The media situation in Serbia

The 35th Media Monitoring Report about the Serbian media scene in July 2012 has been published on the ANEM website. Among other things, the Report offers additional information about legal proceedings and the judicial practice in Serbia; the implementation of the current regulations; the area of competence of the previous Ministry that is now split between the Ministry of Culture and Information, on the one hand, and the Ministry of Internal and External Trade and Telecommunication, on the other hand; etc.
(ANEM, MC, 29.08.2012)

Novi Magazin has published an article by Jelka Jovanovic: "The previous Government created the Media Strategy to define the steps towards the reform of the media scene. The new Government has announced liberation of the media and journalists from self-censorship and transparency of ownership. By the end of the September, it will be a year since the Government's adoption at a telephone session of the framework document intended to achieve a far-reaching reform of the media scene – the Media Strategy – in an attempt to win the EU candidacy. However, this move has not had any effect on the situation in the media. At least, not for the better. It seems that the recently formed new Government has more important things to do than to examine this area and all the accepted obligations, apart from announcing the revoking of the Law on Information and investigation of the cases of the sale of ownership share of VAC in the newspapers Politika and Novosti. However, the financing of state-owned media should already have been changed. The previous Government has not done that, but the new one has a chance to rectify the situation during the announced revision of the national budget. The Action Plan, which is an integral part of the Strategy, stipulates that the provisions of the Stability and Association Agreement related to the control of the state assistance and protection of competition should come into force on January 1, 2012. It is a fact that all four state-owned media outlets (Tanjug, Radio Jugoslavija, Jugoslovenski Pregled and Panorama) are still being financed from the national budget with the almost same amounts as in the previous year. This means that the state is still a participant in the media scene and the media market via Tanjug, which perpetuates the unsustainable and unfair competition with regard to private news agencies.
(Novi Magazin, 23.08.2012)

The state and the media

The Government of Serbia appointed the writer and journalist Dragan Kolarevic as the assistant minister of culture and information in the field of information and the media.
(Fonet, NUNS, UNS, 17.08.2012, Alo!, 18.08.2012, ASMEDI Newsletter, August 2012)

Assistant Minister of Culture Dragan Kolarevic said that he would fight to improve the situation in the media. "I will strive to achieve more freedom and a better financial standing of journalists", he said to the daily newspaper Press. "Right now I am reviewing draft laws on public service broadcasters that would ensure financial and editorial independence. This will be our starting point", said Kolarevic, adding that it was too early to discuss the possibility of revoking of the controversial Law on Information.
(Press, Tanjug, NUNS, 21.08.2012)

The editor-in-chief of RTV Alt, Aleksandra Simic, is also the vice president of the District Branch of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and a member of the Municipal Assembly of Aleksinac from SNS. This is an obvious conflict of interest. According to the officials from the Anti-Corruption Agency, being a member of the Assembly, a vice president of a political party, and an editor-in-chief of a state-owned media outlet, all at the same time, is not only illegal but is contrary to the principle of division of power and basis of democracy.
(MediaS portlissimo, 23.08.2012, Aleksinac net, 27.08.2012)

It is most likely that the Government of Serbia will revoke the TV fee for Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) in the next few months, reports the daily newspaper Blic.
(Blic, E-kapija, UNS, RTV, B92, 29.08.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) is concerned because of unofficial announcements that the TV fee might be revoked soon. NUNS is of the opinion that it would be unacceptable for the public service broadcaster to be financed directly from the national budget instead of via the TV fee, and to depend on decisions of the Government of Serbia. The new system of financing of the public service broadcaster should ensure its editorial independence and prevent influence of the political structures on its editorial policy.
(NUNS, Danas, UNS, 29.08.2012)

Public service broadcasters

Dismissals in publicly-owned companies that were expected to happen after the elections, some of which were even announced, for example, regarding the general director of the public service broadcaster, Aleksandar Tijanic, have failed to materialize. It is obvious that someone has reached a conclusion that dismissal of the director of the RTS would cause undesirable reaction from the public and that it was decided that Aleksandar Tijanic should continue running the public service broadcaster until the end of his mandate in 2014.
(Kurir, 18.08.2012, Blic, NUNS, 20.08.2012)

Director of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), Aleksandar Tijanic, wrote an open letter to President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic in response to his conflict with Radoslav Pavlovic, who is Nikolic's advisor in the field of culture. Pavlovic, who is the screenwriter for the series "My Cousin from the Countryside", accused Tijanic of banning the broadcasting of the series about the Karadjordjevic dinasty which he had authored.
(Beta, Politika, 24 sata, Alo!, Blic, Kurir, Danas, Informer, Pregled, Press, 17.08.2012)

The response of Aleksandar Tijanic to the interview given by Radoslav Pavlovic, the advisor on culture of the president of Serbia, is not surprising. Those who are informed about the media scene in Serbia realized that this is Tijanic's time-tested maneuver intended to keep him at the helm of the RTS. Miljenko Dereta, a deputy in the National Parliament and a member of the coalition "The Turnaround" ("Preokret"), who is also the executive director of the non-governmental organization Civic Initiatives. "I have read his letter to the president of the country and it is my opinion that Aleksandar Tijanic is striving to be equaly loyal to this regime as to each of the previous ones".
(Kurir, 18.08.2012)

The director of the RTS has doubled his security personnel – instead of being protected by two policemen, he is now being accompanied by five body guards.
(Kurir, 24.08.2012, Kurir, 25.08.2012)

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development will demand that the public service broadcaster place more emphasis on education in its television programme, said the minister, Zarko Obradovic. "We cannot make such demand on others, but we can demand that from the public service broadcaster. This is not required by the Ministry, but by Serbia itself".
(Beta, Danas, 24 sata, Kurir, Press, UNS, NUNS, 28.08.2012)

Radio-Television Serbia has rejected the claims made by the minister of education, Zarko Obradovic, about the lack of educational and science programme on-air. RTS says that it is the only domestic TV station that is systematically fulfilling its educational and cultural mission. The editor-in-chief of the cultural and education programme of RTS, Miodrag Zupanc, points out that the First and Second Channel of the RTS have broadcast 4,039 cultural and educational programmes i.e. 98,629 minutes.
(B92, Beta, Danas, UNS, NUNS, 28. 08. 2012, Press, Dnevnik, 29.08.2012)

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

According to information from the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), 242 litigation proceedings were initiated before the Higher Court in Belgrade, mostly related to damage of reputation and honor, while some criminal proceedings are also being held. In Serbia, regulations about libel and damage to reputation and honor allow a lot of possibility for legal charges against the media. Legal proceedings are financially exhausting to journalists and the media and result in self-censorship. Because of this, slighty more than a year ago, NUNS launched a free legal representation service.
(EuroActiv.rs, Beta, NDNV, NUNS, 17.08.2012, Danas, 18.08.2012)

Journalist Milijana Stojanovic from Paracin, who reported on possible abuse of Andjela Buncic from Svilajnac, has received a verdict according to which she is obliged to pay 30,000 dinars in damages to the then municipal prosecutor because she wrote about his responsibility for the lack of investigation on the case. The controversy about the death of six-year old Andjela Buncic, who was found dead in her family's house in Svilajnac, was solved a month and a half ago and the child's mother was pronounced guilty for child neglect. Andjela is gone, her mother is in prison, and the municipal prosecutor has been promoted to the Higher Prosecutor's Office. The journalist is preparing a new appeal to the verdict of the Court of Appeals in Kragujevac. The president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Ljiljana Smajlovic, says that more effort has been spent to protect the reputation of the prosecutor than to protect the child, Andjela Buncic.
(RTS, UNS, 20.08.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) condemns the verdict of the Criminal Council of the Primary Court in Vranje, which has pronounced Bora Milenkovic from Vranje guilty of crime against traffic safety and failure to help the victim of a car accident, and sentenced him to 11 months of prison or 3 years of suspended sentence. NUNS demands that the Primary Prosecutor's Office appeal this incomprehensible verdict. Bora Milenkovic hit a pedestrian, a journalist with the daily newspaper Blic, Veselin Pesic. The journalist was seriously injured and left to lie on the ground unconscious. The negligent driver ran away from the scene. After three days and after being pressured by journalistic associations, the police found the driver, who admitted to consuming alcohol before the accident. The journalist, Veselin Pesic, is now permanently disabled due to the accident, says the press statement by NUNS.
(NUNS, 24.08.2012)

After a brawl caused by a car accident, two non-uniformed police inspectors brutally beat Vladimir Piacun, the technical director of the magazine NIN, in front of the headquarters of the company Ringier Axel Springer located at Dunavska Street in Dorcol. To the astonishment of the employees, one of the two policemen – who did not identify themselves – took out a gun. Then they beat Piacun, who was not even aware that they were policemen, put him in the car and took him to an unknown location. After the incident, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs visited NIN, performed an investigation and kindly apologized to the company's management after viewing the recordings made by security cameras.
(Blic, Alo!, Press, 25.08.2012)

The technical director of NIN, Vladimir Piacun, has been released after being placed in custody the day before by non-uniformed policemen Radovan Bojovic and Miroslav Stevanovic. Piacun's release was ordered by the director of the police, Milorad Veljovic, after a press conference. Veljovic said that the police "will not protect anyone in this case" and that the truth would be known not later than eight days after the completion of the internal investigation that is being conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered by the minister of internal affairs, Ivica Dacic.
(Alo!, 26.08.2012)

During a questioning by the police, the editor of NIN said that he had not caused the incident. He explained in detail what happened and emphasized that he was twice in fear for his life and safety, and that the policemen did not show their IDs at any moment nor turned on the rotary light. The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) condemns the conduct of the non-uniformed policemen who brutalized the technical director of NIN. The Association's press statement says that the policemen used excessive force. UNS is convinced that the serious incident was not related to Piacun's job or the editorial policy of NIN, but considers that it is a duty of journalists to report on and demand accountability of the police because of use of excessive force against and beating of any citizen.
(Beta, Politika, Blic, UNS, Kurir, 26.08.2012, Press, 27.08.2012)

The recording from the security camera shows Piacun waiting in the middle of the street for the Toyota to arrive for some twenty seconds, then jumping on the vehicle, beginning to kick the passenger-side door and putting his head inside the open window. After that, he turns his back to the car and moves away. Police inspectors get out of the car and begin beating him. The recording has shed some light on the incident, but it still does not explain why Piacun attacked the police vehicle and whether the policemen could arrest the editor of NIN without beating him and using excessive force.
(Kurir, UNS, NUNS, 27.08.2012)

Marijan Risticevic insulted a Kurir journalists because of an article claiming that the director of the company, owned by his wife, was suspected of tax evasion. Risticevic, who is the president of the Progressive Farmers' Party, made a call to the editorial office of the daily Kurir and insulted the journalists because of the article published the day before.
(Kurir, UNS, 26.08.2012, Kurir, 27.08.2012)

Journalists from the regional TV Sabac was physically attacked while they were reporting from the Countryside Olympics held in Prnjavor near Sabac. Journalist Marija Damnjanovic got a facial injury. The journalist and the cameraman were attacked by R. K., who was arrested immediately after that. No one of the security personnel or policemen present at the event helped the journalist.
(B92, Beta, Tanjug, Kurir, NUNS, UNS, 27.08.2012, Danas, Alo!, Blic, Informer, Kurir, NUNS, 28.08.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) strongly condemns the hooligan attack on the journalists with TV Sabac and expects that the Primary Prosecutor's Office in Sabac will immediately launch criminal proceedings against the attacker, who has been identified by the police.
(NUNS, 27.08.2012)

The Sabac police issued a press statement saying that it had filed charges for violation of public order and disorderly conduct against R. K., a 35-year old individual from Prnjavor, for attacking a journalist and cameraman with the regional TV Sabac.
(Fonet, Politika, NUNS, 28.08.2012)