14. 01. 2009

STATE STILL PRESENT IN THE LOCAL MEDIA

Privatization of 64 local electronic media halted due to the regulation collision

Belgrade, January 14, 2009 (Politika) – In 2008, no local RTV stations were privatized according to the data of the Privatization Agency. The fact that the state owns more than two thirds of radio and TV stations founded by the local self-government is partially due to the parliament. At the end of 2007, the delegates at the Serbian Assembly passed the Law on Local Self-Government and the Law on the Capital City, which allowed the state to remain the founder and owner of the media. However, several years prior to that, such possibility had been cancelled by the Public Information Law and the Law on Radio-Diffusion, which are still in effect. The privatization has so far reached rather meager results, because less than the third of those media have changed ownership.

- 27 electronic media have been sold at public auctions. The overall number of unsold electronic media is 64. The Agency will not be able to continue the privatization of the media in our jurisdiction until the circumstances due to which the privatization process was halted are resolved. By that I primarily mean the collision of the laws regulating this area, whose harmonization is not in our jurisdiction – explained the head of the communication sector of the Privatization Agency, Dušan Belanović.

Fear of new owners

The public believes that the end of last year was the final deadline for the ownership change, after which the media which are not yet privatized will be shut down.

- Since the electronic media are companies in which the majority shareholder is the state, the deadline set for the privatization of the state capital, namely December 31, 2008, does not refer to them. That deadline does not apply to state, i.e. public companies, which comprise, among others, some electronic media – says Belanović. The legal collision was quickly spotted and criticized, but not yet resolved.

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) believes that the privatization of the media, both print and electronic ones, must be finished. The process was very slow, primarily due to the changes in the government and politician sets; sometimes it was DSS, sometimes G17 Plus, and sometimes a third party. Politicians are always the ones who decide on the destiny of media privatization, and that process was halted several times. “In the long-run, that will be reflected in the socio-economical status of journalists, but also in the media sector in Serbia”, believes the president of NUNS, Nadežda Gaće.

The process of privatization is also coupled with the fear stemming from the uncertainty as to who the new owner would be, what intentions he or she might have and might he or she change the business plan the very next day and use the premises of a media house for a different business.

- In the privatized media where there are official complaints by the employees, the Agency reacts by the means of regular and irregular inspection and undertakes measures according to law. For the reasons of violation of the obligations from the contract of sale, the Agency has cancelled several contracts. According to the Privatization Law, there are several reasons for the cancellation of a contract, such as the failure to pay the sale price or the installments, insufficient investments, using the assets contrary to the articles of the contract, non-continuous operation, failure to provide bank guarantees, failure to perform obligations towards the employees, as well as in other cases listed in the contract – explains Belanović.

That was the case with the “Cultural-Informative Center” public company from Bajina Bašta, whose contract was cancelled due to their social program, while in the case of Radio Sombor, TV Gornji Milanovac and Radio Koceljevi, the reason was the violation of continuous operations. The privatization halt is also causing uncertainties in the Serbian Radio-Diffusion Agency, which is formally not in charge of the ownership change of RTV stations.

Fate of approximately 20 TV stations uncertain

- Neither we, nor anyone else, know which regulation to implement. The Law on Radio-Diffusion stated that the privatization had to be finalized by December 31, 2008. If we stuck to that, we would have to revoke the licenses of all the local and regional stations founded by the state and not yet privatized. On the other hand, according to the Law on Local Self-Government, they can keep the licenses. Those are 15 to 20 best television stations in Serbia and many more radio stations whose termination would be socially unjustifiable. Some of those stations are in Čačak, Zaječar, Niš, Kragujevac and elsewhere. The broadcasters in question are serious stations and it would be too strict of us to revoke their licenses with them not being at fault, since they have been brought to that position by the Serbian Assembly. Thus, we consulted the Ministry of Culture and concluded that it would be less socially harmful not to shut them down – the deputy president of the RRA Council, Goran Karadžić, stated.

In order to continue the privatization, last year the Ministry of Culture suggested a model according to which the local self-government would retain 30% of media shares. The same amount would be given to the employees, while 40% of the shares would be sold to any interested parties.

- The current model does not enable the self-sufficiency of the media. It turned out that after the privatization, most electronic media were either practically shut down or they reduced their informative programs to a great extent. “Kragujevac initiative” considers the suggestion of the Ministry a sort of compromise, and we support that, being aware that the media privatization is necessary. We hope that such a model will enable the self-sufficiency of the media, but also that the public will be informed at a satisfactory level – says Branko Vučković, the Editor-in-Chief of Radio Kragujevac and one of the creators of the so-called “Kragujevac initiative”, whose idea is to transform some of the greatest media in Serbia into regional public services.

As far as he is aware, the suggested model is well accepted locally. However, there are misgivings that the privatization according to that principle is feasible.

- That would just add to the confusion, because it is questionable why anyone would purchase only 40% of a certain media station if that does not ensure him or her the administrative package. The idea for the local self-government to own 30% of the capitals would in itself create double standards, since, in my opinion, the tax payers’ money should, by the means of tenders, be available to all the media which inform the local community. In this case, however, certain media would be privileged. That would be partial privatization and there are indications that such media would also receive assistance from local self-government bodies, which would harm the market balance –Nino Brajović, the president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, stated and added that it would also be unfavorable for the already privatized media.