07. 09. 2006

GOVERNMENT’S INFLUENCE OVER MEDIA

BELGRADE, Septemeber 7, 2006 (FoNet, Beta) - “Republika” monthly reports that the situation in the media is even more confusing than during Milošević’s reign. “While we knew which were the pro-regime media back then, and which ones fought against his destructive policies and ideology, today the situation is confusing”, Ivan Torov, analyst, writes. He believes the critical and independent media ranks are dwindling, while the number of the media outlets that put their professional engagement in the service of the new interpretations of the national interests is growing. “The media are held in a permanent state of uncertainty, and in this way they become susceptible to seeking shelter from government’s wrath in adjusting to the old, now the ruling national and ideological platform of the collective”, Torov writes. “Today, there is the dominant government’s influence on most dailies and weeklies, control and surveillance of almost all radio and television stations, and crude meddling in ownership issues concerning the big media houses. There is the dominant “democratic nationalism”, renewed xenophobia, primitive yellow journalism, where the rules of the game are set by the mighty tycoons, government and security agencies, rather than by professional standards and ethics”, Torov warns. The affairs related to the Broadcasting Agency’s decisions in allocating broadcasting licenses are the most reliable indicator of the ruthless partisan and ideological battle for conquering the media. “Even if we put aside, to say the very least, dubious decisions the Agency has made, the arrogance, aggression and the thuggish behavior of the Agency members and their allies in the government’s executive branch, clearly indicate that the governing elite wishes to impose full control over the electronic media”, Torov believes. Should the government, despite the protests, persist with adopting the Broadcasting law amendments, it is not difficult to discern that the government has a new role in mind for the Broadcasting Agency: that of an omnipotent control center, imposing a unique brand of democratic censorship.