
The proposal for the Law on Public Information and the Media, which was adopted by the Government of Serbia, is the first openly revisionist law which, by returning media ownership to the state, simultaneously opposes European standards and after 25 years returns to the starting point of the transition, Snjezana Milivojevic, a retired professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, told N1. Pročitaj više
She added that, taking into account two key factors – the state’s return to media ownership and the effort to defend the politically dependent and incompetent regulatory agency (REM), the adoption of new media laws represents a „combined attack on media freedom“ and that it seems that not everyone took it seriously.
Serbia’s Government adopted new laws on electronic media and on public information and media on Friday. The new law on public information enables Telekom, which is majority-owned by the state, to establish media through other companies, which is contrary to the current media strategy, according to which the state cannot directly or indirectly own media. The new Law on Electronic Media stipulates that the REM Council will continue its work in its current composition for another year.
„This law enables Telekom to become the center of the future state media and propaganda machine. It seems to me that there are much bigger ambitions at stake than the legalization of what Telekom already has and that a new expansionist phase in the government’s influence on the media is being planned. Telekom already has various media operations, from entertainment and sports to Euronewas and Bloomberg TV, and now it will be able to have more specialized and informative channels. Telekom is a big advertiser, which means that it will also be able to financially direct the development of the media market, channeling its huge advertising budget to close media and leaving all those who are not connected or are critical of the authorities without this income,“ says Milivojevic.
She believes that the media associated with the government will be winning all kinds of financial support from the state.
„In a systemic sense, Telekom will be the dominant player on the telecommunications and media markets. That is, in all these areas, the main actor will be the state, and with this unfair competition and without fair access to the advertising market, it will also destroy media pluralism,“ Milivojevic said.
He said he does not understand how it is even possible that such a proposal was adopted and believes that once again the knowledge and reputation of the members of the working groups who participated in the process of writing media laws were misused.
„With one law, they managed to restore state ownership of the media, and with another, they managed to preserve the compromised composition of REM despite the huge public dissatisfaction and protest demands. In short, it is a message that nothing will change in the media before the announced elections. In the long term, there is no reset when the parliamentary debate and the request to remove REM members due to irresponsible and illegal work have been avoided. The provisions on who will be the authorized proposers of REM Council members are good, but minor corrections, such as having the Commissioner be the one ho submits proposals – that’s the same as the state. Where the majority is politically controlled, and we saw in the last election of members that unfortunately this also applies to professional associations, no general election provides a guarantee against abuse“, she emphasised.
She noted that it is good that the media community fought for the deletion of the provisions that were directly directed against United Media, but that this provision on Telekom introduced into the law provisions that go against the media system and the public as a whole.
„It is such a far-reaching step back that it seems as if the entire law was actually made because of that one article,“ Milivojevic said.
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