12. 09. 2008

SIX YEARS OF THE MEDIA PRIVATIZATION IN SERBIA

The media privatization was halted due to political, and not economic, interests, the participants of the Conference named “Six years of the media privatization in Serbia – how to continue?” held on the OSCE premises concluded yesterday

Belgrade, September 12, 2008 (Danas) - Goran Cetinić, an independent media consultant, pointed out that political parties could have their own media „however, paid from their own budget, and not by the taxpayers“. He asserted that the media privatization was necessary so that the state would be disabled to control the media in the owner capacity. According to him, the media privatization in Serbia was the slowest, although 95% of the media were of minimal material value.

Cetinić reminded the public that, when the Laws on Radio Diffusion and Public Services had been passed, the postulates of the Council of Europe were such that the state must not be the media founder, as well as that there must not be local public services.

Rade Veljanovski, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences said that the media commercialization could jeopardize the interest of the public, but that the problem could be solved in accordance with European regulations.
- The media laws state that the privatization has to be conducted; however, that is not being done. The reason is that politicians oppose privatization the most – Veljanovski pointed out and added that the regulations on the media within the Law on the Capital and Local Self-Government ought to go out of use, since it collides with the Law on Radio Diffusion and Public Information Law.

The Ministry of Culture officials claim that the Ministry is putting maximum effort to correct the collision between those two Laws. They reminded the public that the Minister of State Administration, Milan Marković, promissed that the issue would be resolved, but that interviews with national minorities and other relevant media subjects would previously be conducted.

Nebojša Samardžić, a lawyer, pointed out that it would „be logical” for the Constitutional Court of Serbia to revoke the controversial regulations of the Law on the Capital and Local Self-Government.

The work on the adjustment of media laws commences

The workgroup for the adjustment of the media laws held its first meeting yesterday: it decided that the strategic aim ought to be to adjust the Serbian media regulations with European standards. As stated in their announcement, it was agreed that the workgroup would immediately begin to work on the adjustments of the Law on Radio Diffusion, with the aim of enabling the legal foundation for frequency digitalization, ensuring the independent and transparent work of the Radio-Diffusion Agency of the Republic of Serbia, as well as coordinating the regulations of the Law with other laws and the Constitution. A public debate on the Law on Media Ownership Concentration, drafted early this year, will commence in September.