The Coalition for Media Freedom once again calls on the Government of Serbia to harmonize the proposals of the draft Law on Public Information and Media and the Law on Electronic Media with the solutions from the Media Strategy.
At yesterday’s meeting with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, the members of the working groups for amending two laws, members of the Coalition, did not get to see the reports from the public hearings, nor the text of the draft of two key media laws on which the Government should decide.
Today’s announcement by the Government of Serbia adds additional confusion into how the final draft of the Law on Electronic Media resolved the issue of authorized proponents of REM (Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media) Council members, i.e. which of the numerous proposals finally found its place in the draft law. We remind that the Coalition publicly expressed its disagreement with the proposal that the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the Protector of Citizens should be separate proponents, and that there can be no question of a compromise in this article of the Law if the Government remained with such a solution.
Yesterday’s meeting with the Prime Minister unequivocally confirmed that the Government does not want to ensure discontinuity in the work of the existing REM Council, even though it was one of the basic requirements of the Coalition and one of the most important measures from the Media Strategy.
When it comes to the position of the Press Council, we received a verbal notification that the decision was adopted, which was declared by the Working Group for amending the Law on Public Information and Media, but until this moment we have not received a draft of the proposed law in order to be sure of this the claim.
Claims from the Government that the articles of both laws, which enabled the return of state ownership of the media, were changed so that they refer only to Telekom Srbija, remain completely unacceptable, considering that they deviate dramatically from the strategic determination of the Republic of Serbia defined back in 2011. and confirmed by the adoption of the 2020 Media Strategy.
Although these three points represent the most significant problems in the drafts of the two laws, there are still a number of provisions whose changes or more precise definition we proposed during the public debate, in order to ensure a fundamental reform of the media sector in Serbia.
Therefore, we believe that it is of crucial importance that the Government of Serbia, before the announced initiation of the emergency procedure for the adoption of these two laws, once again reconsiders its decision to deviate from the Media Strategy, which was agreed upon and confirmed by all interested parties – the media community, as and the Government itself. We remind that the Strategy was welcomed by international actors because it is harmonized with European and other international standards, which is important because Serbia is on the way to the EU.
In the attachment, we submit comments on the Law on Electronic Media and the Law on Public Information and Media submitted by members of the Coalition, CRTA and ANEM.
Amendments to the Law on Electronic Media (in Serbian)
Amendments to the Law on Public Information and Media (in Serbian)
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 Local and Independent Media “Local Press” and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation.
11.10.2023
