02. 03. 2009

ANEM, NUNS AND NDNV REQUIRE URGENT ELECTION OF NEW MEMBERS OF THE SERBIAN REPUBLICAN BROADCASTING AGENCY COUNCIL

Belgrade, March 2, 2009. – The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) are expressing their dissatisfaction with the conclusions of the Culture and Information Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia from the session held on February 26, 2009!

Having considered the information about the election procedure of members of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council, the Committee has taken the stand that the procedure ought to be repeated, since the authorized nominators proposed candidate lists contrary to the regulations of the Broadcasting Law, and it has decided to notify about it the President of the National Assembly, authorized to issue a new public invitation for motion to authorized nominators. The Committee has also suggested that the members of the Council whose mandate has expired ought to remain and perform their duties until new Council members are elected.

ANEM, NUNS and NDNV consider such conclusions of the Committee harmful and illegal. They are harmful because they can lead to a the long-term obstruction of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council, and illegal because the Broadcasting Law also contains a mandatory norm according to which upon the expiry of their mandates, members of the Council cease to perform their function, with any extension of their mandates being against the law. The same Law also contains the regulations by whose application the issue, which the Culture and Information Committee is trying to avoid, might be solved without wasting six months more on penning new candidate lists and attempting their coordination anew.

ANEM, NUNS and NDNV remind the public that the Culture and Information Committee of the National Assembly is currently considering several candidate lists proposed by non-governmental organizations and citizens’ alliances, as well as a list proposed by journalistic and broadcasters’ alliances which comprises three candidates.

The Broadcasting Law contains a clear norm according to which, in case there are several candidate lists issued by NGOs and citizens’ alliances, it should be voted about the one signed by most organizations, i.e. alliances which previously conducted more actions, initiatives and publications in the area they primarily deal with. By refusing to count the signatories on candidate lists or their actions, initiatives and publications, the Culture and Information Committee has directly breached the Law.

As far as the list of journalistic and broadcasting alliances is concerned, ANEM, NUNS and NDNV emphasize that the Law itself does not point out that the lists with more than two candidates cannot be voted upon. Namely, upon the harmonization by authorized nominators, a list of three names has been achieved. The irreconcilable viewpoints of opposing groups, which suggested Maksut Ćatović and Slobodan Đorić, brought ANEM, NUNS and NDNV, whose candidate, Gordana Suša, was acceptable to both groups, into the situation in which it was possible to chose between the lack of any standardized suggestion and the compromise of a candidate list with three names. ANEM, NUNS and NDNV chose the second option, wishing to prevent a potential obstruction of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council and being convinced that the lawmakers’ aim, when prescribing that lists of candidates could only contain two names, was to enable the National Assembly to chose between several candidates for Council posts, and not to annul the possibility of voting on lists with multiple candidates.

ANEM, NUNS and NDNV are appealing to the Culture and Information Committee to respect the Law, and to the President of the National Assembly to publish the list of candidates of journalistic and broadcasters’ alliances without further ado, including the biographical data of all the three candidates on the list, upon confirming, without further delays (according to Article 24, Paragraph 6 of the Broadcasting Law) the lawful candidate list proposed by non-governmental organizations and citizens’ alliances in order to enable urgent election of new members of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council.

ANEM, NUNS and NDNV support the conclusion of the Culture and Information Committee, which suggests a meeting of authorized nominators with the Committee members so as to consider their suggestions and remarks while creating the Draft Law on Amendments of the Broadcasting Law. ANEM, NUNS and NDNV point out that the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia has already formed a workgroup which is working on the suggestions to amend the media laws, and that it is very important that the workgroup be notified about the remarks of the authorized nominators on the way in which the Broadcasting Law regulates the election procedure of the members of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council.

ANEM, NUNS and NDNV stress that it is unacceptable that the election of the new members of the Serbian Republican Broadcasting Agency Council should be delayed until the amendments to the Law are accepted, especially in the situation when the mandate of three out of nine Council members has already expired or is about to expire in the near future. That is why these three organizations require the authorities to respect the Law and enable urgent election of new members of the Republican Broadcasting Agency Council in order to prevent long-term obstruction of its work!

ANEM President, Saša Mirković