In order to be more familiar with the Law on Copyright and Related Media Rights and more precise implementation of the Code of Journalists of Serbia, on 21 December 2016 in the Media Center in Belgrade, a seminar organized by the Press Council and the Association of Online Media was held.

Attendees were addressed by Milos Stojkovic and Djordje Krivokapic, participants of the working group of the Press Council for the drafting of the Guidelines for the implementation of the Code of Journalists of Serbia in the online environment, as well as Dragan Milic author of Guide for copyright in online media.

 “We had a complex process, a large number of group members and a few months of work, but also many challenges. Working with online media is interesting and there are a lot of specific things that affect the whole range of processes and organizational measures within each of the media”, said Djordje Krivokapic related to the Guidelines for the implementation of the Code.One of the important rules in the Code represents the treatment of sources of information in the online media and their protection, which is anyhow related to the question of digital literacy of a person. “A journalist or editor must make a specific assessment of whether the person they are communicating through social networks understands how this information will be placed. A journalist places himself in the of a psychiatrist, he must evaluate what is the attitude of the person from which he obtains information and must not abuse possible lack of digital literacy”, explains Miloš Stojković.

Attendees had the opportunity to get acquainted in detail with the Guidelines in which are explained the latest modern methods of reporting, a way of preventing conflicts, respect of copyright and privacy, transfer of media content and other problems faced by journalists. Guidelines provide detailed instructions to journalists on interpretation and application of the Code of Journalists of Serbia in a specific online environment. In addition, a need to respect the Code has been shown, not only in regulatory terms in order to avoid conflict with the regulator, but by respecting these guidelines indicates honor and trust among members.


“We are all witnessing the changes in the media and on the Internet which occur almost on a daily basis and we are forced to follow it. These changes are not done only by media, but also by employees in marketing, end-users of media content, and by us who are engaged with media from another angle copyright and media law. These changes have led to the fact that in recent times we have an increasing number of copyright infringement or that people are more frequently publicly expressing the problem of it. The reasons for this are various – increased flow of information, then the Internet with all its specifics, the law which is not accommodated to all the changes and the way to handle legal situations that occur in practice. And the third reason, which has always existed but has now become more emphasized, is the lack of awareness of the need to respect copyright and I must say lack of copyright knowledge. Because of that, there was a need to create such a guide which is not a textbook of copyright with comparable legal analysis, nor a collection of law cases for judges, but represents explanation and interpretation of the law through the notes, examples and recommendations in a way that everyone involved in internet media should understand” adds the author of the Guide Dragan Milic.


The Internet has provided a massive use of different content, various forms of advertising and the creation of a large number of internet platforms, by ignoring and throwing a shadow on copyright, which continues in parallel and equally strictly to exist and they include the respect for them.  A seminar had an aim to help all journalists working with online media and the avoidance of unnecessary criminal proceedings.