Student List Backs RTS Unions, Names No Director Candidate
After Manja Grcic's resignation, the Student List clarifies its October 27 letter: it supports union candidates, while the RTS Board runs an urgent selection process.
The Student List said on October 31 that it proposes neither an interim management team nor a director general for the public broadcaster, and that it supports candidates put forward by the representative unions at Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS). The list’s media team gave the position to the daily Danas, a few days after its October 27 open letter and after Manja Grcic resigned as director general. Meanwhile the RTS Board is running an urgent procedure to choose an acting director, and it is disputed whether the Board can decide anything at all.
The portal has already covered Grcic’s resignation and the disputed replacement.
What did the Student List say about an interim management?
In the October 27 open letter, students in blockade called for an interim management of the public broadcaster, to be agreed between the Student List and the representative RTS unions. The letter was addressed to RTS, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) and the National Assembly. The list’s media team now says it stands by the demand in the letter but would not propose an interim management itself. Instead, it would back the decisions and candidates of the unions. The appointment and powers of an interim management should, in their words, be set by law.
The Student List’s media team told Danas what such a management would be for:
“Its task is solely to temporarily ensure the continuity of the public broadcaster’s work, editorial independence and the protection of the professional dignity of journalists and other employees, until new leadership is chosen in a lawful and transparent procedure. Given the resignation of the director general and the dismissal of the editors of the news programs, the question of the continuity of the public broadcaster’s work is more pressing than before.”
The list still demands the resignation of Deputy Director General Dejan Jovanovic. Asked by Danas whether it would put forward its own candidate once a call for director general is announced, the media team answered that it would not and that it would stick to the law. “The public service belongs to citizens, not to the authorities,” the media team pointed out.
Student List candidate Milena Bozovic Manic says part of the letter was taken out of context, and that the list will not propose an interim management but will support the candidates the unions put forward.
How is the procedure at the RTS Board going?
The RTS Board announced that at its session it noted Grcic’s resignation and launched an urgent procedure to choose an acting director general. According to the statement, the first step was a meeting with representatives of the representative unions. Employees who meet the conditions under Article 25 of the Law on Public Media Services were invited to submit applications by 5 p.m. on Monday, November 2.
The Board will, as the statement adds, review the applications as soon as possible and decide on the appointment. Until then, the director general’s duties are handled by Dejan Jovanovic, the deputy director general, as the person authorized to represent the broadcaster.
Can the Board decide at all?
Here the accounts diverge. RTS reports that the Board held a session and started the procedure. Rade Veljanovski, a retired professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, told Danas that the Board effectively does not exist:
“The Law on Public Media Services says the board continues to function until the members’ terms expire. However, the terms of most Board members, six of them, have expired. So it effectively does not exist, because the fact that three other members still have a mandate is irrelevant, they cannot make any decisions.”
Veljanovski adds that Information Minister Boris Bratina sent the Board a letter saying that members whose terms have expired may keep working until a new Board is chosen. In Veljanovski’s view, that letter is legally void because the ministry has no authority over public broadcasters. “Bratina did something outside his competence, something he has no right to do,” he says. Danas’s article carries no response from the ministry.
Veljanovski also says the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media must first adopt an act on how Board members are chosen and then announce a call, which in his estimate could take two to three weeks. Danas writes that the call could last until December.
What do people inside RTS say?
RTS editor Ivan Plavsic told Danas that employees are divided:
“There are different groups, unions and informal groups, and everyone is pulling in their own direction.”
Plavsic believes students should watch for irregularities but not decide on the leadership. “I think the Student List should not directly take part in choosing the leadership and editors,” he points out.
The deadline for employee applications expires on Monday, November 2, at 5 p.m.
