26. 03. 2014

PREDIĆ: MEDIA LAWS BY THE END OF JUNE

At the round table of the Center for Eurointegrations of Serbia on the freedom of speech and journalism profession, Predić said that two laws are undergoing expertise in Brussels, and that the establishment of the new government is awaited as it should adopt three drafts of media laws which should have been adopted last April.

The three documents are the drafts of the Law on Public Information, the Law on Public Service Broadcasters, and the Law on Broadcast Media. As Predić said, the recommendation from Brussels is that these laws be adopted by October 1 at the latest.

Predić said that she believes that the work on these laws will be well assessed in Brussels.

"For the first time the law contains an article which regulates the right of a journalist to decline to perform an instruction by the editor if the instruction is in collision with the regulations and the ethics of the journalism profession", said Predić.

She said that advocating for the adoption of media laws in accordance with the European legislation is important, but that their implementation is far more important.

"We can have good laws, but if they are not implemented than there is nothing we can do", said Predić and added that it is needed to foster media pluralism.

She stated that 1272 media outlets are registered in Serbia now, while a year ago, when she joined the Ministry, there were 1160, out of which 79 media outlets are owned by the state. She also stated that the strategy is for the state to pull out from the media ownership.