03. 04. 2012

Media Coalition Protests Government Favouring Tanjug News Agency

Belgrade, April, 3, 2012. (oneworldsee.org) - The Media Coalition - NUNS, UNS, ANEM, NDNV and Local Press protested yesterday, April 2, 2012, in a public statement, the decision of the Government of Serbia to allocated interest-free loan of 17.5 million Dinars (app. €160,000) to Tanjug News Agency to cover the election campaign. The Coalition believes that it represents a violation of fundamental principles of market competition, knowing that there are two more news agencies in Serbia which don't have access to such favourable loans.

"The allocation of interest-free loans from Serbian Budget to a state-owned agency opens the way for increased influence by the state on the editorial policy, which is fully in collision with the principles of the Media Strategy, adopted by the Government last year. It is continuation of the systematic effort to suppress the media not owned by the state, with the aim to establish a monopoly", states the Media Coalition.

The organisations of the Coalition say that it also represents a drastic breech of promise made to media associations that the state intended to move for a true reform of media sector in Serbia.

"The Media Coalition is deeply concerned over the fact that the ruling circles say one thing in the strategic documents and, in practice, work to systematically undermine the said policies. We intend to inform the international organisations about that, including the European Union which has persistently insisted on reform of the media sector", the Coalition says.

The Coalition adds that the interest-free loan opens the space for the state, i.e. the parties from the ruling coalition, to influence the course of the election campaign using tax-payers' money.

The Media Coalition is also opposed to the possibility that the loan was not intended for the coverage of the campaign itself, but to finance special events, the so-called "Election Night".

"The Election Night has been organized at the Media Centre for a number of years. It is totally unacceptable for the state to use the tax-payers' money to move the event to an agency it owns", say the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina and the Association of Local Publishers "Local Press".