Access to Information and Media Legislation (2002-2003)

The purpose of the project was to offer practical experience, in-deep evaluation and advisable strategies for the future to groups of people dealing with the problems of the access to information and media legislation in the region of South-East Europe, drawing on the experience of the South-East European Network for Professionalization of the Media (SEENPM) and Balkan Human Rights Network (BHRN). The project focused on the approach to tackle the key set of problems directly and to cooperate in dealing with the problems through sharing experience on a broader regional level.

Under the project, two workshops were organized: in October 2002 (Belgrade), and in February 2003 (Sofia) with presentation of views, sharing opinions and expertise, comparative analysis, discussions, and coming up with practical advice. Some case studies were examined as well. Participants in the workshops were journalists, media experts, representatives of the NGO sector, the judiciary, lawyers, etc. from Bulgaria, Serbia and the region. The main topics that were discussed at the two workshops were: European standards of access to public information; An overview of the current situation with the access to information in Serbia; An overview of the effective Bulgarian, Slovenian and Bosnian legislature and the problems of its implementation; The question of the access to secret files; NGOs’ role in improving access to information practices; Recent developments in the media legislation in Bulgaria and Serbia; Media regulation and its use in practice, etc.

Under the project the book Bulgaria – Serbia. Access to Information Issues appeared in May 2003. It presents a selection of both workshops’ texts, which are representative for the idea of access to information and media legislation focusing on Bulgaria and Serbia. At the same time, the authors are trying to offer advice and strategies how to handle these issues successfully in other countries in the region.