EU Delegation will continue to support media in the area of investigative journalism and strengthening of the media legal framework, the purposes for which it has already allocated 2.5 million euros for the next two years, EU Ambassador to Serbia Michael Davenport told a debate on media held in Arandjelovac.
New Public Information Law envisions public funding of media content of public interest, and the Government and local self-governments are obliged to establish equal rules for anyone applying for public funding, said Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia.
Addressing the participants of the debate on the implementation of media laws, Davenport said that ownership transformation in media should be completed by July 2015, and that the process would fundamentally change the image of Serbian media.
“Until now, the predominant practice in Serbia was to use public funding to finance public companies dealing with pubic information; this was a rather expensive and often politically charged practice,” Davenport said.
According to him, state authorities can now, through public interest projects, finance various programmes that will genuinely meet citizens’ interests.
“Government and local self-governments should undertake decisive measures in order to keep the public interest in the area of information sustained and protected. Citizens are entitled to an objective, neutral and true information, which is the essence of public interest,” Davenport emphasised.
He noted that Serbia experienced a strong commercialisation of media, the television scene in particular, and that some of traditional debate shows were being cancelled and replaced with a more commercial content.
“Even though this practice is not specific only to Serbia, one should bear in mind that public interest must be protected and, to a certain extent, met by commercial broadcasters as well,” Head of the EU Delegation said.
Davenport said he believed that regulatory bodies were obliged to keep citizens’ interests protected and to make sure that a public resource, such as broadcasting frequency, was used in line with principles that guided its assignment.
Media community also bear some responsibility when it comes to proveiding quality and timely information to citizens, Davenport said.
Davenport said that the adoption of three media laws did not mark the end of media strategy implementation, and that preparation of strategy for the development of electronic media was yet to come.
He said that the EU Delegation would provide expert assistance to Regulatory body in charge with electronic media to adopt the Strategy aimed at implementation of the new Law on Electronic Media.
Davenport said that the forthcoming digitalisation would be yet another challenge for broadcasters and would bring some serious novelties to Serbian media scene.
European Union is ready to support development of Serbian media scene, but Serbia should create it first, Davenport said.
The debate was attended by Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac and representatives of regulatory bodies and media associations.
