The Belgrade Center for Human Rights expresses its concern once more regarding the bad practice of Serbia’s legislative bodies, of hurriedly adopting a draft law that has not been previously debated publicly and on which professionals have not had an opportunity to make any statements. The latest example of this is the urgent adoption of the amendment to the Public Information Act, which in the opinion of the Center contains defects which will have long term bad consequences.
The need for the media to be taken into order and to prevent the irresponsible rampages of editors, journalists and owners of public communication means who are not afraid to insult the honor and reputation of individuals and groups, showing a complete contempt for the truth, is understandable. However, the Centre still believes that this could have been achieved with a consistent and progressive implementation of the existing legislation. This opportunity was missed due to weaknesses in the judiciary itself, and the tendency of people in power or close to it to use the media in their own interests.
The fact that the existing laws, including this one, are misused and misinterpreted is no reason to adopt new legislation in a rushed manner, about which the justifiable assumption can be made that they will have more negative than positive consequences.
