17. 05. 2005

PROPOSED CHANGES TO PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT

BELGRADE, May 17, 2005 – The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Trade Union of Serbian Journalists (SNS) presented the proposal for changes and amendments to the Law on Public Information on May 16, 2005. The changes were aimed to regulate the media concentration issues in terms of the maximum allowed ownership share, preventing owners or group of contractors to have “any concentration above 40 percent of the circulation” of daily and weekly papers in Serbia. UNS and SNS forwarded the proposal to the Ministry of Culture and Media, as well as to the Serbian Parliament’s MPs. The associations also stressed that the unregulated media concentration had been influencing journalist position, in terms of both the professional and ethical standards, therefore urging the immediate adoption of anti-monopoly regulations.