31. 05. 2010

ANEM participation at the press conference on the occasion of the publication “Vojvodina media – political compromise or professional reporting”

On May 31, 2010, Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) organized a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of "Vojvodina media - political compromise or a professional reporting" in the Belgrade Media Center. The book, published by NDNV, contains analysis/research on the media scene in Vojvodina through the three dominant aspects: the privatization of the media in Vojvodina and post-privatization process, the allocation of frequencies and illegal (pirate) broadcasters, information on languages of national minorities and minority media de-etatism. The press conference was attended by authors of this book Zuzana Serences and Sinisa Isakov; Nedim Sejdinovic, NDNV Secretary General; representatives of other media and journalists' associations: Sasa Mirkovic, the President of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and Svetozar Rakovic, Secretary General of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (IJAS/NUNS).

Nedim Sejdinovic, NDNV Secretary General, presented the main themes of the reports contained in the Publication, noting that the book was a product of a two-year analysis of the media scene in Vojvodina.

Zuzana Serences, author of two reports, "The privatization of the media in Vojvodina and post-privatization processes" and "Information on languages of national minorities in Vojvodina and de-etatism" said the analysis showed that the key issues that characterized the media situation remained the same as a few years ago (full distort about what would happen with the media transition, legal chaos, stopped privatization, etc.) and that it could be concluded that the situation was getting worse (contradictory legislations, 70% of the media in Vojvodina facing bankruptcy, severe economic crisis, the existing inequality further increasing). She stressed that 90% of problems that burdened the media situation in Vojvodina was identical with the problems that burdened the whole media scene in Serbia.

Sinisa Isakov, author of the report "Allocation of broadcast licenses and pirate radio - analysis of the previous process of regulating the broadcasting sector, the issuing of licenses in the AP of Vojvodina and piracy", stated that radio piracy was a burning issue, and that it affected the entire media sector, because it directly deprived legal broadcasters the profits from advertising, and that the economic crisis deepened this problem even further. He pointed out that the state had no proper answer to this black zone of operations, instituting heavy taxes as if trying to further burden legally operating media.

Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM president, said that the report on the situation in Vojvodina media was an important document and that, although dealing only with Vojvodina media, it could reflect on the overall media situation in Serbia. He pointed out that the pirate broadcast was a serious problem and that ANEM strived to ensure meetings with associations, Police Ministry, the RBA, RATEL and Prosecution in order to agree on future joint fight against illegal broadcasters. He pointed out to another important issue - delay in preparations for the digitalization, which was primarily affected by the failure to appoint the Director of the Public Company "Broadcasting Equipment and Communications", network and multiplex operator. In response to that, ANEM issued a public statement on May 24, 2010, urging the Government to appoint director of this company without further delay. ANEM president emphasized the importance of making a media strategy, which should be the agreement of the Government and media about the directions of development of the media sector and which should address important issues that remained to present the problem for Vojvodina and other media.

Svetozar Rakovic, Secretary General of NUNS, said that there were many causes of media problems. He pointed out that the economic crisis continued to take its toll and it was not known how many media employees got fired, as well as that it had never occurred to no one from the competent authority to show some concern over the closure of the media. He pointed out that media associations should join forces to strengthen their impact and jointly determine future directions of resolving the key issues.