The former members of the Council of REM have different interpretations of the Montenegrin media regulators’ decision to limit the broadcasting of Serbian tabloid television programs in which hate speech, denial of national identity and glorification of legally convicted war criminals were observed.
The “blockaders” wish for the death of Aleksandar Vučić and now Ivica Dacić, is the mantra that is played on Pink and Informer televisions. And who are the blockers? Everyone who is against progressive lawlessness – students, professors, journalists, parents of students of the Fifth Belgrade High School…, these are people who are “sick”, “psychiatric cases”, “traitors”, “mercenaries”, “rapists”, “pedophiles”, etc. “Where is the limit of blockade hatred”, asked one of the women in the Informer studio on Thursday morning. “They want us to be gone, for us to disappear,” replies her interlocutor, then utters in disgust: “What kind of people are they!?”
Should programs that spread hate speech in this way be banned in Serbia? “Montenegrin REM” did that and caused numerous reactions in Serbia, from thunderous applause to righteous indignation.
Decision of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services in Montenegro (SAMU) to initiate proceedings against broadcasters from Serbia, i.e. tabloid television TV Informer, TV Pink and TV Prva and limit the broadcasting of the content of those televisions, are interpreted differently by the former members of the Serbian Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM).
SAMU’s analysis showed that in some shows of those televisions, content with elements is present hate speech, denial of national identity and glorification of the legally convicted war criminals.
Popović: Courage of the Montenegrin regulator
Former Council Member of REM Judita Popović tells “Vreme” that she supports the decision of her Montenegrin regulator colleagues.
“It is obvious that the Montenegrin regulators have more courage, dignity and professionalism than the Council of the REM in the last convocation. Of course, I would vote in an identical way. I think that it is brave and rational, the only possible solution,” says Popović.
In her opinion, those media contents are “extremely unprofessional and socially harmful, and in every possible way violate the provisions of the Law on Electronic Media and the Law on Public Information and Media.”
“They do not in any case represent content that should take into account the interest of the public,” Popović believes.
Asked how she interprets the fact that among the content that the Montenegrin regulator found to contain elements of hate speech, there is also a show of an entertaining nature, such as “Christmas veselje”, “Celebration of the Serbian New Year”, Popović says that such shows are consciously conceived in such a way that they mix politics with entertainment.
“This ostracization of politics has only one goal – to promote a bizarre policy that poisons our society, humiliates our country and brings us to a situation of hopelessness and the feeling that we can do nothing more. The regulator in Montenegro gave a clear signal of how we should act if we really want to have a regulator that makes sense. Everything else is just platitudes and generalizations, and a complete relativization of the situation,” concludes Popović.
Vukašinović: Generally against bans
Journalist and publicist Milorad Vukašinović, and a former member of the Council of REM, points out that he is generally against banning the broadcast of content under any ideological or political pretexts, unless they offend public and moral values.
“We are neither a church nor a para-church. There is public morality and if the content of some programs offends public morality, the dignity of the person… But if it comes to ideological criteria and explanations, then I am against bans. I am generally against the banning of television programs unless they have content that calls for terrorism and an attack on the constitutional order, but those are general places. We don’t need a law or REM for that. I guess every person has an idea of what is good and what is bad, what is moral, and what immoral. I think that such a decision is part of the internal political calculations in Montenegro,” says Vukašinović for “Vreme”.
Malešić welcomes the decision, Zekić changed her mind
Journalist Mileva Malešić, who was elected to the Council of REM last year, then together with three other members of that body resigned, says that he welcomes the decision of the Montenegrin regulator.
“Whether we would do the same is a hypothetical question, but there is a lot to do in our country, and that is why the REM Council is not being formed, and politics is not in the interest of that Council being formed,” says Malešić for “Vreme”.
The former president of the Council of REM, Olivera Zekić, despite the initial promise to comment on SAMU’s decision, did not respond to subsequent calls, thus denying the readers of “Vremen” an analysis of matters that she herself had decided on until recently.
What did SAMU notice?
SAMU stated that the procedure includes the shows “Special”, “Special Show”, “New Year’s Eve”, “Christmas Eve”, “Christmas Eve”, “Celebration of the Serbian New Year” and “Info Jutro” on TV Informer, and the shows “Morning” and “Day on Day” on TV Prva.
When it comes to the mentioned shows, TV Informer’s content analysis revealed the presence of narratives that threaten dignity, incite hatred, intolerance and discrimination, and disparage and devalue members of the Montenegrin nationality by denying their national identity and uniqueness.
A continuous pattern of broadcasting program elements has been established which affirmatively portray ideologies and movements associated with crimes in historical armed conflicts, glorify legally convicted war criminals and deny the national identity of certain communities.
In the case of the aforementioned programs, TV Prva also broadcast content that threatens dignity, incites hatred and intolerance, and belittles and devalues members of the Montenegrin nationality by denying their national identity and uniqueness.
It has been established that the positions that challenge the existence and legitimacy of the Montenegrin national identity, deny the existence of the Montenegrin language, while members of certain national and minority communities are brought into the context of discredit and public disparagement.
Prior to the decision to initiate proceedings against TV Informer and TV Prva and limit the broadcasting of the content of those televisions, SAMU temporarily limited the reception and rebroadcasting of TV Pink presenter Jovana Jeremić’s shows “Novo jutro” and “Novo jutro – Morning with soul”. It was explained by “controversial speech directed towards several national and ethnic communities”.
Source: Vreme
