11. 03. 2013

WHAT IS NEW PUBLIC INFORMATION LAW ALL ABOUT

Cacak, March 11, 2013 (Cacanski glas, NUNS) - The Draft Law on Public Information was discussed two days ago by owners and journalists of Cacak-based media with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information Gordana Predic.

The meeting, held at the City Council, was initiated by the Cacak city administration, primarily Deputy Mayor Aleksandar Dacic. Before having met with the journalists, the State Secretary talked with the Cacak Mayor Vojislav Ilic, President of the City Assembly Veljko Negovanovic and other high officials.

Representatives of media in Cacak have had an opportunity to discuss shortcomings of the new legislation with the State Secretary Predic.

As Predic said, the new Law should primarily solve the issue of financing of media and regulate program content in Serbia. "Besides public service broadcasters, the state would withdraw from ownership in media, but would remain responsible for them. The media would be co-financed through projects, which is a good thing, as it would create media pluralism that would lead to more diverse and qualitative expansion of the public scene", Predic said. "The application of the new law would also include the transparency of ownership in media. The citizens will know who owns certain media and who is behind information conveyed by that media."

According to the Ministry's plan, the first competitions should be called in September. The commission has had four months to prepare the media transferring to new financing system, namely co-financing, as of 2014. The right to participate in the call with their project applications would have all media registered in the Business Registry.

Cacak media representatives stated however their reservations towards the draft of the new law, saying that its provisions were good only in theory, but that they could easily affect the position of the media and lead to their shutdown. On the other hand, a healthy competition would filter the Serbian media scene.