20. 10. 2010

MEETING WITH RELEVANT AUTHORITIES ON RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REGULATION OF SYSTEM FOR FINANCING LOCAL MEDIA

At the end of August 2010, ANEM, IJAS (NUNS) and Local Press prepared their proposal on recommendations for regulation of system for financing local media. The proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Finance and SKGO (Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities), as agreed at the press conference "Financing of local media in Serbia", held on June 15, 2010.

On that occasion, the joint meeting of representatives of these three associations with the representatives of abovementioned competent ministries and the SKGO was held on October 20, 2010, at the Ministry of Culture, where the contents of the recommendations was discussed, their compliance with existing regulations and ways of better regulation of the process of allocation of local budget funds to financing of local media, the protection of competition on the media market and ensuring transparency of the process. Representatives of relevant state authorities and SKGO have agreed with the recommendations in principle, while the constructive debate provided useful solutions for their corrections, in terms of specifying the particular proposal and harmonizing them with existing regulations. It was agreed that media associations would also prepare a revised version of recommendations in line with the decisions reached at the meeting. ANEM, in cooperation with Local Press and IJAS (NUNS), prepared and submitted the revised draft of recommendations to the ministries and SKGO on November 4, 2010. 

These recommendations should facilitate the regulation of system for financing local media by the time the Media Strategy is passed. They should also synchronize the practice of local self-governments in this field, for the purpose of better fulfillment of their legal obligation to take care and ensure the conditions for public information in their local environment. They contain the solutions that do not hinder the competence of local self-governments, but at the same time ensure the transparency of the process of allocation of local budgets' funds for the media, prevent illegal competition and support the quality of public information on local level.