BOSNIAN FEDERATION TV ACCUSED OF BIAS IN FAVOUR OF MUSLIMS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - October 30, 2004
 
Text of an article published by Croatian newspaper Vjesnik on 26 October

Sarajevo: The beginning of this year's Ramadan fast in Bosnia-Hercegovina was marked by an interesting discussion of how the public television should cover this important event in the lives of Muslim believers. The case assumed a much broader importance than that of simple polemics between a religious community and the leadership of an entity, that is, state television, and pointed out numerous problems in the attempts to create a European-style secular society in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

More importantly, the dispute over broadcasting Ramadan programme and its final outcome again showed that the Islamic Community in Bosnia-Hercegovina has been constantly trying to procure for the Bosniak Muslims in this multiethnic country a special, privileged status, and for Islam to win the position of some type of state religion.

The dispute over broadcasting or not broadcasting Ramadan programme began with the Islamic Community's protest over none of the public television stations in Bosnia-Hercegovina broadcasting special programmes on the occasion of the ending of the one-day fast at the time of the evening meal.

Since no one realistic expected the Radio-Television of the Serb Republic (RTRS) to broadcast a Ramadan programme, leaders of the federal and the state televisions responded, stating quite reasonable arguments.

Jasmin Durakovic, director of the FTV (Federation Television), said that the FTV had special programmes that were related to the month of fasting, but that they could not accept the demands made by the Islamic Community that would turn the public service into a semi-religious television. Namely, the FTV offered the Islamic Community the broadcasting of the time of the evening meal within the framework of the regular programme, but the Islamic Community rejected this offer, demanding that a special programme be broadcast. The state-owned BHTV1 also used rational argumentation in its reply. They said that the state television would follow all the main religious events while additional events would be covered in the regular news programmes.

However, the reactions were bitter and heated, and this time political parties joined in. The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) made an open threat: "We warn the editorial collegiate bodies of BHT, FTV, and the TVRS (RTRS) that Bosniaks are a constituent people in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the month of Ramadan is part of the Bosniak Muslim tradition and culture, and the time when the tradition could be ignored and discriminated against has passed". The Bosnian Party officials said that "the FTV decision not to broadcast a Ramadan programme is unfounded and illegal". Finally, the "most powerful argument" arrived, which was that it was mostly Bosniaks who paid the television license fee and that this was the reason their religious programme simply had to be broadcast.

Many dangerous messages were sent in the course of this campaign against the editorial offices of the television stations, but the most dangerous is the latest, which leads one to believe that the Bosniaks, as the largest people (which leads to the conclusion that it is mostly them who pay the television license fees), should have special rights. This implies that, for instance, Catholic Croats, of which there are fewer and consequently fewer pay the television license fees, should have fewer programmes.

This position, which is suitable for a market place, is fatal for the future of Bosnia-Hercegovina as a country of equal peoples and citizens. Why it is necessarily assumed that someone who is a Bosniak and who pays the television license fee necessarily wants the public television to broadcast religious programmes is a separate issue. However, the Islamic religious leaders' visions evidently do not allow space for the Bosniaks who see the issue of religion and its role in everyday life differently. This is also a huge problem for Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Nevertheless, bearing in mind that the leader of the Islamic Community in Bosnia-Hercegovina no longer conceals the desire for Bosniak political domination in Bosnia-Hercegovina even in his public appearances - he recently quite openly stated that the Bosniaks should have a privileged status in the authorities because there are more of them than there are Croats and Serbs - it is clear that the latest "television case" speaks about the same thing.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the FTV did not have the strength to resist the pressures. With apologies and remorse, they began to broadcast the Ramadan programme with several days' delay. We should wait and see whether they will be equally principled when the time comes during which Christians re-examine their relationship with God through self-denial.

The public televisions in Bosnia-Hercegovina have never broadcast Lent programmes, but we will see if this changes or else in Bosnia-Hercegovina "all the religions are equal but some are more equal than others".
 



Source: Vjesnik, Zagreb in Croatian 26 Oct 04 p 10

Copyright 2004 Financial Times Information
All rights reserved
Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2004 BBC Monitoring/BBC

Posted for Fair Use only.