George Bogdanich had reason to feel he was up against the world last week. For the moment, he is.
Bogdanich was frustrated as international condemnation of Serbs grew amid rising violence in the old Yugoslav federation that has foiled international peacemaking efforts. A Chicago consultant to politicians, including congressmen, and City of Chicago pension funds, he also heads the new, non-profit Serbian American Media Center.
Americans show childlike inattention toward most foreign news. Given the choice among an African famine, a Central American coup or a low-brow Hollywood sitcom, it`s no contest as to which most attention will be paid. And, as American media pare foreign coverage, only a handful of images and reports may shape opinion.
For those seeking to shape coverage, the challenge can be more bedeviling than one imagines.
If you`ve inspected the Yugoslav mess, or watched when Bogdanich recently debated a Croatian-American attorney on CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2`s ”Common Ground,” one might realize how little common ground there is: Neither side agrees as to whether this is a ”civil war” or an act of ”Serbian aggression”; how great the devastation has been to historic Dubrovnik by the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav national army; or, get this, whether there are more Serbs or Croats in Chicago.
Many thousands have died in a struggle rife with historical hatreds among Croats, Serbs and Muslims, with a confounding mix of fascist, democratic and communist elements among the parties. Throw in the propaganda spewn by Serbian and Croatian media outlets over there, and you appreciate why citizens on all sides harbor feelings of victimization.
Washington Post reporter Blaine Harden last week passed along from Belgrade the following joke that even Serbs are telling on themselves: A Serb blithely drives down the wrong lane on a crowded European road, prompting a radio announcer to shout: ”Attention! There`s a madman on the highway.” The Serb mutters in protest, ”There are at least 10,000 madmen out here; this radio station must be anti-Serb,” and proceeds to floor the accelerator.
Bogdanich opened his media center last December above a North Side German restaurant-forget that many Serbs detest the Germans; he can`t beat the rent- and seeks to correct what it sees as gross, recurring errors in press coverage. The war has been horrendous for everybody, he says, but won`t end justly without a ”balanced view of the facts.”
”The Serbs share in the blame, but they have not really bothered to explain their point of view, such as the roots of the conflict and why Serbs living in areas like Croatia historically saw themselves as vulnerable,” said Bogdanich.
He and two aides put out press releases, arrange interviews for reporters and try to nudge editors, according to Bogdanich, 43, a former newspaper labor reporter whose brother, Walt, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The Wall Street Journal.
A typical example of what he deems journalistic error is coverage of fighting around historic Dubrovnik: ”You`d think that Dubrovnik was destroyed 10 times over, but the city`s historical and beautiful part has experienced little damage. The Yugoslav air force could have destroyed it in two hours if it wanted.”
The Croatian side, no surprise, demurs. Its media helpers include a giant mainstream corporate public-relations firm, Ruder & Finn. And while the firm says that it has been paid just $200,000 for nearly a year`s work for the Croatian government, that still means far greater resources, and a more comprehensive effort, than Bogdanich can muster.
”This is the first war we`ve helped on,” said Jim Harff, senior vice president and deputy general manager of Ruder & Finn`s Washington office.
Harff likens work for Croatia to a political or marketing campaign, including lobbying senators, congressmen and the U.S. State Department over what ”is not a civil war to us,” as it is to the Serbs, but rather a ”war of aggression.” The firm is also flacking an American fundraising tour by a Croatian chamber orchestra, I Solisti di Zagreb, that begins Monday at Washington`s Kennedy Center and includes a May 25 performance at Chicago`s Orchestra Hall.
While Bodganich finds much American coverage miserable-he cites the Tribune, National Public Radio and the Toronto Globe and Mail as among the few fair-minded outlets-Harff finds most coverage ”unusually strong.” While Bogdanich gags at the work of The New York Times` reporter on the scene, Ruder & Finn finds it fine.
Unlike Ruder & Finn, Bogdanich doesn`t represent a government or organizations and exists through individual contributions (including donated computers) that come to the center via Box 76217, 612 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
Saturday, he planned to meet in Chicago with Serbian-American leaders from around the country ”to decide what kind of effort to make and whether to fund a serious media effort.”
Even if they try a full-court press on the press, ”We can`t confront every falsehood,” Bogdanich said. ”This is an overwhelming task.”
ABC`s Peter Jennings, reporting Wednesday on the legal status of Los Angeles police officer Laurence Powell, who was acquitted in the Rodney King case but was subject to possible re-prosecution on excessive force charges, told viewers that the county district attorney would ask a judge ”to hold the real trial-I should say the re-trial-in Los Angeles.”
He probably had it right the first time. Friday, the judge agreed to a new proceeding.
If blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians keep hating one another`s guts, it`s not for lack of media-sponsored dialogue.
The Tribune ran a weeklong series on race all week (not many black bylines, however). Friday night, the cable Court TV channel ran a Chicago town meeting on race, cops and courts that featured L.A. officer Powell`s lawyer, while Chicago radio stations WGCI-AM 1390 (with a mostly black audience) and WLS-FM 94.7 and WLS-AM 890 (both mostly white) took the high-minded route Saturday morning with a simulcast discussion of similar issues.
Windy City Times, Chicago`s journalistically excellent, 22,000-circulation gay weekly, is on to something that may offer insight into changing social mores.
Publisher Jeff McCourt, a former young phenom Wall Street arbitrageur who later bought a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade, started the paper seven years ago and several months back decided to spend several hundred thousand dollars and ”roll the dice.” In the middle of winter during a recession, he`d start Night Time, a weekly section on the bar scene.
A mix of listings, features, gossip and reader ”confession” columns, it premiered in late February and appears to be a rousing success. One reason is found in this notable achievement for a gay publication: Of the 40 bars, clubs and theaters lined up by ad manager Erin Nestor and sales representative Cory Metzer, 14 would be categorized as ”straight.”
”There`s been a blurring of the lines between gay and lesbian places and heterosexual enclaves,” says McCourt, whose weekly will gross more than $2 million this year and has always had mainstream advertisers such as Anheuser- Busch, Marshall Field`s and Stolichnaya vodka.
What`s new are three- and six-month advertising contracts signed with the following ”straight” establishments: Beat Kitchen, Cabaret Metro, China Club, Cubby Bear, Europia, Ka-Boom! Lounge Ax (the first to commit), Raw Bar, Shelter, Oak Theatre, Shubas, Elbo Room, Cairo and the Riviera Theater.
A few do have special gay nights, but the majority don`t. Their proprietors are perceiving a change in clientele as gays and lesbians gain greater acceptance in the mainstream culture.
”It`s a market that we should have been in for a long time,” Jill Bergen, catering and special events director at the Cubby Bear Lounge, 1059 W. Addison St., explained Friday.
She`s targeting gays for concerts, parties and private receptions, and says response to the ads has been terrific. She`s apparently benefiting from McCourt`s alluring demographics.
The last independent readership study, done three years ago, showed average reader annual income at $30,000 and average household income at nearly $60,000. That`s income to dispose of late at night.
