REM Bans an Informer TV Show for Seven Days in Its First Sanction

The Council of Serbia's Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) on Wednesday, 4 November, unanimously ordered TV Informer to stop broadcasting one of its information programmes for seven days, the first sanction the pro-government channel has received from the regulator. The Council also imposed bans on two programmes of TV Prva.

What REM decided

Most outlets, including N1, Insajder and Vreme, identified the suspended Informer show as “Prve info”; the state agency Tanjug named it as the morning programme. REM said the ban also covers programmes of the same or similar format and that its legal service will specify which content is affected. TV Prva's news programme was suspended for one day and its morning programme for five days. The measures followed proceedings over breaches of reporting rules during the election campaign.

Council president Stevica Smederevac said the Council had been inactive for more than two years, that the law is strict and that the measures were not harsher than it prescribes. He rejected a request by Informer's lawyers to exclude Council member Rodoljub Šabić from the vote, saying there was no legal obstacle to his participation.

New proceedings and pending licence request

REM opened further proceedings against Informer over an unmarked broadcast of a party rally on 3 October, the airing of the documentary “Državnik” and comments about Šabić and Zoran Gavrilović of the monitoring group BIRODI. Proceedings were also opened against Kurir, Prva, K1 and V5 Valjevo, whose representatives are invited to the next session on 10 November. A request by media associations and civil society groups, filed on 27 October, to revoke Informer's licence is still pending.

Reactions outside the building

Supporters of Informer gathered outside REM during the session, joined by senior Serbian Progressive Party officials including Ana Brnabić and Miloš Vučević, N1 reported. Šabić was verbally abused by people in the crowd, and the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, which welcomed the measures, asked for police protection for Council members. A separate group of protesters outside called for stronger action against the channel.

Informer editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević called the decision censorship and said the aim was “total media darkness”, according to Tanjug. He said Informer had never previously received a warning or any penalty from REM.

The European Commission's annual report, published the same day, said the newly constituted REM Council had not acted effectively on election irregularities. At the same session, the Council appointed Milan Todorović acting director and called a competition for a permanent director.