However, the reporting of the privately-owned TV channels, which become the platforms for promoting the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, is not questioned „because of the ownership, they have the right to support the political option they favour,“ Demostat has added.
It recalled that the owners of televisions with national frequencies are „more or less controversial.“
Demostat added the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that „TV Pink supports the Government because everyone has the right to express their opinion,“ adding that it belonged to „European values“.
The Center said that „Pink and Happy TVs could support whomever they want, but that there was no doubt that those televisions „skillfully use the inertia of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) and often disrespected the Law on Electronic Media“.
Demostat reminds that according to the Law on Electronic Media, the media service provider is obliged to „provide free, truthful, complete and timely information and to respect the rule of the other party, which means that the other party can express itself equally.“
The Center added that the ruling parties’ significant representation is noticeable, especially Vucic’s dominance in the news programs of private televisions with national coverage, with a substantial increase in adverse reporting on opposition parties.
