"But you were supposed to shape public opinion!", responded Cicak. Dubravko Merlic answered with a question: "What if we tendered resignations after a first problem? We authentically [sic] fought from inside".
Yes, they authentically fought from inside as the current members of HDZ used to authentically undermine the Communist regime as members of the Yugoslav League of Communists! Actually, Merlic makes a slip of tongue, they indeed "authentically" and totally from "inside" fought for the goals of Croatian nationalist ideology, for a "victory in the war"; only after that victory is achieved, the time will come to "fight for a single news item". They have learned that cynical journalistic lesson: in war the truth is the first victim.
Aren't the demands of Forum 21 revealing: "the Telecommunications law should be amended to include a quota for domestic programming"; the Telecommunications council should "work on the protection of the Croatian radio spectrum and agree on the division of frequencies with the neighboring states"; "the laws regulating public and private electronic media should be amended to clearly regulate use and nurturing of correct Croatian language and verbal expression in general"!
Even in the program and ideological foundation of Forum 21, the Resolution about electronic media, the initial assertions that "the democratic changes in Croatia have had very little effect on the public broadcasting system," "the HRT still behaves more like a state-television than a public service," and that "the authorities haven't so far demonstrated desire to modify the broadcasting system inherited from the previous system", gives a false portrayal of the situation because exactly the so called "democratic changes" significantly "affected" the RTV system and transformed from a public service which operated in the last years of the "previous system" into a state television under the control of HDZ.
HDZ couldn't have succeeded in that without active collaboration of these media "professionals", from Dubravko Merlic to Hloverka N-S. and Denis Latin (an anchor in early warmongering news programs and later the long time editor of Slikom na Sliku [With Picture on Picture]), Branimir Bilic, Tihomir Ladisic, Zeljka Ogresta (who saw nothing wrong in hosting a moronic talk show during the war and at the same time avoiding to ask any real questions!), Mirjana Rakic, Igor Mirkovic, and Silvana Mendjusic to the employees at the democratic Radio [Radio 101] which was proud to be the first one to let Tudman on the air waves!
It is a fact that the journalists from Forum 21 until recently haven't reacted to a single ban, it is a fact that they haven't reacted to a single dismissal of their colleagues. Just the opposite, quite often they jumped into somebody else's still warm chair. And now, when they are threatened with dismissals, they have remembered to raise voices (backed up with the United States of America which has invested too much in this region to allow the failure of the process of reintegration and peace building). Only when they themselves were "banned", actually when some of their shows were no longer necessary in the daily indoctrination of the public, they decided to rebel against censorship. And while the whole HDZ passed through their shows and the opposition leaders (both civic and political) were only random guests, they had nothing against bans. "The time wasn't ripe".
Of course, in spite of possible reasons which prodded journalists to raise their voices now (timely switch to the "winning team"!) their newly found feel for democracy is not a problem - it should be praised. Even such an informal group of media professionals motivated by their particular professional interests can represent an example of some valuable political concept (such as professional independence of journalists and media) which can be used to evaluate the character of a society. The appearance of Forum 21 has symbolic significance although its political influence is limited, in spite of the fact that its members were until yesterday ministers in the cathedral of Croatian spirituality and today they seek a payment for their future contributions for the time "when the time wasn't ripe".
Nevertheless, it is questionable to what extent that newly acquired democratic zeal is in the function of forgetting, not so much of concrete, individual cases (who used party connections), but more in the function of the suppression of reality. As Jelena Lovric points out, it is unbelievable that the people who appointed themselves as the leaders of the democratic changes in the media respond to the legendary question "what did you do in the war, dad?" with "it was meaningless to fight for a single news item while people were dying". With that they not only bring into doubt that little moral integrity they've got left, but also in the most reckless possible way yet again ignore and dismiss everything that has taken place on the media scene since 1991, and is taking place now: Feral, Arkzin, Novi List and Bumerang and all others who persistently reported about everything which under the mask of "war and post-war period" was happening in Croatia. And what did take place? Exactly that against which they are, supposedly, now fighting: centralization of power, promotion of party and ethnic criteria in employment and politics, purges in public companies, transformation of media into servants of daily politics. But for them, for the members of Forum, for "Croatian civic opposition", all that, Arkzin, Bumerang, even Feral and Novi List, are unimportant, marginal, alternative, "Yugonostalgic" and insufficiently "Croatian".
Therefore, in spite of everything and no matter how fruitless it may be, it should be told to all of them as well as to the public that it is not true that everyone was silent; they should be told that it isn't true that nothing could be done. Jelena Lovric, Gojko Marinkovic, Viktor Ivancic, Goran Flaunder, Tatjana Tragirov, Alen Anic, Boris Raseta, Toni Gabric and all other more or less known journalists and activists daily put their lives on line by reporting about crimes, theft, violence, chauvinism, fighting for democracy and freedom. Because of that they often ended up in court, were interrogated by the Police, received urgent mobilization notices or were beaten up in front of their offices and homes.
Because of them, their colleagues, if not for their own sake and the sake of their moral profile the members of Forum must not have said "the time wasn't ripe".
Because it was.
Exactly then was the right time for action!