26. 03. 2015

Protection of journalists - state's priority

At the international conference on the Protection of Safety and Integrity of Journalists in the OSCE Region in Belgrade, Dacic said that over the course of 2014, seven journalists were killed in the territory of OSCE member states, and at the start of 2015 eight more in the attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

"The violence against journalists is unacceptable, and must be treated as an attack on the society as a whole. The safety of journalists is a prerequisite for freedom of expression and freedom of the media so member states should continually work on creating legislative and other prerequisites for their smooth and safe work," Dacic said.

It gives a particular cause for concern that women journalists are being increasingly subjected to threats, especially on the Internet, he said.

Serbia will keep the issue of the media and safety of journalists high on the list of priorities during its chairmanship of the OSCE, he stressed.

TASOVAC: IMPROVEMENT OF MEDIA ATMOSPHERE PRIORITY

Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac stated on Thursday that one of the Serbian government's priorities lies in improvement of the media sector, especially with regard to the safety and protection of journalists' integrity.

In August 2014, Serbia adopted three media laws and a series of bylaws which clearly outline public interests and the necessity of timely information delivery to citizens, Tasovac said at the opening of the international conference on protection of safety and integrity of journalists in the OSCE region and added that the new laws achieved the standards for the survival of the national minority council media.

Tasovac noted that the media register has also been created whereby the conditions have been met to show clearly the media ownership structure, funding sources and allocations by the government.

In order to ensure journalists' safety, a counselling session was held concerning the protection of media websites from DoS attacks, Tasovac said.

To support to wish of the authorities to shed light on dark blots of the turbulent past, Tasovac noted that the government commission for investigation into journalists' murders has been established.

DACIC, MIJATOVIC ON SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS

OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and the organization's Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic discussed on Thursday the issues relating to the safety of journalists.

The officials agreed on the importance of protecting journalists and integrity of the media and media workers in the entire OSCE region, the ministry of foreign affairs stated in a release.

He said that the holding of the two-day international conference in Belgrade confirms the OSCE's resolve to keep the topic high on the list of its priorities.

Dacic and Mijatovic noted that the Serbia-OSCE cooperation is very good, and voiced the hope that the Belgrade meeting would yield concrete recommendations for improving the safety and protection of integrity of the media and journalists.

MIJATOVIC:VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS MUST NOT BE TOLERATED

Freedom of expression is a crucial element of a democratic society and violence against journalists is therefore unacceptable and must not be tolerated, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said on Thursday.

In several OSCE member states, threats against journalists occur on a daily basis, media representatives are beaten up in streets or imprisoned, while nothing, or very little, is being done to investigate murders of journalists, Mijatovic said at an international conference on the protection of safety and integrity of journalists in the OSCE region.

Speaking about protection of journalists, she said that it does not only include physical safety, but also protection from false accusations.

Mijatovic noted that attacks against media representatives, in particular, physical violence - which is not as apparent as it does not leave bruises - must be stopped as soon as possible.

Top-level authorities must immediately condemn murders, violence and threats of violence against journalists and urge quick and transparent investigation of each individual case, Mijatovic said, adding that democracy would otherwise be destroyed.