Media laws are not in line with Constitution, EU standards

BELGRADE - The set of media laws adopted last year is not in line with Serbia's Constitution and European standards, it is rather a consequence of political, financial and media lobbying led by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), Dragana Cabarkapa, president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia, said on Tuesday.

The claim that the government needs to withdraw from the media ownership is a deception, Cabarkapa said, adding that this is not the case in all European countries and that certain provisions of the media laws contradict European standards.

A question arises why the International Radio Serbia with programs in 12 languages is being closed down, when all countries in Europe have their own international radio stations, Cabarkapa said.

She said at a forum organized by the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia (ASNS) that the law envisages that offshore companies can be the owners of the media, which means that the media ownership will remain nontransparent and this goes against European standards.

Photo TANJUG/Z. Zestic, ilustration