24. 02. 2014

TABLOIDS ARE ONLY A CONSEQUENCE

Belgrade, 24.02.2014 (Fonet) - Nearly none of the governments from democratic changes of 2000 to date have demonstrated awareness that without free media there is no social progress. On the contrary, they competed to establish effective control system, said Vukasin Obradovic, president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), at a debate about media at the Center for Cultural Decontamination.

Obradovic paid special attention to the phenomenon of tabloids, which, he said, are not media but a political project.

"Tabloids were not invented by Vucic. He has made them more effective and more efficient than his predecessors, but to blame only him is not serious and untrue," said Obradovic.

According to him, it is wrong to view tabloids outside the overall media system and to consider them almost as an incident because they direct the global flow of information, impose themes, and frame the space used by other media.

Obradovic said the tabloids are "obscure creations, an explicit expression of provincial mentality, and unfortunately, the dominant value system in Serbia today," where their power lies.

Speaking about the media scene, Obradovic said that an observer faces a pathetic image of low-paid, frightened journalists, susceptible to self-censorship, bribable media outlets, and that the state has been unsuccessful in passing media reform laws in the past three years.

"There are no tabloids without a tabloid reality, without tabloid politics. Tabloids are merely a consequence and not the cause. As long as such a social model exists - tabloids will also continue to exist," said Obradovic.