Olivera Zekic, spokesperson for Serbia’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), said that REM has no direct connection to Serbia’s public broadcasters – the Serbian state TV (RTS) and Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) – adding she hopes the Parliament will not bow to pressure and call a new public competition for appointing members to the REM Council, but will instead complete the current selection process.
“We operate under the Law on Electronic Media, while RTS and RTV operate under a separate Law on Public Broadcasters,” Zekic told the pro-regime Pink TV on Sunday. She noted that although public broadcasters are subject to REM’s oversight, the regulator does not grant or revoke their broadcasting licenses.
Zekic said that Serbian students have no authority to make what she called “two little demands”: to initiate a new selection process for the REM Council or to shut down RTS.
“I hope the Parliament won’t cave to the students’ insane pressure,” she said, insisting that the Parliament will not initiate a new process, but complete the ongoing one by voting on the remaining candidates.
She also pointed out that throughout the student-led RTS blockade, which began on April 14, there has been no public statement from Dragan Bujocevic, the general director of the public broadcaster.
Zekic claimed that RTS is a “media Pentagon,” equipped to broadcast from virtually any location.
“The only real demand here is for (Serbian President) Aleksandar Vucic to step down from power — they just can’t quite say it out loud, so they keep beating around the bush,” she said.
Students blocked access to RTS and RTV buildings in Belgrade and Novi Sad on April 14. The blockade of the RTV building in Novi Sad lasted 24 hours, while the blockade of RTS buildings in downtown Belgrade and the Kosutnjak neighborhood is ongoing. Protesters say the blockade will continue until a new public call is issued for the appointment of members to the REM Council, or until the public broadcaster is shut down.
Source: N1
