30. 09. 2013
FORTY-SEVENTH ANEM MONITORING REPORT
WHAT WAS THE SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE LIKE IN AUGUST 2013?
According to the findings of the monitoring team, there were no significant changes in the media scene either in August 2013. What has however marked this period is the following: controversy caused by the publication of draft laws on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Media, which are substantially different from the drafts prepared by the Working Group of the Ministry; failed competition for the issuing of national TV license. How have these two events marked the media scene in August 2013, the authors explain in the Conclusion of the Report.
In this period, journalists and the media were still subjected to pressures and threats, which obstructed them in performing their work. This is presented in 2 cases that the monitoring team address in the Report - threats made by a local public official in Kosovo to the journalist of "Nase novine" for disclosing information relating to him, but in the public interest all the same; insults by the director of Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics "Narodni front" in Belgrade, made to the journalist of the daily "Kurir" for the investigation of cases that occurred in the clinic and for requesting information relating to the work of this public institution - both cases indicate that some public officials do not respect the public's right to be informed about matters of public interest, much less the rights of journalists, whose job is to inform the public about such matters. When it comes to legal proceedings in media cases, the monitoring team deals with the proceedings: 1. for violation of journalists' rights (criminal proceedings against the persons threatening the Editor of the Internet portal "Juzne vesti" Predrag Blagojevic); 2. the action for compensation of damages against a daily, filed by former public official for the articles related to his work (lawsuit of Zarko Obradovic against "Kurir" for publishing articles about the cancellation of the final exam for admission to high schools); 3. the action for compensation of damages filed by a broadcaster against the regulators for harmful interference on the air (lawsuit of SOS Kanal from Belgrade against the RBA and RATEL). Read more about all this in the part of the Report - Freedom of expression.
According to the authors' assessment, the decision not to issue the license for broadcasting of TV programs with national coverage has significantly marked this period. Hence, the authors deal with that in the section of the Report - monitoring of the implementation of existing laws (implementation of the Broadcasting Law) and analyze the legal provisions governing the decision-making process of the RBA Council regarding applications of candidates for the issuance of broadcasting licenses, the decision of the Council not to issue the national TV license to any candidate, as well as the possible outcomes of this procedure. In addition, the authors analyze the RBA procedure for issuing licenses for broadcasting of radio and television programs in local and regional areas, which is interesting because one of the broadcasters awarded the license is a public company, despite the fact that the state's withdrawal from media is one of the most important goals of public media policy.
Draft media laws - Draft Law on Electronic Media and the Draft Law on Public Service Broadcasters, which the competent ministry published on its website in August, caused a lot of controversy. With this, as well as with the analysis of the provisions of these draft laws and shortcomings of certain solutions, the authors deal in the part of the Report - monitoring of the adoption of new laws.
The regulatory body - the RBA issued in August a warning to the national broadcaster RTV Pink for violating the obligations prescribed by the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters. The authors of the Report analyze the legal basis and legal consequences of the imposition of these measure in the part of the Report - monitoring of the work of the authorities. Subject of the monitoring was also the work of state authorities - the authors of the Report deal with the Rulebook on Determining the Allocation Plan for the frequencies/locations/ distribution zones, prepared by the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and telecommunications.
The RBA Council's decision not to issue a license for broadcasting of TV program with national coverage (network K5) to any candidate creates the possibility that the frequency of network K5 be repurposed and used for speeding up the digitalization process. The authors deal with this option in the part of the Report - digitalization process.
Although media privatization process has hardly been implemented with new media laws still pending, there were few events in August that were directly or indirectly related to the process, as the authors explain in the section of the Report - privatization process.
The Forty-seventh Monitoring Report was done by an expert team of ANEM Legal Department, law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM. Here you can download it in 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 THE PROCESS OF ADOPTION OF NEW LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF THE WORK OF REGULATORY BODIES, STATE AUTHORITIES AND COLLECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS here
Section MONITORING OF THE DIGITALIZATION PROCESS here
Section MONITORIN OF THE PRIVATIZATION PROCESS here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here
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