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28. 03. 2011

NINETEENTH MONITORING REPORT

According to the findings of the monitoring team, presented in the Nineteenth Monitoring Report for the period January-February 2011, the first in this year, the media scene in Serbia is still in the status quo, characterized by the absence of positive change and the accumulation of unresolved problems, which the government still shows no apparent willingness to deal with. This is indicated by the following:

a) Various attacks and pressures on the media and journalists, as well as other forms of influence that had hampered them in their work, were evident during this period. This can be seen in cases treated in the part of the Report that deals with freedom of expression - physical attacks on journalists and cameramen of local and French televisions in the first instance sentence pronouncement for murder of French citizen Brice Taton; posters and obituaries for TV B92, plastered all across the town of Lazarevac on the occasion of airing of the new series cycle of the investigative program " Insider" that dealt with abuses in the mining basin "Kolubara"; aggressive exclusion of journalists from the Kula Municipality Town Hall for allegedly non-possessing valid accreditations to report from the parliamentary session. The authors of the Report also dealt with the return of hate speech in media, through the case of the representative of the civil society Aida Corovic, who was, because of her article published in "Danas" exposed in the said daily to one of the most dishonorable personal attacks known to the Serbian media scene in recent times, which, at the same time, is symbolizing a very drastic example of violation of freedom of expression. The epilogue of such events on the media scene is the increasing number of journalists and editors, but also representatives of the civil society, who have been placed under permanent police protection. Examples of court proceedings and decisions made in media cases treated in this Report are not encouraging at all. On the contrary, in the opinion of the monitoring team, they are only contributing to the increased personal, legal and economic insequrity of journalists and the media, their self-censorship and the preservation of unfavorable conditions for their work and achievement of their guaranteed freedom;

b) The part of the Report dealing with the implementation of existing laws, the authors further treat the Public Information Law, regarding the statement of the Serbian Public Prosecutor on the re-opening of the investigation into murder of journalist Dada Vujasinovic; the Broadcasting Law, analyzing the work of the RBA and the exercise of its legal powers, both supervisory and regulatory and regarding the escalation of verbal and physical violence in the reality shows, broadcast on two national televisions. The Report is also dealing with the competence of the Managing Boards of the Public Service Broadcasting Institutions (RTS and RTV), whose members are appointed by the RBA, in accordance with the above Law; the Law on Local Self-Government, through the analysis of the recommendations of media associations for financing of local media from the budget of local self-governments, as a possible way to overcome the problems in this area in accordance with existing regulations;

c) In this period, no new laws of importance for the media sector have been adopted;

d) The monitoring team was dealing with the work of competent authorities, namely the work of regulatory bodies RBA and RATEL, as well as with the ill-effects of calling the new competition for issuing licenses for radio/TV programs; the work of the National Parliament, which has called a competition for issuing the rights for live coverage of parliamentary sessions; the work of the Ministry of Culture and its activities pertaining to the media - competitions for co-financing of programs in the field of public information and Media Strategy development; the work of collective organizations for protection of copyright and related rights and consequences that the media suffer due to the lack of order in this area. During this period, none of these bodies/organizations have contributed in any way to the improvement of media situation or to resolving of problems in the media sector;

e) The process of digitalization is still not in the authorities' center of attention to the extent that it should be. All preparatory activities are delayed; however, in this period, although with at least 9 months of delay, the Rule Book on switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting of radio and TV programs and access to multiplex has been adopted, which has not fully met its task though. Analyzing its content, the authors of this Report have also pointed to the shortcomings of this document, as well as to the ways in which they could be overcome. In the area of ​​privatization of the media, no process has been recorded even in this period. By analyzing the case of Radio Sombor, which had been, after the cancellation of its privatization, run by the government for three years via a representative of the state capital, the authors of the Report indicate the absence of any concept and plan of action of the state in the media sector, particularly in relation to sustainable models of the state's withdrawal from the media ownership;

f) According to the opinion of the monitoring team, in the Conclusion of the Report, the beginning of 2011 was marked with the return of the hate speech in the Serbian media scene and the unwillingness of the authorities to, in cooperation with the media sector, create more favorable conditions and environment for the work of media, which only contributes to further deterioration of the Serbian media scene. 

The Nineteenth Monitoring Report was created by the expert team of the law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM. You can download it 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
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here

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