30. 12. 2011

TWENTY-EIGHTH MONITORING REPORT

Month: November 2011

Results of legal monitoring of the Serbian media scene:

a) Freedom of expression - Examined cases in this period, characterized by the exposure of journalists and members of their teams to threats, insults, physical attacks and pressure, indicate that many individuals and groups in Serbia still believe that they have a right to limit the information to the public about occurrences of public importance, and to limit the practical realization of the freedom of the media. Two verdicts by the Appellate Court in cases of attacks on journalists, which have resulted in the higher penalties for attackers on journalists, indicate a possible change in the Serbian court practice. As a rule, the courts used to pass verdicts at the legal minimum, and often even below it.

b) Implementation of existing laws - Cases examined in the Report show that provisions of the Law on Public Information are being violated in practice, not only in the previously described manner, but also due to the fact that sometimes journalists/the media do not know how to properly exercise their rights and freedoms. On the occasion of the adoption of the Media Strategy for the Media in Hungarian Language by the National Council of Hungarians, the authors of the Report have analyzed the results of the last year implementation of the provisions of the Law on national councils of national minorities that are relevant to the media.

c) Monitoring of adoption of new laws - The authors of the Report again point out that the amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which have been waiting for adoption by the Parliament for several months, are in some segments relevant to the media.

d) Monitoring of activities of the authorities - The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) is preparing to begin monitoring the broadcasters during the election campaign and in relation to reporting on the elections; the Agency has also reacted to the Report on pressure and control over the media in Serbia prepared by the Anti-Corruption Council. The Republic Agency for Telecommunication (RATEL) was active in preparations for test broadcasting of digital television program. However, the Agency was also engaged in unprincipled attempts to find a solution for the debt for usage of radio frequencies incurred by Radio-Television Serbia (RTS). The Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society has launched public contests for co-financing of projects in the area of public information, while the Committee for Protection of Competition performed additional control in a case of allocation of state aid to the media in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which could serve as an example for future allocations of state budget funds to the media.

e) Digitalization and privatization - Expert analysis of the monitoring team examines all the changes in the transition to digital broadcasting of TV program as compared to the Digitalization Strategy, and points out the things that will not change for the better in the process of privatization because of bad solutions adopted by the Media Strategy.

f) Conclusion of the Report - Attacks and pressures on journalists and the media, on the one hand, and the possible change in the court practice in cases of attacks on the media, on the other hand, were the most important events in the media scene of Serbia in November 2011, in the opinion of the monitoring team.

The 28^th Monitoring Report was prepared by the expert team from the law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic" in cooperation with ANEM. You can download the report or any of its sections here.

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