22. 11. 2005

ROUND TABLE ON PRIVATISATION OF MEDIA

BELGRADE, November 22, 2005 – 14 state-owned print media companies will get new owners by April next year. However, in experts’ opinion, the obstructions in the process of privatisation of media were mainly created by local authorities, unable to give up their control over the media. 141 state-owned local newspapers, radio and TV stations should be privatized in the period of the next two years. OSCE representatives and the US Ambassador Michael Polt stated the process of privatisation should develop much faster, because that was the only way of ensuring objective information to the citizens. “It is important to conclude the process in a short period of time. To be honest, even if the deadline for privatisation had been yesterday, it would not have been soon enough. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Act has been postponed until the end of 2007. That’s not a good progress; the deadline should be much shorter.” Expert for media and lawyer Nebojsa Samardzic said all key legislations for privatisation of media have been adopted, but the process itself would not run so smoothly: “Local media are under control of the local self-governments, which appoint and dismiss editors. That’s how they get the power, which is appealing and hard to give up on. Journalists also have fear of changes. Until now, they were on the budget and had some income.” Dragan Bosiljkic from the Privatisation Agency said the print media were the first to get new owners. “Those are regional newspapers, with high circulation, that attracted foreign investors, like Niske newspapers, Pancevac, Suboticke, Somborske…” Privatisation of media should be overlooked by the Broadcast Agency Council in order to prevent the selective privatisation of media when they enter the competition for local or regional frequency allocation. Citizens can get the news in 1500 ways, which is in fact the total number of newspapers, radio and TV stations in Serbia.