Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

oadcasters have obviously different profiles. Pink and FOX are successfully broadcasting mainly entertainment,
the latter mainly internationally produced. B92 TV reaches the entire country with a mix of news, entertainment
and as mentioned above also programmes with investigative journalism. It is clear that B92 has played and still
plays an important watchdog role. However, this broadcaster is financially strained and gradually loses its share of
the TV audience, when it does not broadcast reality shows or international football.
2.3.4 STAKEHOLDER BACKGROUND
In the period from 2005 to 2007 RTS was transformed from a state broadcaster to a public service broadcaster with
public service programme obligations. A board, which is in principle politically and economically independent and
does not include politicians, was appointed by the Republic Broadcast Agency. This board appoints the managing
director of RTS. The relative success of the transformation of RTS from state to public service broadcaster is evident
from the fact that the present General Director has remained in his position for 4½ years spanning 3 different
governments.
As a state broadcaster RTS played a much criticized role during the Yugoslav war when controlled by Serbian
president Slobodan Miloševič. RTS has gained its present popularity by seeking to re-establish the credibility of its
programmes with all parts of the population and by developing an attractive programme profile.
Public service mandate
The Broadcasting Law (§77-79) imposes demands to RTS public service programmes such as: programmes shall be
of public interest and must include information, culture, art, education, religion, science, entertainment, sports,
children’s programmes etc. to meet the needs and rights of citizens. Programmes must ensure diversity and
balance content, complying with democratic values of modern society, particularly the respect for human rights
and pluralism. 13 In particular, news broadcasts shall abide by the principles of impartiality and fairness, of freedom
and pluralism and prevent any form of racial, religious, national, ethnic or other intolerance or hatred, or
intolerance on the grounds of sexuality.
It is a condition for fair competition between public and private media that the public broadcaster provides public
service programmes, thus distinguishing itself from commercial media. Competitors and several other actors in the
media sector often claim that the profile of RTS is very similar to that of commercial broadcasters. A particular task
of RTS and many other public service broadcasters in Europe is that they carry the responsibility for one or more
13 In order to achieve that goal, public broadcasting service carriers shall:
Ensure that protection from any influence of the authorities, political organizations or centers of economic power;
Cover all segments of society, without discrimination, and take particular account of specific societal groups such as children and
youth, minorities and ethnic groups, handicapped, socially and medically vulnerable groups and the deaf-mute (with the obligation to
simultaneously broadcast written text describing the audio segments of the action and dialogue);
Adhere to linguistic and speech standards of the majority population but also of minorities in the area where the programme is
broadcast;
Ensure the satisfaction of the needs of citizens (majority and minorities) for programme content expressing cultural identity;
Provide adequate time slots for broadcasting content related to activities of civic associations and NGOs and of religious
communities;
Provide during election campaigns free-of-charge and balanced broadcasts of promotions of political parties, coalitions and
candidates (subject to some restrictions);
Tender for independently produced programmes;
Enable the use of self- or independently produced teletext;
Develop and use modern technical and technological standards, in particular in transiting towards new digital technologies;
Respect the importance and the role of churches and religious communities in society;
Cooperate and exchange programme contents of interest to the citizens of Serbia.
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