12. 09. 2012

STATE WILL WITHDRAW FROM MEDIA

Belgrade, September 12, 2012 (Beta, B92) - Minister of Culture Assistant Dragan Kolarevic said today at the round table held today in UNS Press Center that the state would withdraw from ownership in media within the deadline stipulated by the Media Strategy.

The Media Strategy stipulates the adoption of the Regulation of Tanjug status by March 2013, while the withdrawal of the state from ownership in all state-owned media is foreseen within 24 months from "establishing legal grounds", said the president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS).

In his debut as a Minister of Culture Assistant, Kolarevic said that the Ministry of Culture and Media would not hold in favor any media, state or private, and pointed out that the obligation of the state was to secure stable financing and editorial autonomy to public service broadcasters, RTS and RTV.

"Private media will be provided with enough space to freely operate on the media market", Kolarevic said, emphasizing the EU practice to finance public services through TV fees. He also said that the advertisements and budget financing, transparent and earmarked, were also allowed means of financing and that in Serbia, public services could get the financial support for programs produced for international distributing purposes, scientific and educational programs.

Kolarevic pointed out that the new government would continue to support the endeavors of the previous administration in the field of media legislation, which excluded the possibility to start the work from the scratch.

He also announcend that the Ministry would soon appoint the new State Secretary in charge of media.

ANEM president Sasa Mirkovic said that media associations were generally against establishment of regional public services and that the former government had produced the draft law on regional public services without consulting any of the associations.

Representative of the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) Caba Presburger said that the biggest problem of national minorities' media was the political pressure imposed by the national councils of national minorities, and that instead of privatizing these media, solutions should be adopted that would guarantee independence of their editorial policy.

UNS president Ljiljana Smajlovic said that the former government had demonstrated all the "hypocrisy, dishonesty and anti-European behavior" in the case of sale of the daily "Politika". This case was the real example where it would be shown to what extent the new government could be trusted.