18. 02. 2011

SHATTERED MEDIA MARKET

Belgrade, February 18, 2011 (Danas) - The situation on the Serbian media scene is not so gloomy and, it is expected a lot in this year in terms of progress in this field, especially having in mind the announced Media Strategy that will be the basis for reforms, Dragana Solomon, Head of the Media Department of OSCE Mission to Serbia, pointed out for the "Danas" daily.

According to her, since the beginning of the OSCE mandate in Serbia, there have been a noticeable shift in the field of media, but the main problems are still related to disordered media market and economic crisis that endangers the existence of many media. As she adds, incoherent legal framework is also one of the problems in this field.

"Serbia has many more media outlets than its market can sustain, from the point of total revenue from advertising via media. In addition to that, oversaturation of the market also influences the decrease in the quality of media reporting, especially in the local media", Solomon explains.

Among many problems, she also listed the fact that the Law on Transparency of Media Ownership and Illegal Media Concentration had not been passed yet, despite its drafting three years ago and having received positive evaluation by international experts. As she pointed out, the aim of the adoption of this Law was to "reveal" names of the media owners, and not the names of the companies, and this was precluded by the current regulations.

"Recommendation of the Council of Europe is that media ownership should be transparent because owners could have a strong influence on media, both in case of private and state ownership", Solomon says.

She also stresses out that OSCE has monitored cases of attacks on journalists and she estimates that last year was "turbulent" in this respect. As an example, she mentions the author of the TV series "Insider" Brankica Stankovic, who is, in her opinion, a "paradigm of the picture of media in Serbia". On the other hand, she says that the government's positive shift is related to law amendments that have granted to journalists the status of certified individuals, but also says that court proceedings that are led against the media must be more efficient. As for the announced passing of the Strategy, which should outline the framework for media reforms, Solomon emphasizes that in this process it is important to respect the suggestions of media associations, because "media experts and journalists know the best".

"OSCE supports all efforts of the state to convey a legal framework, based on which the media would be able to function in adequate way and we will help in completing the reforms of the media scene in the best possible way. Digitalization process is also one of the future tasks planned to be completed in the course of next year", Solomon says.

Trainings for journalists from Serbia

Dragana Solomon emphasizes OSCE's regular monitoring of all media events and affairs in Serbia, violation of media freedoms, but also its work on increasing professional standards. In the scope of such endeavor, over 300 trainings for Serbian journalists have been organized.