21. 01. 2011

EIGHTEENTH MONITORING REPORT

The Eighteenth Monitoring Report of the expert team shows that neither in December 2010 the Serbian media scene had seen much-needed change and progress. Here's why:

a) The Report shows that conditions for the unhindered operation of journalists in Serbia are still not secured, as visible in analyzed cases of violation of freedom of expression by physical attacks and threats against journalists, to which the authorities still fail to adequately respond. Also, inconsistent stands and court practices with regard to compensation for non-pecuniary damages by the media and journalists discourage investigative reporting, affect the further strengthening of self-censorship and cause additional anxiety of media professionals. The motion against the NUNS' Commissioner for Pcinja district by the director of TV Vranje, demonstrates the extent to which local public media suffer damage due to the political influence on media work.

b) The monitoring team also analyzes the implementation of existing laws: a) what has been assessed as unconstitutional and what not in the Law Amending the Law on Public Information, by the decision of the Constitutional Court from July 22, which was finally published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, as well as what are the legal consequences of this decision b) how has the Broadcasting Law been applied, through the case of calling yet another public tender by the RBA Council for issuing broadcasting licenses, as well as through announced coordinated action of the competent regulatory bodies and state authorities and a new model of combating illegal broadcast of radio and TV programs c) Law on Copyright and Related Rights - almost a year days after adoption of this law, the Serbian Government has finally appointed members of the Commission for Copyright and Related Rights, which created conditions for the final determination of tariff, after unsuccessful negotiations between collective societies and representative associations of users.

c) In this period, there has been no adoption of new laws important for the media sector.

d) Monitoring of the work of authorities has observed the activities of competent authorities, regulatory bodies and collective organizations for the protection of copyright and related rights. During this period, the RBA has adopted a List of events of national interest for the citizens of Serbia for 2011, while RATEL presented the feasibility study and preliminary plan of radio coverage with digital TV signal on the territory of Serbia, which provides an assessment of the high profitability and low risk of this project, but with insufficient data to justify that assessment. At one of the two sessions of the Parliament's Culture and Information Committee, held in this period, the proposal on the budget of the Ministry of Culture for 2011 was considered in general, together with the amounts of subsidies to the media. Despite the earlier announcement of the Ministry of Culture that the Draft Media Strategy would be launched by end of 2010, the Culture Minister Bradic disclosed a new date for its release (February 20, 2011), while further delays make the entire process of the adoption of the Strategy, as well as its possible effects, all uncertain. As for the collective organizations, the authors deal with amending the Business Cooperation Agreement, by which the organizations PI and OFPS regulated their competences and methods of collecting unique fees in line with the objections of the Intellectual Property Office.

e) In the area of digitalization, the Report for this period brings the analysis of some of the comments sent to the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society during the public consultation on Draft Rule Book on the switchover from analog to digital television broadcasting and multiplex access to terrestrial digital broadcasting. In the area of privatization of media, there has been no progress even in this period when it comes to tackling the issue of privatization of the remaining state owned media. The Report also provides the assessment of the government's treatment of this issue.

f) In the Conclusion of the Report, the monitoring team reviews the previous year, stating that, although it was marked by a complex situation on the media scene and the unwillingness of the government to strategically deal with this situation, it also brings some optimism as a result of the fact that the most relevant media and journalists' associations have, for the first time, united around the basic principles upon which the most important media issues in Serbia should be addressed.

The Eighteenth Monitoring Report, created in cooperation of the expert team of the law office "Zivkovic & Samardzic" and ANEM, can be downloaded here, in whole or in part, by clicking on the selected section below.

Section FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION here
Section MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF ADOPTION OF NEW LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF THE ACTIVITIES OF REGULATORY BODIES, AUTHORITIES AND COLLECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS here
Section MONITORING OF THE DIGITALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION PROCESSES here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here