12. 10. 2005

STATE OF MEDIA SCENE IN SERBIA

BRUSSELS, BELGRADE, October 12, 2005 – The Open Society Institute in Budapest has produced the monitoring report “Television across Europe – Regulation, Policy and Independence”, encompassing twenty European countries. The report assessed the Serbian media scene as one of the least regulated in Europe, due to a decade long devastation and slow reform following democratic changes in 2000. Since October 5, 2000, media policy in Serbia has oscillated between two myths: the first Government inspired many people to believe that Serbia would undergo a transition – including the transformation of the media sector – faster than any other country in the region, while the second Government behaved as if transition had mostly been completed, often attempting to present the absence of media policy as a “free market approach”. In reality, though, Serbia lives with one of the most unsettled and unregulated media industries in Europe. Although the report assessed positively the adoption of the Broadcast Act, Telecommunications Act and Free Access to Information of Public Importance Act, it also pointed to the flaws in implementation. The Government refused to radically transform the media sphere by implementing the regulations, while the media empires that had emerged during the former authoritarian regime, have preserved their position on the market. According to the report, television is the most influential media in Serbia, whereas the print media market is among the most underdeveloped in Europe. Press circulation is among the lowest in Europe with fewer than 100 copies per 1,000 inhabitants. The report also assessed that the Serbian Government was hindering the transformation of RTS into a public service, often calling it ‘national television’. In practice, this means State television by another name. The financial consolidation of RTS is one of the major issues that cannot be postponed; however, the subscription has not yet been introduced even after three years of adoption of the Broadcast Act. Another highly problematic issue recognized in this report is the delay in privatisation of state-owned local and regional media. Parliament and the Government are urged to undertake a review and reform of national media legislation to ensure its full compliance with EU standards, particularly after the start in negotiating a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union.