The EU-Serbia Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) Belgrade meeting declaration welcomed the initiative by United Media and N1 management and editorial teams to secure a management-buyout of their media outlets from United Group under market conditions.
It called credible external investors to support this process in order to safeguard editorial independence, media pluralism and resilience amid political pressure. It called on all parties to respect the independence of media outlets and to refrain from any measures that could compromise their autonomy and recommended regulatory safeguards to prevent conflict of interest between media owners and politicians.
The JCC expressed concern over the Serbian government’s involvement in relations between the state-controlled Telekom Serbia and United Media, warning that it could undermine editorial independence and presented a serious threat to media pluralism in Serbia.
Source: N1
