Newsroom
First Albanian-language news bulletin in South Serbia
BELGRADE 16 September 2002
BELGRADE, 16 September 2002 - The first Albanian-language news bulletin was aired by Radio Bujanovac today. "Dobar dan slusajte vesti Radija Bujanovac -Të dashur ndëgjues mirëdita": Dhurata Azemi, the ethnic Albanian newscaster, takes the floor after her Serbian collegue Dusan Sikimic.
"I felt excited since I was aware that this was a great event for all the people who worked so hard for this day," said Dhurata when asked about her first day of hosting the Albanian-language news bulletin.
Just a year ago it would have been hard to imagine that the ethnic Albanian community in South Serbia could listen to local news produced by a municipal radio station in their own language. For the last ten years Radio Bujanovac was controlled by the - exclusively Serb - municipal authorities.
The main news item was the constitutional session of the Municipal Assembly. "Villagers of Albanian-populated Trnovac are talking about the Albanian-language news broadcast on Radio Bujanovac. It is the main story here," said Iljasa Musliu, OSCE media monitor in Bujanovac. His Serb colleague, Srdjan Djurdjevic, added to this that "the fact that there was no negative reaction from the local Serb population, used to listen to the radio only in Serb, is also very positive and significant".
The OSCE Mission to the FRY launched a long-term programme aimed at introducing multi-ethnic programming in municipality radios in South Serbia to bridge the gap between the ethnic Albanian, Serb and Roma communities. This multi-ethnic programming is also meant as the first step to the transformation of these radio stations into public service broadcasters. For months, twelve young ethnic Albanians, Roma and Serbs, together with radio staff, have been enrolled in training courses and practical work within the radio.
Initially, these journalists had been working on multi-lingual co-productions, realized with the support of Radio Bujanovac' permanent staff . Taking this OSCE activity one step further proved difficult in the beginning, due to lack of skilled journalists and political will, but was ultimately made possible thanks to the changes resulting from recent local elections, which introduced representatives of the Albanian community to the municipal assembly. This cleared the way for ethnic Albanian and Serbian trainees to start working at the radio station on regular basis.
For the time being, the news will be produced only in Serbian and Albanian, but the intention is to soon add programmes in Roma language as well.
Overall, this project aims to show the various communities in South Serbia that they can work together and that the language barrier is not an obstacle. "Most of the Albanians speak Serb and we managed to create an atmosphere of collegiality and friendship in the Radio. I am sure that the trainees and journalists will soon come with their own, common ideas," stated Srdjan Djurdjevic, "but at least for now, the entire population of Bujanovac can listen to the news in their own language."
"I felt excited since I was aware that this was a great event for all the people who worked so hard for this day," said Dhurata when asked about her first day of hosting the Albanian-language news bulletin.
Just a year ago it would have been hard to imagine that the ethnic Albanian community in South Serbia could listen to local news produced by a municipal radio station in their own language. For the last ten years Radio Bujanovac was controlled by the - exclusively Serb - municipal authorities.
The main news item was the constitutional session of the Municipal Assembly. "Villagers of Albanian-populated Trnovac are talking about the Albanian-language news broadcast on Radio Bujanovac. It is the main story here," said Iljasa Musliu, OSCE media monitor in Bujanovac. His Serb colleague, Srdjan Djurdjevic, added to this that "the fact that there was no negative reaction from the local Serb population, used to listen to the radio only in Serb, is also very positive and significant".
The OSCE Mission to the FRY launched a long-term programme aimed at introducing multi-ethnic programming in municipality radios in South Serbia to bridge the gap between the ethnic Albanian, Serb and Roma communities. This multi-ethnic programming is also meant as the first step to the transformation of these radio stations into public service broadcasters. For months, twelve young ethnic Albanians, Roma and Serbs, together with radio staff, have been enrolled in training courses and practical work within the radio.
Initially, these journalists had been working on multi-lingual co-productions, realized with the support of Radio Bujanovac' permanent staff . Taking this OSCE activity one step further proved difficult in the beginning, due to lack of skilled journalists and political will, but was ultimately made possible thanks to the changes resulting from recent local elections, which introduced representatives of the Albanian community to the municipal assembly. This cleared the way for ethnic Albanian and Serbian trainees to start working at the radio station on regular basis.
For the time being, the news will be produced only in Serbian and Albanian, but the intention is to soon add programmes in Roma language as well.
Overall, this project aims to show the various communities in South Serbia that they can work together and that the language barrier is not an obstacle. "Most of the Albanians speak Serb and we managed to create an atmosphere of collegiality and friendship in the Radio. I am sure that the trainees and journalists will soon come with their own, common ideas," stated Srdjan Djurdjevic, "but at least for now, the entire population of Bujanovac can listen to the news in their own language."