НЕКА ПИТАЊА МЕДИЈСКЕ КОНЦЕНТРАЦИЈЕ
MEDIA CONCENTRATION

Summary/Abstract: The concepts of media concentration and prohibited media concentration are defined in the 2002 Broadcasting Act of the Republic of Serbia, which specifically enumerates when such practices exist. In fact, media concentration (the concentration of media ownership) implies the overlapping of the broadcasters’ financial flows, which occurs when a broadcaster enters into the principal capital of another broadcaster or a media company, or when a broadcaster is present in different forms of media which makes allowances for exerting a substantial impact on the editorial policy and ultimately results in a prevalent and unacceptable influence in creating the pubic opinion. This unlawful inflow into the ownership structure of a broadcaster or a media company is an absolutely void activity, which creates a prevalent influence on the public opinion and violates the principle of pluralism of opinions in mass media. As a matter of fact, the media concentration is an attempt to control the media space, which is extremely dangerous. The media space controllers are the so-called “grand masters” from the sphere of politics or business who are often strongly interconnected by common interests. The prohibited media concentration undermines two basic principles of media law: the freedom of public information (envisaged in Article 1 of the Public Information Act) and the prohibition of monopoly in the field of public information (Article 7 of the Public Information Act). Namely, the media concentration leads to the abuse of rights, an undue influence and control over the mass media by means of which the broadcaster/media outlet may manipulate and restricts the free flow of ideas, information and opinions. Concurrently, media concentration contributes to establishing a political and economic monopoly on the publication of ideas, information and opinions not only in the specific media outlet but also in a much wider media space on both national and supranational scale. The anti-trust law is part of the broadcasting legislation embodied in the Broadcasting Act. The anti-trust legislation includes legal norms which are enacted to provide for the prevention of unlawful media concentration. Due to their importance, the issues and problems on media concentration shall be given special attention and treatment. For this reason, it is essential to adopt a special act on media concentration which should include specific prevention mechanisms and regulate the activity of independent agencies in case of observing some forms of prohibited media concentration. Concurrently, it is necessary to specify the legal proceedings for preventing, eliminating and sanctioning this unlawful activity in the media sphere, which should be the competence of independent and depoliticized public agencies.

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