29. 03. 2010

EIGHTH REPORT ON LEGAL MONITORING OF SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE

All you wanted to know about the media situation in Serbia, but you could not find elsewhere

 What makes Monitoring Reports special, presented to you for the eighth time here? The fact that they allow you to continuously follow everything that has marked the Serbian media scene in the last 10 months; the fact that they are the result of the work of an expert team, which with careful selection of information, month by month, provide an accurate picture of what is happening in media sector in a given period; the fact that you can find the facts, expert explanations and analysis of all important media issues for the marked period in one place; the fact that all Monitoring Reports facilitate identification of problematic issues and shortcomings of media legislation and practice and, as such, may be used as a guideline for changes necessary to create a favorable environment for the progress of media; and finally, the fact that they offer possible answers to many important issues for the development of the media sector.

See it for yourself! Read this Eighth Monitoring Report! It contains the results of legal monitoring for the period January 1 - February 28, 2010.

In this report you will find answers to the following:

• What pressures and threats have been directed to journalists in that period and to what extent they represent a threat to freedom of expression; what do laws regulate and guarantee journalists, and how does practice deny legal norms; how thin is the line between legal ban of the distribution of certain information and censorship; are there still information in Serbia which are considered undesirable because of personal interests of certain public officials, despite being in public interest;
• How certain provisions of relevant laws for the media, particularly of the Broadcasting Act, are implemented in practice and what are the consequences of such an application; why is it important to regulate the new media as soon as possible;
• How is the surplus of money that is taken from the media as broadcasting fees being spent; why the delay in the regulation of cable broadcasting is not good; why broadcasting "pirates" still work unobstructed in Serbia and how they benefit from the unstable media regulatory framework and lack of coordinated actions of regulatory bodies and government authorities;
• How well the new Law on Copyright and Related Rights is being implemented at its beginning; what makes the RTS attitude toward copyright (and related) rights against the law and unacceptable, and why it was being allowed that in practice;
• What is the attitude of the state towards the upcoming digitization of electronic media, as well as the privatization of media; why both processes, although they should be progressive, represent a problem in Serbia;
• What has marked the media sector in this period

For those who do not already know, please note that the legal monitoring of the media scene in Serbia is carried out by a ANEM Legal Department, law office, "Zivkovic & Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM. All monitoring reports are the result of work of their expert team.

The Eighth Monitoring Report can be downloaded here, in whole or in part, by following the links of the selected sections 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