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EMPLOYEES OF RTV BUJANOVAC APPEAL AGAINST PRIVATIZATION AND SHUT DOWN OF THE MEDIA OUTLET

4. May 2015.

Bujanovac – The employees of  the Radio and Television of Bujanovac, who are members of the Union of Journalists of Serbia (UJS), sent an open letter to the President of Serbia, the Prime Minister, the Head of the Parliament, the heads of caucuses, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Coordination Body of the  Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, the Mayor of Bujanovac and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, urging them to prevent the privatization and shutdown of their media outlet.

The appeal was sent to the Constitutional Court, too, from which an urgent opinion on the constitutionality of the media laws was sought.

The appeal was signed by the employees of all three nationalities living in the city, the Albanian, the Roma and the Serbian. The said appeal, inter alia, includes the following: 

“We, the undersigned, appeal to you that you, in accordance with the functions that you perform, don’t let the Radio and Television of Bujanovac be shut down and that you prevent the consequences that would emerge from the process. The Radio and Television of Bujanovac professionally performs its constitutional and legal function – it promptly and fully informs the citizens on all issues of importance for living in this community. By applying a new set of media laws, the local self-governments should withdraw from the media until July 1, 2015, while the national councils are allowed to establish media outlets.

In this way, the TV Bujanovac, which broadcasts in Albanian, Serbian and Roma, will be shut down, while the Albanian National Council will have the possibility to establish its own television station. 

We, the employees of this media outlet, who have the support of the municipal management, don’t want and don’t allow to be divided along ethnic lines. We ask you to put the provisions of the law in line with the Constitution of Serbia, in paragraph 50 of which it is stated that everyone in Serbia can establish a media outlet.

You are the only ones at this moment who, by your decision, could prevent the serious consequences that will arise after the privatization of our media outlet.

A delayed decision of the Constitutional Court won’t be able to rectify the irreparable damage that will be made."

Source: “Danas” daily and Coordination Body