REM sanctions Informer, Kurir and Prva over breaches of media rules
REM imposed advertising and programme bans after finding insults to council members, unmarked election content and campaign-reporting breaches.
The Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) in Serbia has imposed sanctions on three television stations — Informer, Kurir and Prva — after finding multiple breaches of broadcasting rules, including insults directed at REM council members, failure to mark election programming and violations of campaign reporting standards.
Prva was hit with a one-day ban on airing commercials after presenter Milomir Marić used offensive language about members of the REM Council during the show "Dan na dan." Marić, among other remarks, called the council members "stupid," suggested they should have "a school for the handicapped," and made allusions that one of them is an alcoholic.
Prva's legal representative told REM that the programme was produced externally and had already been removed from the channel's schedule before REM opened the procedure. REM treated that removal as a mitigating circumstance but concluded the severity of the violations warranted a penalty.
Kurir was sanctioned for breaches in its news programmes: the channel was banned from broadcasting the programme "Dnevnik" for one day and the programme "Vesti" for two days because of infractions in their informative reporting.
Informer received the toughest measures. For the programme "Državnik" the station was barred from airing commercials for five days between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.; the channel also received a formal warning and was forbidden to air the programme "Kolegijum" on two separate occasions, for 10 and 15 days respectively. The decision on Informer was taken unanimously, with six votes, after nearly five hours of debate.
Proceedings, protests and participation
REM also decided to discontinue proceedings against the broadcaster K1 after reviewing its legal team's explanations. Representatives of the sanctioned stations attended the REM session, and a protest took place outside the REM headquarters that included officials from the Serbian Progressive Party.
REM has opened procedures against Informer and Prva specifically for campaign-period violations, underscoring the regulator's scrutiny of election coverage ahead of and during the campaign.
Photo: press material from the event
