The Transformation of State Television Stations into Public Service Televisions in the Countries in Transition; The Role and the Status of the Public Service TV in Slovenia

The activities include the production of a documentary (produced in 2000 and broadcast on RTV Slovenia in February 2001, scheduled to be broadcast in other countries in the course of 2001), roundtable discussions, an expert meeting with international participation, a regular column in the Media Watch Bulletin, and a Media Watch book dedicated to the topic of transformation (years 2001 and 2002). The project concentrates on the transformation of the state television stations into public service televsions based on eight concrete examples – Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia. The subject of our interest are both positive and negative aspects of the transformation process, experiences and difficulties encountered in these countries. Special attention is devoted to the issues of new media laws regulating the status of the public service TVs in comparison with the private radio and television stations (both commercial and non-commercial), the issues of privatization and selling out of some state TV channels, the management models and models of public control over the management of the national TV, instances of censorship and political pressures, staff and programs reorganizations and streamlinig, the commercialization and tabloidization of the programs, self-regulation and accepted (or rejected) codes of professional ethics, multi-lingual programs etc.

Invited participants (documentary, roundtable discussions) are the key actors in the transformation process, directors and editors, representatives of managing boards and councils, independent media experts and analysts, governmental representatives and parliamentaries. They are asked to give their views on the success of the reforms, and suggest policies that in their opinion could advance the transformation process.

Project leaders: Kaja Jakopič and Aleksandra Banjanac Lubej
Prject coworkers: Marko Milosavljevič and Sandra Bašić-Hrvatin