23. 06. 2007

RRA SET TO ADOPT MEDIA GUIDELINES

BELGRADE, 23 June 2007 (B92) - The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) Council is expected to adopt the Code of Professional Conduct for broadcasters.

The code will address all issues exclusively related to content of broadcast programs, the RRA said in a statement.

The RRA has also stressed that “the code’s goal is to enable independent editorial policy of media, to contribute to accurate, timely, objective and unbiased reporting, and to clearly and precisely define the supervisory role of the RRA over the broadcaster’s activities.”

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) has expressed disapproval of the RRA’s decision to make the code binding.

NUNS President Nadežda Gaće told B92 that the code was "an unclear mix of a reference book and a legal act that meddled with the freedom of editorial policies in electronic media."
 
"Our first fundamental objection is that the mandatory nature of the code is completely redundant, given that we already have the Broadcasting Law, and relevant provisions regulating public information in our Constitution."

"We are on the verge of getting a new law here, which resembles centralization of power first, and then sanctioning, which is liable to manipulation,” she said.
 
The Republic Broadcasting Agency can have its code of ethics and monitor the media, but it cannot be vested with any sort of mandatory capacity.
 
The code of professional conduct for broadcasters or the General Mandatory Guidelines was met with severe criticism from other journalist associations and media experts.
 
Vojvodina’s Secretary for Information Milorad Đurić said it was not clear in what way the Code would be implemented, or who would have control over the controllers themselves.
 
President of the Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina Slobodan Jakovljević said that the RRA would put itself above the law by adopting the code as well as assuming the job of a censor.