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Tito Shockers, Fat Cats on the Beach Liven Up Macedonian Newspapers

As predicted, the arrival of new competition in Macedonia’s media game has increased not only reader choice but also editorial creativity. Judging from what we have seen so far, the papers are emerging from years of lethargy and the prime winner is the Macedonian public.

On 28 January, ‘Vreme’ made its debut in fine form, selling out everywhere by mid-morning. Demand was evidenced by an ironic hand-scrawled placard in front of one kiosk, reading “nema vreme!” (no time!). While the physical quality of the paper (printed on smaller and thinner paper than the others) leaves something to be desired, its coverage so far shows a strong internationalist focus. The world news section is almost completely made up of current reports from a variety of foreign publications. Editorial commentary from outsiders, for example the American and former resident Jason Miko, has begun appearing, and special reports from Iraq by the likes of Scott Taylor are on the way. ‘Vreme’ is unique in that it features foreign comics (so far, ‘Dilbert’ and ‘Calvin & Hobbes’), and perhaps most interestingly, a hand-picked “website of the day” on the back cover.

For its part, WAZ and ‘Dnevnik’ have shown they are not planning to give ground. On 1 February, the German media giant unveiled a new format- basically the same except for color photos (instead of the usual black and white) on the cover, first pages and back cover. This has allowed for new and sensational opportunities- such as Wednesday’s story about MobiMak fat cats on vacation. The paparazzi aspect of the article is unclear however, as the picture- of people sunning themselves under a palm tree on a glittering beach in the Maldives- is taken from a distance and could be from anywhere. Nevertheless, given the general distaste for corporate largesse in the midst of widespread poverty, it looks as if this may help usher in a new and more self-critical era for Macedonia- something essential for the country’s mental health.

Utrinski Vesnik , for its part, has captured attention with an ongoing series that started Friday and plays to latent Yugo-nostalgia among Macedonians: the “last words” of Josip Broz Tito . The revered leader’s final predictions were recorded in an interview conducted with contemporary and friend Josip Kopinic in spring of 1979, a year before Tito’s death. Afterwards, the Party denied that the interview had taken place and was riddled with lies. Tito said that he feared the country would fall apart, and that there would be a war in Kosovo- both prescient analyses. Apparently, in the last years of his life Tito was increasingly just a figurehead in government, his power taken over by the Committee.

Wednesday’s installment from the WAZ-owned publication quotes Josip Kopinic as saying Tito’s wife, Jovanka, had lived a double life, working for years as a KGB spy. When senior officials confronted Tito and demanded he divorce her, he reportedly lamented, “…don’t ask that from me. Don’t take the meat from a live man’s bones- that hurts. Jovanka is in my heart. I love her but I can’t forgive what she did to me.”

The day after, the paper delivered a revelation about Goli Otok . ‘Translated as ‘the naked island,’ but also known as the ‘island of death’ , this high-security prison for dissidents once hosted future Croatian leader Franjo Tudjman, among others. According again to Josip Kopinic, Tito was turned down for the Nobel Prize because of the prison’s infamy. Kopinic reports the president as having said,

“…when I received the letter in Belgrade from the King of Norway, I knew that I would not get the Prize. In that letter, he told me that his parliament was asking me to apologize in public for Goli Otok and the torturing of prisoners there. Actually, he wanted me to apologize for that as being Yugoslavia’s shame. That I saw as their condition and I didn’t agree. If he had asked me the same thing in a different way, I would have agreed to do it. I would have organized a media conference, and I would have told the truth about Goli Otok.”

The Tito series is symbolically compelling, in that it quite clearly follows the model of similar retrospectives long preferred in the West, when reminiscing on their own leaders.

It remains to be seen what will happen when the resurrected ‘Vecer’ and ‘Nova Makedonija’ enter the game in the weeks ahead. While they are not expected to take the laurel from the front-runners, their very presence will certainly make things more lively still.

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