The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic has congratulated 3rd May, World Media Freedom Day, to the presidents of Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, the Association of Journalists of Serbia and the Independent Association of Vojvodina Journalists. In his praise of their work and wishes for future success, the Commissioner highlighted that this date is also an opportunity to remember the significance of media freedom and the obligations of authorities in democratic society in relation to that.
In that context Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner, has stated the following:
„We cannot be satisfied with effects of what has legally been done to create conditions necessary for the journalists and the media to perform their extremely important function in a way far more appropriate to the standards and necessities of a democratic society.
In exercising rights under the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, journalists and the media often face problems which are almost absurd. More and more of their complaints to the Commissioner for Information indicate that authorities withhold information which is to be made available to the public under the law and all criteria of democratic society without any special request. Information is denied without any explanation or with ‘'reasons'' whose legitimacy is very problematic to say the least. It is very indicative that, although it is quite evident that constitutional and legal rights of the media are thus being flagrantly violated, even after four years of implementation, these laws or some mechanisms, necessary for enforcement of these rights or punishing those ignoring or violating them, are still not functioning or functioning pro forma.
Simultaneously, the process of authorities' withdrawal from media ownership structures is considerably slowed down, brought almost to a standstill, especially in electronic media. We have been missing rightfully expected results on uncovering acters responsible for even the most brutal attacks on safety and lives of journalists for years. Media representatives are often faced with authorities' scorn, depreciation and discrimination, and which is even worse - vulgarity and brutality. The above mentioned and similar facts do not need a comment, as they speak for themselves. They confirm that there is a great discrepancy between the real and publicly proclaimed authorities' attitude towards rights, role and importance of the media. It should be changed unconditionally and overall process of our society' democratization will significantly depend on the quality and the speed of these changes.''
