80 television stations on the territory of Serbia, Republika Srpska and Montenegro broadcast an interview of President Aleksandar Vucic to the Serbian Informer television station.
"This violates Article 6 of the Law on Public Information and the Media, which guarantees political pluralism in the media and prohibits monopoly," said Prof. Rade Velyanovski to N1.
"The reaction of the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (REM) is necessary," he explained.
"A president's actions contradict basic political decency and democratic standards. He should not have political influence to such a great extent," the professor stressed.
Slobodan Ciric, vice president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, said that apart from the legal side and the possible violation of the Law on Public Information and Media, the issue of the editorial concept of many electronic media is also important.
"Many electronic media without any resistance, not to say blindly, transmit some content without editorial intervention...", Cirich told "Danas".
Slobodan Zvejic, a former member of REM, said that the broadcast of President Vučić's guest appearance on a large number of televisions certainly shows the monopolization of the media space.
"Vucic, all these televisions and REM deserve the criticism of this part of society that fights for equality, functioning institutions and democratic principles. The principle is clear - the fight with unanimity," he added.
Igor Bozic, program director of N1 TV, does not expect a reaction from REM on this issue.
"Broadcasting on 80 TV channels shows how much control there is over the media and how the monopoly works in practice. It is devastating that such absurd situations no longer surprise anyone," said Bozic. He pointed out that pluralism in Serbia has not existed for a long time, all this has a very bad effect on democracy in the country. /BGNES
