"Due to technical problems..." - Stuart Pinfold's Blog

(BBC news, Monday to Friday at 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 18:30)

Hello, welcome to the last edition of BBC World Service Radio in Macedonian with Zaneta Skerlev, Zlatko Andreevski, Zoran Stojmanovski, Biljana Georgievska, Marjan Micevski and Maja Blazevska in London, and Dusko Arsovski and Vesna Kolovska in Skopje.

In this half-hour programme to our listeners, we will share the most important, sad and happiest moments from the world, the Balkans and Macedonia we have covered in the last 15 years. Sincerely I will say that we will miss you; this is your final programme from the BBC.

In the World today the major news is Libya, but for us in London after 15 years of programmes in Macedonian, the service is closing due to financial restraints along with 5 other language services, radio programmes in 8 other languages, as well as a massive reorganisation. The BBC World Service will lose a quarter of its employees.

The Macedonian service was founded in 1995, and began broadcasting news in January 1996. We now have 40 journalists and have broadcast thousands of hours of news, music and English-language tuition. Our programmes are broadcast on 30 radio stations in Macedonia and on Macedonian Radio TV. Today, for the last time ever, you will hear and read the BBC in Macedonian, on the radio and at bbcmacedonian.com.

So how did the idea for the Macedonian service come about? We asked Endrew Thouse, former manager of the European region for the BBC World Service:

“Groups of people in the BBC come to idea that it was important to do something for Macedonian listeners, especially after the fall of Yugoslavia and the BBC’s focus on Serbia, which was unacceptable for people in the other countries like the Slovenians, Croatians, Macedonians and Albanians. The BBC principles are to give opportunities for cultural debate, much needed at that time. The Bulgarians argued that the Macedonian language is a dialect of their own language because there are similarities between them, but we explained that, politically, the BBC must make an edition in the language acceptable to all minorities – that we would like to communicate to people from all countries.

But with Greece the problem was bigger, not just with language but also political. We said that we are not interested in Aleksandar Macedonian and the relationships through history; simply we would like to have a programme in the language which people in Macedonia can understand. But it wasn’t a successful intellectual defence. When we opened the service I was proud that my colleague from the Bulgarian section came to the launch, but no-one from the Greek service. Afterwards, though, good relationships with all BBC services developed.“

The ex-manager for European region at the BBC World Service.

(BBC for Macedonian News, the European view, sport, science, music, business; BBC – your international home on radio and on internet – BBCmacedonia.com; Views from Britain, BBC in Macedonian, listen to the BBC, read the BBC, learn with the BBC…)

That was the way we began our first-ever programme. With a little history, Zoran Stojmanovski explores the tradition and independence of this British institution.

“Director-General John Reid, on 19 December 1932, announced the launch of the ‘Overseas Service’, but since then many other language services have opened. He warned not to expect much, but that it was enough for people with problems like France fighting the Nazis.

“Then we come to the question of independence between the BBC World Service and the British Government. It is important to remember that state funding was not planned but eventually happened. Dr. Olman – an expert on the history of the service – explains how it happened.

“The BBC initially financed its Empire Service during the 1930s, but with the opening of 45 language services after World War II, government help was necessary to fund the large operation. This still raises suspicious reactions abroad when asked how it’s possible to be funded by, yet independent from, the state.

“Dr. Olman says that dilemma was solved in the 1950s – the Government needed to make some war goals and thought the BBC would oblige with propoganda. But the BBC refused, and won the fight. However, in the long-term it was good for the Government because the independent news from the BBC boosted Britain’s image in the world.

“The British Government knows that it is to its benefit to leave the BBC alone and not to destroy its independent journalism – its audiences trust it too much.”

You are listening to the last edition of BBC Macedonian.

Some listeners say “we think there is some mistake”. There would have been potential for commercial co-operation from Macedonian media. And we already have a Skopje team in Biljana Georgievska and Atanas Kirovski. They have had success in helping bring political change in Macedonia, and championing cultural improvements such as the Skopje Jazz Festival.

Biljana, who works in the London team, travelled to Macedonia to cover important events. Biljana can you summarise in couple of minutes?

“My first trip to Macedonia was with the delegation from the European Council in Skopje. Their message than and now are similar – for better democratic processes, better conditions for ethnic communities, for human rights, etc. European ambassador Ervan Fuere in the days before he left Macedonia said the same messages as in 1996 when negotiations began to allow Macedonia into the European Union.”

There have been so many pieces through our programmes about Greek problems with the name ‘Macedonia’, problems with Serbian churches, with Macedonians living in Bulgaria and Albania… in the archives I found one interview with president Gligorov who admits that he was naive when he thought that this process would be solved with mutual respect and understanding.

“That was an honest wish that our neighborhood would see that we are open to cooperation, have left previous problems in history, and we will make progress together for our mutual goals to become one day European Union and NATO members, but up until now we still don’t have anything with them. There were many problems in the bombings in Serbia from NATO, immigrants from Kosovo, my days going to Blace and our borders, to Stenkovec where we collected the international policy and human stories, and when we thought that everything was over, one journalist from Kosovo said ‘soon we will start a war with Macedonia.’ I remember it like most difficult situations, professionally and personally.”

It was a problem for our broadcasts too, for example the moment two Macedonian radio programmes were stopped from being broadcast by one of our partner stations in 2001; like a domino effect, all 23 partner stations also stopped our broadcasts. To try to find out why, we asked the manager of the MRTV Ljupco Jakimovski, who stands behind the decision.

“The managers on our company board decided that the BBC didn’t represent the real situation throughout the Macedonian conflict, and supported the aggressors rather than the Macedonian people”

Some comments from our listeners:

“It is too bad for us”

“There was interesting, thoughtful reports etc.”

You are listening to the BBC in Macedonian for the last time – you can read and listen for a short time on the Internet, but if you’d like to do it after that you can listen to the BBC news in English 24 hours a day through the Internet at bbc.com/news.

Over the last 15 years we have said how we have given you an international home. When history happens, in your eyes it is interesting, it is exciting. BBC Macedonian from 1996 was in all places where history happened. Through these 16 years I asked some listeners, where were you when BBC broadcast it?

24 march 1999 – the crisis in Kosovo. NATO forces attacked Serbia, where was Tetovo Samir on that day?

“I decided to leave Macedonia and to go to Bosnia for work where I have relatives, but in the night the NATO attack happened and all flights were cancelled. I hoped that my plane to Saraevo would fly but it didn’t.”

11 September 2001 in New York, the falling of the twin towers: we ask how it was for Aleksandra Srbinovska.

“I was in Skopje to apply for a visa to the USA. Afterwards at 3pm, I heard on the radio in the taxi that in America the tragedy had happened. I thought that I can’t go to see my daughter because all borders would be closed.”

20 march 2003 – the American-led coalition began to attack Iraq. That day Bojan Maric stoped at one airport.

“I was planning to go for a student seminar in the USA, but when I was at the airport in Washington, on the screens in the airport I saw that Iraq was attacked from USA and their coalition partners.”

In the last 15 years, the world saw different moments. On 15 September 2008, Lehman Borthers failed – what did Sasko Ivanovski think of that?

“In 2008 I was in Skopje, but I was once an employee of Lehman Bothers in London, so these things were so close to me, I just couldn’t understand how Lehman Brothers had failed.”

15 years of broadcasts end with news from the Arab world; Egypt on 25 January saw the overthrowing of the government which has been copied across the middle-east and north Africa. Tanja Blazevska from Skopje comments:

“I have friends who live in Egypt so in some way I saw it personally. I tried to call them but I didn`t succeed.”

The World Service and the Macedonian Service broadcasts have seen how global history is important for everybody personally. Macedonia was the world’s news not just with war and events in Kosovo, but the tragedy with president Boris Trajkovski, we reported live from Dublin during the Macedonian application for membership into the European Union. We have delivered lots of objective information for our region, which doesn’t exist elsewhere, and we believe it will missed. We have told you what has happened in the world.

You are listening to the last edition of the BBC in Macedonian.

We have reported on some strange and unusual things during the years from interesting places and people – like this report from Dusko Arsovski.

“The historians called the church ‘St. Nikola’ – but for Muslims it is called ‘Turbe’. When you are at the top, you can see Macedonian Brod like it is in your hand. This place is important for both religions but it has a lot of history. Entering the church through an old wooden door with a metal key, the inside appears – one room with pictures from St. Ilija , Deva Marija, Isus and Bekktesh saints Alija on the wall. Whether you are are orthodox, Catholic, Muslim is not important – for God we are all the same. This is the place which is on offer for cultural tourism – but previously you could not arrive by train – until now. The train line passing through here has just started – the only line connecting the east part of Macedonia. In this region, there are not often tourists and foreigners – but in Kocani we meet a British man who is married to a Macedonian women. ‘With the development every year there are better conditions. But foreigners who live and work in Macedonia have difficulty for transport, for example, when they have to across the street.’ That is an experience unique to Macedonia’s traffic culture! ‘I always put my hand and I say – I go now no matter what will happens, if you kill me or not I must get to the other side from the street!’, says Holland’s ambassador to Macedonia Simone Filipini. He makes the conclusion that drivers in Macedonia are selfish and don’t care for pedestrians.”

And while we’re talking about unusual moments, here are some more. Maja Blazevska, in 3 years at the BBC, has worked in 3 diferent towns – Tetovo, Skopje and London:

“Unusual with character and message, the BBC try to find the unusual from normal lives, no matter whether it is in a local region or the global world, so a big story from a small region is one of people from Stip who sold their house just to live in European country. ‘We will live in tent, we will do it, there is no other way.’ Or the story of the borders between Greece and Macedonia, in the morning when Shangen wall fell down for Macedonian citizens. On my first visit to the Shangen wall after its fall, I went to see it just to cross the border without a visa. A big story was of the new president of Croatia Ivo Josipovic, who played on the piano for the BBC. Other stories included discovering what is it like to live in the most corrupted city, the warmest place on the Earth in East Afrika, and the coldest town in the east of Sibir where the temperature is normally minus-40 degrees.”

Another story we covered was how people from the Greek island of Lesbos went to Court to force women who are gay to be called “lezbejki”.

“I am proud to be a lesbian, but I am lesbian from Lezbos not lesbian in sexuality.”

BBC reports have goals to educate, inform but also entertain, so on BBC Macedonian you have heard how it gave Macedonians advice in cooking speciality food, and how it the strongest whiskey in the world is made and drunk. You have heard every Macedonian dialect with stories from every Macedonian town. On BBC broadcasts we respect literature, especially real diction and intonation because, we must take care of the languages across the world.

You have listened to the last broadcast of the BBC in Macedonian. The BBC Macedonian service began in 1996 and, 15 years later, finishes with this programme.

That’s all from BBC Macedonian, thank you to everyone who has listened to us in the last 15 years and for all who are listening to the last edition with Zlatko Andreevski, Igor Micevski, Maja Blazevska, Biljana Georgievska, Zoran Stevanovski, Vesna Kolovska, Dusko Arsovski, and Zaneta Skerlev.

BBC from London. Goodbye.