Media bills welcomed, amendments proposed

Media bills welcomed, amendments proposed

BELGRADE -- The set of media bills to be discussed during the current parliament session is in line with the fundamental intentions of the Media strategy.

This was announced by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Center for Advanced Legal Studies (CUPS).

The proponent of the bills has accepted the most significant suggestions of the media community, as well as the need to protect the interests of the citizens, the organizations said in a statement on Tuesday.

Expressing regret that the media bills have been tabled to the parliament by urgent procedure, NUNS and CUPS said that improvements can be made in some segments and that they have tabled amendments to certain provisions to all parliamentary groups.

"We sincerely hope that MPs will show understanding for the proposed amendments and further improve the quality of media laws by adopting them," the NUNS and CUPS said in a statement.

Amendements

Transparency Serbia (TS) proposed amendments to the bill on public information and media intended to provide better insight into media funding sources, and urged Serbian MPs to take these suggestions into consideration.

The amendments to 12 articles of the bill that entered the parliamentary procedure on Wednesday mainly focus on corruption issues.

TS Program Director Nemanja Nenadić told Tanjug that the amendments are designed to ensure transparency of media funding sources and address potential influence over editorial policy.

The amendments are intended to address the potential influence on the editorial policy, stemming not only from the state ownership and funding, but also...