Media of Serbia

A number of media outlets in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia duly "reported" this development, some for the second time, since they also reported it three years ago.

Most of them quoted Radio Free Europe, RFE, saying that after the movement was registered on April 18, this had drawn negative reactions from the public and prompted the Montenegrin NGO Civil Alliance to request a ban.

A BIRN report on the media in Serbia, presented on Wednesday, emphasises a decline in freedom of expression and media pluralism, citing an absence of social, political and economic conditions conducive to the development of a professional and sustainable media sector.

Members of the "For Media Freedom" organisation were due on Tuesday to meet Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and submit a list of requests and complaints about what they call the worsening situation of the free media sector in the country.

TV N1's news director in Serbia, Jugoslav Cosic, has warned that Serbia's Ministry of Culture and Information is preparing a media strategy that he says could eliminate the presence in the country of CNN's news channel affiliate in the region.

State funding for favoured media outlets, a generally poor economic situation and self-censorship among journalists pose a real threat to objective public information and make the outlook for the Serbian media worse year by year, a BIRN Serbia report entitled "Soft censorship, Changes in media sector - from bad to worst", issued on Thursday, writes.

Protesters gathered in front of the Serbian government building on Monday in the latest in a series of rallies under the slogan "Journalists do not kneel" to demand that the promise to sack Gasic be fulfilled.

The US-based think tank IREX on June 24 presented in Belgrade its annual study on the media situation in 80 countries, stating that Serbia had recorded a downgrade in almost every measured category.

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."

Ombudsman reacts to postponement of B92 program

BELGRADE -- Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic has expressed great concern over the postponement of B92 TV's new investigative program because of fear for the safety of journalists.

The second episode of the Reporter series was due to be broadcast on Monday, but was postponed until further notice.

"Censorship in Serbia is easy to prove" - RWB

BELGRADE -- Executive director of Reporters Without Borders Christian Mihr has said that "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove."

Mihr is one of the authors of the organization's recently published report about media freedom in the world, the Beta agency said.