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Slobodan Cvejić, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and recently elected member of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media
The day before yesterday, the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) made the decision to initiate a process against the owner of Pink TV, due to the blood ozonation scenes in the “live” program.
Photo: Media CenterThe additional result will be seen after the convening of the ordinary session, in which the other party must come and declare about it, after which the Council will discuss and make a decision. This is not my position, I think a lot has been achieved with this too. The initiation of the procedure will gain importance only if a measure is imposed against TV Pink. And such decisions depend largely on the composition of the Council and the attitudes of its members, says Professor Slobodan Cvejić, one of REM’s newly elected members, for Danas.
These days, he, along with his colleague Judita Popović, supported the civil initiative to amend the Electronic Media Law, which envisages restricting the transmission of reality shows on national frequency televisions.
The proposal contains a request to limit the broadcast of reality shows to the period of 11 pm to 6 am and three hours during the day. Although both Cvejić and Popović supported that proposal, they themselves submitted a request that the broadcast schedule be only at night, from 11pm to 6am, because, as he says, those three hours during the day are also unnecessary.
– I am not in favor of completely abolishing that type of program, you cannot abolish the reality show that exists in all parts of the world, but for 40 years as a type of program. At the same time, REM does not have the role of a censor, he should only be the protector of the public interest, adds Cvejić.
It claims that REM has sufficient legal powers to be able to regulate this matter.
– Since 2015, there is a recommendation for broadcasters of reality shows, but it is not binding, and our request was to convert the recommendation into a rule book, so that measures could be imposed on it, says Cvejić.
As he explains, REM can issue a warning, which is not posted anywhere and in fact has no implications, then a warning is logged. If the same violation is committed in a short period of time, withdraw the following sanction, which is the prohibition of broadcast programs and the final revocation of the license. As Cvejić concludes from that, REM can be said to have great power. However, the number of warnings issued is extremely small, and it is difficult for that body to decide on more severe sanctions.
– You remember that there were reports last year due to the act of oral sex on a reality show. It’s one of the rare situations where REM did something about it, issued a warning, and that’s the mildest possible act. And there are people who proposed to be members of the Council, for example, the Association for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, representatives of religious communities, associations of journalists … And all together they made that decision. So every next situation and start of the procedure is uncertain, says Cvejić.
However, it does not consider that the members of the Council, despite such decisions, are under political pressure.
There is no political pressure, but there is influence. He recognized himself through self-censorship, the fact that someone recognizes the overlap between his personal interests and the interests of some political option, Cvejić says. However, he adds that in the current composition of REM, there are conditions to develop the capacity and the will to stand in the way of some negative phenomena and violations of the law.
However, it emphasizes that the existing legal framework already largely regulates the behavior and obligations of broadcasting organizations.
– REM exercises public authority in the field of protection of public interests in the field of electronic media and the protection of users of electronic media services. Therefore, we have the authority to protect the public interest and to protect viewers. In this sense, the key document is the Electronic Media Law, and other laws related to advertising, public media service and the like are also relevant. By law, REM has the right to enact statutes as recommendations and regulations. Special areas are regulated in that way, but many things can be regulated by the law itself. In essence, the law primarily protects the interests of children and takes their development into account. Certain articles establish more detailed rules related to the content of the program in relation to the protection of the dignity of people with other personal rights, the protection of minors and the prohibition of hate speech. Pursuant to Article 47 of the Electronic Media Law, the media service provider is obligated not to provide program content that emphasizes and supports drug addiction, violence, criminal behavior, and other unlawful behavior, as well as content that abuses the credulity of viewers. Article 50 obliges to respect human rights, 52 prohibits hate speech. This means that there are already enough elements to ban the way that participants in these programs communicate, even if there is no REM recommendation, says Cvejić.
The election campaign is a major concern
As Professor Slobodan Cvejić states, with the renewal of the electoral process, the campaign will be REM’s main concern in the coming month.
In his future work, Cvejic says, he will insist on limiting reality shows, a fair electoral campaign, the introduction of more cultural programs, as well as greater transparency in the work of the regulatory body, which refers to giving reasons for decisions and statements. most frequent public. it was more visible what and why REM works.
– If something breaks in those nine people who sit on the Council, and if they conclude that the public interest has not been disturbed by some act of violence or vulgarity, it is a kind of reflection of the situation in our current society. I can’t stand it. While I am there, I will try not to, and it has nothing to do with political orientation or self-interest. As a free intellectual, as a citizen, I don’t want that culture to develop and for there to be no dialogue. Look at the state of conflict we have fallen into because the divisions are only being forced. And the problem will not be solved by means that support the government and the so-called opposition media. And what does that mean? The media should develop objective reports and dialogue, emphasizes Cvejic.
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