REM Head: Media Obligated to Equally, Objectively Represent All Election Participants

REM (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The newly-elected council president of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), Stevica Smederevac, said on Sept. 23 that all participants of the Oct. 25 snap parliamentary elections must have space to express their views and underscored that the media are obligated to present these opinions equally and fairly during the campaign period.

Now that the Authority has appointed a council president, the institution will be able to pass decisions which will be announced to the public, Smedervac explained and added that he expects all council members to act and approach their jobs responsibly.

“This moment in time is extremely politically complex. The campaign is in full-swing so the council and [REM] services have a huge job to do. The services are operating according to customary and long-standing protocols with regards to election cycles and the council is debating which broadcasters should be monitored,” Smederevac told the RTS public broadcasting service.

According to him, during the campaign period, the REM will monitor broadcasters 24/7, as it has done during past elections, and no radio or TV media providers will be exempt from the Authority’s oversight.

“The basic tenet is for the entire process to unfold democratically, that all election participants have the right to space to express their views and address the public, that the media provide equal, balanced and objective coverage of those views, without favoring or attacking [anyone]. In other words, everything that the Law on Digital Media prescribes,” Semederevac concluded.