03. 04. 2014

WHY DOES STATE MEDIA OWNERSHIP PERSIST

Belgrade, 03.04.2014 (B92) - The Serbian government will soon become responsible for the fate of another media outlet - daily "Novosti." This is in collision with the Media Strategy which proscribes that the state should bring to an end its ownership of media outlets.

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) reported that, at a joint meeting of the supervisory and executive boards of companies "Novosti" and "Štamparija Borba" and trade union representatives from both companies, it was agreed that, after the formation of the new Government of Serbia, they will be merged into one company whose majority owner will be the state.

This would mean that the Government of Serbia will take over "Novosti" after taking daily "Politika".

In the summer of 2012, "Politika" was bought by businessman Miroslav Bogićević from Šabac when he acquired the ownership of shares of German WAZ, and then suddenly, after the change of the Government, a few months later he enabled the Government to manage the oldest Balkan daily without restrictions.

The same fate apparently awaits the company owned by Milan Beko. As in the case of "Politika," this time also UNS made it public that the government is interested in obtaining ownership of "Novosti," while Mr. Beko remained silent.

UNS Secretary-General Nino Brajović reiterates that the government is not a good owner of media outlets and that it must end its ownership because this constitutes unfair competition in the media market.

However, he said that the announced ownership transformation of "Novosti" could be a temporary financial bailout of the newspaper, but he also warned of the danger that the government would not give up easily on the management of media outlets.

"If it turns out to be a maneuver to keep the majority state ownership of the media outlet, it would be contrary to the interests of the profession, contrary to the wishes of the media community, and the Media Coalition," said Brajović.

The first to come out with the news that the Government is ready to enter into (the ownership of) "Novosti" was the Serbian Progressive Party official Momir Stojanović, who is the president of the supervisory board of "Štamparija Borba". He said that a meeting with Aleksandar Vučić was held when it was concluded that the only solution is to turn the debt of "Novosti" towards "Stamparija Borba" into Government shares of the daily newspaper. This would make the Government the majority owner of the company.

Transparency Serbia program director Nemanja Nenadić opposes state ownership of media outlets and emphasizes that it is necessary to examine first the previous ownership transformation of "Novosti."

"Things should be set up in a way that the state is not the owner of print or other media outlets except when prescribed by specific laws, or if there is any state ownership or state interests that needs to be protected, and it should only be a temporary situation."

No one from the Government of Serbia, the executive board of "Novosti," nor Milan Beko, would comment for B92 on the announced entry of the state in (the ownership of) that company.