08. 07. 2010

CENTRALIZED MEDIA SCENE

Belgrade, July 8, 2010 (Danas) - As the European experts recommend the opening of ten to fifteen regional public services, non-governmental organizations gathered around the Civic Vojvodina strenuously criticized this recommendation that would, as they stated, "practically shut down" the Public Service of Vojvodina.

One of the recommendations of the European experts that were working on the drafting of the recently presented Media Study, which would serve as the basis for drafting the Strategy of Media Reform in Serbia, is the establishment of ten to 15 regional public services, which would be financed by TV fees.

Based on these recommendations, program committees for each region would be comprised of 17-21 representatives of civil society, which would then elect 7-9 members of the board of directors of each public service. The rest of local and regional broadcasters would be adjoined to these public services, while private stations would be able to continue their operations until the expiry of their broadcasting licenses.

"I am afraid that this recommendation only leads to further centralization of the media scene in Serbia, in order to maintain the control over the media. In such a case, local media would once again be a collateral damage. This would be a hard blow to local and regional broadcasters, which would be transformed into the RTS branches", said NDNV President Dinko Gruhonjic.