MEETING OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MEDIA FROM REGION ENDS IN BELGRADE

BELGRADE, Dec 1 (Hina) - A two-day meeting called "A New Age for the Media in South-East Europe - Political, Economic and Other Preconditions" ended in Belgrade on Saturday. Directors of most news agencies, some papers and a large number of electronic media from the region attended the meeting. The meeting was organised by the Belgrade news agency Beta in cooperation with the project communication networks for the professionalisation of Southeast European journalists, Media Plan from Sarajevo, and the Vienna-based South-East European Media Organisation (SEEMO). Participants in a debate were addressed by Hina director Mirko Bolfek, who acquainted them with the new law on Hina and its implementation, aimed at transforming Hina from a state-owned agency into a public institution. Croatian Journalists' Association president Dragutin Lucic spoke about media ownership as regulated by Croatia's amended law on information and a law which would bind media companies to declare its property every year. The meeting was also attended by directors or editors-in-chief of news agencies and TV and radio stations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, as well as media experts from Slovenia and Germany, and SEEMO representatives. Also participating were the editors-in-chief of the Yugoslav FoNet and Tanjug news agencies, Radio-Television Serbia, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, and the Belgrade Institute of Social Sciences. The meeting was opened by BETA agency director Ljubica Markovic. Serbian vice premier Zarko Korac spoke at the closing. (hina) it