29. 03. 2013
FORTY-FIRST ANEM MONITORING REPORT
First ANEM Monitoring Report in 2013, for the period January-February
According to the findings of the monitoring team:
In the field of freedom of expression, not only was there no progress, but there were even setbacks - death threats and serious intimidation of journalists, the return of extremist speech on the public stage, arbitrary labeling of some of the media and non-governmental organizations as "foreign agents", the division into patriots and traitors, Serbs and anti-Serbs, Serb haters, as well as media speech provoking ethnic hatred and even counting of members of minority ethnic communities in the media. Adequate response to these developments the state was lacking this time as well. This can be seen in three cases treated in the threats and pressures section. The part of the Report dealing with court proceedings, the case Djilas Vs. Kurir was analyzed - three Djilas' claims for damages for violations of honor and reputation by publishing information, one of which is the enormously high compensation claim; one positive example of case law in the case of attacks on journalists; lawsuit filed by editor in chief of "Tabloid" against NUNS, over the statement this association released regarding an article in that magazine.
Implementation of existing laws - as the RBA has pronounced the measure - warning to a national broadcaster, for the first time over the misconduct regarding the protection of minors, the authors analyze the application of the Broadcasting Law; the subject of the analysis is also the decision of the Constitutional Court to initiate procedure for assessing the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Law on National Councils of National Minorities, relating to certain powers of the Councils of national minorities, including in the domain of information of national minorities; application of the Criminal Code, after its amendments having entered into force, is treated in the analysis of legal and practical effects of decriminalization of defamation, with concurrent "survival" of insult in the Criminal law.
In the part of the Report relating to the adoption of new laws, the authors analyze in detail the Draft Law on Public Information and Media, its solutions as well as its good and bad aspects. In addition, the authors focus on the Draft Law on Fees for the Use of Public Goods, that is, its provisions that impinge on the domain of fees for regulators and subscription fees for public service broadcasting.
The work of competent authorities - authors of the Report deal with the activities of regulatory bodies, government organizations and collective organizations, the most important being: recommendation of the RBA Council for broadcasters to refrain from broadcasting the candid camera show, although the program was not aired at all; the second Report by RATEL on the analysis of retail market distribution of media content, which, much like the previous one, indicates that there is no effective competition in this market and it proposes the imposing of regulatory obligations on the operator with significant market power; the first public hearing on the press freedom organized by the Serbian Parliament's Culture and Information Committee; an epilogue of the proceedings of the Commission for Protection of Competition against SBB on the event from 2006; a new Protocol on Cooperation signed between ANEM and SOKOJ, which has enabled significant discounts to the applicable tariff for all broadcasters who pay a minimum fee to SOKOJ.
The process of digitalization - the authors deal with current events and problems in the implementation of the digital transition of television.
The process of privatization of media - the authors analyze the provisions of the Draft Law on Public Information and Media pertaining to the withdrawal of the state from ownership in media.
Conclusion of the Report contains authors' assessment about what has marked the media sector in this period and how.
The Forty-first Monitoring Report was prepared by the expert team of ANEM Legal Department, law office „Živković&Samardžić", in cooperation with ANEM. Here you can download it whole or in part, by clicking on the selected section below.
The content of this Report is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
The content of this Report is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Open Society Foundation, Serbia.
Section FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION here
Section MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING REGULATIONS here
Section MONITORING OF ADOPTION OF NEW LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF THE ACTIVITIES OF REGULATORY BODIES, AUTHORITIES AND COLLECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS here
Section MONITORING OF THE DIGITALIZATION PROCESS here
Section MONITORING OF THE PRIVATIZATION PROCESS here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here
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