News

Mileva Malešić and Đorđe Vlajić have been selected as candidates for members of the REM Council during today’s coordination meeting of the authorized proposers - the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), and the Professional Association of Journalists of Serbia (PROUNS).

A meeting of authorized proposers of candidates for members of the REM Council from the group of journalistic associations, during which a joint proposal for two candidates from this category to enter the parliamentary procedure will be established, will be held on Monday, October 20, in the National Assembly (Kralja Milana 14, green salon).

The Culture and Information Committee adopted a list of organizations and candidates for the selection of members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) from the remaining two categories - associations of composers, film, stage, and dramatic artists, and the category of associations for the protection of children.

The Monitoring and Analysis Department of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) has been regularly publishing reports based on submitted complaints against electronic media in Serbia over the past year, even in the absence of the REM Council, as well as monthly reports on violations of the Advertising Law.

The Monitoring and Analysis Department of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) published a report on October 7 based on a complaint filed by the organization CRTA in September against the television station Informer for its reporting on student Nikolina Sinđelić.

The expert analysis by the OSCE largely aligns with what representatives of civil society asserted during discussions with the ruling majority before leaving the previous meeting of the parliamentary committee, where candidates for the REM Council were discussed.

Serbia has been functioning for nearly 11 months without the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM), which paralyzes oversight of electronic media and allows for uninterrupted propaganda for the authorities.

For almost a year without the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM), the situation in the media landscape is, according to the assessment of sources from Insajder, "more chaotic than ever." Following the tragedy when a canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad, the issue of the non-existence of this body faded into the background. It was brought back into focus by students during a blockade in April when they continuously disrupted the operations of the Public Service for two weeks, demanding that a competition for members of the REM Council be announced as soon as possible. The competition was announced, applications were submitted, and then withdrawn. The situation seems to be going in circles. Meanwhile, some media outlets that should always operate in the public interest, respecting all laws and codes, are exploiting this period of vacuum to disseminate propaganda and threatening content.

More than a month after a heated debate in the parliamentary committee regarding the candidates and proposers for the REM Council, Ana Brnabić stated that the process will resume where it left off, that the list is finalized in seven out of nine categories, and that the continuation is expected at the end of August, when the OSCE provides an analysis of the controversial candidacies.