28. 06. 2013
ANEM 44th MONITORING REPORT
THE MEDIA SCENE IN SERBIA IN MAY 2013:
Freedom of expression - two cases were elaborated on in the part Threats and pressures, describing how certain politicians and public officials behave when they are unhappy with how certain journalists and media report about them: the first case (MP Cvijan vs. the Director and the Editor of "Nase Novine) is unheard of in Serbia to this date; not only did Cvijan press criminal charges against the journalists because they had allegedly threatened the security of a minor, but he also publicly accused them of being perverts and pedophiles and had leaflets distributed in the street portraying them as such; the second case, in Prokuplje, involved the President of the local SNS and the journalist - local correspondent of "Juzne vesti", to which the former had sent a threatening text message; the journalist reported him to the police, while the politician pressed charges against the reporter for wrongful accusations; the third case was mentioned merely to illustrate similar developments: a threatening letter to the editor of "Radio sto plus" from Novi Pazar, posted from Belgrade. Not in even one of these case have the authorities properly reacted, which increases the feeling of insecurity not only of these journalists, but also of all other media professionals. In the part about Court Proceedings, two interesting verdicts were analyzed: the first is the verdict of the Higher Court of Belgrade, in the case Vukadinovic vs. Basara, which greatly deviates from European practice and standards - the accountability of Basara for non-financial damages due to "offensive and unsubstantiated" value judgments; the second is the decision of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad in the case Kovacevic vs. B92, which confirms that journalists are entitled to make mistakes, as well as that not every journalist error is automatically grounds for damages.
In the part about the Implementation of existing legislation, in relation to the RBA report on the RTS' compliance with its statutory and programming obligations for 2012, the implementation of the Broadcasting Law was analyzed, namely the specific statutory and programming obligations of the RTS and the extent of compliance, according to the RBA report; the subject of the analysis is also the Report itself, as well as the performance of RBA powers in supervising the work of the PBS; the authors also pointed to the necessary regulatory changes, in order to address the identified shortcomings relevant for oversight of the work of the PSB.
Process of adoption of new laws - the authors delved into the reasons for the delay in the adoption of the draft media laws, as well as the issue of the announced revoking of the subscription fee and switching to budget financing of PSBs, which has delayed the work on the Law on Electronic Media.
Work of the competent authorities - the authors analyzed the work of the RBA's regulatory body - the extent to which it complies with its obligations in conducting the public competition for the issuance of broadcasting licenses as well as in relation to the protection of copyright and related rights and the related consequences for broadcasters. They have delved into the work of the state authority, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, in relation to the indictment raised against several persons for fraud, by the means of fake telephone quizzes and astrology programs, which many people from Serbia, the region and the Diaspora have fallen victim to, generating large illicit profits in the process. The authors have analyzed the possibility of claiming RBA's competence in the case of satellite broadcasting and provided recommendations to remove the regulatory shortcoming in this field.
The digitalization process - the current state of affairs and the immediate prospects concerning the preparations for the digital switchover.
The privatization of media - the analysis of the provisions of the Draft Law on Public Information and Media pertaining to this issue and the consequences of the delay in adopting the Law on the enforceability of the concepts it contains.
In the Conclusion of the report, the authors once again explained why it is important to keep up with the media reforms, elaborating on the potential reasons for its delay and the related consequences for the media sector.
The 44th Monitoring Report was produced by the expert team of ANEM's Legal Department - the "Živković&Samardžić" Law office, in cooperation with ANEM. You may download it here entirely or in parts, by clicking on the desired 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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