16. 03. 2010

ANEM: FURTHER THREATENING OF THE MEDIA SYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY

Belgrade, March 16, 2010 - Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly protests against yesterday's RBA announcement of public competition for new broadcasting licenses, namely licenses for one local TV and two regional and 50 local radio licenses.

The Broadcasting Law stipulates that a public competition is called when the Allocation Plan of radio frequencies opens opportunity for new broadcasting licenses. Last modifications of the Allocation Plan were published in the Official Gazette on January 15, 2010. ANEM, however, notes that the question of the number and types of broadcasters and their service areas, is the issue that is determined by Broadcasting Development Strategy. ANEM has repeatedly pointed out the shortcomings of the current Strategy as well as the weaknesses of the Allocation Plan of radio frequencies. Last changes made to the Plan included some of these objections, related to the necessity of preserving primarily television frequencies, in order to enable a successful transition to digital broadcasting, stipulated by the Digitalization Strategy. However, the Broadcasting Development Strategy, though formally valid till 2013, is absolutely outdated, unsuitable to social needs and incompatible with the Digitalization Strategy. Hence, instead of being a mechanism that supports the development of the Serbian broadcasting, it is actually obstructing that process.

ANEM reminds that the Broadcasting Development Strategy, instead of determining the number and type of broadcasters according to the needs of society and market opportunities, as provided by the law, all in the interest of ensuring media pluralism and exercising the purpose of the media in a democratic society, it relates the number of broadcasters to the technical maximum allowed by the available range. By keeping such Strategy in force, the broadcasting in Serbia is actually collapsing, under the illusion of pluralism and variety of media sources.

Unfortunately, it seems that nobody in Serbia today, except the media and journalist associations, questions the sustainability of the media system that includes such a number of electronic media, despite the fact that this number of terrestrial electronic media does not exist even in the far more populated European countries or in countries whose markets exceed our local advertising market by far. Serbia is now a leading country in Europe in the number of legal analogue terrestrial stations to which the broadcasting licenses are still issued left and right, as well as in the number of illegal analogue terrestrial stations, which no one shuts down. Moreover, legal stations are subjected to pay broadcasting fees which are higher than anywhere in region, while the competent regulatory body has not proved to be effective both in prescribing and ensuring the respect of appropriate program standards.

Serbian citizens are faced with the logical consequence of such unsustainable media system every day. Because of this, we are witnesses of a drastic decline in the quality of the program and the pluralism of sources that results not the pluralism of content, but mere endless copying of alike and worthless.

ANEM thus urges competent authorities to reflect on without delay the catastrophic consequences on the media sector in Serbia created by the economically, content-wise and in every other way untenable number of electronic media in the air. Furthermore, ANEM demands that the authorities urgently propose, bring to a public hearing, adopt and finally implement measures that would guarantee the establishment of a viable media scene, fulfillment of the media needs of the citizens and the accomplishment of the basic functions of media in a way expected from them in a democratic society.

President of ANEM, Sasa Mirkovic