Media and Political Coverage

My assignment in Montenegro comes at an especially interesting time. Montenegro will vote on whether to declare independence from Serbia on May 21. A positive vote doesn’t mean a 50.1% majority. According to a European Commission recommendation, an affirmative vote for independence will be recognized by the Europeans if 55% of voters support independence. (Imagine how you would feel if foreign powers had the ability to determine election outcomes in the U.S.? AND, do a little search in your favorite newspaper and see whether you can find even a tiny blurb about the election and 55% requirement in a U.S. newspaper.)

To an outsider, support for independence might seem a forgone conclusion. It isn’t that simple. The election pits the majority political party against various minority parties. And, support for independence is not exclusively a decision based on party membership. Some residents are native born Montenegrins; others moved here from Serbia or other parts of former Yugoslavia. Kosovo’s political future (Kosovo is now under UN protection) is a potential mitigating factor—at least for the Serbians and European Commission. Serbia’s desire to join the EU might diminish their interest in the election—but they must first turn over suspected war criminals, before the outcome of Montenegro’s independence referendum appears on their radar screen.

So a variety of groups, internal and external, will be issuing statement and jockeying for press coverage. Media outlets are not entirely independent reporters of news. Some newspapers are independent—Vijesti (pronounce the j and a y sound, for Viyesti) is good example. The most watched television channels in Montenegro appear to be the two government stations (CG1 and CG2--CG refers to Crna Gora or Black Mountain or Montenegro) and TV Pink, owned by Serbians. The other Montenegrin TV stations do air news. I will be relying on a small group of people to help me make sense of all this because I do not speak Serbian.

One other interesting element, there is to be a cooling off period, one week before the vote. Apparently this is customary—to avoid excessive and potentially inflammatory coverage before the election. I think this will create the most interesting time for observation. How will elements of the independence issue be subtly worked into other coverage and who will be doing it? I blogged a few days ago about the VOA newscasts. VOA will work to be balanced in its coverage—which might just mean that all sides in Montenegro will not like what they hear.