Novakovic: This is the worst possible proposal to change the law. The state punishes the media that recognizes the Press Council

(Source: Cenzolovka) The proposal for amendments to the Law on Public Information and Media, which makes the position of the media that recognize the competence of the Press Council more difficult in project co-financing competitions, and stimulates the media that do not recognize it and violate the Code of Journalists indefinitely, is the worst so far, and such goes to a public hearing – says Gordana Novaković, Secretary General of the Council

At the very end of the process of amending the Law on Public Information and Media (ZJIM), which has been going on for two years, representatives of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications presented a proposal that completely discourages the role of the Press Council in media competitions for project co-financing of the media.

Namely, on September 1, the Ministry sent to the representatives of the media community a new proposal for amendments to the ZJIM, by which recognition of the competences of the Press Council is not a condition for the participation of print or online media in competitions for project co-financing.

Among the criteria for evaluating projects, however, remained the provision that violations of the code should be taken into account in the past year, but only if the code was violated by media that recognise the competence of the Press Council.

Therefore, according to this bill, media that do not recognize the competence of the Council are privileged and can continue to violate the code as much as they want and at the same time receive money from the budget – since this will not apply to them when it comes to assessing projects.

“This is the worst solution we’ve ever had. This is the complete opposite of what we wanted to achieve by proposing this provision,” said Press Council Secretary General Gordana Novakovic.

“It’s as if someone who writes doesn’t understand what the essence of this provision is. The essence of our proposal was for the state to stop funding media that continuously violate the Code and prevent this by taking into account violations of the Code in the last year,” Novakovic said, pointing out that such a provision already exists in the Rulebook for Project Co-financing of media, but that it should now be included in the law.

Punishment for those who – want to work professionally

Novakovic says the ministry has “practically discriminated against the media” with the new proposal, because those who recognize the Council’s competence are “punished” by it and “will not be able to pass the competition if they violate the Code, and anyone can do it in a year”.

“These others (who do not recognize the jurisdiction of the Council, prim. new) may violate the Code indefinitely, because no information about it will be requested for them. So they are completely unequal,” Novakovic said.

Cenzolovka’s interlocutor believes that this is a “scandalous solution” that “actually directly stimulates financially those media that do not accept either the Code, nor self-regulation, or anything else.”

This proposal of the new Law on Public Information and Media will soon go to public debate, it is expected to be as early as next week.

Gordana Novakovic says that nothing will change in the proposal until then, and what will happen during the public debate – we will see.

She believes that the point of contention in the bill can be regulated simply: by putting it to ask the Press Council for information on violations of the Code “and point”, without continuing that it refers to “the media that have accepted the full competence of the Press Council”.

The intention to discredit the role of the Press Council by amending the law was demonstrated by the state in August, when the process of arranging amendments to the law after a long break continued, about which Cenzolovka previously wrote: for the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, it was a problematic provision according to which the Press Council would be the only self-regulatory body that would be competent to provide data for print and online media on whether they adhere to professional and ethical standards. The Ministry also challenged the provision that stipulates that as a condition for participation in the competition for project co-financing, the media must accept the competence of the Press Council, considering it discriminatory.

Such amendments to the law are in direct contradiction with proposals that the state has agreed with members of the media community during the process. They are also contrary to the views found in the Action Plan for the implementation of the Media Strategy, which the state adopted:

“The amendments to the regulations prescribe as a mandatory criterion compliance with the Code of Journalists of Serbia, for the purpose of using funds through project co-financing, in such a way that print and online media that apply for public funds must accept the competence of the Press Council.”

Author: Danica Đokić