Sarajevo Editor Wins Lyons Award

As artillery shells explode and sniper fire rains down on a ruined city, editors and reporters of a small newspaper called Oslobodzenje, or "Liberation," are risking their lives to produce a daily newspaper out of an atomic bomb shelter in war-torn Sarajevo.

In an interview yesterday at Harvard's Nieman Foundation for journalism, Oslobodzenje's editor-in-chief, Kemal Kurspahic, described how he produces a publication out of a gutted basement that serves as both newsroom and home for 70 staff members.

Kurspahic was in Cambridge yesterday to receive the 1993 Louis M. Lyons Award for conscience and integrity in journalism. A $5,000 honorarium was presented to Kurspahic at a luncheon hosted by Nieman Foundation curator Bill Kovach.

That money will likely prove very valuable to the financially stricken paper, which remains in dire need of newsprint and computer equipment.

In its daily struggle to find the materials necessary for publication, Oslobodzenje is assisted by a European fundraising group known as "Reporters Without Frontiers." The group smuggles newsprint, computers and communications equipment into the building, a charred ruin of what once was a proud, nine-story publishing house.

The reporters, who constantly risk injury and even death, work seven days a week in shifts, with some starting at dawn and others at dusk. They avoid leaving the building, for fear of drawing Serbian sniper fire.

"Sometimes [the reporters] work under candlelight throughout the night when there is no electricity in the city," Kurspahic said.

The reporting staff is a mix of Serbs, Croats and Muslims, reflecting a rare harmony in a particularly tense area.

"We represent the idea of tolerance of culture--which is exactly what the opposition wants to destroy," Kurspahic explained.

Kurspahic said Oslobodzenje comes under fire every day from Serbian nationalists, who dislike the diverse nature of its staff. This antagonism, however, has not diminished the paper's advocacy of a multicultural Bosnian state.

'A Symbolic Victory'

Last June, amid heavy fighting in Sarajevo, Serbian forces set fire to the newspaper's building, leveling all nine stories.

"People in the city were watching pictures of our building burning down on the evening news," Kurspahic said. "What they didn't see was that the whole time my reporters were in the basement working on the next day's issue."

Kurspahic said the staff pulled together that night.

"I gathered the editors together and told them that if they wanted to leave--to take care of their families--that they could," he said. "But no one left that night."

"At 6 a.m. the fire was extinguished and at 6:05 our presses started rolling," Kurspahic said. "Though the fighting continued, we won a symbolicvictory just by publishing."

Besides continually writing and editing, thestaff of the paper also is in charge ofdistributing the day's issue. Often, reporterscarry bundles of papers to street corners and sellthem to crowds eager for news.

"One of the worst things is hearing when somequeue has been bombed and people were killed,"Kurspahic said of his job. "Once, the Serbsmassacred a crowd of people waiting on a breadqueue. I later found out that some of them wereclutching our newspaper in their hands."

However daunting the circumstances, Kurspahicand his staff continue to publish day after day.

"It is a really unique professionalexperience," he said, "Our paper is sometimes theonly source of information for our readers. Wehave a duty to keep them informed."

A Perfect Record

Oslobodzenje has not missed a single day'sissue since its inception in 1943.

The paper keeps its readers informed of thelatest Serbian advances, conditions at the frontand the strength of the city's defense.

Among other things, Oslobodzenje carriesapproximately two full pages of obituaries everyday.

"We have a double responsibility to fulfill,"Kurspahic said, "If foreign journalists are cominghere, risking their lives to report on Sarajevo,then it is our duty to do the same," he said.

Besides the facts surrounding the fighting,Oslobodzenje seeks to record the remarkable humanstruggles being fought.

"An art of survival has developed in ourbeseiged Sarajevo," Kurspahic said. "The women,who must try to provide food for their families,are learning to make something out of nothing."

Kurspahic said he is dismayed at the effortsthat have been made worldwide to end the violence.

"As a citizen, I just can't understand howthose who could have stopped the massacre didn't,"Kurspahic said sadly. "The people of Sarajevo feelabandoned by the international community."

No matter how the war goes, Oslobodzenje willcontinue to publish. "Our paper is proof thatfreedom of expression can't be silenced by gunsand cannons," Kurspahic said

Besides continually writing and editing, thestaff of the paper also is in charge ofdistributing the day's issue. Often, reporterscarry bundles of papers to street corners and sellthem to crowds eager for news.

"One of the worst things is hearing when somequeue has been bombed and people were killed,"Kurspahic said of his job. "Once, the Serbsmassacred a crowd of people waiting on a breadqueue. I later found out that some of them wereclutching our newspaper in their hands."

However daunting the circumstances, Kurspahicand his staff continue to publish day after day.

"It is a really unique professionalexperience," he said, "Our paper is sometimes theonly source of information for our readers. Wehave a duty to keep them informed."

A Perfect Record

Oslobodzenje has not missed a single day'sissue since its inception in 1943.

The paper keeps its readers informed of thelatest Serbian advances, conditions at the frontand the strength of the city's defense.

Among other things, Oslobodzenje carriesapproximately two full pages of obituaries everyday.

"We have a double responsibility to fulfill,"Kurspahic said, "If foreign journalists are cominghere, risking their lives to report on Sarajevo,then it is our duty to do the same," he said.

Besides the facts surrounding the fighting,Oslobodzenje seeks to record the remarkable humanstruggles being fought.

"An art of survival has developed in ourbeseiged Sarajevo," Kurspahic said. "The women,who must try to provide food for their families,are learning to make something out of nothing."

Kurspahic said he is dismayed at the effortsthat have been made worldwide to end the violence.

"As a citizen, I just can't understand howthose who could have stopped the massacre didn't,"Kurspahic said sadly. "The people of Sarajevo feelabandoned by the international community."

No matter how the war goes, Oslobodzenje willcontinue to publish. "Our paper is proof thatfreedom of expression can't be silenced by gunsand cannons," Kurspahic said