31. 10. 2004

ANEM ACCUSES GOVERNMENT OF HOG-TYING COUNCIL

BELGRADE, October 31, 2004 (Beta) - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) believes that the situation surrounding the appointment of members to the Broadcast Council shows that the government wants full control over media. The chairman of ANEM's Managing Board, Slobodan Stojsic, describes the Broadcast Council as the fulcrum of media regulations. "Lack of independence in the council's operations can lead to problems. This implies that the council will be under the control of the government," he said. Stojsic also expressed concern that Serbia could follow the Bulgarian model in which the Parliament was given the authority to dismiss the Broadcast Council and appoint a new one with a simple majority vote. "If they can change the council, this just means that they can also change the decisions of the dismissed council, such as broadcast license and frequency allocations, which is terrible. You can't allocate a national frequency to a broadcaster and then withdraw the decision a year later," said Stojsic. ANEM withdrew its nominated candidates for the Broadcast Council ten days ago, saying it did not want to take part in a charade and appoint councillors jointly with phantom organisations, which have no legal right to take part in the nomination process. ANEM's decision was supported by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, the Independent Association of Vojvodina Journalists, the Association of Serbian Composers and the Association of Serbian Dramatic Artists.