Influence of the state must be limited!
ExpiredVirgini Juan: Laws regarding media should be respected in Serbia.
Influence of the state must be limited!
BELGRADE - Serbia has exquisite professionals in the field of media, but in order to find itself “shoulder to shoulder” with the other European countries, it is necessary to completely observe all the laws, stated Virgini Juan, Head of the Media Department, OSCE Mission Belgrade.
In the interview to Beta Agency, at the end of her three-year mandate, Juan stated that professionals are an excellent opportunity for the country, but that this is not enough to improve the state of affairs in the media.
Future changes and adoption of new enactments must be implemented in transparent way with consultation of expert public. She has stressed that the state must have a positive role in relation to the media, speaking about establishing the legal framework where media can function in a free and professional way, but at the moment when that happens, when all the obligations and guarantees are clear, but not observed, any state influence should be limited. According to her words, the OSCE Mission has established a very good cooperation with the Minister of Culture and Media, Mr. Dragan Kojadinovic, at the beginning of his mandate in 2004.
Commenting on the transformation of the RTS into public citizens' service, Juan said that no one can expect that process to be completed in few months, because the RTS has many obligations, towards all segments of the society that it has to fulfill. According to her words, inside the RTS big operations are underway, in order to establish new structure, after which change in the program contents shall ensue, and the whole process of transformation shall last for still some time, so that the television would be in a position to justify the fact that it is a public service.
Juan also stated that the privatization of the printed and electronic media in the ownership of the local government, which has also started, would influence regulation of the situation in the media field in Serbia.
Commenting on the cooperation with the Republic Radio-Broadcasting Agency, Juan said that it started successfully. Misunderstandings started after publishing of the tender, we had some objections that we had also publicly stated at that time, stated Juan and reminded that the worry based on the allocation of licenses was at that time also expressed by the professional associations of journalists, broadcasters, as well as by the other international organizations.
In July 2006, according to her words, OSCE was against the method used to pass the changes and amendments to the Law on Broadcasting, considering that public discussion should have been provided for all the Importanceed parties and international institutions, but instead of that, the discussion was omitted, and the changes and amendments appeared as a subject for voting, following urgent procedure.
GOOD LAW ON ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION
Law on Accessibility of Information of Public Importance is very good and there is progress in its implementation, evaluated Virgini Juan, Head of the Media Department for OSCE Mission. She said in her interview to Beta Agency that the implementation of that law represents a challenge, because access to documents that are in the ownership of the state bodies and public services is something completely new in Serbia. Progress in its implementation can be shown by the fact that the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance is successfully resolving around two thirds of the submitted claims .
