The media situation in Serbia

The head of the public relations department of the president of Serbia, Stanislava Pak, posted on Twitter: “Poor Serbia, where even the walking/immobile pile of complexes that is known under the name of Teofil Pancic...”. Her post was published on the same day when Pancic's article appeared in the weekly magazine Vreme in which he criticized Tomislav Nikolic. The editorial team of Vreme has condemned such kind of communication and pointed out that it constitutes a form of threat and attack on the achieved standards of the freedom of expression. “It is unacceptable that such a language and communication comes from the cabinet of the president of Serbia, from an official who is tasked with maintaining official communication between the president and the media. We consider that this attempt at ad hominem attack if dangerous because it calls for lynching of our author, who had already been a victim of a physical attack by two extremists. We are proud of the fact that we have been advancing the freedom of expression for more than two decades and offering a wide range of different opinions on the pages of Vreme”, says the editorial team of the weekly magazine.
(Blic, UNS, Press, 21.10.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) has protested against the rude attack of the head of the public relations department of the president of Serbia on journalist Teofil Pancic. “It is inappropriate and contrary to the democratic practice for media advisors to talk to journalists in this way. The fact that this is not an official position of the cabinet of the president of Serbia but a personal opinion that was posted on Twitter cannot serve as an excuse for an attack on a journalist. Our colleague Teofil Pancic was rudely insulted”, says NUNS.
(NUNS, 22.10.2012)

Stanislava Pak, the head of the public relations department of the president of Serbia, was selected as “the loser” of the day by daily newspapers Blic and Alo! because she had insulted Teofil Pancic, a columnist with the weekly magazine Vreme.
(Alo!, Blic, 22.10.2012)

Opinions about the current media situation in Serbia

“It is necessary to ensure full transparency of the structure of ownership over the media, as well as quick implementation of the media strategy”, says the report on Serbian progress in the process of integration with the EU issued by the European Commission. A small advancement has been noted in the implementation of the Media Strategy. The report also reminds that “the measures related to financing of certain media outlets from the state budget should be harmonized with the EU regulations because they constitute state assistance.” The European Commission points out that the capacity of the Ministry of Culture, the Media and Information Society in the information and communication sectors and digital administration are still insufficient.
(B92, Beta, UNS, NUNS, 11.10.2012)

Radio-Television Kragujevac has decided to quit its membership in the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) because of disagreement on the issue of regional public service broadcasters, confirmed yesterday the president of ANEM, Sasa Mirkovic. He told Euroactiv Serbia that regional public service broadcasters were “a political project“, which is evidenced, in his words, by the fact that the initiative appeared together with the concept of regionalization of Serbia.
(Beta, NDNV, 24.10.2012, Pregled, UNS, NDNV, 25.10.2012)

The state and the media

The minister of culture and information, Bratislav Petkovic, said that media laws that would ensure freedom and independence of the media in accordance with European standards, as well as the transparency of media ownership, would be adopted by March 2013. All journalistic associations will participate in the public debate after which the proposals will be delivered to the Government.
(Tanjug, E-kapija, Vecernje novosti, NUNS,13.10.2012)

The General Secretariat of the President of the Republic informed the minister of culture and information on 18 September that a work group for preparation of several draft laws had been formed with support from the president. Among these laws are the Law on Telecommunication and the Law on Tanjug. This effort is aimed to formalize the freedom of the media. The president of Serbia has not yet replied to the open letter written by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and explained what kind of a 'phantom' work group it was all about.
(Novi Magazin, 18.10.2012)

The state may partly remain the owner of certain media outlets, said the minister of culture and information. In this way, he has practically suspended the Media Strategy, which stipulates precise deadlines for withdrawal of the state from ownership over the media, and annulled the public promises of all coalition partners of the ruling coalition, who had promised that this rule and the deadlines would be honored, reports Novi Magazin.
(Novi Magazin, 18.10.2012)

Politicians and public personalities should be aware of every spoken word, while the media have to be very careful and join our fight against hate speech and all forms of discrimination, says the president of the National Parliament of Serbia, Nebojsa Stefanovic. The citizens of Serbia have the right to accurate and timely information, which is sometimes the victim of political and other kinds of influence.
(Fonet, UNS, NUNS, 19.10.2012)

The advisor to the minister of culture and information and the president of the Media Committee of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Vilibald Eric, says that the party and the Government aim to ensure freedom of information. “One of the ways to achieve this goal is to legally stipulate that journalists and their media are obliged to publish any information they receive that is important to the public and is related to corruption and crime. Hiding of such information should be a criminal offense. Aside from this, it is necessary to consider the possibility of closing down one of the national broadcasting frequencies”, says Eric. “For this reason, I favor revoking of the TV fee and believe that Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) should be merged with Radio-Television Vojvodina (RTV) and financed from the national budget. The money that is necessary for this purpose would be collected in a form of taxes on all digital personal and commercial signals as well as royalties and intellectual property rights. The management of RTS and the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) has to go, since it had proved itself to be the mouthpiece of the former regime. Further, I think that RTS should not be allowed to broadcast advertisements. It should have only sponsors, whose names would appear in credits aired after certain programmes. In this way, financial operations would be separated from the editorial policy. Commercial television stations would be obliged to pay 30 percent of their earnings to a fund within the Ministry of culture which would be used to finance nationally important projects, as well as support young authors and TV stations that need assistance... We propose merging of the RRA and the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL). Only RTS and perhaps Politika should remain owned by the state”, says Eric.
(Kurir, NUNS, 22.10.2012)

Public service broadcasters

The Tax Administration of Serbia has published (www.poreskauprava.gov.rs) a new list of 1,000 largest owed tax amounts. The public service broadcaster owes 441 million dinars in taxes. In addition to this, it has not repaid the full amount of its previous refinanced debt.
(Kurir, 12.10.2012)

“It is true that I have quit. But I will work until the spring of 2014, until the end of my mandate”, says the director of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), Aleksandar Tijanic. He was appointed as the director of RTS in 2004 with support from Vojislav Kostunica, whose media advisor he had been between 2001 and 2003.
(Kurir, 14.10.2012, Alo!, Informer, UNS, 15.10.2012)

The Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) and the management of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) have agreed at a joint meeting that it is necessary to ensure stable financing of the public service broadcaster because the current model of financing via TV fee has proven inefficient.
(RTV, B92, Beta, NUNS, Blic, UNS, 18.10.2012)

In the future, the TV fee for RTS might be collected similarly to the system that is used in Croatia, where it is practically being paid as a form of a tax, reports the daily newspaper Blic from unofficial sources. However, this is only one of the proposals that the commission – to be formed by the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) and Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) – will present to the representatives of the Government of Serbia after the working group for preparation of media laws completes its draft law proposal. The work group was formed within the Ministry of Culture.
(Blic, Press, UNS, NUNS, 19.10.2012, Kurir, UNS, 22.10.2012)

The management of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) said yesterday that the broadcaster was not stealing money from citizens and that it was not opposed to revoking of the TV fee. However, RTS demands that its functioning and independence be ensured. “We don't object to revocation of the TV fee. The public service broadcaster could be fully financed from the national budget and its independence could be protected by law”, said the RTS management.
(Beta, E-kapija, 22.10.2012, Press, Blic, UNS, NUNS, 23.10.2012)

The daily newspaper Danas conducted a poll. Goran Pekovic, a member of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), says: “Regardless of which model of financing of the public service broadcaster is selected, its editorial independence must be preserved.” Dragan Janjic, the deputy president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), says: “It would be best to finance RTS via the TV fee, but provided that payment rate of more than 90 percent can be achieved.” Milos Vasic, a journalist, says: “I think that RTS should finance itself the best way it could. The idea that the public service broadcaster should be financed by taking money from working people's salaries is scandalous.”
(Danas, UNS, 24.10.2012)

Threats, attacks and legal proceedings against journalists; media-related trials

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) strongly condemns the pressure and threats made by the head of the Police Administration of Kragujevac, Ivan Djorovic, against the management and journalists of Radio-Television Kragujevac (RTK). The director of RTK, Jovanka Marovic, sent a letter to NUNS describing the pressure exerted on them and the attempts to influence the editorial policy of the station.
(NUNS, 12.10.2012, Beta, Politika, 13.10.2012)

The Democratic Party (DS) has formed a legal and media team with the aim to protect its members and officials from a political and media negative campaign. In the words of Jelena Trivan, only in the last month the media has published 30 reports accusing some of the DS officials. In the last month and a half, there have been 109 articles criminalizing DS; 30 articles violating the assumption of innocence; 11 articles announcing arrests; and 26 cover pages with headlines about criminal activities of the DS. “Dulic was accused of 11 different criminal offenses on 39 cover pages, but he has been charged with only one case of abuse of official position”, says the DS.
(B 92, Tanjug, NUNS, 12.10.2012, Danas, 13.10.2012)

The daily newspaper Kurir has been sued by three members of the Democratic Party (DS): a member of the DS and a former minister in the government, Oliver Dulic; a member of the DS and a former prime minister, Mirko Cvetkovic; and a member of the DS and a former minister, Dusan Petrovic, reports Kurir.
(Kurir, UNS, NUNS, 13.10.2012)

Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that the media should not interpret him. “Do not interpret my opinion. Just report my words”, said Dacic.
(Fonet, UNS, NUNS, 15.10.2012)

The prime minister of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, demanded yesterday that the national news agency Tanjug apologize to Serbian and German public for inadequately reporting his yesterday's speech held in Draginac, which had resulted in inaccurate interpretations in other media outlets and damage to Serbian national interest.
(Pregled, 16.10.2012)

The news agency Tanjug apologized yesterday to the prime minister and the public. After comparing the information published by Tanjug and the recording of the Prime Minister Dacic's words, it was established that some of the information published by Tanjug was an inaccurate representation of the prime minister's words.
(Tanjug, Kurir, UNS, NUNS, Blic, 16.10.2012)

A trial of the RTS news presenter, Petra Cvijic, has begun. She is charged with killing a man with her car on 9 January. She is allowed to remain free during the trial, but has not appeared on the national television since the accident. At the beginning of the trial she denied hitting Slobodan Bajic at a pedestrian crossing and claimed that the accident occurred in a car lane, around ten meters away from the crossing.
(B92, Tanjug, UNS, NUNS,15.10. 2012, RTV, Tanjug, NUNS, 16.10.2012, Kurir, 17.10.2012)

A Molotov Cocktail was thrown yesterday in the backyard of the home belonging to the director of the daily newspaper Informer, Damir Dragic. A car – an Opel Astra – belonging to Dragic's father was set on fire and destroyed. “This is an attack on the editorial policy of Informer. This is a typical mafia warning”, said Dragic.
(UNS, Alo!, NUNS, 17.10.2012, Danas, 18.10.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) demands immediate police investigation of the yesterday's attack on the home of the director of the daily newspaper Informer, identification of the perpetrators and organizers of the attack and their prosecution to the full extent of the law.
(UNS, 17.10.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) demands that the police immediately investigate the attack on the home of the director of the daily newspaper Informer, Damir Dragic. This terrorist act must have a priority in order to establish any possible connection with the reports published by Informer, says NUNS.
(NUNS, 17.10.2012)

Dragan J. Vucicevic says: “This attack has only strengthened our resolve. We will never give up on free journalism and our fight for a better, free and honest Serbia, for a country in which mobsters would be in jail.”
(Informer, 18.10.2012)

Dunja Mijatovic, an OSCE representative for the freedom of the media, called on the authorities yesterday to solve the attack on Dragic and his family members as soon as possible. Every attempt to threaten the media deserves a strong condemnation, said Mijatovic.
(Informer, NUNS, 19.10.2012)

The city and district sections of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) have accused the director of RTV Sabac, Ljubomir Podunavac, of a conflict of interest because during the time he spent on this position he was also the owner of the Belgrade agency Stoa. The outcome of the dispute between the local section of DSS and the TV director is impossible to predict. The media company has accused the political party of creating an atmosphere of lynching regarding its employees. According to a press statement, the TV crew was verbally attacked by DSS supporters during the football match between FC Macva and FC Partizan that was held in Bumbarevo Brdo on Sunday, 14 October. The station has also announced that it would file lawsuits against DSS officials if such attacks continue.
(Vecernje novosti – Serbia, UNS, 18.10.2012)

Representatives of four municipalities from Northern Kosovo did not allow the journalistic team of “The Insider”, aired on TV B92, to attend their joint session in Leposavic. One of the items on the agenda of the meeting was the condemnation of the programme “The Insider”.
(Tanjug, Politika, RTV, B92, NUNS, 19.10.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) strongly condemns the fact that the journalists who create “The Insider” were banned from attending the joint session of the four municipalities of Northern Kosovo. The session was otherwise open to the public.
(NUNS, 19.10.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) has protested because the TV B92 journalists who work on the show “The Insider” were not allowed to attend the joint session of four municipalities from Northern Kosovo that was held in Leposavic. Before the beginning of the session, a group of ten individuals identified themselves as the security of the Cultural Center and prevented the journalists from entering the Center, telling them that they had been ordered not to let them in.
(UNS,18.10.2012)

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) said yesterday that the programme “The Insider” was aimed at presenting Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the Serbs who live there, as a burden to Serbia.
(Pregled, 23.10.2012)

A lawsuit has been ongoing before the Commercial Court of Belgrade for five years. The case involves the SOS Channel, on the one hand, and the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL) and the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), on the other hand. The TV station points out that it was allocated a non-functioning frequency by RATEL – a frequency at which the Second Channel of the Romanian national TV operates. In accordance with a court order, says the press statement, a financial expert estimated that for this reason the SOS Channel had suffered a loss exceeding 640 million dinars. “The case of SOS Channel constitutes a clear example of negligence on part of RATEL”, says the press statement issued by SOS.
(Fonet, UNS, 19.10.2012)

Judge Vesna Todorovic offered the parties to the dispute a period of eight days to decide whether they want to solve the dispute via mediation. If the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL) rejects the proposal to solve the dispute by mediation, a new court session will be held on 30 January 2013.
(Danas, UNS, 25.10.2012)

The cabinet of the president of the Republic of Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, rejected without any further explanation the journalistic accreditation of the correspondent from Banjaluka of the news agency Beta, Ljiljana Kovacevic. The accreditation of the Beta journalist was not approved after a brutal verbal attack of President Dodik on her during a press conference held in June of this year. Dodik's attack on the Beta journalist was condemned by all journalistic associations and organizations from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as some international journalistic organizations.
(Beta, UNS, 22.10.2012)

The Journalistic Association of Serbia (UNS) calls on the cabinet of the president of the Republic of Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, to reconsider the decision to reject the accreditation for reporting on the activities of the head of the state to the Beta correspondent from Banjaluka, Ljiljana Kovacevic.
(UNS, 22.10.2012)

Unidentified attackers threw a Molotov Cocktail on the balcony of the apartment belonging to Biljana Vujovic, a host of the TV show “Bez Dlake na Jeziku” (“Speaking Openly”) that is broadcast on TV Kopernikus. Luckily, no one was hurt. The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) demands that the police conduct immediate investigation and punish the perpetrators and organizers of the crime, as well as to take all necessary measures to protect the journalist and her family.
(Informer, UNS, NUNS, 23.10.2012)

Investigations of murders of journalists

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) is shocked with the news about the murder of the retired Tanjug journalist, Ljubomir Kucic, who was beaten near a newsstand in Bulevar Umetnosti in New Belgrade this morning at 5.00. Kucic was a translator in the economic section and a foreign affairs journalist in Tanjug. He was a member of the UNS since 1959. He spoke English, German, Russian and French languages.
(UNS, 15.10.2012, Beta Danas, Informer, Kurir, NUNS, Politika,16.10.2012)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said today that the Belgrade police had arrested Nikola B. for on suspicion of killing the retired journalist Ljubomir Kucic.
(Beta, Press onlajn, UNS, 15.10.2012, 24 sata, 16.10.2012)

Two teams within the same institution are being formed. The teams will investigate the unsolved murders of three journalists – Dada Vujasinovic, Slavko Curuvija and Milan Pantic, it was told to the daily newspaper Danas in the cabinet of the head of the Bureau for Coordination of Security Services, Aleksandar Vucic. One of the teams will comprise of journalists and representatives of journalistic associations, while the other will consist of investigators from security forces and the police – one member from each of the services.
(B92, Danas, NUNS, UNS, 25.10.2012)

Rights of journalists

Slobodanka Popovic from Zagubica, an employee of Radio-Television Homolje, was declared a technological surplus worker on 2 October. She had been on a sick leave after a miscarriage and now, when she suffers serious health issues, she has lost her health insurance. In Zagubica, many citizens question the diploma of the director of RTV Homolje, Miroslav Mirkovic. Mirkovic said: “We respect the law. She has not been fired, but declared a surplus worker.”
(Kurir, UNS, 13.10.2012)