14. 03. 2005

MASSARI URGES MEDIA PRIVATIZATION

BELGRADE, March 14, 2005 – Chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Serbia-Montenegro mission, Mauricio Massari, is urging the Serbian government to privatize local media corporations in accordance with the law. Massari said that further postponement of the full implementation of the Broadcast Act, which was adopted in 2002, is halting the expected process of privatization of the local and regional electronic media, making them susceptible to political influences. The OSCE mission chief added that his office has urged the government to dedicate itself to implementing this process and end the prolonging of state ownership of these media groups by prolonging the deadlines for the privatization of these companies.