27. 01. 2014

PROJECT FINANCING IS THE BEST SOLUTION

Vranje, January 27, 2014 (Vranjeske novine) - Last Friday Vranje was visited by Ryan Rowlands, Counselor for Media and Culture of the U.S. Embassy. One of the event which he attended along the representatives of the U.S. Embassy office for military cooperation and Veran Matic of the B92 Fund is the signing of the contracts for the construction of a Safe Houses in Vranje, a project worth $ 200,000, funded by the U.S. Army European Command EUCOM .

With Mr. Rowlands, we discussed current problems facing the media in Serbia:

What do you think is the current state of the local media in Serbia and how familiar are you with the media scene in south Serbia?

- There is a large number of media outlets and the situation warrants constant control of the work of media in order to provide objective information and so that they have an independent role in informing the public. The situation can be observed from many aspects, but I think the biggest problem is the financing of the private media outlets and the influence of the local self-governments in the operation of public (media) services, which can lead to manipulation, biased reporting and censorship.

Why is it important to separate the public (media) services from the local self-governments and which solution would be most appropriate ?

- It is important because of the financial independence. You cannot expect objective reporting if a media outlet is dependent on local strongman. To come up with the best solutions for all, media workers must first be well informed about the whole procedure and the set of media laws - Law on Public Information, Law on Public Service Broadcasters and the Law on Electronic Media, in order to avoid confusion. Certainly the best solution is the so-called concept of project financing.

Will you continue to support the work of local media outlets?

- The U.S. Embassy in working on it since 2001, and of course it will continue to do so. A large number of journalists participated in various trainings and workshops which we organized in order to raise the quality of investigative reporting in Serbia. In addition to the opportunity, through these workshops to improve reporting techniques, journalists had an opportunity to attend training in the United States and to place their stories in media outlets outside Serbia.