Journalist associations' concern over media strategy

We bring the statement - signed by the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia, the Independent journalists Association of Vojvodina, the Serbian Media Association, the Association of Independent Electronic Media, the Association Local Press, and the Association of Online Media - in full below:

"From the beginning of the dialogue with the Government of the Republic of Serbia and cooperation on the development of the new Media Strategy, despite the explicit position of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic that there is political will to improve the situation in the media sphere, this has not yet happened in practice.

The situation is becoming increasingly complicated every day and it is badly affecting journalists and the media, media freedom and the right of citizens to be professionally and objectively informed. That is why it is necessary for the authorities in Serbia to quickly and efficiently address the demands of the representatives of the Team for Dialogue, and demonstrate in action the political will to regulate and improve the media scene.

Journalist and media associations have entered into the renewed process of the Media Strategy drafting and dialogue with the government hoping that they can really contribute to the improvement of the media scene, and not to be part of a process that would only be useful for Serbia to obtain better evaluation from international organizations, while the media situation remains the same or deteriorates.

We were open about the fact that these two processes are interdependent and that we will not give legitimacy to the strategic document without solving current problems in parallel, especially having in mind that the process of Media Strategy development is full of problems and...