“He who controls the media controls the mind”. This catchy quote is from Noam Chomsky, a US professor and intellectual, renowned linguist and social critic. It well describes life in Serbia nowadays. At stake in Serbia today is the independence of the Regulatory Agency for Electronic Media (REM), specifically its Council, which is in the process of re-appointment and whose members are to be selected by the Parliament.
Surveys indicate that more than 60% of Serbian citizens are informed through television, and that broadcasters with national coverage have a major impact on shaping public opinion.
This is the reason why an independent and professional regulatory agency for electronic media is so vital for freedom of information in Serbia. And this is precisely where the problem lies: The Regulatory Agency for Electronic Media (REM) is neither politically independent, nor professionally competent.
With the latest and ongoing developments in the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information, since mid-December 2024, there is little to no hope that things will improve.
“It’s logical that we [the Serbian Progressive Party] will have a crucial influence. One day when you win power, you will again have a crucial impact on the Members of the REM Council”, said Dušan Marić, a member of the ruling party, the Serbian Progressive Party, during a session of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information on 21 December 2024. At this meeting, the nominated candidates for the composition of the Council of REM were discussed.
What REM should stand for
The regulatory agency should be an independent regulatory body that ensures compliance with media laws and upholds the quality, integrity and diversity of electronic media services in the country. The Council of REM assigns frequencies for national coverage, but perhaps even more importantly, monitors and enforces electronic media compliance with applicable legislation –specifically, the Law on Electronic Media.
In reality, REM is an institution that does not fulfill its mandate to regulate. REM’s lack of independence has been criticised in multiple international and national reports, also in the European Commission annual country reports for Serbia. Furthermore, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), has in two recent election observation’ reports underlined the need for REM to be reformed and to be politically independent.
Far beyond the media realm, REM is seen to be one of the key concerns for democratic elections in Serbia. Appointment of new members of the REM Council was agreed in the government Media Reform Strategy and more recently in the revised Law on Electronic Media that was adopted in October 2023. These steps were also part of a government commitment to harmonise media legislation with European standards and fulfill the recommendations of the ODIHR election observation mission.
However, during the second half of December 2024, we have witnessed how these commitments are being manipulated by the ruling political party, the Serbian Progressive Party, which has a majority in the Parliament.
Nominations were a travesty
REM Council members are nominated by organisations from nine important social spheres, encompassing electronic media, journalists’ associations, universities, religious communities, national minorities, film, stage and drama, and independent institutions. The nominations are then put before the Serbian Parliament, which has the final word and appoints nine personas from among those nominated.
Despite all their well-founded skepticism, credible journalists’ and media organisations participated constructively throughout the process of drafting new media legislation and the current process on nominating credible persons for REM Council.
These organisations nominated suitable candidates, who fulfilled the criteria specified in the Law on Electronic Media and submitted the lists of names to the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information. At the Committee session, held on 21 December, members from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party insulted some of the nominated candidates, calling them “anti-Serbs”.
In the same session, there was a veritable flood of nominations from “parallel proposers” from government-sponsored non-governmental organisations, known as Gongo organisations.
Among these were some completely unknown journalists’ associations, of whom no one had ever heard, organisations without websites, or websites without updates for years. For many, nothing could even be found through searches on the Internet. Their participation in the process, under the pretense of “inclusion and democracy”, is hypocritical at best, farcical at worst.
Phantom organisations, which “otherwise, have a purpose of sucking money for party purposes, in this case, are the organisations with which to suck up the meaning,” of the entire process, alleged Zoran Lutovac, a member of the Parliament for the Democratic Party.
The Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance proposed a candidate, but submitted documentation with the wrong name.
Several proposed candidates are in clear conflict of interest and do not meet the criteria set by the law.
“Their candidacies and potential selection for REM Council is a built-in system error that will constantly undermine the legitimacy of the future decisions of the Council”, says Sasa Mirković, media consultant and a candidate for the REM Council nominated by the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.
“We have a situation,” observes Nemanja Nenadić, the Program Director of Transparency Serbia, that the Parliamentary Committee established a list of candidates that “confirmed the very argumentative suspicions that some of the candidates do not meet the legal requirements.”
“Candidates are people who celebrate the government at every step, even those who composed songs in the glory of Vučić (President of Serbia) and the editors of the Serbian Progressive Party’s outlets, those whom Vučić gave awards to, those who celebrated Milošević in the 1990s. They literally do not find any experts who show at least the illusion of some objectivity. With such experts, canopies are falling on our heads. With these ones, the entire media system is to collapse on the public of Serbia and continue their poisoning,” says Perica Gunjić, editor-in-chief of Cenzolovka, an online media that reports on media freedom issues and is part of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation.
Frequencies of parallel reality
In 2022, REM awarded four national frequencies with national coverage for eight years exclusively to the media that support Serbian government policy. Some of these television stations broadcast reality programs that abound in violence. In some, ever-present guests are persons convicted of war crimes, who in their “presentations” relativize the past and constantly attack democratic values.
The General Secretary of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), Tamara Filipović Stevanović, indicated that more than 60% of Serbia citizens inform themselves through television. It means that broadcasters with national coverage have a major impact on shaping public opinion.
For years, citizens of Serbia have been seeking the abolition of reality shows that promote violence. Primarily, pointing the finger towards privately owned national radio station and TV channel Pink. Six years ago, the civil society-led initiative “On behalf of Culture” submitted to the Parliament a request with 113,459 signatures that demanded regulation of such problematic reality shows.
The REM management, precisely due to public pressure, prepared a rulebook that would limit the duration of live reality shows. Even so, the REM Council rejected the rulebook, without any explanation.
In May 2023, there were two mass shootings in Serbia, where 19 people, mostly children, were killed. Mass protests erupted across the country under the motto “Serbia against violence”. From the very first demonstration, citizens demanded a change of the REM Council, as well as a ban on reality shows that promote a culture of violence, and ultimately normalise violence, not the least against women.
Reality shows in Serbia often include convicted criminals and thugs and broadcast scenes of verbal and physical violence, particularly against women participants.
“If the REM Council doesn’t change, citizens will continue to live in parallel reality, be exposed to violence, misinformation and deceived into making decisions based on the lies they are presented to them”, notes NUNS Secretary General Tamara Filipović Stevanović.
“For example, they will not vaccinate their children, so they will get smallpox. The children will be exposed to violent content, and they will risk developing such behavioral patterns too. Citizens have understood how important this is, and as they said clearly, recognise the REM Council as a culprit for the tragedies that have occurred to us in May 2023”, she adds.
Meaning of media freedoms
During the enactment of the Law on Electronic Media in Serbia, which was passed on 26 October 2023, the government resisted the demands of media associations and non-governmental organisations dissatisfied with the work of the REM.
The Media Freedom Coalition, which is made up of journalists’ and media associations and press freedom organisations, tried to introduce a provision in the law which would provide civic and court procedures following complaints against the REM from citizens and organisations. However, the proposal was not even taken into consideration.
And now, in the Parliament, we witness a complete unmasking showing the true nature of the powers that be.
Perica Gunjić, editor-in-chief of the online media Cenzolovka, is clear. “No substantial changes or recommendations of ODIHR, OSCE and other international organisations will be met. Despite the fact that there are several high-quality candidates proposed by prominent associations and organisations, which can guarantee their expertise, I do not see that any of them, even under pressure from the international community, will pass. They [the Serbian Progressive Party] can have a majority in the Council of REM”.
Waiting for the session of the Serbian Parliament to decide on the final composition of the REM Council is like watching our worst nightmare. We are nearing the end of a long struggle for the creation of a credible and independent regulatory authority for electronic media in Serbia.
The media community participated constructively, only to see the process captured and undermined.
“I’m losing my religion”, sang the American music band R.E.M, explaining the state of being desperate. In Serbia, so are we. With our REM, in our own way.
This article has been written by investigative journalist Jelena L. Petković. She has been working for many years on combating impunity for crimes against journalists and has over many years conducted research into the killing and disappearance of journalists in Kosovo. She has conducted interviews with more than 200 interlocutors: relatives, colleagues, acquaintances and members of international missions, disclosing new information on the disappearances and killings.
Source: IFJ