Bilcik: Serbia needs free, independent media with no threats

According to Bilcik, the media have to really do their job not just reporting on the government does but also analysis and commentary which is something “we have not seen a lot of in the media in Serbia”.

He said he was very critical and disappointed with the national electronic media watchdog the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) which did not do its job before the December 17 elections. Demostat quoted him as saying that the REM did not meet with the observers, did not give them any detailed information or views on the campaign “which is a sign of weak institutions that should be overseeing the elections”.

Bilcik said that is an area which needs to be tackled by the new parliament – implementing the new media laws, new impetus to the REM in terms of new people, new institutional structure.

He said that the observers’ report includes an assessment of the media situation and recalled that he has been dealing with the media since he was named rapporteur for Serbia. “European Parliament reports are clear and that was a big tissue in the inter-party dialogue prior to the elections in 2020 and 2022 and we also discussed the media situation in the dialogue in parliament,” he said.

He said the fact that the new parliament will have two big blocks – ruling majority and opposition – is an opportunity to start a dialogue on important issues and improve the media situation. “I always say that there are only bad and good media, there are bad and good media in private hands, only bad and good state media,” he said. Bilcik said that people in Serbia talk of pro-regime and opposition media which, he feels, is the wrong approach to the discussion on the media situation. I think all media have a responsibility to report truthfully, he said and added that reporting should be quality, independent and free. There is a lot of room for improvement in Serbia, he said. “That is a very clear message, not only from this observer mission,” Bilcik said and added that this was the message from European institutions for years.

“Unless things change, Serbia will have a hard time advancing on the way to the European Union,” he said. According to Bilcik, one of the solutions are strong, independent and professional media. “They are the backbone of democracy,” he added.