23. 12. 2005

ANEM PROTEST OVER RTS’ THIRD CHANNEL

BELGRADE, December 23, 2005 – The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) protested strongly against attempts by the Serbian Government to undermine the authority of the Broadcast Agency and Telecommunications Agency by guaranteeing a frequency license to investors interested in buying the Third Channel of Radio Television Serbia. Culture and Information Minister Dragan Kojadinovic made the license pledge in a statement issued to TV B92 on December 20. “ANEM reminds the Serbian Government that the issue of broadcast licenses lies solely within the jurisdiction of the Republic Broadcast Agency. The government’s interference in the procedure for issuing licenses damages the agency’s credibility, rides roughshod over the law, contributes to Serbia’s drift away from European standards and, as far as media freedom goes, plunges the country back a decade and a half by reintroducing principles used in Slobodan Milosevic’s 1991 legislation on the state media”, said in the statement. “Just a few months ago the government stood behind Radio Television Serbia, criticizing ANEM for its position that the state media should not be funded by public subscription until its transformation into a public service is complete. These same defenders of the state media are now planning to break the company up and sell parts of it off, thus illegally reducing the funding allocated by law explicitly for the establishment and operation of public services.” ANEM urged the government to respect the legislation in force, to avoid taking any action which would prejudice the long-awaited public competition for broadcast frequency licenses and to refrain from offering preferential terms to potential bidders in that competition.