The media situation in Serbia

According to cable providers, Serbian households are increasingly watching foreign TV channels that are available via cable. The most popular content includes films, sports, crime series, cartoons and documentaries. Foreign channels owe their increasing popularity mostly to the quality and diversity of the content they offer, but the lack of long advertising breaks should not be dismissed, especially if we consider their overwhelming presence in the programme of domestic TV stations with national coverage.
(Novi magazin, NUNS, UNS, 16.08.2012)

Judging by the behavior of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), the government has decided to close down the few remaining legal TV broadcasters, reports Pregled. Aside from allowing the continued operation of illegal broadcasters, who regularly continue broadcasting their programme immediately after each closure, RRA's failure to respond has prevented legal regional and TV stations from all regions of Serbia to organize a joint programme that would allow them to increase their revenue by broadcasting a 12-hour TV programme on IPTV Telecom under the title "Serbia at a Glance". The project would allow networking of all interested TV stations in Serbia and enrichment of their programme in the following period. The concept is based on equal presence of programme content from all networked local and regional TV stations in Serbia, while the cities of Pirot and Cacak would serve as broadcasting centers. Instead of offering a response to this proposal, RRA has not acted in any way. Fighting for their survival, the employees of these stations (TV Novi Pazar, TV Raska, TV Kraljevo, TV Jefimija − Krusevac, TV Palma plus − Jagodina, TV Galaksija 32 − Cacak, TV Lav − Uzice, TV K9 − Kragujevac, TV Sunce − Arandjelovac, TV Gem − Lazarevac, TV Pozega, VTV − Valjevo, Kanal 9 − Novi Sad, Sat TV − Pozarevac, TV Bujanovac, TV Banat − Zrenjanin, Pi Canal − Pirot, TV Belle Amie − Nis, TV ART − Belgrade, TV Jerina − Smederevo, TV Vranje, TV S − Belgrade and TV YU ECO − Subotica) sent a new letter to the RRA.
(Pregled, UNS, NUNS, 16.08.2012)

Opinions about the current media situation in Serbia

The daily newspaper Politika has published an article by Dusan Teleskovic: "The news that a journalist with the magazine Vreme, Milos Vasic, 'acted in the interest of the public' when he published an article revealing the content of communication between lawyer Biljana Kajganic and her then client, Dejan Milenkovic Bagzi, would not have been newsworthy if there existed a more consistent judicial practice in the cases involving the public interest. In the Kajganic-Vasic case, the court has not considered whether the published information was correct or not. Instead, the court decided that it is sufficient that Vasic believed in the accuracy of the information he had received, after verifying it from other sources. Everybody agrees that judicial practice in legal proceedings against journalists should be consistent. However, there are many examples of Serbian judges' varying interpretation of journalists' reports. The most drastic example occurred in Jagodina, where journalists reported that a prosecutor had failed to initiate proceedings against a mother who was neglecting her child. The prosecutor then filed a lawsuit against the journalists, demanding compensation for 'damage to his honor'. The case went on for a long time, but the prosecutor eventually won the case and received compensation from the media. Tragically, during this very same period, the child died and the mother became the prime suspect in the death of the child. The verdict by the Court of Appeals in the Vasic-Kajganic case is not the first verdict of such kind in Serbia, but it is certainly rare that a court decision could help journalists to refrain from self-censorship and to report more freely and objectively on important events, without fear that publication of some information about someone might cause them 'emotional suffering' and 'damage to honor and reputation'."
(Politika, NUNS, UNS, 15.08.2012)

The government and the media

The new Government has announced its intention to pass a new law on information. The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) sees it as a symbolic gesture, where a part of the ruling coalition, the one that had participated in the adoption of the law that was mostly revoked by the Constitutional Court, is now admitting its mistake. The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) agrees with this point of view. NUNS believes that this announcement should not be taken too seriously, because the Law on Information had not been practically implemented even before the passing of the verdict by the Constitutional Court.
(B92, UNS, NUNS, 06.08.2012)

Adrijana Mirkovic, a long-time director of marketing in numerious television and news companies and the author of the book "Berlusconi: The Power and Success", says: "I like what the mayor Dragan Djilas is doing. He is creating media influence via Studio B. It would be enough for the mayor to bring cameras with him everywhere and to have his own TV. I think he is following the footsteps of Silvio Berlusconi."
(Danas – the weekend edition, 04.08.2012)

The Managing Board of the Media Association calls on the prime minister, Ivica Dacic, and the Minister of Culture, Bratislav Petkovic, to immediately begin a dialog on steps that would improve the position of the news and publishing sectors. The Managing Board of the Association has offered a list of proposed steps that would allow more successful operations of newspaper publishers.
(Asocijacija medija, UNS, NUNS, 08.08.2012)

At its next session, the new Government of Serbia will appoint Gordana Predic, a former journalist with TV Politika and a high-ranking official of Rasim Ljajic's SDPS, as the state secretary for the media of the Ministry of Culture.
(NIN, UNS, NUNS, 16.08.2012)

Public service broadcasters

Despite announcements that he would be removed from his position immediately after the formation of the new government, Aleksandar Tijanic will remain the director of the public service broadcast until the end of his second term in 2014, reports the daily newspaper Kurir. Kurir points out that Tijanic has survived three governments since 2004, when he was first appointed as the director of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS). Tijanic became the director of RTS during the mandate of the first government of Vojislav Kostunica. At the time when Kostunica served as the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Tijanic was his media advisor (2001-2003). The Managing Board of the RTS resigned when Tijanic was appointed as the director of RTS because Tijanic did not fulfil "the formal requirements for the position – he has not graduated from a university (he studied the Faculty of Political Science, but has not completed it) and does not speak a foreign language".
(Kurir, BizLife.rs, UNS, NUNS, 09.08.2012)

As of this autumn, the RTS will receive support from the European Broadcasting Union that is intended to improve its operations and achievement of media standards that are required for integration with the EU. Together with a team of experts hired by the EU, the delegation of the EBU will conduct an initial research on the situation in the RTS and inform its management on what it can expect from the European Partnership Program implemented by the EBU. The organization's officials will also demand meetings with high-ranking politicians in Serbia to discuss various factors affecting the RTS.
(RTS, ASMEDI, 14.08.2012)

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

A former director of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), Dragoljub Milanovic, will be released from prison on September 1, after serving a 10-year sentence for the death of 16 RTS employees during the NATO bombardment on 23 April 1999.
(Blic, Alo!, Informer, Kurir, 04.08.2012)

The Court of Appeals has acquitted journalist Milos Vasic, who had been sued by lawyer Biljana Kajganic for damage to her honor and reputation and infliction of emotional pain. The Court of Appeals has overturned the first-instance verdict in the case – which had obliged the journalist to pay Biljana Kajganic a sum of 350,000 dinars – and ordered Kajganic to pay Vasic around 170,000 dinars for legal expenses, with interest. Biljana Kajganic had sued Vasic because of publication of transcripts of her intercepted communication with Dejan Milenkovic Bagzi, who was on the run in Greece at the time. The Court of Appeals considers that publication of this information was not intended to damage the honor and reputation of Biljana Kajganic, that it was related to an issue of public importance, and that the demand for financial compensation is baseless. The Court of Appeals is of the opinion that this information can be freely published regardless of the way it was acquired, and that its publication is allowed in accordance with the Law on Information. The Court noted that the response by the other party had also been published in the daily magazine Vreme.
(B92, UNS, NUNS, 13.08.2012, NUNS 15.08.2012)

Investigations of murders of journalists

At least 70 journalists and support staff were killed while on assignment in the first half of this year, making it one of the bloodiest periods of recent times. Fifteen were confirmed dead in Syria, the next worst countries were Nigeria, where seven unidentified newspaper staff were killed by a bomb, Brazil, Somalia, Indonesia, where five journalists died in a plane crash, and Mexico. And 70 may be a conservative figure as INSI has recorded the deaths of an additional 30 news people where it was unclear whether the killings were related to their work.
(INSI, 08.08.2012)

Rights of journalists

Journalist Laslo Sas, who was released from the District Prison in Subotica yesterday, met numerous journalists who wanted to report on his release. "With due respect for the legal procedure, the president of Serbia has signed the early release of Sas from prison, convinced that the right to the freedom of expression is one of the fundamental civilation norms", says the press statement issued by Nikolic's cabinet.
(Dnevnik, NUNS, UNS, 04.08.2012)

The journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) welcomes the decision on the pardon of Laslo Sas. "The presidential pardon of Laslo Sas was the government's obligation towards a completely innocent citizen. The judge who had decided on the case is not aware that public criticism of public individuals is allowed to a much higher degree, compared to criticism of common citizens, says Ljiljana Smajlovic, the president of UNS.
(UNS, Kurir, 06.08.2012)

The president of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic, will meet tomorrow with Laslo Sas, a journalist from Subotica, whom he had pardoned, preventing him from serving the complete 150-day penalty.
(Beta, Informer, Kurir, Politika, Press, Vecernje novosti, Danas, Alo!, Blic, Dnevnik, 04.08.2012, Blic, 05.08.2012, Press, 06.08.2012)

The president of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic, met today with journalist Laslo Sas and pointed out that his presidential pardon constitutes the beginning of the fight for freedom of expression in Serbia as one of the fundamental standards of civilization, said the president's media department. Sas thanked president Nikolic and expressed his great satisfaction that the whole process of approval of the request for pardon took only two days to complete.
(Dnevnik, UNS, NUNS, 07.08.2012, Tanjug, Informer, Kurir, Politika, Pregled, Press, Večernje novosti, 08.08.2012)