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Serbia’s Roma Media Fight for Survival

By Janica Goluba Dimic in Vrbas

07 12 2007  Roma-language TV and radio have experienced difficulties with the regulatory authorities, but Roma broadcasters continue to reach a substantial audience.

“Sastimasa Rromalen, Majmishtoro Rromalen, Lachho djes (Greetings Roma, hello Roma, welcome.)”

These are the opening phrases on the handful of all-Roma radio and TV stations in Vojvodina, which offer this neglected minority an opportunity to receive information in their own language and to participate in solving social and educational problems.

Until about a decade ago, there were no Roma media, either in Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province or in Serbia proper, apart from two 30-minutes weekly broadcasts on state-run radio and TV Belgrade.

In the mid 1990s the late Trifun Dimic, a writer and researcher, and Petar Novica Nikolic, a journalist, started Roma language broadcasting with the former state-run Radio and TV Novi Sad.

Nikolic said that he and Dimic believed that “news outlets in minority languages play a pivotal role in preserving national and cultural identities – you have to preserve your native tongue through the media.”

Nikolic added that the distinctive language spoken by Roma, and their mostly oral literature meant that “there was a need to standardize the language and script and use them in books and the media, everyday communication and in schools.”

Very few Serbs grow up totally illiterate, while among Roma more than 75 per cent are essentially illiterate while a meagre 0.3 per cent have degrees of any kind.

“The main achievement of Roma-language media was to influence the public to boost the number of students at local universities in Vojvodina. There are 30 Roma at university now, which is a major success,” Nikolic said.

Language and literacy disadvantages impact on the life prospects of Roma. Only about 27 percent of adult Roma are economically active, as opposed to almost 70 per cent of the general population.

No one has a clear idea of the size of the Roma community in Serbia. While the official figure is 108,000 it is widely believed the real number ranges from 450,000 to 800,000.

Following the ouster of former President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, Roma media in Vojvodina were given an opportunity to broadcast for several hours daily on Vojvodina provincial TV.

Two years ago, the Serbian authorities joined a regional program dubbed A Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 aimed at improving the position of Roma throughout Central and South-east Europe. The other countries involved in the program are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia and Montenegro.

In 2006, the Serbian government also adopted action plans aimed at improving Roma education, health care, housing and employment, and allocated special funds for their implementation.

However, Roma media have largely been sidelined. They lack reporters, journalism training, and development strategies.

Djordje Vlajic of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia said that “Roma media are of key importance” but that “many problems must be overcome.”

“They need cadres that will produce good quality information and contribute to the integration of Roma in society,” Vlajic told Balkan Insight.

However, Serbia’s state-run RRA regulatory agency in charge of frequencies and electronic media recently shut down the single Roma TV station in the capital Belgrade.

The Krlo e Romengo TV station, which was also broadcasting to parts of Vojvodina, was run by Roma journalist and politician Dragoljub Ackovic.

The RRA said the station did not have a proper permit.

Violeta Coric, head of the Media Department at the Ministry for Culture and Information, said it was a pity that Belgrade does not have “a single media outlet that represents the non-governmental sector, including a Roma-language media company.”

Coric said the reason for closing the Krlo e Romengo TV station was “contained in a legal provision that stipulates that the electronic media from the so-called civilian sector may only be granted local coverage.”

“They may apply for regional coverage, but that’s way too expensive,” she said.

Ackovic said that the reason for closing his TV station “lies in the fact that Serbs do not want a Roma-language media in Belgrade.” This is despite the fact that the capital has an estimated 105,000 Roma residents, he told Balkan Insight.

In spite of its size, Serbia’s Roma population remains a marginal political force.

It was only at this January’s parliamentary election that candidates representing Roma won two seats in parliament for the first time ever. These were Rajko Djuric, head of Serbia’s Roma Union, and Srdjan Sajn, leader of the Roma Party.

Djuric earlier claimed that “the prevalent anti-Roma sentiment in Serbia reflects the general climate of racism in the country.” He also blamed the community’s plight on a lack of political will and said the government still treated Roma problems as a second-class issue.

“Djuric is right,” said a government official involved in dealing with media issues. “An organized Roma minority is the last thing Serbia’s nationalists need.”

The source also said that Roma “must have their rights, including the right to information in their own language, protected.”

However, another official, who also asked not to be named, said that Roma “like anybody else, must realize that they are equal in every way when operating electronic media.”

The RRA has, however, granted operating permits to Radio Rom from the town of Obrenovac just outside Belgrade and Radio Tocak in the central Serbian town of Valjedo as well as Nisava TV from the city of Nis.

“The RRA reasoning is that these media have displayed a degree of professionalism and quality of broadcasts,” said Bozidar Jovanovic of Obrenovac’s Radio Rom.

Many Roma and Serbian listeners and viewers alike said they were unhappy with the general lack of Roma-language media.

“I love Roma music and I would love to hear more of that,” said Branko Djikic, an ethnic Serb from Novi Sad.

Stanislava Jovanovic, a Roma woman from Belgrade’s Zemun district, said she was disappointed by the closure of Krlo e Romengo TV. “That was so unjust,” she said.

Janica Goluba Dimic is journalist with the Radio Srbobran from Srbobran.Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.

This article was published with the support of the British embassy in Belgrade and Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, OSCE, mission in Serbia, as part of BIRN's Minority Media Training and Reporting Project.