17. 11. 2011

Two media laws in spring

Press Media Summit in Belgrade

Belgrade, November 17, 2011. (Danas) - Two main media laws, the Law on Public Information and Broadcasting Law, are expected to be completed in early spring next year, after which further procedures for their adoption would ensue. The political scene, however, will dictate when exactly they would be adopted, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society, Dragana Milicevic Milutinovic, said yesterday at the second Press Media Summit. She added that the formation of working groups to write drafts of these laws is currently in progress.

She added that implementation of the Strategy Action Plan would be continued afterwards and that she hoped that all laws would be adopted and amended as soon as possible. She said that by adoption of the Media Strategy, the state pledged to withdraw from the media ownership. Formation of six regional public services was also envisaged as well as the privatization of the media and that national minority councils may be founders of the media.

President of the Association of Media, Veselin Simonovic, said that nothing had been changed in the media sector in Serbia, compared to last year. He said that "lawlessness in the area even increased". Responding to criticism, he added that "not all journalists and media are corrupt" and that NGO sector is corrupt most and this sector "would not exist without the media."

Editor-in-chief of the weekly "Vreme" Dragoljub Zarkovic said that print media would survive in the future only if they, in addition to the five journalistic questions, answered additional two - why something happened and in whose interest.

- While the new media inform the public, print media interpret the news - said Zarkovic.