30. 09. 2011

TWENTY-FIFTH MONITORING REPORT

According to the findings of the legal monitoring team, the media scene in Serbia in August 2011 was marked by the media community's anticipation of adoption of the Media Strategy by the Government. However, the fact that the opinions of the government and those of the media and journalists' associations are divided even regarding the basic issues to that end, such as the state withdrawal from the media ownership as well as the resources of Serbia as a state to fund six new public service broadcasting, does not seem very promising.

Even in this period, journalists and media were not protected against various attacks, threats and pressures, while the practice of courts was also adversely affecting their position and work. Several selected examples of attacks and pressures on journalists and the media show again that preventive legal provisions prohibiting that, do not seem to have discouraged the perpetrators of these attacks, because they have not been accompanied by adequate penal policy in such cases, both in legislation and in judicial practice. All the more frequent is the situation where the practice of courts in media cases actually has a discouraging effect on journalists and media, demotivating them to practice investigative reporting. Of all analyzed cases, we draw attention to two judgments of the Appellate Court that raise doubts regarding their compliance with European standards, especially with the case-law of the European Court for Human Rights in the application of Article 10 of the European Convention, due to the restrictive interpretation of certain provisions of the Public Information Law.

In the part of the Report relating to the monitoring of the implementation of laws, the authors analyze the implementation of the Broadcasting Law - the mechanisms of the existing regulations for preventing media owners to abuse frequencies for their private matters; the issue of media concentration and vertical integration in the media sector. Dealing with the implementation of the Law on Electronic Communications, the authors draw attention to a new potential problem of the media sector, which would occur with adoption of the Draft Rule Book, in the existing text, on Technical Requirements governing the procedure of legal interception and withholding of data on electronic communications, as its provisions go beyond the scope prescribed by this Law and may threaten, among other things, the right to the protection of journalists' sources.

Although in August 2011 there was no adoption of any new legislation of interest to the media, the Government had proposed amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights - the monitoring team analyzed them, particularly those that might have an impact on the media sector.

In the part of the Report relating to the monitoring of work of regulatory bodies, state authorities and collective organizations for protection of copyright and related rights, the authors pay particular attention to the final phase of adoption of the Media Strategy and more obvious lack of consensus between the media community and the government regarding the document's fundamental principles and solutions. Using the case of a broadcaster that has lost broadcasting license for not paying fees to the RBA, the monitoring team also deals with the issue of the said fee. In addition, the Report analyzes yet another fee, namely the base according to which the collective organizations are charging fees from users for the account of copyright holders.

The processes of digitalization and privatization: As for the digitalization, the authors deal with the announced modifications in the implementation process of the digital television transition, while in the area of privatization, they give a brief analysis of the hitherto privatization of media, state funding of the media and the method of allocation of these funds.

The Twenty-Fifth Monitoring Report was produced by the expert team of the law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", in cooperation with ANEM. You can download the Report, in whole or in part, by clicking on the selected section below.

Section FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION here
Section MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF ADOPTION OF NEW LAWS here
Section MONITORING OF THE ACTIVITIES OF REGULATORY BODIES, AUTHORITIES AND COLLECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS here
Section MONITORING OF THE DIGITALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION PROCESSES here
Section OVERALL CONCLUSION here
The COMPLETE REPORT can be downloaded here