07. 07. 2002

ANEM Annual Assembly

BELGRADE, July 7, 2002 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) held its annual assembly on July 5 and 6 in Belgrade. Members protested in the strongest terms at the new proposal for the Broadcasting Act as a serious infringement of the basic concept of the original legal text, with regards the possibility of excessive state influence on the make-up of the Broadcast Agency Council. ANEM has forwarded to the Serbian Parliament's Culture and Information Committee an amendment that would secure the balance between those members of the Council proposed by state bodies and others. ANEM points out that under the existing solution one member of the Broadcast Agency Council is proposed by the Serbian Parliament, which must also in fact vote on all nine members. Parliament is able to propose two candidates, and then choose between them. The fact parliament both selects candidates and then chooses between them exaggerates the role of the state in the choice of Council members and brings into question its independence from the central power - one of the key European standards in this field. Under the existing proposal, four separate associations are asked to propose their own candidates for the Council - an association of broadcast media, association of journalists, a professional association of film and theatre artists and a professional association of composers in Serbia. This is an unnecessarily time-consuming method of constituting the Council. ANEM instead proposes that they be split into two, with the association of electronic media and journalists on one side and the theatre and music associations on the other. Each side would then forward candidates for each member in their category. The associations of professional artists would be able to propose candidates that are best qualified to judge the content of programmes to be aired, while the candidates proposed by the media and journalism associations would have expert knowledge in their field and the moral credibility to apply their knowledge impartially. The ANEM assembly unanimously endorsed the decision of the association's administrative council on June 25, 2002, to revoke the membership of JRDNP "Jasenica." Due to changes in its editorial policy, JNDRP "Jasenica" no longer meets the criteria for free, independent and professional work that is one of the basic aims of ANEM. Nor did it secure an adequate level of working cooperation with other members, which is seen as a blunt violation of the association's rules of work - the ANEM Code. One of the conclusions of the ANEM Assembly was to work toward the urgent adoption of a regulation to facilitate the privatisation of public companies, which is one of the essential conditions of escaping pressure from local authorities. Since numerous cases of political pressure on media professionals end in the dismissal of independent-minded people, the ANEM Assembly took the decision to form a Solidarity Fund to help those who remain without work