SERBIA'S MEDIA SCENE IN SEPTEMBER 2023
Monitoring of the media scene is carried out with the aim of continuous monitoring of events and processes that affect the state of media freedom in the Republic of Serbia.
The authors of the monitoring deal with: freedom of expression; monitoring the implementation of existing regulations; by adopting new regulations, but also by amending and supplementing the current ones, both from the field of media, and from other areas that directly or indirectly affect the freedom of the media; as well as by analyzing SLAPP lawsuits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) directed against journalists and media.
Freedom of speech
The statement of the OSCE representative for freedom of the media, Teresa Ribeiro, was analyzed in relation to journalists who are increasingly the target of surveillance software around the world, which significantly affects their privacy and media freedom. This month, the Coalition for Women Abroad (CWI) in its report "Status of media freedoms for female journalists" recognized the case of Russian journalist Natasha Tishkevich, who was imprisoned for 40 hours at the Belgrade airport, as one of the three biggest cases of threats and attacks female journalists face around the world. The report for the month of September deals in more detail with the case of the Danas newsroom, the case of Maja Đurić, a journalist from N1, the case of the VranjeNews portal, as well as the case of Vojin Radovanović, a journalist with the daily newspaper Danas.
Monitoring of the process of adoption of new laws
Since the drafts of the two media laws have been completed, September was marked by the long-awaited public discussion, and the expert public got the opportunity to present their suggestions and objections. The key topics for discussion were the possibility of the state having indirect ownership of the media, the method of allocating financial resources, the obligation to comply with the Code of Journalists of Serbia, as well as the competence of the Press Council. Almost half of the draft articles of the Law on Electronic Media refer to the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM), and in this regard, the issues of electing a new Council of REM, the method of election and the duration of the members' mandate, as well as the issue of imposing sanctions on the media are open.
Implementation of existing regulations
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) announced that the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Mihailo Jovanović, changed the amounts proposed by the commission for five out of nine co-financing competitions this year, "in accordance with the Law on Public Information and Media, on the basis of discretionary authority". This behavior led UNS to address Jovanović and ask whether the minister has such legal authority, without first noticing mistakes in the commission's work and establishing that the commissions were working contrary to the Law. Despite the fact that the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data overturned the decision of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications not to submit professional biographies, the Ministry again refused to submit to UNS the professional biographies of candidates for media competition committee members.
SLAPP lawsuits directed at journalists and media
The month of September was marked by the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in favor of B92, in connection with the case initiated by Zorica Pavlović due to the information published in the Insajder series broadcast on B92 in 2011, concerning abuses in the procurement of swine flu vaccines. As stated in the decision, the domestic courts, with their verdict against the then B92 television, threatened the freedom of speech and media reporting in the interest of the public, thereby violating Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of reporting. "The court found that the Serbian courts recognized that the information published by the applicant contributed to the public debate and that someone who holds the position of assistant minister of health should have shown a greater degree of tolerance," the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights states.
Media monitoring was published with the financial support of the European Union and the Ministry of Information and telecommunication of the Republic of Serbia. The Association of Independent Electronic Media is solely responsible for its content, and that content in no way expresses the official views of the European Union and the Ministry of Information and telecommunication.
This Monitoring Report was prepared by ANEM's expert monitoring team from the law office "Savović" in cooperation with ANEM, and the entire report can be found at this link.
