Medijska nezavisnost i ljudska prava
Media Independence And Human Rights

Summary/Abstract: In the modern world of ever-growing possibilities for mass communication, the challenges of the pursuance of the entire corpus of human rights, which is most often marginalised unless mediated by media, and the right to information and to express opinions itself, as a special and specific right, have been intertwined. At the international level and, increasingly, at the national level, contemporary human community endeavours to support a permanent debate on the degree of the pursuance of human rights that is only possible through democratically articulated and independent media that prefer social accountability. Their active involvement in regard to this theme can contribute to a timely diagnosis of the state and an organised, institutional and civil action for the protection of the rights. However, there are numerous examples wherein individual/group particular interests overshadow and suppress the common interest. In the sphere of media, not infrequently, the influences of various power centres dominate over the general good as well as over the human rights. The proclaimed media independence, as one of the most significant articulations of the European media policy and regulations and many national media and legal systems, often remains just a normative framework that is not sufficiently implemented in practice. This leaves the door open to a public sphere of selfish, narrow-minded aspirations and requests instead of satisfying the broadest communication needs of citizens and the human rights thereof. Essentially, this Essay sheds light on the significance of the independence of media themselves and regulatory and other bodies in this area through a prism of the European regulatory framework, Serbian media regulations and domestic practice.

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