IFEX-ov tjedni izvještaj o medijskoj sceni u Srbiji i Crnoj Gori

23.11.2005.

ANEM WEEKLY MEDIA UPDATE

November 15-22, 2005

THREAT  TO A JOURNALIST

LESKOVAC, November 16, 2005 (Beta) - Journalist and Leskovac correspondent of Belgrade daily "Vecernje Novosti" Daliborka Miljkovic received a phone threat by an unidentified person.
Miljkovic was able to record the caller's number and immediately reported the case to the police.
"Someone was obviously bothered with my last week's reporting on the affairs of granting postgraduate studies scholarships to the municipal high officials and their relatives, social security welfare frauds, building of a new bus station, budget inspection control and few other cases of abuse of office in the municipality", Miljkovic reasoned.

RTV SUBSCRIPTION STARTS IN DECEMBER

BELGRADE, November 17, 2005 (Danas) - The Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) started with distribution of announcements for the RTS subscription fee that would be collected together with the electricity bill as of December.
The distribution of announcements started after the EPS and RTS had signed the agreement on charge of the TV subscription with the electricity bills.
The subscription fee will be a separate heading specified on the electricity bill. The joint bill will also specify the total amount owing, the amount for the number of kilowatt-hours spent and the tax applied.
 The bills will be issued to all owners of electricity meters. However, only those citizens who do not have a TV or radio receiver in their homes and weekend house owners may apply for the exemption from payment of the subscription.
Households, whose members own two or more apartments or weekend houses, will pay the subscription for only one receiver. Legal entities will be charged depending on the number of staff members - 300 dinars per every 20 employees.

Social services and institutions, schools, hospitals and diplomatic and consular missions will also be exempt from the subscription charge.
The consumers will receive their electricity bills with the TV subscription heading during next month.
Although the Electric Power Industry of Serbia was reluctant to agree to such method of subscription charge, it finally decided to accept the government's recommendation. EPS maintained earlier that tying the two bills would result in 7-8 percent collection drop, or around 280 million dinars a month.

FREE PROGRAM FOR DISABLED

BELGRADE, November 17, 2005 (Danas) - Persons with disabilities will be exempt from the TV subscription charge, under the Article 82, Paragraph 1 of the Broadcast Act.
This applies to the households having at least one member with 100 percent invalidity, a member with less then 100 percent of disability with provided day care allowance under the provisions of the specific regulations, or a person with permanent loss of sight or hearing.
To be granted the exemption, a citizen must provide full documentation of the relevant institutions and bodies together with the electricity bill and TV subscription fee.
Beside the required documentation, a citizen must fill out the exemption claim form available at the EPS counters and lodge it to the following address: Radio Television Serbia - RTV subscription, Kneza Viseslava 88, 11030 Belgrade. The form can also be lodged at the local EPS branch office.
RTS assesses the claims and notifies the applicant.

FAKE TV SUBSRIPTION BILLS

BELGRADE, November 17, 2005 (Glas javnosti) - Although the charge of the subscription has been announced to start in December, one Belgrade company reported to have received a phantom TV subscription bill.
 The bill was printed on high quality color paper, with RTS logo and due date November 21.
The subscription is announced to be charged together with the electricity bill, not separately; however this odd bill does not contain the heading for the electricity expenditure nor any information on the Electric Distribution Belgrade or Electric Power Industry of Serbia, a public company in charge of collection of TV subscription.

RTS General Director Aleksandar Tijanic told the Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti that the mysterious "bill" was forged and ought to be taken to the police immediately.
"How is it possible that you, out of all people, get this bill, when you
were the ones writing against the subscription the most", Tijanic wondered.
President of the Association of Serbian Journalists (UNS) Nino Brajovic said the appearance of the mysterious bill only proved the great interest in TV subscription, and it could create a solid ground for politicization and manipulation. According to Brajovic, this should be regarded as a serious problem, not just a prank.
The bill delivered to the daily Glas javnosti contained the RTS bank account details, Tax Identification Number, P.O. Box for RTV subscription in 88 Kneza Viseslava Street in Belgrade and company's identification number. The daily checked the details on the official website of the National Bank of Serbia and confirmed that the account and VAT number indeed belonged to Radio Television Serbia.
No other cases of fake bills being delivered to other companies' addresses were reported, which could mean that the forger might belong to an organized group.
One thing is sure - the fake bills and dispersing of false information must not be regarded as innocent criminal acts, and requires a prompt reaction of the police.

JOURNALIST FINED FOR OUTBURST

ZAGREB, November 18, 2005 (Beta) - Serbia-Montenegro journalist Ilija Males was fined with 3.000 Croatian kunas (450 Euros) for the nationalistic outburst at the soccer game between the two young national selections in Zagreb.
The Croatian police reported yesterday that Males was taken into custody for offensive behavior during the strike up of the Croatian national anthem.
Males, under strong influence of alcohol, was waving with Serbian symbol of three raised fingers and issuing a series of verbal offences from the journalists' box at the football stadium "Radnik" in Velika Gorica.
 The police in Zagreb arrested him and issued him with the "preventive measure of cancellation of visit".
Males was appeared before the judge in Velika Gorica, who ordered him to pay the fine of 3.000 kunas for the violation of the Law on prevention of disorder at sports events. The judge ordered another 560 kunas fine for public disturbance and dishonoring and insulting of a public officer. The overall fine was reduced by 300 kunas for spending the night in jail. Males was also inflicted with the preventive measure of cancellation of stay, with the right to appeal, said the spokesperson of the Zagreb police, Davor Tor.
Males was accredited as the journalist of TV Duga and RTV Melos. After the arrest, Males was tested 2.82 per mill of alcohol concentration in blood stream. The amount of alcohol taken on the way to Velika Gorica was most probably the reason why Males was not in control of his actions.
Males told the judge he could remember raising three fingers, but denied all accusations of having nationalistic outburst and offending a police officer, since, as he stated, did not hate Croatian people, in fact, he was cooperating with many of them rather successfully.

RTS CHARGE UPSETS COMPANIES

BELGRADE, November 18, 2005 (Glas javnosti) - The Belgrade daily Glas javnosti received yesterday a great number of copies of TV subscription bills delivered to numerous legal entities in Serbia, and as many complaints over the telephone.

RTS general director Aleksandar Tijanic confirmed yesterday to the daily that the bills were indeed genuine, not forges. He also said that, under the provisions of the law, the state television had started to charge TV subscription from the legal entities in Serbia.
Just two days ago, when the daily asked Tijanic about the bill which was delivered to a Belgrade company, with RTS logo and VAT number and specified date of payment, November 21, he said it was forged.
However, Tijanic said he had misunderstood the question, thinking he was asked about the subscription bill for the households, and politely referred to the acting director of TV Belgrade Aleksandar Avramovic for further and more precise information.
Avramovic said the TV subscription was envisaged by the Broadcast Act in 2002, and should have started on January 31, 2003. However, the collection of subscription was postponed due to the fact that the Broadcast Agency or the Council had not yet been formed. The real conditions for subscription charge were created with the adoption of the amendments to the Broadcast
Act, enforced on September 3, 2005.
Avramovic explained that there were three categories envisaged to pay TV subscription - households, legal entities with the exception of hotels and motels as specific category, and car owners that have TV receivers in their cars.
The technical conditions for collection of TV subscription from the
companies were met earlier, so we started charging them first", said
Avramovic.
According to Avramovic, the law provides that the national television charges the private entities while the Electric Power Industry of Serbia is authorized to collect the subscription from the households, by the agreement signed with RTS.
TV Smederevo was also delivered a bill which charged them for three TV subscriptions. This television station, which employs 51 people, claims there was no prior notice of the commencement of TV subscription charge.
The daily received claims from several hundred people from Serbia
complaining they had never been informed that the subscription would start earlier than December. They said they expected the subscription would be charged together with the electricity bills.
Some companies, which employ only few people, also received their TV subscription bills. The Belgrade Association of Contractors was charged for the subscription even though there was no TV receiver on the premises.
These unclear provisions thus created a real chaos, which would be onlyintensified with the complaints coming from a large number of companies. Itis still uncertain how the subscription would be collected from the big enterprises and companies such as Oil Company of Serbia and how much they would have to pay.

RTS has already secured funds for this year from the budget, but has also already started to collect TV subscription despite not being transformed into a public service broadcaster. The transformation has been postponed until March, but, as it seems, the subscription has not.
The citizens rightly demand to know what they would be paying - the public service broadcaster of service to them or the television of service to the Government of Serbia.
According to the lawyer Tihomir Konstantinovic, there would be a number of appeals to the Serbian Constitutional Court questioning the legality of the unclear provisions.

TV SUBSCRITPION BILLS IN NIS

NIS, November 18, 2005 (Glas javnosti) - Some companies in Nis also received TV subscription bills.
Private company "Ekopromet" received two identical bills for TV subscription for October, while the same document reached the address of their neighbors, "Najstrejt" company.

"The bill came as a regular mail on November 15. When I opened the envelope and saw the bill, I was surprised at first because I've heard the subscription will be charged together with the electricity bill starting from December 1. It however crossed my mind that some different method of collection would be applied to companies and other legal entities, and I was going to pay the bill. But not before I saw the article in the daily Glas javnosti did I realize that it was all a scam", said Dragana Albijanic, company owner.
Albijanic also mentioned that her neighbor, owner of "Najstrejd" company Stojmen Nasic, also received the same bill.
The TV subscription bill delivered to "Ekopromet" seems like a genuine bill, because it contains all information on RTS account number, logo and VAT number. The obligation is for October, with the payment due date, November 21.
The bill clearly provides information that TV subscription was envisaged by the Article 81, Paragraph 5 of the Broadcast Act. The article stipulates that "hotels and motels pay one subscription for every 10 rooms with TV and radio receivers, while all other legal entities pay one subscription per every 20 members of the staff who are in position to watch TV program".
However, neither "Ekopromet" nor "Najstrejd" have this number of employees.
"We expect this case would be clarified and that the police would take necessary measures to stop these false bills. Who knows how many companies received a similar bill, but there will surely be the ones who would pay it", said Albijanic.

RADIO SREM BACK ON AIR

RUMA, November 19, 2005 (Danas) - Radio Srem from Ruma got back its frequency and resumed its program broadcasting after 12 days of silence.
Frequency of Radio Srem, 102.7 MHz, was usurped by the Belgrade radio station "Radio Three".
After the intervention of the Serbian Telecommunication Agency, Radio Three was ordered to halt the program broadcast within two days. Otherwise, the Agency would be forced to act in line with the provisions of the Telecommunication Act.
Radio Three did not have a regular license required under the provision of the Act, and has been illegally using the frequency of Radio Srem. The radio station was fined with 60.000 dinars for this offence.
"The examination of the license record at the Ministry for Capital
Investments - telecommunication department showed that the Radio Three was not registered and has been working without the proper licenses. Their program was blocking the signal of the Radio Srem from Ruma, so they have been ordered to halt the broadcast. Radio Srem received full support of numerous media, journalists' associations, the Agency, People's Office and others committed to help us resolve our problem. Otherwise, this would only mean solidarity with the banditry in the ether", said director of Radio Srem
Ruma, Zorica Borojevic. 

TV SUBSCRIPTION BEFORE THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

BELGRADE, November 20, 2005 (Glas javnosti) - TV subscription charge (300 dinars per household) should start next month.
The monthly obligations for power expenditure will be increased by that amount. Under the decision of the Serbian Government, the Electric Power Industry of Serbia is assigned to collect the subscription together with the electricity bill.
Lawyer Tihomir Konstantinovic said that the services provided by EPS and RTS were far from the European standards.
"People are loaded with costs and constant inflation. I think the provisions of the subscription charge are illegal and unconstitutional given the fact that RTS has already secured the funds from the budget. I am sure the Constitutional Court will receive many initiatives and requests for constitutionality assessment of the Broadcast Act. It seems everybody in this country wants to solve internal problems at the expense of the citizens", said Konstantinovic.
Union of Serbian pensioners "Nezavisnost" criticized the TV subscription charge, saying that RTS would get the funds for "ironing out" their internal organizational problems.
Pensioners noted that a vast majority of citizens had cable TV, and they would end up paying two TV subscriptions - one national and the other non-national. But they forgot that they had already paid a tax to RTS - as tax payers - through the budget for 2005.
Deadline for RTS transformation into a public service broadcaster has been postponed until March 2006, however, the subscription for the national television will start in December this year.

The Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (NUNS), together with the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), criticized this method of problem solving and threatening citizens with sharp sanctions if they refused to pay the subscription. Both associations agreed that the subscription was a widespread method of financing, but warned of the introduction of the subscription before the RTS transformation into a public service broadcaster.

ROUND TABLE ON PRIVATISATION OF MEDIA

BELGRADE, November 22, 2005 (B92) - 14 state-owned print media companies will get new owners by April next year.
However, in experts' opinion, the obstructions in the process of
privatisation of media were mainly created by local authorities, unable to give up their control over the media.
141 state-owned local newspapers, radio and TV stations should be privatized in the period of the next two years.
OSCE representatives and the US Ambassador Michael Polt stated the process of privatisation should develop much faster, because that was the only way of ensuring objective information to the citizens.
"It is important to conclude the process in a short period of time. To be honest, even if the deadline for privatisation had been yesterday, it would not have been soon enough. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Act has been postponed until the end of 2007. That's not a good progress; the deadline should be much shorter."
Expert for media and lawyer Nebojsa Samardzic said all key legislations for privatisation of media have been adopted, but the process itself would not run so smoothly:
"Local media are under control of the local self-governments, which appoint and dismiss editors. That's how they get the power, which is appealing and hard to give up on. Journalists also have fear of changes. Until now, they were on the budget and had some income."
Dragan Bosiljkic from the Privatisation Agency said the print media were the first to get new owners.
"Those are regional newspapers, with high circulation, that attracted
foreign investors, like Niske newspapers, Pancevac, Suboticke, Somborske."
Privatisation of media should be overlooked by the Broadcast Agency Council in order to prevent the selective privatisation of media when they enter the competition for local or regional frequency allocation.
Citizens can get the news in 1500 ways, which is in fact the total number of newspapers, radio and TV stations in Serbia.

Povratak