24. 05. 2011

TWENTY-FIRST MONITORING REPORT

According to the findings of the monitoring team, summarized in the Conclusion of their Twenty-first Report, in April 2011 the media scene in Serbia was predominantly marked with the signing of the Protocol of the cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, Information and Information Society and the major media organizations in drafting of the Media Strategy, as well as the appointment of the State Secretary for Information and Media at the Ministry. The continuation of work on the Media Strategy, the Ministry's agreeing to an absolute majority of experts, nominated by associations in the working group, as well as the appointment of an official of ranking higher than ever before to deal with the media, could be seen as announcement of positive changes in the media sector.

The Report, however, further shows that, apart from the above, there have been no other significant positive developments for the media scene in Serbia in April 2011.

There were no adoptions of laws relevant to the media in this period, although it is long obvious that the existing media regulatory framework is not good. This could unfortunately be good news as well, given the previous bad experiences of the media with adoption of extremely rigid and unfavorable legislations.

Monitoring of freedom of expression shows that pressure, threats and attacks on journalists and media still exist. There is also evident obstruction in identifying those who threaten journalists and attack them, as well as in determining their liability, as visible in the cases treated in this part of the Report. The authors also point to an absence of logic in penal policy in Serbia, both in legislation and in court practice, which directly affect the position of the media and journalists.

In the part of monitoring of implementation of existing laws, the authors for this Report single out the cases that show that the mere existence of the relevant laws is just not enough; whether and how they are applied is as equally important for the media in Serbia (charge of radio subscription fee for radio sets in vehicles - the Broadcasting Law; Law on Local Self-Government - using the example of Loznica, the authors emphasize the extent to which the issue of fulfilling legal obligation of local self-governments to take care and provide conditions for public information of local importance is essential for the local media).

In the part of the Report dealing with the monitoring of the work of competent authorities, the authors have treated: RBA activities related to the public service broadcasting  - the election of members of managing boards of RTS and RTV and review of the annual report for 2010 on meeting legal and programmatic obligations of RTS; RATEL activities - the analysis of nine markets proposed for the prior regulation - media content distribution market was one of them and the analysis showed that real competition was non-existent in that market, to the detriment of end users; the activities of the Serbian Parliament's Culture and Information Committee, important for the media; activities of the competent ministry for the media, which can significantly affect their position, which also applies to the activities of OFPS.

The processes of digitalization and privatization - the date set for the transition to digital broadcasting of TV programs is approaching, so the monitoring team has focused on the preparatory activities and pledges coming from the competent bodies that Serbia would meet the deadlines for digitalization in chorus with the EU and countries in the region. Privatization of media is still the subject only of the media reporting but not of the specific decisions coming from competent authorities that would lead to a responsible public policy in this field, thus causing the entire media sector to suffer the consequences.

The Twenty-first Monitoring Report was prepared by the expert team from the Law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM. It 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