31. 01. 2011

The interview with Dragana Solomon for Radio Free Europe

Belgrade, January 31, 2011. (Radio Free Europe) - Dragana Solomon, the Chief of the OSCE Media Department in the interview for the Radio Free Europe:

"In the transition countries, there are certain problems in terms of the freedom of expression. The OEBS mission together with the Institute for Social Sciences carried out the survey in 2010 among over 600 professionals and editors-in-chief in the country. Around two thirds of them experienced various kinds of pressures, political or financial, while the number of physical assaults on journalists decreased when compared to 2008.

I believe that Serbian media have dealt with other issues, apart from their own problems, which does not mean that they do not primarily deal with important issues of their profession. There are very active media associations. The public discussion on the Media Study, financed by the EU Delegation in Belgrade, showed that media associations agreed on certain important media issues. All agree that the state has to withdraw from the media in Serbia."

The entire interview in Serbian is available here.