24. 12. 2012

AVRAMOVIC: PRIVATIZATION OF STATE MEDIA TO PREPARE CAREFULLY

Belgrade, December 24, 2012 (Politika) - Secretary of the group working on preparation of media laws of the Culture and Media Ministry Aleksandar Avramovic said that the privatization of state media should be prepared carefully to prevent the scenario of Serbia ending up without these media.

"Interest of the public and society must be the top priority", Avramovic told Tanjug news agency at the opening of the exhibition of naïve artworks in Jagodina. He also added that "the point is not in the state indirectly financing media, but it does not mean that it should not finance the work of media for the needs of its citizens".

"Informing of citizens is essential and it must be ensured, among others, with state resources as well, but in a transparent manner, based on clear criteria and expert, independent and absolutely competent decision making, which means, without manipulations, influence of any ownership groups, political groups or any other groups with particular interest", Avramovic said.

The privatization needs to be carefully prepared, as "the process has been wrongly led so far". Because of this, a new model needs to be found, regardless whether it is a state, regional or local media, "in order to protect media from certain downfall", Avramovic said.

Avramovic noted that the working group for producing media laws would "complete the work by end of March" and added that the group was working "non-stop" in order to get the laws into the parliamentary procedure as soon as possible and thus comply with the deadlines foreseen in the Media Strategy.

He also reminded that, under the Law on Public Enterprises, "the public companies in the field of information will continue to work as such until ownership transformation, namely privatization".