21. 07. 2012

Vucic: Public information act will be annulled

Belgrade, July 21, 2012 (Tanjug) - Acting president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday that the public information act would be annulled.

"We will annul the act and ensure media freedom, but this does not mean that we will allow the kind of robbery and crime such as was the case with (the sale of Belgrade-based daily) Politika," said Vucic.
"A similar thing happened to (Belgrade-based daily) Vecernje Novosti, we have learned," Vucic told Tanjug, but withheld the details.

There have been murky, illegal sales of some private media in Serbia earlier.
"As far as the private media are concerned, these things can happen, but when it comes to state-owned media - it cannot be," Vucic stressed.

Under the government coalition agreement, the state actors should endeavor to "reform legislation with the aim of contributing to the creation of an open democratic society, ensuring conditions for a fair, free and quality journalism and the realization of the constitutional principle of the right of citizens to truthful and comprehensive information," he said.

The agreement also stipulates that the signatory parties of the future coalition government should be committed to fighting censorship and self-censorship in the media and to changing legislation, in particular the information, broadcasting and telecommunications acts, Vucic said.

The regulations should be adapted not only to demands for further democratization of the media, but also to the modern technologies, which help citizens be better informed, according to the agreement.

The part of the coalition agreement relevant to the media states that any kind of monopoly or political control over the media should also be prevented.
"We will provide full publicity and transparency of ownership structure in the media, coupled with the prevention of concentration of ownership that goes beyond European standards," according to the agreement.