Error in the Lens!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Since the beginning of 2024, the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been witnessing the resurrection of an old problem in perhaps its worst form yet. The public radio-television service of Bosnia and Herzegovina is once again in financial trouble, and everything we have read suggests that few people truly care about resolving it.

BHRT, as the umbrella organization of the Public Service, is in financial distress, employees fear for their livelihoods, and the management is apparently most concerned with preserving their positions. If it were otherwise, this management would have alerted all responsible parties by now and taken steps that would force those responsible to finally resolve the issue of public broadcasting.

However, instead of fighting for the best solutions, we are witnessing only conflicts between the managements of BHRT and FTV. And the worst part of all is that these conflicts do not arise from attempts to permanently solve the accumulated problems, but from efforts for temporary survival, which will return as a boomerang in the future. Because, since the existence of the Public Service, this boomerang has regularly returned, and a permanent solution has never been offered. And the fault lies with all three managements.

In addition to RTRs positioning itself as a separate segment in the whole situation, which is little affected by the story of the Public Service, although it should be, BHRT and FTV have engaged in a seriously difficult mutual struggle that creates an error in the lens, and the workers of both broadcasters will bear the brunt of it. It is evident that all three managements are not up to the task for which they are well paid, so the question is what are the employees of BHRT and FTV waiting for and why are they not coming out in front of the “grey house” to put pressure on the authorities.

Because, the story about resolving the financing problems of public broadcasters BHRT and FTV has turned into a kind of competition in which broadcasters invite guests or use close connections and then emphasize how they are supported by this or that person. If they truly have the support they boast so much about, why don't both sides bring all that support to Sarajevo.

Then, why don't they all go to Trg BiH together and present an ultimatum to the parliamentarians of this country to resolve the accumulated issues. But not according to the previous modalities, because clearly none of the previous solutions have been long-term.

It is senseless for RTRs and FTV, as entity broadcasters, to collect funds and then distribute them to the state broadcaster like some orphan – sometimes they pay, sometimes they don't. And the source of such a solution is easily recognizable, and it is where a lot of effort is invested to make everything state-dependent on the entity.

Therefore, here is a free piece of advice for the “Trojka” (The Trio) who were recently at BHRT and FTV as self-proclaimed “saviors”. Pass a new law on financing public broadcasters, or rather that system which consists of BHRT, FTV, and RTRs. In that law, write that everyone who is in the CIPS database during the calendar year must pay 90 KM to the Public Radio-Television Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that should be paid to the account of the umbrella, state-level broadcaster – BHRT. Then, BHRT, from its account, would pay according to the law the amounts due to the entity broadcasters.

With that solution, you would force non-payers from the restless south to start paying the RTV fee, but also prevent RTRs, which is under Milorad Dodik's control, from calculating and blackmailing BHRT, thus creating a debt of almost one hundred million KM. This would prevent future mutual disputes between public broadcasters, because there would be money, and it would be distributed by law or automatically, let economists figure out how.

In addition to solving the existential issue of employees in the Public RTV System of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its financial strengthening would remove the key argument that both managements and the professional staff of the Public Service use to justify poor, not to say desperate, programming content.

In terms of production and every other aspect, not only televisions around the world, but also those in the region, and even some private ones in BiH, are light-years ahead of the Public Service. And only thanks to the fact that it is of state importance, this Public Service is found in those viewership ratings, although it has long been at the bottom there.

In an era of all wonders of technique and technology, no one wants to watch television programming that is a slightly better replica of the seventies or eighties. All of this must be much better, for the public service to justify its role, and public services in the region can certainly be their benchmark.

There are always solutions, but it has become obvious that long-term solutions do not suit anyone in this story. And yes, in the story about the Public Service, I cannot forget an important fact that indicates a serious malfunction in the work of the BHRT management, as well as those who complain about their endangered existence. If BHRT continues to transform its editorial policy in the direction of Dodik's separatism and historical revisionism, few will watch that television at all, let alone support it.

Because, the management of BHRT, and the editors in that house, whoever they may be and whatever their names, must know that the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina saved that house, and it will never and cannot be “so-called”, and that the VRS bombed that house with the strongest missiles and that it will forever remain criminal.

If it is a state media house, then its editorial policy must be pro-state, otherwise, along with an error in the lens, there will be an error at the ATM, and that can hurt!