European press 'losing credibility'[fr] 

The conference, organised by the Bulgarian edition of Le Monde Diplomatique and dedicated to the development of media in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989, gathered journalists well-known in the region alongside prominent media representatives from France and Belgium. 

Although the main issue addressed by the conference was the state of Eastern European media, many speakers lamented that falling journalism standards were an unfortunate reality in Western countries too. "Tell me how your press is doing, and I will tell you how your democracy is doing," declared French journalist Christian Casteran, who from 2003-2005 was chief editor of Regard, a French-language magazine based in Bucharest. 

Power and the watchdog 

Like almost every other speaker, Casteran underlined the role of the media in keeping political power in check. With more and more media now in the hands of oligarchs and politicians, journalism is becoming increasingly unable to play its role as a watchdog, Casteran warned. Consequently, "communication journalism" is taking over in Romania just as in Western Europe and the US, he said. Readers and viewers are increasingly seen as consumers rather than citizens or formers of public opinion, Casteran observed. 

Information 'turning into noise' 

Corina Vassilopoulou of the Greek Sunday paper Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia revealed that circulation of the daily printed press in Greece had fallen from 1.1 million copies in 1989 to 276,770 at present. Greece had thus become the European country with the smallest percentage of newspaper readers, she explained. Greeks also watch TV the longest: an average of 4.5 hours per day. 

Analysing TV programmes, she said even top-notch commentary shows were increasingly inviting guests merely so they would argue with one another, reducing information to mere "noise". 

A 'dumbing-down machine' 

According to Judit Morva, a Hungarian professor, press freedom in Hungary has unleashed a "dumbing-down machine" (she used the French term 'machine abêtissante'), which reflects upon as much as it influences political life in the country. The most characteristic feature of Hungarian society today is the mass depoliticisation of the majority of the population, she argued. Morva also said that as in European countries, advertising benefits tended to motivate editorial choices. Since 1990, the popular press has been gaining in popularity while information and analysis has become less popular, Morva noted. 

'Journalists under threat' 

Bulgarian speakers drew attention to violent methods used to silence or discourage journalists who persist in exposing high-level corruption against the advice of their media bosses. Velislava Dareva, a prominent Bulgarian journalist who has suffered repeated physical attacks herself, stated that during the transition years, no less than 70 Bulgarian journalists have been victims of such violence. 

"I know what it is like to come back from the dead bathing in my own blood," Dareva said, expressing her deep pessimism as to journalists' capacity to confront the impunity of the mafia-oligarchic system behind these attacks. "We lack solidarity. There are a good number of journalistic organisations in Bulgaria that are doing nothing," she deplored. 

'Too little assistance' 

Enes Musabic, a journalist from BHT 1 television in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), said that 13 years after the armed conflict, it was unfortunately not yet possible to speak about a real transition in his country's media. The main reason for this, as Musabic saw it, was the constant hold of political power over the media. Secondly, ethnic barriers are still there and media are separated along Bosnian, Serb and Croat lines, he explained, adding that thirdly, international support is too weak. 

"A number of media analysts consider that the international community has stopped way too early its assistance to media in BiH, and did not finish the work it had started," said the Sarajevo-based journalist. 

'Lynching atmosphere' 

Marina Rakic, a Serbian journalist from the BETA agency, painted a grim picture of the transition of the Serbian press to tabloid form since 2000, a tendency which according to numerous analysts and journalists contributed to creating the atmosphere in which prime minister Zoran Dzindzic was assassinated in March 2003. 

"Indeed, the criminal gangs created, via the media, the lynching atmosphere at the time of his assassination," Rakic stated. 

"Very often, it is not clear who the owners of the tabloids are. Often, tabloids are set up only on the occasion of election campaigns and are closed afterwards, as was the case during the 2007-2008 campaign. This confirms the unofficial view that their only existential reason is the elections and the support they give to a certain political line," the Serbian journalist explained. 

'No rules' 

Pavllo Cicko of Fan S. Noli university pointed to the fact that in his country, Albania, "none of the existing newspapers are financially sustainable and all their accounting is fake". Media owners accept these losses, he said, because they are compensated by other profitable businesses. Newspapers are sold below the cost of production, and as they are subsidised, they cannot be independent, he explained. Because they are forced to serve the interests of politics, media owners expect economic rewards. As he saw it, the main problems faced by the Albanian press is non-observance (or non-existence) of rules and a shortage of good professionals. 

International reporting 'sacrificed' 

Serge Halimi, chief editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, presented the Bulgarian translation of his book The new watchdogs (Les nouveaux chiens de garde), which was recently re-edited after becoming a bestseller despite lack of publicity in mainstream media and TV. Halimi strongly criticised the media landscape in France and the relationship of French President Nicolas Sarkozy with media tycoons. He also lambasted the tendency of French media to transform politicians into soap opera actors by focusing on their past, their lifestyles and private lives rather than their projects and programmes. 

Halimi slammed the growing neglect of international information by French media, claiming that international events are increasingly presented on the basis of emotions rather than knowledge or analysis. He also stated that the number of French correspondents in foreign countries is constantly declining. "We saw the consequences of this attitude during the Kosovo war, we saw it in Iraq, we will see it tomorrow elsewhere," Halimi warned.