05. 04. 2013

MEDIA LAWS IN PARLIAMENT

Belgrade, April 5, 2013 (FoNet) - Draft Law on Public Information and Media and Draft Law on Electronic Media will enter parliamentary procedure in May, the Assistant Culture and Media Minister Dragan Kolarevic said today.

Speaking at the public hearing before the Parliament's Culture and Information Committee, Kolarevic repeated that the Draft Law on Public Information would provide for the privatization of media, termination of direct budget financing of media and introduction of project financing, adding that the Ministry would respond to all suggestions and objections to the draft laws.

He emphasized that the EU had expressed their reservations to the establishing of regional public service broadcasting, as the concept of region was not precisely defined in Serbia, as well as who would be the owner of these media and how they would be financed. For that reason, the idea of forming regional public service broadcasters was abandoned.

Kolarevic announced that the first version of the Draft Law on Electronic Media would be put to public discussion next week.