Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Importance of dialogue, building trust in preparation of media strategy

Novi Sad, 17 December 2018

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia Ambassador Andrea Orizio opened a professional debate regarding the preparation of a new media strategy, which is held today and tomorrow in Novi Sad.

The strategy of development of the public information system in the Republic of Serbia is a document that should provide a framework for the future development of the overall media scene in our country.

Brnabic thanked all members of the Working Group and international partners involved in the development of the media strategy and pointed out that at the moment when this body was formed, a clear intention was confirmed that this process be fully inclusive and that, therefore, the Working Group equally include representatives of the state, and the media and journalist associations.

I believe that the most important element of this process that we started together is dialogue and the strengthening of trust. The government has shown openness, political will and good intention to work together on solving problems on the media scene about which nobody has talked for years, Brnabic underlined.

She noted that for the Serbian government this is not a topic that is important only because of the European path, but because media reform and media freedom are important for our society.

Once it is adopted, the media strategy will inevitably bring about change, and it is important that we all be ready to accept them, because only societies that accept change go ahead, the Prime Minister said.

Orizio pointed out that the OSCE Mission has greatly facilitated the process of drafting a new media strategy in Serbia, in line with the demands of the state representatives.

The goal of the strategy is to achieve public interest in the field of public information by creating a single regulatory framework, improving the position of the media, the position, status and safety of journalists, protecting media pluralism, strengthening regulatory bodies, improving the information of minority groups, arranging media on new technology platforms, and computer literacy, digitalisation and archiving of media content.

The strategy defines five key objectives: socio-economic and professional status and safety of journalists, competition in the market and economic sustainability of the media, the role of state institutions in the media system, the diversity and quality of media content and digital competence and expertise.

The new media strategy will assess the impact of the Media Strategy for 2011, analyse the current situation in the media sphere and propose measures to achieve these goals. The final version of the document will contain indicators of success, an assessment of the financial impact of work on the strategy and an action plan for the next five years.

The professional debate is taking place in Novi Sad on 17-18 December and gathers over 120 representatives of journalist associations, media, academic institutions, organisations of civil society and others.

Other participants are representatives of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the EU Delegation to Serbia, embassy of Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.