29. 08. 2013
ANEM 46th MONITORING REPORT
JULY 2013 - SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE:
Freedom of expression - in the part Threats and Pressures,the authors tackle four cases of undue pressure on the media, of which two in the media sphere: the letter of the leader of the Democratic Party and Mayor of Belgrade to the RTS, protesting over the alleged lack of professionalism and impartiality; the campaign waged by the owner of TV Pink Zeljko Mitrovic against the daily Blic and its Editor-in-Chief Veselin Simonovic; the daily Informer's questioning of the reasons for placing B92's Editor-in-Chief Veran Matic under police protection, as well as the ethnically motivated attacks against the President of the Executive Board of NDNV Nedim Sejdinovic on the web portal "Koreni". In the part about Legal Proceedings, the authors discuss the questionable verdict of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad against the Company for the Production and Distribution of TV Program "TV Apatin" d.o.o. from Apatin, which is the founder of the newspaper "Novi glas komune", and Vesna Milanovic Simcic, the Editor-in-Chief of the same, under which verdict ordered the defendants were committed to pay one million dinars in damages for injured honor and reputation, in relation to the suicide of their daughter. That decision is not only legally questionable, but also threatens the financial survival of the said media outlet, with the only remedies being the constitutional appeal and special review, which do not, however, suspend the enforcement of the verdict.
In the part about the implementation of existing laws, the authors elaborate on the Broadcasting Law, i.e the powers and obligations of the RBA in implementing open competitions for the allocation of broadcasting licenses with national, regional and local coverage, with a special emphasis on the public debates the RBA Council has held with the representatives of the two candidates for the national frequency - TV Nova.rs and TV Kopernikus.
The process of adoption of new laws - the topic is the delay in the process of adoption of the draft media laws necessary for the implementation of the Media Strategy (the Law on Public Information and Media and the Law on Electronic Media) and the reactions of EU representatives.
The work of competent authorities - the Report analyses the reports on the realization of programming obligations of the PSB of Vojvodina and the fulfillment of statutory obligations of commercial broadcasters, which reports were compiled by the regulatory body for electronic media - the RBA, underlining the absence of a thourough analysis of the realization of statutory obligations; the Report also tackles the work of the self-regulatory press body - the Press Council, which in June adopted as much as five decisions in appeal procedures initiated against the media, where violations of the Journalists' Code of Ethics were established in three cases (in two cases, no violations were found).
The digitalization process - the authors point to the evident standstill in the digitalization process, with a special emphasis on the fact it will remain blocked until the completion of the open competition for the allocation of the national frequency, since only then the state will know how which frequencies are available.
Media privatization - the authors discuss the decision of the municipal authorities of Smederevo to continue to process of privatization of TV Smederevo, which is still owned by the city.
In the conclusion of the Report, the authors warn that anti-reform tendencies have been on the rise in 2013: from the delay in the adoption of new media laws and the absence of a qualitative analysis of the behavior of broadcasters and PSB's, to the practical standstill of the digitalization process, the undue pressure on media professionals and the questionable decision of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad, which was praised as pro-reform only a few months ago.
The 46th Monitoring Report was compiled by the expert team of ANEM's Legal Department - the Zivkovic&Samardzic Law Office, in cooperation with ANEM. You may download it here entirely or in parts, by clicking the selected part 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 THE PROCESS 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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