A round table on “the role and function of media in different stages of criminal proceedings” was held on Thursday in the conference hall of the Hotel Przar in Vranje, as part of the “Independent journalism for independent judiciary” project. This is the first of five round tables which will be financed by the EU Delegation within the Media program.
Sasa Nedeljkovic, the Department Chief for economic crime suppression of the Vranje Police department, talked about the different phases of criminal proceedings and the role of media coverage from the beginning of the process, while LeposavaJovcic from the High public prosecutor’s office addressed the issues of prosecution investigation, criminal proceedings phases and media influence on those processes.
As representatives of the Basic and Higher Court, Jelena Petricevic-Mladenovic and Stojan Stankovic talked about the importance of media respecting the presumption of innocence while reporting on criminal proceedings. Aleksandar Stojkovic, an attorney from Vranje, gave insight on the lawyer’s view on these processes and journalists Vukasin Obradovic and Dejan Dimic spoke about the challenges of media reporting in these cases and respecting the Journalists code of conduct.
Your participation in this discussion is invaluable and crucial for the better understanding and visibility from different angles of the subject matter- Vukasin Obradovic, director of the Vranjske newspaper, remarked. This participation will ensure that the general and professional public will have access to the relevant information first hand and the cooperation and the potential for it between institutions and media will become more visible. In order to achieve greater media visibility and a better understanding of these processes by the public, it is necessary that state officials and the media cooperate and discuss reaching the mutual goal of serving the public interest and strengthening the democratic institutions and principles.
The project is being realized in four cities (Vranje, Kikinda, Prijepolje and Loznica) and will include: production of investigative journalism articles on the judicial system and criminal proceedings, production of a comparative analysis and a set of recommendations (in the field of criminal proceedings), a manual for media on how to report on the judicial system (focusing on the criminal proceedings) and opening public debates on these subjects on five round tables (which will be organized in the mentioned cities with the closing event in Belgrade).
While reporting on the criminal proceedings in Vranje, Prijepolje, Kikinda and Loznica, local examples will be analyzed and data gathered for the comparative analysis and the set of recommendations (which will be submitted to the relevant ministries) in order to identify problems during criminal proceedings on a national level and to propose possible solutions.
The organizers of the round table in Vranje were partners in this project- The Vranjske Weekly and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM. Among the other participants in the debate and local reporters the round table was attended by Zorica Jovic, a member of the City council for culture, education, information and religious issues.
