13. 08. 2004

Media privatisation guidelines next month

KRALJEVO, August 13, 2004 (Beta) – Serbian Culture Minister Dragan Kojadinovic said today that he expects guidelines on ways of privatising media to be available by early September. "A draft instruction on the privatisation of media has been submitted and is awaiting approval by the Ministries of Justice and Finance," he said. The primary aim of the instructions, said the minister, is to give people who have worked for a long time in media companies a chance to acquire equity in the companies themselves. To this end, he said, banks should find a way of making loans available for media employees so that they are in a better position to compete for the purchase of the company in which they work. “It would be as better solution to have people who have worked diligently and for little money for media companies to be the owners of these companies, rather than letting them go to business people with a lot of money and no knowledge of the industry,” said Kojadinovic. The minister added that agreements with the Labour Ministry are on the way to provide social welfare programs and solutions for the ongoing issue of wages. “We won’t allow journalists to be left without jobs when the privatisation process is over, especially those who have been working in the industry for more than ten years,” said Kojadinovic.