WHERE HAS REM BEEN ALL THIS TIME?! Dubravka Valić Nedeljković announces debate on Informer and hundreds of complaints that have been waiting for years!

Dubravka Valić Nedeljković, a member of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), told FoNet that following the changes brought about by Serbia’s elections, the body would “most certainly debate” the work of Informer television, as well as other broadcasters that had violated the codes of conduct.

She said around 80 complaints that have not yet been considered should be placed on the body’s agenda, including complaints over unethical conduct by Informer journalists and its editor-in-chief.

“There will most certainly be a debate about Informer, and not just Informer. There are around 80 complaints, and we will see how quickly we can deal with them,” Valić Nedeljković said, adding that the context in which REM now operates is “diametrically different.”

Valić Nedeljković said the complaints against Informer would have to be placed on the agenda, but that she could not predict the outcome of the vote at this point and hoped for the best.

She said REM should first wait for the Serbian Parliament to be constituted. Parliament must then elect the ninth member of the Council from among the national councils of national minorities, after which she expects more substantial progress in the regulator’s work.

Dubravka Valić Nedeljković said that numerous complaints had remained unexamined because of obstruction by four members of the REM Council, whom she described as pro-government.

“We put only 23 complaints on the agenda and, as you know, not a single one was approved,” she said.

According to her, all the complaints need to be reviewed again, and a report should be prepared on media conduct during the election campaign.

She described the campaign as the ugliest she had witnessed since the first multiparty elections in 1990, citing numerous violations of the law, ethical rules and standards of good taste.