansion and they are relatively firm in terms of their financial stability. From that point of view they
surely manage to choose actors, topics and sources to certain extent, in
accordance with their own projections, whether or not being directly or
indirectly aligned with certain political factors. In other words media can
attain capacities to influence politics, not only to act as its instrument.
5. GENERAL REMARKS ON MAIN FINDINGS
With regard to primary topic of article media reacted to resolving ref./
IDP’s position, which might be expected sinceinstitutions on all levels
are mostly responsible for dealing with it.. General reporting dominates,
which can be connected to the lack of concrete policies/actions and implementation of strategic/action plans for realization of self-sustainable return. It is worth
noticing that incidents are more in the focus of media than issues such asref./IDPs
rights, their living conditions, status, personal stories, which corresponds to inclination for sensationalistic reporting.
Most represented actors are individuals, groups of refugees, international community and local NGO’s. It is also quite interesting that local
NGO’sare more represented than representatives of Local executive authorities, which is, however, more represented than any other governmental instance/level. Obviously, burden of interaction with ref./IDP’s lays on
municipal and city authorities and administrations. Those are instances directly responsible for realization of rights and answering the needs of vulnerable groups. However, there is evident lack of more substantial cooperation
with media, which is the case for different reasons: lack of strategic reporting, weak
145
public relation offices with lack of knowledge or power to push forward official agenda or passive posture which serves local administrative-political interests and goals.
Through summing up of categories of primary actors,a conclusion was
reachedthat, in general terms, civic society actors are more agile in addressingref./IDP’s problemsthan all other instances of executive authority, while activity and interest in subject issuesmatches engagement of
international community. Former features relative passivity of administrative-politicalapparatusin dealing with such an immensely prominent
social and political problem.The latter parallel between international community and authorities might also suggest interconnectedness of their action. Namely, agenda and policies were mostly pushed by international
community to which authorities respond, while the latter should have
proactive and autonomous positioning vis-a-vis ref./IDP’s issues.
Particularly provocative is finding that international organizations and community undertook more public issue with regard to subject topic than the Council
of Ministers, which is sort of equivalent to State Government, as well as entity
level governments, agenciesandregulatory bodies, as well as cantonal executive instances. Legislative institutions barely engage in effectuation of regulatory frame
and do not involveinto resolution of status and addressing needs of ref./IDP’s.
Most represented journalistic form was report, and then after news, whiles
the portion of individual contributions in the forms of statements, interviews
and commentaries is marginal. Headlines are dominantly informative and every tenth is sensationalistic, while number of emotional headlines sub-headlines is as twice higher than experts contributions (this might indicate low interest and inclusion of expert/academic community in resolving ref./IDP’s issues).
From the late 1998 throughout 2006, theintensity of agency reporting
continuously devolved, while in the same time engagement of redaction
journalists increased, meaning that they overtookinitiative for informing
publicity and tracking subject issues. Hereby it is worth noticingtendencyof focusingone-time events without lasting effects (such as donator conferences and similar.) However, there is no immediate or subsequent follow
up of effects of activities and policies.
Reporting is also uniformed: in the sense that single source is dominantly
utilized in articles, which hinders possibility of comparative approach or
assuming holistic perspective. Yet, there is slight progress inusing more
sources: media tend to be correct while informing about ref./IDP’s, which
is featured by mild increase of multiple sources usage, which, at least to
some extent, serves media to conceal their regional character.
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It was also ascertained that media very rarelyreport on groups different than the one being represented as a dominant/primary target group
(then times less), which is additional confirmation of fragmentation of BH’s
public space, conditioned by after wardemographicdispositionsandethnopoliticalprinciple of administrative organization. Next to that, it is worth
mentioning that opposite and balanced attitudes are rarely brought to
public space, which does not have to be necessarily a trait of reporting
particularly on ref./IDP’s, but general feature of BH’s public space which,
as it is, represents overall socio-political hindrance to promotion of public
discourse supportive for implementation of relevant annexes and laws.
Instead, publicity is dominated by one-sided and most of all without any
pertaining attitudes, which suggest slack of discussion and public debating on issues relevant for ref./IDP population.
Generally speaking the interest of media significantlyweakened over time towards targeted population incomparison to first after-war years, which isprobably
dictated by theparallel decline of attention of executive and legislative authorities,
as well as of media themselves while addressing ref./IDP related issues.
6. MAIN FINDINGS OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
During all monitored years, the writings may generally be grouped in
the following thematic categories:
– Political relations, whereas the issues of ref./IDP served only as a
cover for statements of broader political agenda;
– Human stories, which mostly deal with negative issues, which actually represents a permanent problem of refugee crisis;
– Humanitarian issues, mostly based on current events that emphasize needs or outlines the results of humanitarian actions;
– Activities and attitudes of the international community aimed at
refugee crisis resolution.
In terms of their active role, ranking of these topics can be divided into
texts that emphasize problems and bring forward accusations for failed resolution of the latter, and the writings attempting to encourage the return
process. Unfortunately, the other category was far less represented. In total,
newspaper writings which offer instructions on how to realize some rights,
whom to address or what are the relevant procedures, are extremely rare.
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The key messages sent through media were significantly entity-wise
and ethnically differentiated. Until 2002, Dnevniavaz and Oslobođenje
insisted that all people should return to their homes, that no permanent
peace was possible without refugee return, that Serbian and Croatian authorities impede the return to a great extent with the intention to maintain ethnically clean territories. Glassrpski andDnevneNezavisneNovineemphasized the attitudes of Serb politicians, but also general population,
who had no desire to returnto the Federation of BiH, and blamed the international community for exodus of Serbs from reintegrated settlements
of Sarajevo, as well as the FBiH authorities, especially those from Sarajevo,
for a slow implementation of property laws that indicated their hypocritical attitude towardthe return. After 2000, the refugee crisis has to a certain
extent become less present in media, and political connotations also plummeted. DnevniavazandOslobođenjepoint out that will for return still exists, that people keep returning, yet financial support by the government
and international community is required for the process. Major attention
is devoted to irregular incidents, especially in case of FataOrlović,who has
been fighting for relocation of the church from her courtyard near Žepa,
which has become a paradigm for sustainable return or “return worth of
human dignity”. Also, the newspapers from RS paidsignificant attention
to economic elements of the return at that time, while incident situations
were considered as politically directed.
Until 2002, daily newspapers payed major attention to property laws
whose implementation had caused a stormon all sides. A number of articles consist of OHR press releases to this regard, reactions, obstructions
and practical implementation. The opponents of evictions raise their voices, the inconsistencies of the laws are searched for, its implementation is
tried to be avoided in all possible ways. This lends an opportunity to RS
media to underline how the return to FBiH was impossible.
Although a direct criticabout the lack of action for implementation
of the return process toward the entity authorities, where the respective
newspaper is based, remains less represented in articles,one can often implicitly read itbetween the lines, especially in the FBiH media, which emphasize that returnees are left alone or in a better case, to donations of international community. On the other hand, the RS media, rather by choice
of their interlocutors and headlines than through editorial and journalistic
attitudes, pointed out the responsibility of international community and
FBiH government for the refugee crisisparticularly in the first post-war
148
years, who at any price pushed for return of refugees in RS, while, as they
put it, worked less to receive them in the FBiH.
Contrary to newspapers from the FBiH, the RS newspapers report
about aspects of refugee crisis in Croatia, and also in Kosovo after 1999.
The focus was on Serbian refugee issue, which was additionally generated
by the conflict in Kosovo, but also on number of authority impediments to
the return process in Croatia.
As sources of information in texts, the statements of refugees themselves, politicians from municipal to state level, representatives of international organizations, donors, various refugee associations, demobilized
soldiers unions, humanitarian organization and NGO, in particular human rights organization, were used in most cases.
The articles from Oslobodjenje and DnevniAvaz, in addition to referring
to return as a necessity, also featured the will and persistence of returnees to
return to their homes regardless of difficulties and obstacles they were facing,
however they neither offered any in-depth perspective nor made a room for
a detailed analysis on what specifically should have been done in order to
realize the return process and who was responsible for it. Many articles were
devoted to single donations, issues, attacks, while only few critical writings
were about the reasons why the return process was going slowly.
The fact-based journalistic forms dominated, i.e. news and reports. The
summery of rare comments and more complex journalistic writings is that the
return obstruction is done by local authorities and the lack of political will for
the closure of return process. Everybody supports “their own people” without
contributing to creation of preconditions for sustainable return. Furthermore,
the housing reconstruction is not enough, as this is not an indication for implementation of the return. As post-war years were passing by, the issue of sustainable return, i.e. its improbability has been increasingly present in media.
The headlines are mainly neutral yet suggestive with messages indicating to a biased approach of international community, obstructions “of the
other” government, determination about return, and also to a less extent
results of successful return.
Since 2001 on, Nezavisnenovine have been gaining a profile of an all-Bosnian and Herzegovinian newspaper, which wasinter alia obvious from reporting on refugee issues. The refugee issues of all three ethnic groups have been
more present than before, and political factors country-wide have also been
represented to a considerable extent. However, no newspapers have been
showing ethnic-based hate speech or extreme forms of unprofessionalism.
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Certain manipulative featuring was present through selection of information
and emphasize of statements or attitudes of refugees or politicians which are
in line with the majority public opinion as the newspaper’s readers.
Bibliography
Authors:
Arnaut S., Komisija za raseljena lica i izbjeglice, available at: http://crpc.blogger.ba/
Belloni, Roberto (2007): “State building and international intervention in Bosnia“,
Routledge, London&New York.
Kleck, M., (2007), Refugee Return – Success Story of Bad Dream? A Review from Eastern Bosnia in Fischer, M. (ed.) Peacebuliding and Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ten Years after Dayton, Berlin.
Opačić, G., Vidaković, I., Vujadinović, B. (ed.) (2005), Living in Post-war Communities,
International Aid Network, Belgrade.
Phoung C. (2000), At the heart of the return process: solving property issues in Bosnia
and Herzegovina in Forced Migration Review 7 Refugee Study Center, Oxford.
Radenko Udovičić, Vjerodostojnost medija, teorijske i praktične dileme, (2012), Media
plan institut, Sarajevo.
Udovičić et al (2010) Izbori 2010 u BiH: Kako su mediji pratili izbornu kampanju, Media
Plan Institut, Sarajevo.
Reports, researches and institutional sources:
General overview of forced displacement in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012)Centre for Refugee and IDP Studies (CESI)/ Institute for Social Science Research/
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo,, Sarajevo.
Internews, Soros Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Heinrich Boell
Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation etc.
Politika međunarodne podrške zemljama jugoistočne Evrope – nenaučene lekcije
u BiH“, Fond otvorenodruštvoBiH, Sarajevo, 2001.
Press Council: Indicators of Media Freedom in Countries Members of Council of Europe:
Report for B&H, 2012, available at http://www.vzs.ba.
Research on media usage by B&H population done at the Faculty of Political Sciences Sarajevo in 2009.
Council of Europe (2004), Bosnia and Herzegovina: Compliance with obligations
and commitments and implementation of the post-accession co-operation programme, Council of Europe.
Web page of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, available on www.
mhrr.gov.ba/ministarstvo/.
Dayton Peace Agreement, available at http:www.ohr.int
MHRR (2010) Revised Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Implementation of Annex
VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, Council of Ministers, 2010.
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Closing remarks: Media
(in)dependence – Politics and Media:
cohabitation arrangements
EMIR VAJZOVIĆ
Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
Summary
Scientific research project ‘’Media between freedom and dependency - the
role of print media in the process of refugee return’’ implemented in Serbia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina with unified methodology. While the media focus on refugees and displaced topics is weakening the problem is still current
and valuable for research. In recent years forced migration are largely politically determined and generated. During the twentieth century the number of
people who in one way or another passed through the refugee status is on
millions due to the numerous armed conflicts, violence and war crimes. Calling for mass refugee tragedy is often used for the promotion and realization of
some key political goals or points, but refugees and displaced were afterwards
often left to themselves. Since the contemporary man in a modern, democratic
societies is kept informed mainly through various media, it is clear that the
power of mass communication and the role of the media in the democratic
process should be taken seriously, especially in the so-called countries in transition, where it is necessary to make additional efforts in the development and
strengthening of democracy. Particular attention should be paid to how the
media independence (political, economic and editorial), media concentration,
pluralism and diversity of media. In this research project and in the results
of analysis and we are presenting, we decided for sample of print media in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as the most suitable for the course and
scope of research. Although there are historical, social, political and media
similarities in these two neighbouring countries, it is not possible to do a classical comparative analysis of the results, even though a simple comparison of
151
the two reports can give a good insight into all the specifics that Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Serbia have been trough from the start of the ‘90s onwards.
The results of this study do not confirm the hypothesis that the influence of
local political elites in the media have contributed to the discourse that has
discouraged the return and settlement of the refugee / IDPs issues , but can
also be concluded that the political elite in the media have not worked enough
to adequately address the status and rights of refugees and that not enough
was done on informing and educating refugees on their rights and options.
Key words: Media, independence, politics, refugees, internally displaced persons IDP
1. The (im)possibility of media
(in)dependence and democracy
Since the beginning of time people have been changing their habitats –
migrating from one area to another (one or multiple times) by two main
reasons, motives or incentives: 1) by their own will, desire and decision in
search for better life and 2) forced by someone else – mainly politically motivated – when someone due to various reasons is forcing them from exile
their habitat, i.e. in of life threatening circumstances when they are fleeing
in fear of consequences (refugees, IDPs, deported…). (Vajzović 2012: 7-17)
Forced migrations are more politically motivated and generated then even
before. During XX century the number of people who had some sort of refugee / IDP status is in millions due to armed conflicts, violence and war crimes.
Recalling large scale refugee tragedies has been often used for promotion and making some key political goals of scores, but refugees and IDPs
have been forgotten afterwards. However, beside massive human tragedies,
“cleaned” territories from one side and colonised from another side imply as
well serious social, economic, demographic and cultural consequences. However, these aspects and consequences are rarely researched and investigated
and lack of real understanding on scope and consequences of these problems
resulted also in lack of meaningful social strategies which could have initiated
larger scale return process and thereby mitigate a number of problems that
are undermining social progress even so many years after the war ended.
Since contemporary man in modern, democratic societies is mainly
informed by various media, it is clear that power of mass communication and role of media in democratic processes is to be taken seriously,
especially in so called countries in transition where additional efforts are
necessary in development and strengthening democracy. Special attention
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CLOSING REMARKS: MEDIA (IN)DEPENDENCE – POLITICS AND MEDIA...
should be paid to media independence (political, economic and editorial),
media concentration, pluralism and media diversity. (Vajzović 2010, 2007)
Due to such influence that media have on public and civil society it
holds central place in democratization process, i.e., the key role in assessing democracy level of every society.
Hence, the level of media dependence or independence, biased or objective, subject to adequate regulation is directly proportional to assessment of democratic values of one society. Therefore, mass media (TV, radio, press, Internet and new telecommunications platforms) are so important in countries of new democracies, so called transitional countries, as
one created after dissolution of former SFR Yugoslavia. (Vajzović, 2010).
When ideal role of media is imagined in democratic society, ordinary
citizens may sound as acceptable and applicable the definition of mass
media as medium (mediator) with the role to inform, educated, entertain
citizens and serve as watch-dog of democracy. (Vajzović, 2010) However,
well elaborated discussion is on-going among academia, expert and media professional on media role and their (in)dependence in that process.
Without intention to lay down all complexity of issues of media independence in democratic society and detail analysis of all elements which are significantly influencing media, editors, journalists and even citizens in perception of media, here we will look at some basic and most frequently mentioned
ones in order to explain challenges that are realistic in democratic society.
Phenomenon of media democracy, as indicated by Thomas Mayer
(2003:3) is occurring when elaborating role of media in today’s politics and
society – the phenomenon which characterise new fundamental political
constellation and refers to form of creating political will and decision making where one of crucial roles in political process is taken by mass media
and their communications rules.
As Vreg (1991:306) is pointing out mass media are predominantly “mediators for government action and at the same time articulators for will of
people” and most of time provided for “institutional information of state,
political, economic, military and other ruling elites of global societies”.
Furthermore, in order to make reference to mass communications we will
add on already revised definition of O’Salivan and adopt it do contemporary circumstances, “players” and rules.
Mass-communication is the practice and product of securing information
and entertainment (in a break) for a broad, often unknown and ever more
clearly fragmented audience. When using the means of modern technologies and platforms, this process involves institutionally funded (public/legal,
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government and private/commercial) and structured (state regulated, hightech) organizations that by joint efforts (networks, services, and / or content)
are providing access to resources (information) and related services (interactivity) through technologically neutral platforms in order to deliver content. When using more traditional means, mass communication includes any
means of providing information, images, sound and / or entertainment in
free time for a large number of people from all social classes and demographic groups, but those whose behavior is homogeneous in terms of consuming
selected information sources. (Vajzovic 2010, see also Lorimer 1998: 42-43)
The power of the mass media in the modern information society is unquestionable. They, as “ institutions for political persuasion and mobilization of the ruling party or coalition of parties forming the dominant communication system, which maintains, strengthens and reproduces the ideological discourse of the ruling structure” (Vreg 1991:306). Thus the power
of mass media is gaining strength and becoming practically indestructible
because it stems from the two-way relationship: the mass media as logistics to selected (current) politics, and then “supported” political structure
is supporting them. Thereby the unwritten rule dominates: if you want to
rule, be “well” with the media or put them under your control! Support
them to in order to be supported, or control the media in order to control
the society! In this manner, the mass media might multiply and grow.
For politics the communication is especially important - both those internal (within political circles, institutions and authorities) and one external (public address communication between the authorities and the citizenry). To achieve the latter (external political communication) mass media are the key - both during the election campaign and during the entire
term of the position or the opposition.
Relatively simply we have found complicity and interdependence of democracy and the media, but increasingly we can hear attitudes that the media are becoming a significant antidemocratic force. Such opinions are based
on the following logic or practices: as richer and more powerful corporate
media giants are, there is less possibility for true citizens’ participatory democracy (McChesney 2008: 2) because the mass media endlessly raise the
level of knowledge about social processes, but also “infinitely hinder people’s ability to convert knowledge into political action “(Sennett 1989 - Nuhanovic 2005: 121). Practically, the dominant media companies are larger
and more influential than ever before, “the media in our social life is more
important than one might guess, more than they’ve ever been” (McChesney
2008:2). With growing citizen’s “addiction” on media in everyday life, the
154
pressure on the (in)dependence of the media by various interest groups is
expected. For politics and politicians whose job is to try to get and keep a
position of power and authority to practiced skill of governance, and, in
practice and in theory deal with the affairs of state, is expected to try (to)
govern media space as a key to their success and action.
The key role of media in politics and creating of public opinion is well
known. This is especially evident in the transition countries where the media
– by the approach, the frequency and timing of reporting on events, individuals and parties – are practically deciding on the results of “democratic” elections (cf. Nuhanovic 2005), people (mostly) inclined to trust the media more
than own eyes. It is important to know to convince them, but it’s not impossible. Mass media can do it. Let us not forget that they are among the most
influential companies in democratic societies positioned between citizens and
their political, economic and social institutions. (Day 2008: 44)
Independent, critical, and even aggressive media are certainly essential
to democracy based on knowledge and information. However, in the correlation of the media and democracy an important determinant is considered
to be the public interest. Therefore the media sector that supports democracy and represent the public interest, (ideally) would be only the one which:
–
–
–
–
has a degree of editorial independence (politically independent);
is financially (self)sustainable (financially not depend on anyone else (?));
encourages diverse and pluralistic views (freedom of expression); and
serves the public interest (the common good). (Vajzović 2007)
However, one should be aware of the forces and interests that affect the
media and called into question the concept of “independence” of the media.
The order of these interests is not critical and its importance varies from one
to another producer of media content: (1) the interest of citizens (the public),
(2) the commercial interests (profit), (3) the interests of advertisers (economic
dependence), (4) rating / share, (5) editorial policy (which is influenced by: the
pressure by the government, censorship and self-censorship, media orientation, ownership structure and the interests of the owner). (Vajzović 2010)
For these reasons, one could dare to say that fully independent media
does not exist. Of course, in highly developed democratic societies a higher
degree of independence (not yet complete) is achieve, while in the less democratically “enlightened” societies this level is proportionally smaller.1
1
see IREX Media Sustainability Index: http://www.irex.org/project/media-sustainability-index-msi
155
Mass media to inform, educate, entertain its recipients, but in these processes also necessarily affect their opinion and attitudes and thereby condition or direct democratic processes and behavior - individual and collective.
Mass media (producers of audio-visual content), as an element of the convergent communications sector, with the help of new technologies and services
are more efficiently reaching all target audiences on technologically neutral
basis over the platforms that can improve, converge and complement each
other in accordance with the very rapid technical and technological progress.
The realities are constructed through the reference frames in which news
/ information is presented, where the appearance is (re)shaped into a event,
and the event into the news. The news block is organizing everyday reality, and news block is split and stack of everyday reality, because, as we
have seen, the public character is the essential features of the news. (Lorimer 1998:184) Hence there is no doubt that the effectiveness of the message
depends directly on the technical apparatuses of the messages (medium,
agent). The same message is communicated through various types of networks and resources causes unequal effects, which means that the power of
the message depends not only on the content of the message but also by the
shape of the structure of technical medium. (Šušnjić 1995: 105)
2. Media reporting on refugees and IDPs
In the research we conducted and the results of analysis and we present, we decided to sample the print media in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Serbia as the most suitable for the course and scope of research. Although there are historical, social, political, and media and similarities in
these two neighbouring countries, though it is not possible to do a classical comparative analysis of the results, although a simple comparison of
the two reports can give a good insight into all the specifics that Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Serbia had since the start of the ‘90s onwards. The
methodology that was developed jointly by experts from both countries
with the help of international mentors and which aims to investigate the
same way and present the relationship between the media and political
elites in the field of refugees and displaced persons, has its specificity in
the sample and contextual framework (socio-political particularities and
various key events that determined the research topic). This was known
156
from the beginning, and the writing of national analysis was approached
on individual level with a desire to put the focus on the individual country
analysis according to agreed methodology, and subsequently, as a secondary objective, to try to draw some common principles.
We believe that, but with these two national analysis the research goal
was met: to investigate at the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia through the assessment of media content: a) how and to what extent
the print media have been reporting on refugees and internally displaced
persons, and b) how much in their work they fulfil the goal to inform and
assist returnees, and to what extent to serve (ethnic) political elites in the
implementation of political goals or return or the policy to stay.
In addition to extensive analyses done by teams of Serbia and Bosnia
and Herzegovina, included are parts of additional content analysis of texts
from Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote by Mediaplan Institute team (Radenko
Udovičić2, Bojana Šutvić3, Aleksandra Ostojić Matić4) as part of this project.
Looking at the analysed sample in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,
we can undoubtedly conclude that the issues relating to refugees and displaced persons, including the return, are not permanent nor particularly
common theme of articles in newspapers, although surveyed identified
and analysed a significant number of relevant articles due to the relatively
large period of time that is taken for the sample (BiH total 2257 articles in
800 publications reviewed in 5 selected time periods and Serbia 530 articles in 665 publications in 11 periods).
As shown in the analysis of print media in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, during all the years in the sample, general texts could be classified according to the following thematic categories: the political relationship
(with the problems of refugees served only as a pretext for expressing broader political attitudes), then human stories (which largely treated negativity,
which after all is the constant of refugee crisis), humanitarian affairs (usually
based on the current events that emphasize the needs and present the results
of humanitarian actions) and at the end of the activities and attitudes of the
Doc.dr.Radenko Udovičić is director of the Media plan institute from Sarajevo
and professor of journalism at University “Džemal Bijedić“ Mostaru and University of East Sarajevu.
3
Bojana Šutvić is director of NGO for development and improvement of just
society – GRUPA and previously programme director at Media plan institute.
4
Aleksandra Ostojić Matić is project manager at Media Plan Institute and director of Media Clipping.
2
157
international community in order to address the refugee crisis. The latter may
have had more impact on the relationship between political elites in the public discourse of the issue of refugees and displaced persons than is explored.
Specifically, the impact of the international community is expected due to
significant Euro-Atlantic integration processes, which political elite are dedicated, mostly due to financial and political benefits of their political oligarchy
expected, and less for the general public good that can be expected.
In terms of an active role, gradation of these topics could be broken
down into articles that highlighted problems and raise accusations for
their unsettlement and texts that are trying to encourage the return process. Unfortunately, the number of texts was smaller in the second category. Overall, a particularly small number of texts were found that are offering refugees some guidelines and specific information on how to exercise
some of their rights, who to contact and what are the procedures, which
should be one of the tasks of the media, especially print ones.
Key messages sent through media, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were significantly entity and ethnically differentiated. For example,
in Bosnia and Herzegovina Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz have until 2002
insisted on attitudes that everyone must return to their “homes”, there
is no lasting peace without the return of refugees, the Bosnian Serb and
Croatian political elite largely constitute obstruction to return process by
trying to maintain an ethnically “clean” territory. Glas srpski and Dnevne
Nezavisne novine promoted attitudes of Serb politicians and the population that they do not want to return to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that the international community is to blame for the exodus of
Serbs from Sarajevo reintegrated settlements, that the authorities of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in Sarajevo, slow to implement housing laws which show insincerity to return process.
At the beginning of the new millennium refugee crisis becomes less present in the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina and reduce the expression of political connotations, while in Serbia more media attention is given to Kosovo
and Metohija, and even this as of 2005 is with decreased focus of the media.
In BiH media, even though the texts presented very little direct criticism of government from newspaper coming from their region for the
lack of action on the implementation of the return process, it is often seen
through texts, especially the newspapers from the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina in which emphasizes that the returnees are left alone or
at best to donations international organizations. On the other hand, the
158
newspaper of the Republic of Srpska, more by choice of interlocutors and
titles, as well as by editorial or journalistic attitudes, especially in the early
post-war years, emphasizing the refugee crisis responsibility of the international community and the government of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, who are keen to return the refugees in the RS, and, as it says,
a little is done on their return to the Federation.
As sources of information in texts usually used were statements by
refugees, politicians, from the municipal to the state level, representatives
of international organizations, donors, various refugee organizations, veterans’ associations, humanitarian organizations and civil society, particularly organizations dealing with the protection of human rights.
Prevalent are factual forms, news and reports. In BiH, the essence of
rare comments and complex journalistic texts are on issue of return process
obstruction by local government and non-existing of political will to complete the return process. Everyone is assisting its “own” people and does
not contribute to creating the conditions for sustainable return. Moreover,
it is not enough to rebuild the house because it does not mean that the
return was achieved. As the years moved on from the war, the sustainable
return issue, i.e. its inability as a question, are more present in the media.
Titles are mainly neutral, although often with suggestive messages
that show bias of the international community, obstruction by “the other”
government, insisting on return process, and to a lesser extent the results
of a successful return. In Serbia, the content analysis of a part of texts in
which the government and political parties are in the function of actors
and source of the text shows that the texts of the negative position does
not generally promote a negative attitude towards the return in any direct
way, but this negative context, in a way, is constructed through discourse
predominantly containing comments and observations on difficulties and
unresolved issues, bad experiences and outcomes, etc.
Unlike newspapers from the Federation of BiH, the Republic of Srpska
newspapers reported on aspects of the Serb refugee crisis in Croatia, and
after the 1999 on Kosovo as well. The focus is on the Serbian refugee issue which is further generated by the war in Kosovo as well as numerous
obstructions of return by authorities in Croatia.
When it comes to the way in which information relevant to the issue of
refugees and displaced persons are presented in newspapers, it is possible
to conclude some very clear findings: these texts are in the vast majority of
cases occur in the form of reports or news, and mostly informative nature,
159
and much smaller number of texts appears with sensational headlines or
emotional type than were expected.
Texts are usually signed by newsroom journalists, but relatively common
are agency news or unsigned articles. What may be an indicator of superficial
approach or predetermined editorial direction is the fact that a significant number of analysed texts (75% of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina 76%) is based on
only one source, and often the nature of the source could not be determined.
More than 35% of analysed articles in Serbia do not have an question
according to which different sources might have a different attitude, and
when such a question is placed in the text less than 20 per cent of the texts
include resources that occupy at least somewhat different positions according to the specific issue of the dispute. In BiH sources, which are mainly
used by the representatives of the same interest groups (such as a political
option, the party or parties to the conflict) accounted for up to 70% - this is
very indicative figure, as an argument in favour of general instrumentation
and the overall division of the BiH public space by ethno-national lines.
Only slightly more than 20% of articles in Serbia and 14% in BiH are
directly dealing with the return process. The indicator ‘primary actors
of media content’ is widely differentiated with offered multiple options.
However, some figures are being very visible. Specifically, in Bosnia and
Herzegovina individually dominant primary actors of the analysed sample are ‘individuals, groups and populations (refugees, returnees and displaced persons). Another important category is individually ‘international
community’, which is quite special, since it has the leadership of the national stakeholders (governmental and nongovernmental). In Serbia, representatives of local government institutions and political parties are the
most common primary actors and primary sources of newspaper articles
relating to refugees and displaced questions. When representatives of the
government and political parties are primary actors and primary sources
of newspaper articles, the attitude of these texts on resolving refugee and
/ or IDPs questions are more positive than negative. Quite the opposite
tendency (higher frequency of negative than positive position) is present
when it comes to texts in which the function of the primary actors and
primary sources are local non-governmental organizations or individuals and groups from a population of refugees and displaced persons. On
the other hand, the texts in which representatives of the government and
political parties are primary actors are ones with much more concerned
with issues of status and exercise of rights that are not associated with
160
the return process (but usually contain certain references in relation to the
process of local integration or the conditions of life in exile or refuge).
It was clearly found that the issues related to the return process of refugees were relatively rarely been represented in newspaper articles unlike
some other issues related to refugees and displaced persons. In Bosnia
and Herzegovina a lot of attention to the daily newspaper in 2002 was
given to housing/property laws and its implementation which has caused
a lot of debate on all sides. A large number of articles are press releases
by OHR on this topic, response, obstruction, and implementation in practice. Opponents of evictions are vocal, outlook for loopholes, trying avoid
the implementation in all possible ways. This was the reason for media in
Republic of Srpska to underline how much return in FBiH is impossible.
Articles from Oslobođenje and Dnevni Avaz, were calling for the necessity
of the return and talked about persistence and willingness of returnees to return to their homes regardless of the existing problems and obstacles but these
articles were not offering a deeper perspective nor opened a detailed analysis
of what specifically should be done to make return real and who is responsible
for that. A lot has been written on individual donations, problems, seizures,
and there were few critical texts why the returns process is slowly taking place.
We can say that the hypothesis has not been confirmed, at least not to
the extent and in the manner that is expected.
Hypothesis: The media coverage of the return of refugees and displaced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia is unbalanced and biased because
of known connections and influence that political elites have on the media.
Based on the findings that were obtained during this study it was not possible to definitively confirm hypothesis on association of media and politics
being manifested through manipulation of refugees and returnees, all in order to achieve political goals of elites. Regardless, research findings confirm
that the political elites trough media have not worked enough to adequately
address the status and rights of refugees, and that not enough was done on
informing and educating refugees about their rights and options. Therefore
there are clear indications of the existence of collusion between politics and
the media in the area of the problem of refugees and displaced persons as a
valid basis for further research into this issue.
From our research it can be concluded, as was expected, that the media
had an important role in the implementation of post-war goals of political elites. However, we cannot clearly determine whether the media deliberately support the dominant political elites or to simply adapt to the
161
current socio-political situation and prevailing ethno-political discourse,
and therefore the hypothesis is difficult to confirm.
As stated in the report on Bosnia and Herzegovina: “general reporting dominates, which may be associated with a lack of specific policies /
actions and the implementation of strategic / action plans for the implementation of sustainable return. It is worth noting that the incidents were
more in the spotlight of the media rather than issues such as the rights
of refugees / IDPs, their living conditions, status, personal stories, which
correspond to the aspirations of sensational reporting. “(...)” The agenda
and the policy is mainly promoted by international community on what
the governments were only corresponding instead having a proactive and
autonomous position on the problem of refugees / IDPs. “
Having in mind that the issue of refugees and displaced persons is continuously one of the major global issues that are compounded with each
subsequent humanitarian crisis in the world, and that in the Western Balkans the issue of refugees and displaced persons is not fully solved even
more than two decades since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and
the armed conflicts / wars that followed, with the apparent lack of commitment and political will of the elites in the region to be more dedication
to this challenge - the academic community and researchers are obliged to
invest more effort in analysing the causes and consequences of forced migration, but also the broader social factors which before, during and after
humanitarian crises are define its character and path.
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Media between Freedom and Dependence

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