Culture And Media
Serbia: Parliament postpones vote on media censorship bill
Belgrade, 31 July (AKI) – The Serbian parliament on Friday postponed a vote on a controversial media censorship bill which has drawn criticism from the public and protests from media and professional associations.Parliament speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic delayed a vote on the bill until 31 August, after the summer recess, purportedly to allow refurbishment of the parliament building.
The bill introduces draconian fines and possible closure of news organisations which publish "slanderous" allegations about politicians and other public figures before they have been convicted by a court of law.
Even Serbia's ruling coalition was split over the bill, which was tabled by economy minister Mladjan Dinkic and his G-17 Plus party, a key coalition partner in the government of prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic, headed by president Boris Tadic’s centre-left Democratic Party.
Dinkic has for months been under attack by independent media for alleged corruption, shady privatisation deals and political wheeling and dealing.
Political analysts said the bill aimed to target Belgrade tabloid Kurir, which has been in the forefront of attacks on Dinkic, but the entire media would be muzzled as a result.
Opposition leaders claimed it was clear the government couldn’t muster a majority in the parliament and was on the verge of collapse.
Dinkic has threatened to obstruct other bills being examined by the parliament if it does not pass the planned media law.
Serbian journalists' association president Ljiljana Smajlovic, of the planned law was a “scandalous” proposal that would be “an atomic bomb dropped by the government on the media”.
"The law would protect the government from the public, instead of the other way around,” she said, drawing parallels with media controls in the central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
A prominent Belgrade analyst, Slobodan Antonic, agreed. “This is not the law of a free, democratic society, it’s a law of an authoritarian, oligarchic and repressive regime,” he said.
The bill introduces draconian fines and possible closure of news organisations which publish "slanderous" allegations about politicians and other public figures before they have been convicted by a court of law.
Even Serbia's ruling coalition was split over the bill, which was tabled by economy minister Mladjan Dinkic and his G-17 Plus party, a key coalition partner in the government of prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic, headed by president Boris Tadic’s centre-left Democratic Party.
Dinkic has for months been under attack by independent media for alleged corruption, shady privatisation deals and political wheeling and dealing.
Political analysts said the bill aimed to target Belgrade tabloid Kurir, which has been in the forefront of attacks on Dinkic, but the entire media would be muzzled as a result.
Opposition leaders claimed it was clear the government couldn’t muster a majority in the parliament and was on the verge of collapse.
Dinkic has threatened to obstruct other bills being examined by the parliament if it does not pass the planned media law.
Serbian journalists' association president Ljiljana Smajlovic, of the planned law was a “scandalous” proposal that would be “an atomic bomb dropped by the government on the media”.
"The law would protect the government from the public, instead of the other way around,” she said, drawing parallels with media controls in the central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
A prominent Belgrade analyst, Slobodan Antonic, agreed. “This is not the law of a free, democratic society, it’s a law of an authoritarian, oligarchic and repressive regime,” he said.
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