12. 02. 2014

KARADZIC: CONTACT RBA IN CASE OF PRESSURES AGAINST MEDIA

Novi Sad, 02.12.2014 (Autonomija) - Deputy Chairman of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) Council Goran Karadzic asked the media today to respect the Advertising Law, the Broadcasting Law and the RBA instructions during the election campaign and appealed on them to turn to RBA if they are exposed to political or economic pressures or if they have any doubts.

At consultations with media outlets in Novi Sad Karadzic said that the media have a right under the law to refuse to broadcast problematic content. "If you have a dilemma if (broadcasting of) certain material is breaking the law, you can contact the RBA Council and receive a response within 24 hours. If broadcasters experience political or economic pressure, feel free to contact us," said Karadzic.

According to him, the biggest problems in the 2012 elections were classic advertising messages that contain messages prohibited by the Advertising Law. "We had discussions with representatives of all campaign headquarters whose electoral lists have been declared and warned them of the provisions of the Advertising Law. It is to be expected that those who manage the campaigns will respect the law. I am primarily referring to the use of someone else's image and voice in a TV commercial, " said Karadzic.

He added that the second part of the problem are paid time slots and he urged the media outlets to respect the time limit of five minutes for the presentation of each electoral list every day, and 30 minutes once in the campaign, regardless of the possible economic and political pressures. He said that the media outlets founded by local governments do not have the right to receive payment for the five-minute and half-hour presentation of parties and electoral lists.

Goran Karadzic said that the president of the United Serbia Party Dragan Markovic Palma recently broadcasted three and a half hours of election program about his own party in one day on TV Palma Plus (that he owns), adding that this was "absolutely unacceptable." "The law has to be applied equally to all in Serbia, without exceptions. I am in favor of such behavior being most heavily sanctioned," Karadzic said and added that TV Palma Plus might temporarily lose its broadcasting license.

Answering the question of who will control the illegal broadcasters, Karadzic said the RBA Council requested from all campaign headquarters to refrain from any cooperation with pirate media. "It is quite logical that the campaign headquarters do not give a single penny to pirate broadcasters, even though the illegal broadcasters are willing to sell advertising space at very low prices. I cannot imagine anyone taking part in elections and wanting to break the law," said Karadzic and called on legal broadcasters to inform the RBA Council if they notice election program on pirate media. According to him, there are no telecommunication inspectors in Vojvodina, which is why the province has become a "hotbed of piracy." He said that the problem is that the Law on Jurisdiction of Vojvodina has not been implemented yet which foresees that the province has jurisdiction in overseeing telecommunications, but it still has no inspectors, while there are five inspectors in Serbia.

Karadzic said that it is impossible to provide election silence (mandated by law to last 48 hours before the election day) for the Internet, social networks and online media.

General Secretary of the Press Council Gordana Novakovic urged print media to respect the right to reply, which is often not respected in Serbian newspapers. She warned print media not to publish inaccurate or unverified information and not to blindly believe their sources.

She said that the Press Council will handle complaints and petitions by citizens during the election campaign, as it normally does. Regarding the results of public opinion research, the media must clearly state that they report about a research, as well as the facts about who organized a particular public opinion research, said Gordana Novakovic.

She warned the media to avoid hidden advertising, when political and partisan propaganda is represented as news. She said that the Press Council has jurisdiction over online media, but not over social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and other portals that are not media outlets. The Press Council will decide on appeals by citizens about comments on online media portals, said Gordana Novakovic.

Consultation with media outlets at the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina was organized by OSCE, the RBA and the Press Council.