Yesterday, REM (Regulatory authority for electronic media) published a short explanation regarding the decision to re-assign national coverage licenses to Pink, Happy, Prva and B92 televisions. The Council of REM came to the conclusion that these broadcasters “will, to a greater extent than other applicants, justify the existence of multiple benefits for viewers in the territory of the entire Republic, primarily through an objective and timely approach to the transmission of information”, it is stated on the website of REM.
REM’s decision, although expected, is certainly worrisome, given the opportunity for the Council to change course and show at least some responsibility in performing tasks within its competences.
It is disappointing that the level of failure to implement the law is so high that it seems that the Council and REM have almost made their existence meaningless, given the decisions they make and the numerous failures to act.
The oversight of not taking into account the numerous violations, the warnings and punishments of the broadcasters to whom the frequencies were reassigned, speaks not only of the lack of quality and ignorance, but also of the clear influence of other parties on their decisions.
Also, it seems that the members of the Council do not think about their own responsibility for the decisions in which they participate, so considering their far-reaching negative consequences, in this sense, one should think about considering the individual responsibility for such actions carried by the membership of the REM Council. To make the paradox even bigger, numerous irregularities were determined precisely by the expert services of REM, and the Council simply skipped over all of it.
REM only apparently showed that it was acting in accordance with the procedures, and it is clear that the competition essentially represented some kind of deception and an attempt to show that it was acting openly and according to the law, and essentially it was shown that it is fine to break the laws and that for that you can be adequately rewarded.
The Coalition for Media Freedom consists of the Association of Media, the Association of Online Media (AOM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of the Association of Local and Independent Media “Local Press” and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation.
August 6, 2022