22. 02. 2010

SEVENTH REPORT ON LEGAL MONITORING OF SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE

We begin this presentation of the seventh Monitoring Report, the last of the reports for 2009, with the quotation of the part of its Conclusion: "The entire 2009 year was marked by a continued economic decline of the media and reluctance of the Government to seriously and responsibly tackle the many problems in this sector. This has ultimately had a devastating effect on media pluralism and the role of media in a democratic society." This statement is actually a concise outcome of what happened in the media sector during 2009.

Working on the legal monitoring of the media scene in Serbia for eight months in 2009, the expert team of the law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM, continuously monitored all developments in the media sector. The findings of the monitoring were presented to the wide public through regular Monitoring Reports. The Seventh Monitoring Report, the last for 2009, refers to the month of December.

According to the findings of the monitoring team, this month was particularly marked with: a) a serious violation of freedom of expression and b) change in the regulatory framework for the media, by passing a number of non-media laws:

a) attacks, to which the author of the TV B92 program "Insider" Brankica Stankovic and this media outlet were exposed on the occasion of the broadcast of a series of investigative programs on the leaders of the extreme fan group, show that there are still issues and social problems in Serbia that are extremely risky to write about and report on. Although the Government's reaction to the threat of a journalist was this time somewhat more active and transparent, no systemic measures have still been taken to eliminate the cause of this problem and prevent its recurrence. The report contains a chronology of events and analysis of their causes and consequences for the state of freedom of expression in Serbia.

b) The entire 2009 was characterized by significant changes of the media regulatory framework. Beside the restrictive amendments to two media laws (Law on Public Information and Law on Broadcasting), the legal framework has actually been altered indirectly, by amending or passing non-media laws, which partly affected the media sector. Hence, during December, the Serbian Parliament adopted a number of laws, in particular: the Law on Classified Data, the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, the Law on Bankruptcy, Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Amendments to the Law on Misdemeanors. None of them is the media law, but each in its own way, more or less, may affect the position and work of the media. The monitoring team has carefully analyzed all of these laws and pointed to what they considered important for the media.

The Report also brings findings in other monitored areas:

c) in the section implementation of existing laws, the Law on Broadcasting and Criminal Code were also treated. For the application of the former, the Reports gives an example of change of ownership of TV Fox and provides analysis of the validity of application of certain provisions of this law in this case. Implementation of the Criminal Code was the issue for still vague interpretation and application of its Article 336a, which may be endangering factor for the media.

d) activities of the competent authorities, were also subject to monitoring in the reporting period. The work analysis of each of them showed that their activities had not significantly influenced the improvement of the position of the media. However, RATEL was especially singled out from other authorities in this period, by working on creating the preconditions for improving the economic situation of broadcasters, while OFPS' tariff changes affected it in a negative way. More details on the activities of all relevant authorities can be found in the Report.

e) the transition processes of privatization and digitization, as very important for the progress of the media sector, had not have the expected results, neither in December nor in the entire 2009. In the area of digitalization, apart from the appointment of members to the Managing Board of the Public Company "Broadcasting Equipment and communications", none of other planned activities had been achieved. As for the privatization of the media, the sale of 4 media outlets at a public auction held in December cannot be regarded as an outcome of a systemic solution. The question of when and how the privatization of the media will be concluded, in conditions of still existing colliding norms and lack of will of the power, still remains open.

The report closes with a Conclusion, which includes professional assessment of the media situation, not only in that period, but for the entire 2009, which can serve as a guide to changes in the media sector in 2010.

The seventh Monitoring Report was also done in cooperation between law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic" and ANEM.

The report brings much more! Therefore, download it here, partially or fully, by clicking on the selected section below:

Section FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION here
Section MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF THE PROCESS OF ADOPTION OF NEW LEGISLATION here
Section MONITORING OF THE ACTIVITIES OF REGULATORY BODIES, AUTHORITIES AND COLLECTIVE SOCIETIES here
Section MONITORING OF THE DIGITALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION PROCESSES here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here