by Viktor IVANCIC
The answer depends on whether you read the evening or morning edition of Vjesnik for November 2, 2001.
According to the evening edition of Vjesnik for November 2, we should have felt sorry for Knezevic, as a victim of an unscrupulous media campaign - a film produced by Pavle Vranjican and shown a day before at the KIC hall in Zagreb. Vranjican's film, in the most perfidious manner, using "documents" from the archives of the intelligence services, slanders and defames the author of "Storm over Krajina".
According to the morning edition of Vjesnik for November 2, we should have hated Knezevic as a damned traitor, because a professional and objective documentary film, produced by Pavle Vranjican, and shown a day before at the KIC hall in Zagreb, proves that the author of "Storm over Krajina" was during the war "physically and ideologically on the side of the Serb rebels".
Two mutually exclusive views, of the one and the same Vjesnik, that Bozidar Knezevic was a victim of a perfidious media campaign, or on the contrary that he is a hated enemy whose dirty deeds were finally revealed to the public - were signed by the same journalist - Zeljko Garmaz. Moreover, the two opposing views were published under the same headline: "Vranjican: I had to react to Knezevic's documentary". Furthermore, this is de facto the same article, which in the evening edition of the newspaper warns us that Bozidar Knezevic was exposed to unprecedented persecution and media harassment (author: Zeljko Garmaz), while in the morning edition the article informs us that the very same Knezevic is a traitorous scum and distributes "greater Serbian propaganda" (author: Zeljko Garmaz).
The headlines in the two editions were slightly modified according to the salient message of the article. The evening edition of Vjesnik: "'Amarcord 1991-2001' - film as a response or an arrest warrant for the author of 'Storm over Krajina'?" The morning edition of Vjesnik: "'Amarvord 1991-2001' - film responds to 'Storm over Krajina'". Thus a possible "arrest warrant" was transformed into a definite "film as a response". The rest of the headline was almost unchanged, except that the morning edition added that "Knezevic spent the war with Serb rebels"!
Therefore, the true Garmaz's report, published in the evening edition of the newspaper, was spotted by one of the editors - we may assume Kresimir Fijacko, editor-in-chief of Vjesnik, or perhaps Zoran Vodopija, Fijacko's deputy and the editor of the section "Croatia" in which the article was included - who immediately went berserk and so thoroughly modified the article that an average reader of Vjesnik can only helplessly roll his eyes. However, such average readers do not actually exist, because average readers do not buy both the evening and morning edition of the newspaper. They mostly buy the morning edition of Vjesnik because the evening edition, with significantly lower circulation, is sent to distant parts of the country.
Obviously the outraged editor - for example Kresimir Fijacko, or perhaps his deputy Vodopija - was counting on that when he courageously opted for a daring innovation. The innovation boils down to the fact that editors "after the fact intervention" that will totally transform the message of the article, instead of being applied to a "raw text" which circulates through the editorial office, struck the already published article, which was made available to a part of the readership, so that we have all the necessary evidence for this cute example of Stalinist practice. Obviously, outraged editor, for example Kresimir Fijacko, considered the report according to which Bozidar Knezevic was a victim of organized persecution and public lynching so sacrilegious that he could not avert his gaze and let it fly through the window (as the article had already been published); he decided to intervene, solemn in his patriotic-editorial consistency, even taking a chance that his intervention would be spotted. And hoping that it would not.
At this point, it is important to mention that the size of the article in the morning edition is roughly the same as in the evening edition, so that the shortening of the article, to provide space for an insertion of some urgent news, could not have been the reason for the intervention. On the contrary, Vranjican's photo was somewhat enlarged in the evening edition to make up for the slightly shorter text of the article. Therefore the reason for the editorial intervention on the article was exclusively of political-ideological nature.
Well, if we already have in front of us such a brilliant example of media manipulation, worthy of the best examples of Stalinist tradition, let us analyze how our outraged editor - for example Kresimir Fijacko - went about his magnificent endeavor, as a lesson for ignorant readers or young students of journalism, some future Garmazes, who are yet to experience the effects of resuscitated ideological propaganda. Provided they permit them.
Immediately after the introductory sentence of the article, which states that Bozidar Knezevic's documentary film has obtained a sort of a "sequel", Zeljko Garmaz continues with the following paragraph:
"However, instead of showing 'some other side of the story about war crimes', as could have been expected since the film was announced as 'a reply to the Storm over Krajina', the effect of 'Amarcord 1991-2001' is totally different. 'Amarcord 1991-2001' will be remembered as an arrest warrant, whose sole purpose is to defame Bozidar Knezevic!"
Superior editor Kresimir Fijacko simply removed this paragraph, leaving behind the statement that "Storm over Krajina" has obtained a "sequel". Readers of the morning edition do not care about the nature of "Amarcord 1991-2001". Arrest warrant? Arrest warrant for Bozidar Knezevic? No way! Delete!
Garmaz then summarizes the film, obviously a primitive attempt to defame Knezevic and his work for Yutel in the late eighties, quotes Vranjican's justification of his patriotic mission, and concludes:
"However, Vranjican failed to address some questions in his movie. For example, how did he obtain the footage from 'Yutel's' archives, especially since it has been known for years that they ended up in an unmentionable secret service. Besides, Bozidar Knezevic, in a phone interview, claims that the footage included in 'Amarcord' has not been available for years and has been stored in the institute 'headed by Ante Beljo'..."
The superior editor Fijacko also simply cut that paragraph. Thus, spying-defamatory nature of Vranjican's "documentary film" is totally removed from circulation. What public secrets and secret services, please? What conversation with Bozidar Knezevic, especially over the phone? Let alone Ante Beljo and his institute, what Beljo?! Out with that! Delete! Delete!
Fine, the "arrest warrant" is out, no more "secret services" that provided otherwise unavailable footage, not even a trace of doubt that Pavle Vranjican is a former spy remains, even though that is public knowledge, Ante Beljo and his institute are also out... It that enough?
Of course, it is not. Readers need a clearer, black-and-white picture. The most creative interventions of the superior editor Fijacko do not consist of the cutting of Garmaz's article but of addition of new material. Only then we fully realize how our editor is great, honest, and a true patriot.
For example, Zeljko Garmaz wrote that Vranjican "informed the viewers about the 'true intentions' of the former 'Yutel' journalist" and ended the sentence there. However, editor Fijacko does not agree that a full stop should be placed there. He believes that that sentence deserves an extension so that in the morning edition of Vjesnik Vranjican informs "the viewers about 'true intentions' of the former 'Yutel' journalist, who spent the war with Serb rebels, justifying their uprising."!
Association with Serb rebels and justification of their uprising is nowhere to be found in the original Garmaz's article, but editor Fijacko diligently corrects that omission. Then he corrects similar omissions elsewhere in the article.
Journalist Zeljko Garmaz writes:
"For example Vranjican claims that Knezevic did not quote extremist statements of Serbs against Croats, while he publicized 'peaceful' statements of Yugoslav People's Army soldiers." Full stop.
Editor Kresimir Fijacko adds:
"For example, Vranjican claims that Knezevic did not quote extremist statements of Serbs against Croats, while he publicized 'peaceful' statements of Yugoslav People's Army soldiers and spread greater Serbian propaganda."(!)
Journalist Zeljko Garmaz writes:
"According to Pavle Vranjican, 'Knezevic cannot now pose as an advocate of human rights and a metaphor for democracy, because that would be an insult for journalism'." Full stop.
Editor Fijacko adds:
"According to Pavle Vranjican, 'Knezevic cannot now pose as an advocate of human rights and a metaphor for democracy, because that would be an insult for journalism,' since Knezevic physically sided with the Serb rebels."(!)
These ingenious methods transformed a report about ignominious public campaign against Bozidar Knezevic into a pamphlet supporting that campaign, an extension of that campaign, which includes accusation that the defendant "physically and with conviction sided with Serb outlaws" and that he "justified their uprising". Naturally, superior editor Fijacko knows that for sure, unlike the journalist who collected data and reported from the spot. Because of its shamelessness, this example deserves to be included into textbooks on journalism, together with exact reprints of both versions of the article, so that future students of journalism do not think that the whole story was fabricated for educational purposes.
What happened later? Later Bozidar Knezevic died in a car crash. The campaign against him stalled for a moment, until the body of the late journalist cooled down. Pavle Vranjican went back to one of SIS [one of Croat secret services] lairs. The OTV postponed a broadcast of his "documentary film". Kresimir Fijacko is still quietly and carefully keeping watch with a thick black felt pen in hand, making sure that no "anti-Croat" articles slip by into the morning edition of the newspaper he edits. However, Zeljko Garmaz is also keeping quiet. He did not publicly protest against the violent transformation of his article, accepting editorial transformation from a defender of Bozidar Knezevic into his attacker. My God, it's merely a signature! It only affects the so-called journalistic integrity! This is only another illustration of our local style of journalism, which includes selling out to the highest bidder and writing articles with at least two opposing views.
And what happened before? Before Kresimir Fijacko was also editor-in-chief of Vjesnik, during Tudman's dictatorship, when arrest warrants against "local traitors" were a common occurrence in that newspaper, so that similar editorial interventions were one of Fijacko's daily tasks. Then Fijacko made a dramatic break, taking a few years and working for Vjesnik as a correspondent from New York, apparently a well paid correspondent. Finally, Racan's government, owner and financial supporter of Vjesnik appointed him editor-in-chief. The government also poured in $10 million from the state budget to assist its collaborators in Vjesnik. Today we rest assured that that money was well spent. The government pays Fijacko, using taxpayers funds, to support public persecution of law abiding citizens and accuse them of being traitorous monsters. Déjà vu!
Of course, after learning about all this someone in the government will forcefully shrug his shoulders. Well, it's not their job to edit newspapers! Their job is to generously finance them and select editors-in-chief. And if those newspapers engage in unscrupulous manipulation, if they spread nationalist hysteria and manufacture enemies of the state... What, they did that? Oh... Well, someone has to do that... For Fijacko, for example, such endeavors are always part and parcel of fame. Knezevic, on the other hand, paid with his life.
And the government? The government seems to always react when it's already too late. Their official reaction? You voted for our evening edition, now read our morning edition.