07. 10. 2013

FEET DRAGGING IN ADOPTION OF MEDIA LAWS

Belgrade, October 7, 2013 (Media Center, Dnevnik) - "The Government still does not have a clear idea how the media that will best meet the interest of citizens should look like", the leaving Head of the OSCE Mission Media Department Dragana Nikolic Solomon said yesterday.

She also believes this is the reason why the authorities are dragging feet in applying the Media Strategy and adopting new media laws.

At the end of her seven-year-long term of office, Solomon reminded that the Media Strategy had been adopted back in September 2011 and that "construction works" on media legislation had lasted for more than two years.

Pointing to the fact that media were operating in impossible conditions, Solomon warned that the feet dragging in new media regulation was not a good solution, as it provided for the possibility to have many of media disappearing from the media scene by the time the new laws were adopted, namely the Law on Public Information and Media, the Law on Electronic Media and the Law on Public Service Broadcasters.

Solomon said the Draft Law on Public Information and Media contained some good solutions, like the provision on project financing of media, which would prevent local self-government to arbitrarily decide which media would be financed from the taxpayers' money, in line with his political interests primarily.

As Solomon said, new solutions would provide for the establishment of commissions that would, in a transparent manner, determine which media met the conditions to inform the citizens the best.

By signing the Stabilization and Accession Agreement, Serbia has committed to adhere to regulation on state aid control, Solomon said and concluded that "the state should not disturb the healthy competition in the media market with its money".