29. 08. 2011

TWENTY-FOURTH MONITORING REPORT

The expert legal team, on the basis of the July 2011 monitoring, has assessed two occurrences on the Serbian media scene in that period, regarding the media regulatory framework, especially worrying: one is related to the proposed text of the Draft Rulebook on Technical Requirements for Equipment and Program Support for Lawful Interception of Electronic Communications and Electronic Communications Data Retention, which could potentially violate fundamental human rights and also the right to the protection of journalists' sources; the other one, concerning the Media Strategy, namely the fact that, despite the  adopted Draft Strategy and the public debate on it, the media public is still not familiar with authentic intentions and plans of the Ministry in media sphere nor it is known what the final text of the Media Strategy would be, namely the text the future of the media sector depends on.

In the area of freedom of expression, according to the results of the monitoring, this period was marked by political pressures in the form of announced violation of independent position of institutions of public service broadcasting, worrying physical assaults on journalists during the riots in the northern Kosovo as well as hackers attacking on media websites in ethnically diverse communities or websites providing the content that attempts to overcome traditional divisions and ethnic intolerance in the Balkans. The Report analyzes the cases indicating these violations of freedom of expression and media freedom. In the part in which the Report deals with the monitoring of legal proceedings, along with the examples of old practices of ignoring assaults on journalists or disputable verdicts in cases when charges are pressed against journalists, the monitoring team notices a positive example of revoking a verdict, namely one of those that certainly contributed to the rise of self-censorship in the Serbian media, as a possible step forward of the Serbian Justice in terms of reaching desired standard under which politicians would not be protected from critical texts more than ordinary citizens.

In the part of the Report related to the monitoring of the implementation of laws, dealing with the Broadcasting Law and the Law on Electronic Communications enforcement, the authors analyze the problem of cable operators' discriminatory treatment of domestic TV channels, which are increasingly excluded from the cable offer, and in relation to that, RATEL Decision that provides for prior regulation of the retail market of the media content distribution. Furthermore, they analyze the announced passage of RATEL decision on introducing regulatory obligations to operators with major market strength. Estimating that these obligations would not solve the current problem of discrimination of certain media whose programs are excluded from the cable offer, the authors point out the way for its efficient solving which is foreseen by the Law on Electronic Communications. Dealing with the implementation of the Law on Electronic Communications further, the Report analyzes the Draft Rulebook on Technical Requirements and points out its problematic provisions and possible serious consequences of its adoption on fundamental human rights and media freedom.

Although no new law of relevance for the media was passed in July 2011, decriminalization of libel and slander through amendments to the Criminal code was announced. Authors analyze whether this would contribute to a genuine improvement of the position of the media and journalists or some additional changes in the area of civil responsibility for damage are needed, especially in the courts practice in civil litigation proceedings over publicly made statements.

In the part of the Report related to the Monitoring of the work of competent authorities you can read about the RBA decision to suspend the proceeding for revoking the license of Televizija Prva over the statements made in the talk show „Evening with Ivan Ivanovic" as well as on the epilogue of its prior decision to file a misdemeanor charge against Pink Televison in relation to the reality show "Moment of Truth" aired back in October 2009. The authors especially deal with the activities of the Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society related to the adoption of the Media Strategy, analyzing what the Ministry's distance from the Draft Strategy could mean for the media sector as well as its avoiding to clearly define its position and stands toward the desired version of the final text of the Media Strategy. The Report also deals with the debate between the Organization of Phonogram Producers of Serbia (OFPS) and the Employers' Union of Serbia on the question if there is a legal basis for avoiding the obligation for paying fees to collective organizations by concluding individual contracts with representatives of rights holders.

Processes of digitalization and privatization - The Report analyzes the announcements of putting a test network for the broadcasting of digital signal into operation, change of date for the complete digital switchover and accompanying changes of the Digitalization Strategy, which all could substantially influence the whole digitalization process and televisions in Serbia. The Report again deals with the official statistics of the hitherto media privatization, indicating an absence of a serious analysis that would recognize the reasons that have led to the failure of a number of privatizations, as well as the development of the occurrences in the case of the privatization of „Novosti".

The Twenty-fourth Monitoring Report was prepared by the expert team of 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