26. 05. 2010

ANEM participation at the press conference on the occasion of frequent and intensifying pressures on local media

On May 26, 2010, media association Local Press organized a press conference in the Belgrade Media Center on the occasion of the increasing pressures that local media were facing during April and May 2010. Representatives of the media and journalists' associations: Local Press, ANEM, NUNS and NDNV participated at the conference.

ANEM President Sasa Mirkovic spoke at the conference on behalf of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and pointed out that the state had no understanding for the problems that media were facing and that the local media particularly found themselves in a difficult position. He said that a large number of ANEM stations were faced with different problems, both economic, as the economic crisis hit local media the most, as well as with the pressures of local power and tycoons. Mirkovic said that improvement of this situation required greater cooperation among associations. It is necessary to find a common denominator for all the associations and to make a unique front for the necessary media reforms, Mirkovic said.

Chairman of the Local Press, Dejan Miladinovic emphasized that revenues from marketing decreased in the local media and that they were exposed to additional pressure from local businessmen,  local authorities, prosecutors and judges. He appealed to the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs to provide the same protection for journalists and other citizens as well as for public persons.

Dragan Lazarevic, a lawyer of the Local Press, said that the number of lawsuits of local power and officials against local media outlets had increased in the last two months. He said that as a result of this pressure, some kind of self-censorship in editorial policy was introduced, which lead to the disappearance of independent journalism.

Djordje Vlajic, president of NUNS, said that the media freedom was difficult to win but easy to violate, which was particularly evident in the local media. He said it was unacceptable that the media who refused to become municipal PA system, ended up being the scrape goats of local powerful people. He said that the Government was treating media arrogantly, which was inconsistent with the process of democratization of the society.

Nedim Sejdinovic, Secretary General of the NDNV, expressed fear over closure of local media, not because of the economic crisis, but because of the pressures they were exposed to.

The press conference ended with reading of the joint statement of all the participants, which was forwarded in the form of letter of protest to the offices of the OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Commission in Belgrade, organization SEEMO in Vienna, the Ministry of Justice of Republic of  Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, Prime Minister and the President of Serbia. The entire statement can be seen in the appendix below.

Public Statement