23. 06. 2011

Media in minority languages endangered without state support?

Novi Sad, June 23, 2011 (B92) - The third public discussion on the Draft Media Strategy in Serbia until 2016 was held in Novi Sad. The Draft envisages complete withdrawal of the state from media ownership.

Possibility of endangering the Province's multiculturalism was the main objection to the Strategy of the Government of Vojvodina, as well a great number of local media and media in minority languages.

The Province Secretary for Culture and Public Information Milorad Juric said that the Province administration called for preserving multilingualism in the local media.

Juric said that the working group's text on the strategic development of the media "display hyper-liberalism, that treats the private property as the fairest and most efficient form of ownership in media".

"Hitherto privatizations have not shown satisfactory results, and we are afraid that the further privatization of local media in multilanguage communities would endanger multiethnic character of their programs, namely the program of the utmost importance for Vojvodina citizens", Juric added.

In the debate, which was dedicated to local media in multilanguage environments like Vojvodina, it was stressed that the exclusion of the state from the media ownership would endanger the existence of TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers in minority languages.

"Not all privatizations are successful, but it is certain that the situation is even worse in communities where media are controlled by local self-governments. Private ownership does not automatically mean that programs in the public service's function could not be created. The Strategy envisages the project financing, meaning that there will not be direct financing of a media outlet but that media could participate in public competitions, which local-self-governments would be deciding on", said a member of the working group for the development of the Draft Media Strategy, Dragoljub Zarkovic.

NUNS vice-president Dragan Janjic said that the main aim of the media was to promote the public interest. Therefore, it is more important what contents are broadcast than who the owner is. He emphasized that it was the European principle not to finance the business operations but the media content.

"In Europe, there are media outlets that are owned by municipalities, but this ownership is not used as a tool for establishing political discipline, at least not to the extent that can be found in Serbia. In Europe, when a municipality is the owner of a media outlet, there is a series of mechanism that leave an open space for the freedom of editorial policy", Janjic stressed out.

The State Secretary for Media Dragana Milicevic - Milutinovic assessed that this Draft could be tabled before the Government in August and before the Parliament in September. The representatives of the republic and provincial governments, several media outlets, journalists' associations and national minority councils, participated in the public debate.