Serbia’s television channel Informer has received a formal decision from the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) banning it from broadcasting its morning programme Prva info for seven days, along with any content of the same format, even if the programme is renamed or moved to a different time slot.
Informer editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević confirmed on Monday that the decision had been delivered to the broadcaster. The ban applies to the period between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m.
REM Council President Stevica Smederevac told the FoNet news agency that the decision concerns the first seven-day restriction imposed on the television station. He also announced that monitoring of Informer’s programming would begin on Tuesday, when the ban takes effect.
Smederevac said REM’s legal department and monitoring team would closely examine the broadcaster’s response and how it interprets the scope of the measure, in order to prevent any attempt to misrepresent or circumvent the restriction.
He stressed that Informer would not be allowed to broadcast programmes of the same or similar format by simply changing their names or scheduling them at different times.
The restriction does not apply exclusively to the programme’s official title, Prva info, but also covers other content that matches its format and substance.
For example, Smederevac explained, the broadcaster would not be permitted to continue airing essentially the same programme under titles such as Morning Programme or Good Morning, or move it to another time slot.
On November 4, the REM Council imposed the seven-day broadcasting restriction on Informer in the format in which the legal violation had occurred.
Proceedings against the television station had previously been initiated over several issues, including its broadcast of an unlabelled party gathering on October 3, the airing of the documentary Državnik, and comments targeting REM Council member Rodoljub Šabić and Zoran Gavrilović of the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI).
The monitoring process will now determine whether Informer complies with the regulator’s decision during the seven-day suspension.
