18. 03. 2013

DACIC: MEDIA REGULATION NOT TO BE RUSHED

Belgrade, March 18, 2013 (Danas) - The Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said last Saturday that the media should have equal treatment in all parts of the country, meaning that "if Belgrade and Novi Sad were to have public service broadcasters, then Nish should have one too".

As for the media laws, we are trying to include media and journalists' association into their implementation, together with the Culture Ministry, the Prime Minister said.

Although the pressure from the international community regarding the implementation of certain regulations is sometimes very strong, rushing it could also cause problems, said Dacic in Nis.

According to the President of the District Council of SPS in Nis Igor Novakovic, the Draft Law on Information, stipulating the withdrawal of the state and local self-government from ownership in media as of January 1, 2014, could be a prelude to NTV closedown. In this case, the city of Nis would be "entirely discriminated against", as Belgrade and Novi Sad centers would still have their national, provincial and city TV and radio stations. Novakovic reminded that besides NTV, there was only one more private TV in Nis, TV Belami, while radio Nis, with 60 years long tradition, as well as regional TV 5 and Zona were closed down in the past three years out of various reasons. Novakovic also said that NTV should have become regional public service broadcaster, in line with the valid Media Strategy, which stipulated formation of six such services in Serbia.

Representatives of media and journalists' associations, NUNS, ANEM, Local Press and private local media voiced their disagreement with the formation of regional public service broadcasting and transformation of NTV into such service, despite the adoption of such concept by the majority of participants of the public discussion on the Draft Law on Information, held last Thursday in Nis, in the organization of Culture Ministry and OSCE Mission to Serbia. Members of the working group for drafting the legislation explained that the Draft Law was foreseeing "only" the withdrawal of the state, cities and municipalities from media, while the law on electronic media would regulate eventual forming of regional public service broadcasters, which would soon see the public debate.

The discussion in Nis was so active that some of the participants regarded it as "almost like at a football match". At some point, there discussion was threatened to be interrupted by an incident caused by three young men in kick-box club T-shirts throwing themselves at the diplomatic officer of OSCE Mission and verbally insulting him.

Following the public discussion in Nis, NUNS, NDNV, ANEM and Local Press noted that the debate was "seriously obstructed by certain local public companies for information" and its "dramatic politization", thus creating "intolerant and at moments ‘pogrom-like atmosphere'", which resulted in "improper verbal attack on an OSCE Mission to Serbia officials".