“The citizens of Serbia have the right to correct and timely information which is sometimes sacrificed under the pressure of political and other influence. That is the intolerance and discrimination we must combat. The crisis of credibility and reputation often leads to the conclusion that the freedom of the media is threatened and brings into question the processes and freedom of the journalist profession. Lack of transparence in media ownership is one of the problems, because how can one combat intolerance and discrimination when one does not know who stands behind the media and how the public word would be presented. The state and Assembly’s goal is to combat censorship and auto-censorship, protect the right to privacy, equality, human dignity, honour and reputation of the media, and in particular protect the dignity of children and ban discrimination of any kind. The media are participants in the process, in which they should take part in an honest and objective manner, protected from pressure coming from political and other centres of power”.

The conference on Media and Equality was opened by Suzana Grubjesic, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration.