Thank goodness for Phillip Morris. I don't smoke and have even called cigarette manufacturers merchants of death but Phillip Morris has been a welcomed addition to the city of Nis (pronounced like Kneesh). About 2-3 years ago they purchased a failing government cigarette plant, employing more than 2,200 people; they paid about $1 billion for the facility. Today, between 1,200-1,300 people work at the plant. They make Marlboro and Marlboro Lights for domestic and export consumption plus make some other domestic brands.

My hotel--though not built exclusively to cater to Phillip Morris--offers great service in part because of that market. I'm staying at Hotel Panorama Lux Garni. As the name suggests, they're on a hillside, overlooking the city.

Today, I start another management and sales workshop, this one at Media Center Nis, an NGO founded to offer media training and press support, including a work center/support facility for local reporters and a place for press conferences. They are similar to Montenegro Media Institute.

I like Nis. The city has struggled greatly with unemployment--not only did the tobacco plant close but a big appliance manufacturer--state owned and employing about 4,000 people--has closed and there's little reason to believe it will reopen to make stoves, TVs and washing machines. The people, at least the media people I've met, work pretty hard, are ambitious, and are nice--and that is something I should not always expect. Nis was the location of "collateral damage" during the NATO bombings. Let me be specific: a U.S. plane, armed with cluster bombs, mistakenly dropped its ordinance on civilians at a vegetable market, killing 4 or 5 people. All sorts of questions remain unanswered--more than 6 years later--as to why it happened and why the plane has cluster bombs since its real target was supposed to be a chemical plant nearby. No, I'm not making this up--nor is it the product of selective local memory. After visiting here two years ago and hearing this story, I asked someone at the Embassy and then did an online search of U.S. newspapers. It was hard to find coverage but I found a few things. I've also seen local coverage in a military museum in Beograde. My memory may be somewhat distorted also--it's been a couple of years since I read the specific details--but it happened.

Media news: News Corporation/Fox TV/Rupert Murdoch, is an applicant for a national TV license in Serbia. Five will be awarded--probably within the next 30-45 days. Murdoch owns a channel/station/license in Bulgaria for a very successful station.

"Big Brother" won't be appearing on B92 until September. They've offered excuses that they've had technical problems with show production but the latest reason is that they no longer wish to counter-program World Cup Football in June, their most recent time when the show was to air.

B92 is also an applicant for a national TV license as it Pink. Channel 5-Nis, a private station here, is an applicant but is thought to be a dark-horse because of its location. Still, people in the city that I talked with on Sunday, were proud they were applying.