For the new "Niš TV," the Ministry of Information “has not heard,” and the city Attorney's Office is waiting for the Assembly to respond.

The newly established Niš TV is gradually entering its fourth week of operation. Citizens have yet to receive an answer on how this media outlet broadcasts programming without the approval of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, as it has not existed for months. It is also unclear how it uses the name of the city without the consent of the Niš Assembly.

Reactions to their work, aside from the expert public, have so far only come from opposition representatives, but not from the relevant authorities. The “Kreni-promeni” movement has submitted a proposal to initiate proceedings to the Niš Public Attorney's Office. They state that Niš TV, in addition to not being registered in the media services registry and lacking a REM license, is violating the City Statute by using the name of the city without the local Assembly's permission.

Marija Brajdić, the city attorney, states that they have received this request and have contacted the Assembly for its stance on the matter. She notes that they will decide on further steps after receiving their response.

The request has been forwarded to the Assembly for clarification, as we are the Public Attorney's Office and have a procedural role as lawyers – we undertake legal actions, but at the direction of the city authorities we represent. This includes the Assembly, the Council, and administrations; it all depends on what falls under whose jurisdiction. Therefore, we have forwarded it, and now the Assembly needs to determine if a violation has occurred. If it has, they should give us the directive to take action – Brajdić emphasized.

Although the Public Attorney's Office's information bulletin states that this body can undertake “any legal actions on behalf of the represented authority, especially to prevent harmful property-legal and socially negative consequences for the City of Niš,” Brajdić says that the Public Attorney's Office is not assessing the situation in this case.

There have been similar instances in previous years when someone uses the name of the city. For example, it can be “Niš Initiative” or “for Niš” or “Nišlijski.” We are not the authority that assesses whether these cases involve the use of the city's name or something that is synonymous with the city. Only the Assembly through its services makes that determination – Brajdić points out.

She states that she cannot assess whether the city's name has been misused, as there is a possibility that the aforementioned television station has approached the Assembly with a request.

Nevertheless, the City Statute defines that the use of the name requires the consent of this body, and to this day, the assembly members have not made a decision on this matter.

Violation of the Law on Electronic Media as well as the City Statute evidently does not concern the Mayor of Niš, nor the numerous councilors, officials, and members of the ruling coalition, as they are frequently appearing in the studio of this television station.

According to posts on YouTube, Mayor Dragoslav Pavlović has appeared five times in less than a month, while more than 50 city officials have been featured in the programming. On the other hand, there has been no space for opposition councilors from Niš in the new city media outlet.

Although initially, with the launch of the “experimental program,” this television could only be viewed on Telekom, at least according to information from the ticker, praises for the city leadership can now be followed across multiple broadcasters. The offering has thus been expanded to platforms such as Supernova, Net TV Plus, and Total TV.

Read the full text at mediareform.rs