Ombudsman: Insufficient media freedom

Ombudsman: Insufficient media freedom

BELGRADE -- The media in Serbia are "not free to the extent characteristic of a modern European state and society," Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic has stated in his annual report.

At the same time, he remarked that the adoption of the three media laws "marked a real step forward in normative terms."

The report notes that self-censorship pervades the media industry, while critical reporting was in 2014 labeled as "an indecent anti-state activity that hinders reforms".

The moves that the country's officials are taking and the circumstances in the media market are conducive to self-censorship or tendentious reporting which is detrimental to the right of each and every citizen to be timely, accurately and fully informed about the issues of public importance, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Journalists are frequently exposed to covert or overt threats, and the state did not prove efficient in combating them, the ombudsman said.

In such situations, journalists are forced to choose between their own safety and provision of information of public importance, the release notes.

Jankovic also said that the refusal of the Military Security Agency (VBA) and the Ministry of Defense to provide information they possessed concerning an incident featuring the participation of two members of the military police in Belgrade in September 2014 constituted a violation of the internationally recognized principle of democratic, civilian control of security services and and was a violation of a series of laws.

Speaking about the incident in his annual report, the ombudsman said it was the first case in the ombudsperson's practice in Serbia so far that a government body did not challenge...