29. 01. 2013

PARLIAMENT MEMBERS ON TABLOIDS AND LOCAL MEDIA

Belgrade, January 29, 2013 (Politika) - The second part of the yesterday's public hearing "Media Freedoms - not the time for being silent" was marked by the discussion of members of the parliament with the president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), but also with emphasizing the poor position of media in inner parts of Serbia.

The rigid debate between MPs Zoran Ostojic and Borko Stefanovic with UNS president Ljiljana Smajlovic on the position of this association regarding the hunt in the media of the Democratic Party and work of journalists' corporations.

Ostojic noted that the problem was not in media laws but in the lack of professionalism in media, and that it was necessary to raise the professional level of media by deciding within media associations who were the propagandists and who were the journalists and by introducing and respecting the code of conduct. "Until this is done, the money will still have a strong influence on the picture of Serbian media, which has already created a new phenomenon - a ‘political tabloid'", Ostojic concluded.

Stefanovic pointed to a media hunt against DS and its leader and accused UNS of having failed to properly react.

"Media freedom cannot be a folding screen for conveying lies. UNS must not not react. Journalists' assocations need to work on the code and on accepting the responsibility", Stefanovic said.

MP Srdjan Milivojevic said that the media in Krusevac were shutting down, while the journalists still managed to inform the public only thanks to a group of enthusiasts. He also said that the tabloids today had become a party mouthpiece, while the citizens were given information selectively.

Riza Haljimi pointed out the fact that the Public Broadcasting Institution of Serbia had not have a single minute of program broadcast in Albanian language, while the reporting from Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac was "dictated" and "sensationalist-like".

Veran Matic, presiding over the Commission for investigating cases of murdered journalsits, said yesterday that this body had had its first meeting and warned that Serbia might have ended up with 50 percent less media not only in inner Serbia, but in Belgrade as well, due to a very serious economic situation.

Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic expressed his concern after the session, pointing out that if the state started to apply laws in principle, journalists' associations stood against those hindering the profession and citizens stopped buying papers they criticized, then some kind of a step forward could be seen in media freedoms in Serbia.