Q: “What will happen after December 10th?
A: That’s easy —it will be 11th December!
This is a “joke” I heard recently from various reporters all over Kosovo… All of them cracking the same joke, as always, and it’s easy to imagine them all waking up in the morning, making the same mandatory phone call to the “Media Center,” and then relaxing over breakfast — and guess what: the same applies to both the Pristina and Belgrade-based guys.
So boring! But the situation here in Kosovo is actually quite interesting – if only you are courageous enough to see it as a challenge. Why? For one thing, it is almost impossible to do any original reporting here. Politicians in Belgrade are closemouthed and generally rely on official statements, if you are lucky enough to get one; it has never been so hard to work as a journalist in Belgrade as in the last few years, and the situation keeps getting worse and worse. Politicians in Pristina are not quite as tense, but they’re still far from free in either their speaking or thinking; any attempt to get beyond their mindset is in vain. Whatever you ask them, the answer is always the same: Independence will solve everything.
Q: What do you plan to do about the highest rate of corruption and organized crime in Europe?
A: … Independence.
Q: What is your strategy for development of the economy?
A: …independence.
Q: What will you do for the young, with more than 60% of unemployment?
A: …Independence….
As usual, I tried to make the long, boring evenings in Pristine shorter by engaging in discussions with colleagues from Pristina. We from Belgrade had serious problems previously on those occasions when we met officially with our colleagues from Kosovo. We were still masochistically going to Kosovo from Belgrade and trying to prove to international critics trying to build bridges between the two societies that we could still do so. But I do not like to remember those traumatic days — especially when I can drink excellent Kosovo beer with colleagues who never abused my good will.
Take, for example, two of my friends from Kosovo public television. One is among the very few investigative journalists in this small society. When I asked them why the Kosovo media doesn’t promote more investigations and analysis, they replied that in most cases their goal is first just to nurture an objective approach to the news, in order to get the populace accustomed to the concept of unbiased information. In the currently tense ethnic situation in this (soon to be) former Serbian province, such a media policy approach sounds eminently reasonable –particularly when many others within newspaper and television circles here are abusing the public good: many are simply political instruments and others are actually spreading ethnic and racial (against Roma, or ‘Gypsies’) hatred.
In any event, the media here in Kosovo have a huge responsibility during this crucial moment for the future of the province and its people — with or without Serbs and Roma… Corruption and the ‘mafia’ in state businesses are poised to eat the substance of Kosovo’s young political administration, this spring chicken of the world’s democracies, and the media must prove itself loyal to the people and not just to the politicians.
Even though we now feel quite sure nothing drastic will happen in Kosovo for the time being — at least not before March at the earliest, it appears — on our way back home it still was unpleasant to see thirty-five heavily armed transporters of French KFOR (units that protect minorities of Kosovo) passing us headed in the opposite direction. It is not well- known, even here in Belgrade, that leaders of the Serbian military and KFOR have regular meetings every second Wednesday in the south of country, near the Kosovo border. They are collaborating very well and have developed trusting relations. As a Serbian citizen, I truly appreciate that — especially since my brother got a one-day reserve call up from the military for the 10th of December!
The night before — ‘D-Day’ for the Status of Kosovo, as it is referred o in most Serbian media — our national television devoted almost half of the main evening newscast to the topic of Kosovo. Again and again they told the sad story of the symbolic return of Serbs to Kosovo, about basic human right violations of minorities in Kosovo villages, and so on. In essence, most of the information is truthful – but certainly not the whole truth. The Serbian media are very selective when comes to presenting the reality of Kosovo. The problem is not so much that they don’t have a point — but that such reports are not journalism, but a political campaign for the government instead.
For example: two groups of local Serbs in one tiny village in Kosovo had a recent fight, both among themselves and with one French KFOR comander. Radio station B92, usually pretty good in reporting on the Kosovo issue, stated that the fight was caused by Serbs loyal to Belgrade who were determined to boycott Kosovar institutions. They branded other local Serbs meeting with KFOR as ‘traitors.’ The national television network RTS, first gave a confusing account of what happened, and then jumped directly to ‘reactions’ from local, self –appointed Serbian leaders who accused Joachim Riker, the UN Kosovo representative, of a ’slow glide into fascism’, because of his reaction that Belgrade is trying to frighten Serbs who want to participate in institution-building in Kosovo. Riker, like other UN representatives before him, comes off as very nasty toward all Serbs — especially those from Kosovo. (Unfortunately the UN mission in Kosovo is among the worst UN missions ever, excepting only those that ended in blood, as in Rwanda and Somalia.) Still, knowing the atmosphere down South, and having just returned from that volatile region, I am quite sure that Riker’s analysis was correct..
And now what? Hopefully, tomorrow it will snow here in Belgrade. I love to watch my city in those rare moments of silence.
– Jelena Grujic is a journalist with the weekly magazine Vreme in Belgrade.
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