09. 03. 2013

WHAT’S TOUCHY IN NEW LAW ON MEDIA

Belgrade, March 9, 2013 (Politika) - Media representatives have stated their objections to the new law on media, in the part concerning the withdrawal of the state from ownership in media, project financing, interfering of owners in the editorial policy of media.

As Serbia is about to get a new law on public information, journalists and media associations keep pointing to shortcomings the draft text that has already been discussed. Sasa Mirkovic, member of the working group representing the Media Coalition, Zoran Sekulic, president of the Association of Media, professor Miroljub Radojkovic, member of the working group drafting the legislation, as well as other representatives of the media associations, spoke for the daily Politika about these shortcomings.

Much like the previous law, the new law has foreseen the withdrawal of the state from ownership in media; however, it is done slowly and involuntarily. The process of privatization must start urgently in order to prevent irregularities on the market. The law does indeed oblige the state to withdraw from media, but the laws on local self-government and capital city allow it to found municipal media. This practically means that anyone may choose the law to abide by.

Also disputable is the article of the law allowing "publisher the right to determine and execute program concept of the media". The law should precise the right of the media management to determine program concept at the moment the media was established, namely if the media would predominantly be sports, music or entertainment-oriented, but that the owner or management should not influence the editorial policy of the media.

The new law is unclear about the media financing system, in the part saying that all media, financed from the state budget and the ones having the status of public companies and institutions, will be project-financed as of 2014. The law must clearly specify project financing as the only system of financing of the public interest. Only such wording shall prevent the possible manipulation.

The law also contains a great number of provisions stipulating media operations that have  not been verified and aligned either with general principles of free business in Serbia, regulated in the Law on Business Entities and the Law on Protection of Competitions, or European standards. Considering the crisis in print media, it is necessary to additionally liberate and concretize certain provisions of the Draft Law on Incorporation of Ownership.

The wording of the law is bad in the part saying that the media publish information of public interest regardless of the manner in which they have been obtained, as well as the articles of the law regulating the prohibition of publishing information. Every intervention before publishing of information is regarded as censorship.

The right to retract information is unnecessary, as the text of the law has already provided for the option to respond to information. If this article is not rephrased, it may affect the course of journalistic investigation and reporting.