30. 01. 2014

BUDGET FINANCING STRANGLING MEDIA IN SERBIA

Belgrade, January 30, 2014 (B92, Beta) - A non-transparent and disordered system of media financing in Serbia from the state budget threatens the equal treatment of media outlets on the market, enabling the so-called soft censorship and preventing the development of free and independent media, is the assessment of a study by the Center for International Media Assistance ( CIMA ).

The funding mechanisms for media from the state budget in Serbia are used for indirect, soft censorship that is hard to recognize, which aims to encourage positive reporting about officials and their actions and to penalize critically inclined media outlets, is stated in a study by the Center for International Media Assistance .

The research published by CIMA in cooperation with The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN - IFA ), states that public funds are awarded in a non-transparent manner, arbitrarily, without clear and measurable criteria, public procedures and controls which undermines competition in the media field.

"Direct government subsidies to state-owned media that receive large amounts of state aid for media, drastically reduce the freedom of compete in the Serbian media industry and prevent the development of free, independent and pluralistic media,"  is cited in the study.