Project: Monitoring Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship

23Dec2014

VIENNA - Serbia respects freedom of the media and freedom of expression and the Serbian government condemns any attempt to violate these freedoms, Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac stated in the talks with OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic on Tuesday.

In a release, OSCE notes that Mijatovic and Tasovac discussed the plans and priorities in Serbia's forthcoming OSCE chairmanship, as well as issues connected to media freedoms in Serbia and the OSCE region.

It is positive that Serbia's chairmanship next year would pay special attention to media freedoms in the OSCE region and safety of journalists, Mijatovic said.

She noted that Serbia has set up a special commission in charge of investigating murders of journalists, and added that this model could be used in other OSCE members as well.

Tasovac informed Mijatovic about the progress in the investigation concerning hacking attacks on media websites and noted that the Serbian Interior Ministry is actively working with a view to closing all cases of attacks on journalists.

Tasovac and Mijatovic also discussed the recently adopted set of media laws that constitutes the basis for reforms in the public service sector, introduction of digitalisation and withdrawal of the government from media ownership structures, the release states.