
The International Press Institute (IPI) said that the Serbian Parliament recently adopted two milestone media laws following an unrestrained debate, adding that political interests are clashing over the media scene.
Parliament adopted the Law on Public Information and the Media and the Law on Electronic Media on November 4 after three days of a stormy debate. Both laws were criticized by local and international media organizations for deviating from the national Media Strategy with some positive compromises the removal of the most problematic aspects of the draft laws, the IPI story said adding that a loophole was left in allowing the state of Serbia to legally own media outlets through the state telecommunications operator Telekom Serbia.
“Press freedom advocates fear that this ability for the state-owned telecoms company to purchase and own media will hand the government greater indirect influence and control over the influential television market. This would risk distorting the media market by an uneven playing field for media companies, as well as posing the risk of undue political influence,” the story said. It said that Telekom Serbia has owned media outlets for years such as Euronews Serbia since 2021.
The story said that there is concern that Telekom might abuse its position of control over cable networks to disadvantage independent media outlets such as United Group’s N1. “These concerns underscore the importance of securing a level competitive playing field for all media outlets and the need for a truly independent and objective regulatory framework,” it said.