30. 12. 2013
ANEM’S FIFTIETH MONITORING REPORT
NOVEMBER 2013 - THE SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE
The media scene in November 2013 was marked by: novelties in the work of the Ministry of Culture and Information, namely the formation of a working group from people outside of the Ministry, tasked to evaluate the comments received on the draft media laws during the public debate, which is a good path to establishing the necessary practice of comprehensive consultations in all stages of the regulatory process; the efforts of obstructing the reforms through the attempted establishment of a new public television (in Leskovac), in contradiction with the proclaimed public media policy and Media strategy. Why that marked this period, the authors explained in the Conclusion of the Report.
Freedom of expression - Threats and pressures - The provisions of the Law on Public Information about the obligation of public officials to make information about their work available to the public under equal conditions for all journalists and public media, are the most violated clauses of that Law, which had happened in this period, too (the case of "Nasa Grocka info"); the "creative reaction" of the Mayor of Nis to criticism by the web portal "Juzne vesti" over his discriminatory remarks about the LGBT population; the institutions' lack of transparency towards the media and the attempt to muzzle the media from reporting about corruption (the case Sotirovski RTS and "Sokobanja" Special Hospital). In the segment about Legal proceedings, the authors analyzed the courts' decisions related to the right of journalists to make a mistake - the ruling of the Supreme Court of Cassation in the dispute between the Kovacevic Petar and Branka, the parents of Miladin Kovačević, and B92, the editor-in-chief thereof and a reporter; they also looked into the verdict of Appellate Court in Novi Sad in the dispute between Todor Bukinac and Radio 021, B92's web portal, the daily "Alo!" and the Beta news agency. The authors pointed to the differences between these two court decisions.
Monitoring of the implementation of existing regulations - The authors have analyzed the provisions of the Broadcasting Law concerning the obligations of the RBA to take measures in order to prevent the broadcasting of programs inciting ethnic discrimination, in relation to RBA's press release about the related order it had issued to TV Pink; the Law on the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of Ethnic Minorities and the principle of unity of the legal system were also analyzed, over the decision of the Constitutional Court ruling that the disputed part of a provision of the said Law giving the state the right to established radio and TV stations on minority languages, is not in conformity with the Constitution.
The section Monitoring of the process of adoption of new laws includes an analysis of the concept contained in the Draft Law on Electronic Media introducing the ban on vertical integration of the operator and the media service provider, on the basis of the type of content they broadcast; the authors have analyzed the current and future developments in the field of draft media laws, pointing to the consequences of the exceeded deadlines for their adoption. The Amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights that were discussed on the public debate in November are relevant for the media too: the authors have also analyzed the proposed media-related amendments and the shortcomings of the Amendments.
Monitoring of the work of competent bodies - state authorities - a short overview of the topics and discussion at the Ministerial Conference in Belgrade, organized by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The digitalization process - Simulcast, the Switchover Plan, challenges and changes to the digitalization model, the necessity to inform the broadcasters about the related risks, benefits and obligations entailed by the process - these are the issues the authors have dealt with.
The privatization process - The authors warned about the legal situation that would arise if new public media were to be established, related to such announcement from Leskovac.
The fiftieth Monitoring Report was compiled by the expert team of ANEM's legal department -"Živković&Samardžić" Law Office, in collaboration with ANEM. Read it entirely or in parts by clicking on the relevant 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 MONITORING OF THE PRIVATIZATION PROCESS here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here
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