"Most media not contributing to informing citizens"

"Most media not contributing to informing citizens"

BELGRADE -- Most media content does not serve to "raise the level of general informedness of the Serbian citizens," Miroslav Milicevic said on Wednesday.

The Anti-Corruption Council vice president was addressing a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Information,

According to Miicevic, "the five most significant problems faced by the media system are non-transparency of media ownership and funding, economic influence through the budget, the problem of privatisation of the media and the uncertain status of the public broadcasting service, censorship and self-censorship, as well as tabloidization."

He said that the Council has sent to the government 24 recommendations aimed at improving the media and that he expects them to be adopted and implemented soon.

Speaking about problems on the media scene, Milicevic said that the influence of the political elite on editorial policies persists, including in media with non-transparent ownership and funding.

More than half of the media analyzed have no clearly visible owners, he said, adding that the Council addressed the "perception of censorship" and that it expects this to be examined by the authorities.