31. 01. 2016

THE SIXTY - SIXTH MONITORING REPORT OF ANEM

NOVEMBER 2015 - SERBIAN MEDIA SCENE

Freedom of expression - On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (November 2), the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) released disturbing information about the number of attacks against journalists in Serbia in 2014 and 2015. With regard to the attacks and pressure that took place in November, the Report analyzed: the threats against the security of "Blic" journalist Milica Ivanovic, a new "intervention" of the Communal Police against reporters, as well as the bizarre case of detainment of the reporters of "Politika" by a private individual. The same period saw an attack against the economic forensic expert and member of the Anti-Corruption Council Miroslava Milenovic, as well as the cancellation of the promotion of the book "Vucic and Censorship" in Nis, which stands as evidence of the "chilling effect" in the media, but also in institutions financed from the budget, such as public libraries. The Report also commented the European Commission Progress Report for Serbia for 2015 that concludes that there has been no progress in the area of media freedoms, explaining the reasons for such an assertion. In terms of legal proceedings, the Report analyzed the judgment of the Higher Court in Belgrade in the case of Marijan Risticevic, the SNS Member of Parliament, against RD B92, for damages due to injury to honor and reputation.

Implementation of the Law - Law on Electronic Media: the authors dealt with the issue of political advertising outside of the election campaign and the continued controversy over the decision of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (RBEM) not to initiate proceedings against stations that broadcasted live a public event of the SNS; they also analyzed the procedure for the election of candidates for membership in the RBEM Council. The Law on Public Service Broadcasters: new controversies were dissected related to the financing of PSBs, as well as the procedure for the election of candidates for membership in the Programming Council of the Public Media Institution RTS.

In the part of the Report concerning the adoption of new laws, the authors delve into the Law on Copyright and Related Rights and point to possible problems due to the announced lack of a public debate on the amended Draft Law.

Work of competent bodies, authorities and organizations - The Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (RBEM) - the Report brings a legal analysis of the Recommendation about the Duration of "Forced environment" reality shows; Commissioner for Information of Public Interest and Personal Data Protection - the case of the unauthorized release of data on the health of private persons in the media regarding which the Commissioner initiated the oversight of the implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection in the Psychiatric Clinic "Laza Lazarevic".

The privatization process - the authors of the Report analyzed the case of the "Tanjug" new agency.

In the Conclusion of the Report, the authors sum up their findings, resulting in the conclusion about the media situation in Serbia in November 2015.

The Sixty-sixth Monitoring Report was prepared by the ANEM expert monitoring team from the law office „Živković&Samardžić", in cooperation with ANEM.

The Summary and Conclusion of the Report in English are available for download at the end of this page.

The full Report and its sections in Serbian are available for download here.

The creation of this Report is supported by the Swiss Cooperation Office Serbia within the Small Projects Fund, but the views presented in this Report are the sole responsibility of its authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Swiss Cooperation Office Serbia.  

The Summary and Conclusion of the ANEM 66th Monitoring Report