Original scientific paper
Vol.10, No 2, 2012 pp. 119-129
UDC 342.727:659.3
MEDIA INDEPENDENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Rade Veljanovski
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia
E-mail: rade.veljanovski@fpn.bg.ac.rs
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.
Key words:
media, human rights, independence, European regulations, accountability
MEDIJSKA NEZAVISNOST I LJUDSKA PRAVA
U savremenom svetu sve većih mogućnosti masovnog komuniciranja, prepliću se izazovi ostvarivanja celokupnog korpusa ljudskih prava, koji je najčešće marginalizovan ako nije medijski posredovan, i samog prava na obaveštenost i izražavanje mišljenja kao posebnog, specifičnog prava. Savremena ljudska zajednica na međunarodnom, i u sve većem broju slučajeva, na nacionalnom nivou nastoji da podrži permanentnu debatu o stepenu ostvarivanja ljudskih prava koja je moguća samo kroz demokratski artikulisane i nezavisne medije koji prefereiraju društvenu odgovornost. Njihov aktivan odnos prema ovoj temi može da doprinese pravovremenom dijagnosticiranju stanja i organizovanoj institucionalnoj i građanskoj akciji u zaštiti prava. Mnogo je primera, međutim, da, pojedinačni ili grupni, partikularni interesi zasenjuju i potiskuju opšti interes. U sferi medija, neretko, uticaji raznih centara moći, nadvladavaju nad opštim dobrom pa i nad ljudskim pravima. Proklamovana medijska nezavisnost, kao jedna od najznačajnijih artikulacija evropske medijske politike i regulative i mnogih nacionalnih medijskih i pravnih sistema, često ostaje samo normatvni okvir koji u praksi nije dovoljno realizovan. Time je otvoren put ka javnoj sferi sebičnih, uskogrudih zalaganja i zahteva umesto zadovoljavanja najširih komunikacionih potreba građana pa time i ljudskih prava. Suština ovog rada je osvetljavanje značaja nezavisnosti kako samih medija tako i regulatornih i drugih organa u ovoj oblasti, kroz prizmu evropskog regulatornog okvira, medijske regulative Srbije i domaće prakse.
Ključne reči:
mediji, ljudska prava, nezavisnost, evropska regulativa, odgovornost.
