22. 04. 2014

MEDIA IN STALEMATE

Three media laws which should have been adopted, according to the announcements of the responsible authorities, have not made it to the parliamentary procedure yet. Draft laws on public information and media and the one on broadcast media were sent to Brussels and now comments and suggestions are awaited from there. The Law on public service broadcasters is still being worked on. According to 'Danas' information, representatives of several institutions are currently discussing the final model of financing the the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and the Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV).

Because of the low collection rate of the subscription to public service broadcasters, the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Aleksandar Vučić decided to discontinue the subscription and thus RTS and RTV are temporarily financed from the budget. Several months ago this was partially implemented. The Government already began to pay in installments 7.4 billion dinars allocated in the budget to public service broadcasters although the obligation to pay subscription is still in force. Citizens and the state are thus paying a two-fold fee for public service broadcasters, which creates a hole in the already weak budget, and the public service broadcasters are still in grave economic situation despite the double fee.

The decision that public service broadcasters be financed from the budget came as good news for the citizens, but it caused concern with the domestic and international experts. Providing a financial injection to these media creates a great risk of threatening their editorial independence and of public service broadcasters becoming state television again. Europe has sternly warned that once it is discontinued, it would be difficult to reinstall the subscription.

There are grave problems with digitalization of television, as well. Although the majority of European countries have already digitalized TV signal, there are no indications when the analogue broadcasting could begin to be discontinued in Serbia. Considering that the deadline for digitalization in the EU is June 2015, there is a little more than a year left to finish the process.

The responsible authorities in Serbia have announced and set deadlines which they have not met many times. However, it has been claimed for years that there is no reason for concern and that everything would be completed in time. If we do not switch to digital signal within a year, and all the neighboring countries do so, this could lead to a confusion in the broadcasting system.

The provision of STB devices will also be a problem. Those who have been receiveng signal via antennas will not be able to watch TV program without the devices, and it is more than a million households. Therefore, in the following months the state will have to allocate budgetary funds for helping the financially weakest in buying these devices.

About the same time the deadline for privatization of media will be expiring. According to current draft laws, the deadline for the withdrawal of the state from the media is January 1, 2015. However, according to 'Danas' information, the deadline will most likely be postponed as the adoption of media laws is late. Media privatization has proven to be inefficient so far - media have been closed down, journalists have remained jobless... Responsible ministries are faced with a huge task to find a solution to how media will be privatized and how to protect the media employees.

Another reason why media reforms have to be completed as soon as possible are negotiations with the EU, the representatives of which have warned the Serbian authorities on several occasions. However, the most important task of the new government is to enable a greater media freedom, to stop putting pressure on the editorial policy and to create favorable conditions where there will be no room for self-censorship which threatens to stifle quality journalism more than direct pressures.

Confusion about Subscription

The new government and the old Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac, who is almost certain to remain in the government, are expected to move forward as soon as possible the finalization and adoption of the Law on public service broadcasters, but also to find in the next several weeks a model for efficient collection of subscription which the citizens will be paying for RTS and RTV. Considering that funding public service broadcasters puts an additional burden on the budget, it should not come as a surprise if this model of financing is abandoned during the first year and a form of subscription is introduced.