03. 11. 2004

PARLIAMENT SEEKS PROTECTION FROM MEDIA

BELGRADE, November 3, 2004 (B92) – The Serbian Parliament opened its sitting on Tuesday with discussion on the media and the attitude of journalists to MPs. Democratic Party of Serbia delegate Dragan Sormaz asked Speaker Predrag Markovic to protect the dignity of the parliament from the biased and untruthful reporting on the Parliament Bill in the media. He claimed that media had reported on the bill in a way which gave the impression that it was intended to give MPs pensions and extremely high salaries. Sormaz claimed to have been provoked by an article in daily Glas Javnosti, which reported that he and other members of the parliament had harassed a journalist from the paper, making offensive remarks about the way he was dressed. Because of this, Sormaz demanded protection from the media. Speaking to B92, Sormaz said that there should be censorship of reporting on the parliament in order to prevent malicious comments from “certain centres of power”. He declined to specify just what centres of power are manipulating journalists in this way. “You know very well who I have in mind. You can tell them by their behaviour in other places. Rest assured we will find out who they are – who is working against Serbia, who wants to protect the position or the wealth they acquired during the Milosevic regime under suspicious circumstances and so on. It’s enough to work out the equation and you will know who I’m talking about,” said Sormaz. Parliament Speaker Predrag Markovic also declined to speculate on the financial backers for campaigns such as that described by Sormaz. “I don’t intend to bring charges against journalists, because they are already the victims of those who are supporting the campaign against the parliament,” said Markovic, who also advised MPs that their best defence against such stories is their reputation. “The only way in which deputies can protect themselves is to keep doing their job. This is obviously an orchestrated campaign, because the same lie is being repeated, which can only lead us to believe it is being promulgated from the same source,” said the speaker. MPs who are offended by newspaper articles describing them as greedy agree that the main problem is not parliamentary reporters but the people who are exploiting journalists with sensational headlines.