22. 07. 2005

GOVERNMENT MAKES NEW CHANGES TO BROADCAST ACT

This is the second raft of amendments introduced by the government since the Broadcast Act was adopted three years ago. Once again they delay implementation of the act and resolution of the accumulated problems in the broadcast sector. On the first occasion the amendments were introduced to resolve the problem of Broadcast Council members who had been appointed under irregular procedures. These amendments dissolved the entire Broadcast Council including those members whose appointment was not disputed. This time the government claims the amendments are designed to resolve a problem which has arisen because it is impossible to determine the term of appointment of individual members under the ballot system used for this. Rather than make any attempt to interpret the results of the ballot or to conduct a new – and unambiguous – ballot, the government’s solution is to amend the act to provide an arbitrary decision on the length of term of each of the elected members. This decision has been made on the basis of an unacceptable ranking of the nominated candidates by the bodies authorized to nominate council members. The essence of the Broadcast Act is the depoliticisation of the media sector by transferring regulatory authority to an independent and expert body. ANEM believes that these proposed amendments are an attempt by the government to interfere with this depoliticisation by appointing to the longest terms, six years, those council members who were nominated as party candidates or, to be precise, candidates of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Social Democratic Party. The government’s argument is that, as party candidates, these members bring “a greater quality” of representation of the public interest. However, the act itself is explicit in stipulating that council members should not represent those who nominated them but should perform their duties independently, in the light of their knowledge and integrity and in accordance with the law. The principle of staggering the terms of council members was introduced as a safeguard against a future parliament changing the entire membership of the council. In these amendments the government is violating that principle and, by introducing three, four and five year terms for council members, creating a diametrically opposed model in which it is possible to replace all council members over a period of three years, in other words, within four-year term of one parliament. The amendments also extend the deadline for the privatization of media operated by local government authorities to the end of 2008. This would leave these broadcasters at the mercy of local authorities virtually until the next local government elections. By revoking the power of veto of council member nominated by Vojvodina bodies in decisions concerning that province, the government has not only created a potential political problem but also demonstrated a lack of understanding for the special problems of Vojvodina as a multiethnic environment. New deadlines for the transformation of Radio Television Serbia into a public service broadcaster are also envisaged, with no guarantee that these will not be ignored, as have previous deadlines for this process. At the same time, Radio Television Serbia is granted the authority to collect obligatory subscriptions even before its transformation. ANEM understands the problems facing the state media, but these problems cannot be used to justify the delays in transforming the company into a public service broadcaster. The association supports the introduction of subscriptions as a way of securing stable funding for a public broadcaster and thus protecting it from the direct political influence which is inevitable in a situation in which it is financed directly from the state budget. However, until it is transformed, Radio Television Serbia is just one of many public companies whose general director and board of management are appointed and dismissed directly by the Government of the Republic of Serbia. In this situation the subscription does not serve its purpose, but is merely an impost and no guarantee of independence from direct political influence. ANEM calls on the Serbian Government to withdraw this legislation on amendments to the Broadcast Act from parliamentary procedure immediately. If the proposed amendments are adopted they will almost inevitably result in further prolonging the anguish already evident in the media sector. Slobodan Stojsic, Chairman of the ANEM Managing Board