Debate: Journalists Must Not Contribute to Divisions in Serbia Caused by Politicians

Rade Veljanovski (BETAPHOTO/MEDIJA CENTAR BEOGRAD/MO)

Serbia's society is deeply divided and polarized but journalists must not contribute to the "digging of trenches" which politicians and other powerful figures have created between parts of the community, said participants in a debate titled Serbia 2030: The Media and Free Elections, held in Belgrade.

NewsMax Adria TV Program Director Slobodan Georgiev said that there were no normal conditions for reporting during the ongoing election campaign because, as he put it, "the media that are under control for the past 10 years have not allowed a conversation on what life is like in Serbia, rather they engage in propaganda."

"The majority of domestic media are engaged in propaganda, especially on public media services and televisions with nationwide coverage. RTS is not doing its job, people who have given in work there," said Georgiev, as quoted by the debate organizers late on March 3.

Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences professor and a member of the Temporary Supervisory Body for media monitoring during the election process, Rade Veljanovski, warned that calls by the media were being increasingly ignored in the entire political spectrum but added that, in that regard, the authorities and the opposition did not have the same responsibility.

"Now we are a month away from elections and for the sake of the citizens we must do everything for those people to appear in the media. Things have gone too far and we must not have the illusion that we will drastically improve the situation in a month. The divisions are social, political, consequently media [divisions], and that cannot be fixed in that period," said Veljanovski.