Media situation in Serbia

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has condemned the pressure exerted by politicians and businessmen on the media in Serbia, which is especially present in smaller towns. The latest victim of such pressure is a regional TV station, Timocka TV from Zajecar. According to the information that is available to SEEMO, the station's interviewees who have publicly revealed information or gave comments related to the business operations of the Mining and Smelting Complex Bor (RTB Bor) have received verbal or phone threats warning them of beatings if they continue to criticize the management of the RTB Bor.
(FoNet, NUNS, Danas, 28.07.2011)

During the month of June, the media scene in Serbia witnessed several cases of violation of the freedom of expression, says the report issued by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM). Political pressure has resulted in removal from position of the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Alo!, Antonije Kovacevic, and the editor-in-chief of the only daily newspaper in Hungarian language, Magyar Szo, Caba Presburger. Kovacevic was dismissed three days after he had "openly opposed the pressure exerted by the President of the Republic of Serbia on the editorial policy of his newspaper". The dismissal of Presburger was organized by the president of the National Council of Hungarians, Tamas Korhec, who justified his action by stating that "the newspaper had not sufficiently reported on the activities of the President of the Assembly of Vojvodina, Sandor Egeresi".
(Vreme, Dnevnik, NUNS, 28.07.2011)

It is necessary to organize a public debate on te proposed Rulebook that would regulate the control of electronic communication, says the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data, Rodoljub Sabic. He pointed out that the proposed Rulebook again emphasizes and even makes more pressing the issues that forced the Protector of Citizens, Sasa Jankovic, to submit to the Constitutional Court a proposal for judgment on constitutionality of the Law on Electronic Communication, the Law on Military Security Service and the Law on Military Intelligence Service.
(Danas, 02.08.2011)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) supports the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Rodoljub Sabic, and his request that the Ministry of Culture extend the deadline for completion of the public discussion on the proposed Rulebook on control of electronic communication. NUNS shares the Commissioner's concern that its provisions would "the security services to access the data on identity of communicating parties, the time and duration of their communication, the type of communication, and the locations of such communication, without almost any limitations and without a court order". Such legal solutions constitute a serious deviation from the constitutional guarantee of integrity of letters and other forms of communication, said NUNS.
(NUNS, Politika, Blic, 02.08. 2011)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) demands that the Ministry of Culture organize a public discussion before the adoption of the Rulebook on control of electronic communication. UNS points out that the Rulebook would even expand the authority of security services in the area of control of citizens' communication in comparison with the unconstitutional Law on Electronic Communication that was adopted during the last summer. The right of secret services to control the communication of citizens without any court order makes meaningless the right of journalists to protect their sources, says UNS. UNS voiced its protest against the fact that the Constitutional Court has failed to make a judgment on constitutionality of the disputed Law on Electronic Communication despite that fact that the judgment has been demanded by all journalistic associations, the Commissioner and the Protector of Citizens.
(UNS, 02.08.2011, Dnevnik, Danas, Blic, Politika, 03.08.2011)

The agency for survey of public opinion, Lubris Extra, examined politicians' opinions about professionalism in the media. The research, which involved 24 politicians from Nis, was conducted on July 15-22 of this year. Most of the interviewees were of the opinion that political leaders influence the media. Asked about their judgment on the freedom of the media in Serbia and Nis, no less than 70 percent of the interviewed politicians chose to reply "no comment", while 30 percent chose the description "bad". No one chose to describe the situation as "good". Not less than 96 percent of the interviewees said that political parties and their leaders "have a significant influence" on the activities of the media. Asked about the dependence of the media in Nis on the will of political leaders, 83 percent of them were of the opinion that the media "are under significant influence" of political leaders, 17 percent had "no comment", while none of the interviewees chose to describe such influence as "not significant". Daily newspaper Danas was described as the most objective among the print media.
(Danas, NUNS, 26.07.2011)

Attacks, threats and legal proceedings

Very soon, the libel and insult could be erased from the Criminal Code of Serbia, said the state secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Slobodan Homen. He explained that the decriminalization of insult and libel is needed to free journalists from harsh penalties that endanger their survival. The secretary general of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Nino Brajovic, reminded, however, that journalists and the media would not benefit from the decriminalization of libel if courts punish them in civil action lawsuits.
(Pravda, NUNS, 22.07.2011)

Both journalistic associations, the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), have welcomed the recently announced erasure of the criminal offense of libel from the Criminal Code of Serbia.
(Dnevnik, NUNS, 25.07.2011)

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has welcomed the announcement, made by the state secretary from the Ministry of Justice of Serbia, Slobodan Homen, that insult and libel will be removed from the Criminal Code of Serbia in autumn of this year when the parliament adopts these changes.
(FoNet, NUNS, 25.07.2011)

If everything goes according to the promised schedule, already in October 2011 the members of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia should adopt amendments to the Criminal Code which include removal of insult and libel from the Criminal Code.
(Dnevnik, 01.08.2011)

The Court of Appeals in Kragujevas has annulled the decision of the Primary Court in Cacak according to which the director and the editor-in-chief of the Cacanske Novine newspaper, Stojan Markovic, was sentenced for a libel – as a result of a civil action lawsuit initiated by the leader of the political party New Serbia, Velimir Ilic – to pay a fine in the amount of 100,000 dinars. The verdict passed by the Primary Court in Cacak had caused strong protests by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and other journalistic and media associations, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Rodoljub Sabic, the Protector of Citizens, Sasa Jankovic, and other reputable public personalities.
(NUNS, 25.07.2011)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeals in Kragujevac to annul the verdict passed by the Primary Court in Cacak against the editor-in-chief of the Cacanske Novine newspaper, Stojan Markovic.
(UNS, 25.07.2011)

Timocka TV has issued the following statement: "We wish to inform the public and all journalistic associations that we are not able to offer high-quality and regular reporting on current political and business events in the municipality of Bor because our terrestrial transmitter is being turned off each time when interviewees from Bor are shown in our programme. Timocka TV is banned from attending the sessions of the Municipal Assembly and the Municipal Council". Timocka TV covers the whole territory of the Timocka Krajina region, as well as another 70 municipalities and cities in Serbia via cable and IPTV distribution systems.
(RTV Bor, NUNS, 25.07.2011)

The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) said that the president of the local branch of the SRS in Bor, Branislav Rankic, had received threats after he discussed the mismanagement by the local self-government and business operations of the Mining and Smelting Complex Bor (RTB Bor).
(Alo!, NUNS, 26.07.2011)

The municipal board of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) in Bor has initiated signing of a petition to remove from position the director of the Public Company "Stampa, Radio i Film", Vladan Novovic. The company includes the local radio and TV station. The reason for this demand is Novovic's decision to turn off the signal of Timocka TV and Radio (TTR) during the airing of the programme "Povodom" which criticized the activities of the current government in Bor.
(Vecernje novosti, NUNS, 27.07.2011)

Dr Slavko Tomic apologized to the Kurir daily newspaper for his threats and insults against a journalist from Kurir after he was sentenced to 15 months of prison for medical error. The editorial office of the newspaper accepted the apology.
(Kurir, NUNS, 29.07.2011)

The police in Novi Sad, acting on orders from the Republic Prosecutor's Office, examined the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Nacionalni Gradjanski from Novi Sad because of the article published on June 9 under the title "Unprepared for War". The article involves a protected document which was to be discussed during a closed session of the Security Committee of the National Parliament of Serbia five days after its publication by the newspaper from Novi Sad. "The investigators who examined me – and whose specialty is commercial crime – insisted that I reveal the source who had given us the protected military document. I refused to do it, so they scheduled a new examination and confrontation with the author of the article", said Bojovic.
(Politika, Pravda, 30.07.2011)

A journalist from Kurir daily newspaper, Radmila Briza, and the former editor-in -chief of Kurir and Glas Javnosti, Djuro Bilbija, have been acquitted of libel in a verdict passed by the First Primary Court in Belgrade. They had been sued by the owner of the company "Proton Sistem" because of the article published under the title "Poisonous" on October 6, 2007. The company was the importer of a Chinese headache medicine, "Doloreksa".
(Kurir, 30.07.2011)

A journalistic team from the TV 5 and a journalist from the Press and Narodne Novine daily newspapers, visited the headquarters of the road company to report on the announced protest by employees of the Nibens group. During the attempt to record the workers, the cameraman of TV 5, Goran Jovanovic, was attacked by a man who came from the headquarters of the company. On the occasion of this event, the Association of Journalists of Nis issued a statement that strongly condemned the attack and called on the authorities to identify the person who tried to prevent the reporting on the protest. The announcement said that the journalists had tried to contact and record the participants of the protest, but were prevented from doing so because the gates were locked.
(Juzne vesti, 03.08.2011)

Appointment of the management of the Public Service Broadcaster

The Democratic Party (DS) said that the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Tomislav Nikolic, had "once again" demonstrated his irresponsibility by announcing that after winning elections he would remove from position the current director of the Radio-Television Serbia, Aleksandar Tijanic. The Democrats estimate that the announcement demonstrates a serious threat to the freedom of the media.
(Fonet, Politika, NUNS 25.07.2011)

The vice president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Aleksandar Vucic, said that the leader of the party, Tomislav Nikolic, had announced his political opinion about the editorial policy of the public service broadcaster and that he was not talking about the procedure of appointment of the director of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS). Vucic accused the Democratic Party (DS) of controlling every TV station in Serbia "possessing all the broadcasting time until 2014".
(Dnevnik, 26.07.2011, Danas, NUNS, 27.07.2011)

The Media Strategy

Most of the comments on the Draft Media Strategy are related to its parts which emphasize necessary privatization of all media outlets except public service broadcasters of Serbia and Vojvodina. Seven national councils of national minorities – the Bunjevac, Hungarians, Croatian, Bosniak, Albanian, Ukrainian and Slovakian minority – have submitted the Ministry of Culture their proposal for modifications of the Draft Media Strategy. These councils, as well as local TV stations from Kragujevac, Nis, Novi Pazar, Pancevo and Subotica – brought together within the Kragujevac Initiative – have criticized the privatization of the media. A professor from the Faculty of Political Science, Rade Veljanovski, is of the opinion that the criticism of media privatization, i.e. withdrawal of the state from media ownership, is caused by the influence of local political oligarchies and that it has nothing to do with the public interest: "National councils are a kind of a paragovernmental institution. They are financed from the budget, and considering the way their members are elected, they constitute a form of political representatives of minority populations. On the other hand, the representatives of Kragujevac Initiative are the media who are completely controlled by political parties on the local level. In the minority populations, just like in the majority, there exists a need of political circles to have the media under their influence, which violates the fundamental principles of democracy."
(Politika, NUNS, 28.07.2011)

At the moment, media associations are concerned with the possibility that the Government – according to very reliable information – intends to adopt a completely new text of the Media Strategy as compared to the Draft that was prepared by representatives of professional associations, in an attempt to preserve the existing mechanisms of governmental influence on the media, said the president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, Vukasin Obradovic.
(Danas, NUNS, 29.07.2011)

In reaction to Obradovic's statement, the state secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Dragana Milicevic Milutinovic, says: "It is our right to write a media strategy that may be identical to the Draft prepared by the working group, or to use only a part of the Draft. The Ministry of Culture, Informing and Information Society had a contractual relationship with journalistic associations whose subject was the preparation of the Draft Strategy for the Ministry. The members of the working group have fulfilled their obligation, wrote the text of the proposal, and received the contracted fee, ending their engagement." In her words, the final text of the Media Strategy will be completed in September. She added that there was no reason to invite the representatives of the associations to consultations about the final version, because they had already done their part of the work. Milicevic also said that many different opinions about the Draft had been delivered.
(Danas, Vecernje Novosti, 30.07.2011, Politika, 02.08.2011)

In his reply to the secretary of the Ministry of Culture, the president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Vukasin Obradovic, points out that no one knows the government's official position on the crucial issues mentioned in the Media Strategy. "If the Ministry of Culture makes significant changes to the Draft Media Strategy, it has an obligation to organize a new public debate about the new draft. Otherwise, the Ministry would break the law", says Obradovic.
(Danas, 02.08.2011)

The European Commission's comments about the Draft Media Strategy will be posted today on the web site of the Ministry of Culture, Informing and Information Society, said the state secretary in the Ministry, Dragana Milicevic Milutinovic. She added that all the comments about the document made during the public debate could not be published at the same time because of technical limitations, and that proposals received from Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) would also be made public, apart from the EC proposals. Media professionals interviewed by Danas daily newspaper were of the opinion that the state secretary's mention of comments of the EC on the Draft Strategy was "just a public spin".
(Danas, 03.08.2011)

The president of the parliamentary Committee for Culture and Informing, Jelena Trivan, said to Danas daily newspaper that she had submitted a proposal that the final text of the Media Strategy should be presented to the Committee after its completion in order to discuss the proposed solutions. In her words, the Strategy envisions changes in around 17 laws and it would be useful to inform the Parliament about the issue.
(Danas, 30.07.2011)

Issue No. 9
July 21 - August 03, 2011

Abbreviations