Donor: Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute and Open Society Fund
Duration of the project: October 1997 – October 1998
Freedom of expression and information has been the object of a heated public debate in Serbia for many years. Although freedom of the press was formally guaranteed by the Serbian and Yugoslav constitutions and laws, a de facto state monopoly on electronic and printed media has been persistently maintained by the ruling political party in Serbia. The state owned Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) was the only broadcasting network which covered the whole territory of Serbia. It has been notorious for its biased reporting and propaganda in favor of the government. It also had a significant role in forging the war on the territory of former Yugoslavia through its war mongering reporting.The position of independent media, especially independent TV and radio stations, was rather insecure. Most of the independent electronic media worked with provisional licenses and had been subject to harassment and even shut down by the authorities. The position of the printed press was somehow better, although it was also subject to serious impediments. At the same time, the position of individuals whose rights and interests have been violated by the press was rather insecure. State authorities invoked freedom of expression as an excuse not to react on libel, defamation and harassment by the media. On the other hand, independent press had been repeatedly prosecuted for alleged defamation of top state officials.
As the need for securing the freedom of media has been emphasized in the report of Mr. Felipe Gonzalez, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Serbian Government proposed a draft media law in spring of 1997. The draft has been much criticized by media experts and the legal community as well as by all political parties of the democratic opposition. In that situation, a group of lawyers affiliated with the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, decided to respond to that situation by producing a model media law which was offered to the public as an alternative to the media law proposed by Serbian government.
The BCHR model media law incorporated the highest standards of protection of freedom of expression and information as developed in jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and other international human rights bodies. It also provided sufficient protection to the individuals whose rights and interests may be violated by media. At the end of the project research Model Media Law was produced and the book “Pravo medija“ was published. The book was used for the further education of journalists in their rights and professional standards.
