Serbian Ombudmsan: Media still under Influence of Politics and Money

Serbian Ombudsman Saša Janković assessed in the 2015 annual report [submitted to the National Parliament on 15 March 2016] that the implementation of three reform laws in the media sphere  has not strengthened media freedom and the citizens’ right to complete, objective and timely information. He also assessed that the media are still under the influence of the connection between politics and money, merely coated in the legal form of financing programming content and advertising.

Expectations that the withdrawal of the state from the media ownership and competition-based financing of content in the public interest from budgets of municipalities, cities, the autonomous province and the republic, defined by new media laws, would significantly influence the protection of public interest in the information sphere, have been largely rendered meaningless by the manner in which the laws have been implemented.

There is no real transparency of ownership. If one is to judge by the structure of new media owners, the conclusion is that Serbia replaced state-owned media by party-owned media, states the regular annual Ombudsman’s report for 2015.

The report adds that the start of the state withdrawal from media ownership was four months late due to the obstruction of public media companies and it reminds that the state news agency Tanjug, which did not find a buyer in the privatization process, is closed by the Government decision, yet it continues to operate, use the building, state insignia and other resources.

“The state placed Politika AD on the list of 17 strategic public enterprises and thus froze its status. Company Novosti, where the state is a minority owner, has not been mentioned in the privatization process”, the report states.

The report assesses that the two media calls [for co-financing content in the public interest]of the Ministry of Culture and Information in 2015 were implemented generally successfully, unlike the calls of local self-autonomies.

“The majority in the evaluation committees is comprised of representatives of journalists’ and media associations. However, conflicts of interest and violation and abuse of procedures are more prominent at the local level.  In several cases (for instance, Studio B [Belgrade city television]) the competitions returned to the new owners a significant portion of money they had used for buying media from the state”, the Ombudsman points out.

The report states that the regulatory body for electronic media is a scene of media-related, commercial and political interests and that the Council, its governing body, is not complete. “The public reasonably expects that the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) reacts more strongly and uses its competencies more actively regarding obvious breaches of the Law on Electronic Media, journalists’ code of ethics and advertising rules”, the report assesses.

The number of physical assaults and other pressures on journalists was on the rise again in 2015, and the registry featured on the website of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) shows that there were 38 such attacks in 2015, while there were 23 in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The cases of murders of journalists from the past were not resolved, neither were several physical assaults on journalists.

“The ruling party issued an official statement accusing the editor of the public service broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia for “brutal political meddling” in investigative procedures, after a tabloid carried her statement that “it would be reasonable that the police calls for informative talks editors of TV Pink and Informer [a tabloid, perceived to be pro-government], and not only management of Kurir [a tabloid perceived to be pro-opposition]”, the report states.

The Ombudsman reminded in his report that, according to the well-established order, “insulting and aggressive” front pages ensued in pro-government media, malicious content was aired on pro-government TV stations and “obviously orchestrated verbal persecution” (insults, gravest personal disqualifications) in the comments from characteristic accounts on media portals and social networks (so-called bots).

“Such attacks on the personal integrity are obviously organized and deprived of any responsibility. Their immediate or postponed effect is withdrawal of public personalities from social life. The number of experienced journalists left without work and those who left journalism is on the rise. Journalists’ circles note that unknown colleagues have easier access to work than those that had acquired professional reputation, which is all contrary to the logic of free market. Social status of journalists is extremely low”, stated Janković.

The report assesses that there is more freedom in print media and web portals than on TV stations.

“The authorities treat as political opponents those journalists or newsrooms that report on them critically. The authorities also boycott certain media, even the public service. The Republic Government boycotts the Radio Television of Vojvodina [public service broadcaster of the autonomous province of Vojvodina]. Public media space and social networks are a scene of public debate made false by the organized activity of party activists whose task is to artificially promote or degrade a certain idea, activity, organization, institution or personality by massive writing of online comments, tweets, posts, blogs, not refraining from manipulations, lies, insults and threats”, the report states.

The report also reminds that two media outlets – a private television station with national frequency and a tabloid with sizeable circulation, both close to the government, published an authentic document from a psychiatric clinic with information on the medical history of a person that stated grave accusations against political leaders.

“The fight for power by means of tabloids and secret services treads on all legal, ethical and moral norms, and media regulatory mechanisms and democratic civil control do not have resources, authority and real power to stand in the way of this.

Tabloidization of media, society and the state reached its peak with the case of so-called “Coup d’etat” that was prepared, announced and prevented on the pages and in the program of leading pro-government media. It remains to hope that the obvious bizarreness of this tabloid episode will mark the beginning of the end of such sort of manipulation of citizens”, assessed the annual report of the Ombudsman Saša Janković.

 

The Ombudsman 2015 Annual Report in Serbian

Source: Beta News Agency via Cenzolovka.rs

Translation: SEENPM