Brankica Janković, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality met with Printed Media Council Management Board and Appeals Commission members.

The Commissioner underlined the important role media play in establishing an open and tolerant society without discrimination and stressed the significance of complying with Serbia Journalist Code of Conduct when reporting on extremely sensitive topics such as gender based violence, problems people with disabilities face, LGBT population, position of national minorities . . .

Printed Media Council Management Board and Appeals Commission members briefed the Commissioner on activities of the Printed Media Council in the previous year, emphasizing that there was a spike in the number of filed complaints on account of Serbia Journalist Code of Conduct violations as a result of increasing media tabloidization and breaches of fundamental standards of the profession and ethical norms.

All participants agreed that speech culture is rapidly declining both in the public domain and in the media which calls for a prompt response by using all available mechanisms by everyone in their own sphere of competence.

Participants agreed to continue and strengthen their cooperation primarily with respect to complaints filed both with the Printed Media Council and the Commissioner, as Serbia Journalist Code of Conduct contains several items which directly refer to anti-discrimination.

Attendees included Gordana Novaković, Printed Media Council Secretary General, Slaviša Lekić, Zorica Višnjić, Zoran Sekulić and Stevan Ristić, Printed Media Council Managment Board members and Vlado Mareš, Petar Jeremić and Vera Didanović, Appeals Commission members. Participants from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality included the Commissioner herself, Tijana Milošević, senior advisor and Tamara Vlaškalin, advisor.