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The changes to this law have been at the heart of a heated public debate over the last month and a half, exposing divisions between the parties in government. Đukić Dejanović says, however, that the law has not divided the ruling coalition and that there was never any sense of crisis. The draft changes to the Law on Information are believed to be much more restrictive than the legislation passed in 1998.

International media have reported on yesterday's adoption of the media law, with Reuters stating that it foresees large fines for media guilty of slander. Reuters states that the fines for newspapers could reach a week’s worth of sales, while for electronic media, fines will be based on advertising revenue.

Noting that the government explained that the goal of the new law was to regulate the rather chaotic media industry, the BBC made much of that fact that the law had been adopted with the votes of a section of the ruling coalition and opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) MPs.

The BBC stated that “a significant section of the Serbian professional public believes that the law contains ‘anti-European provisions,’” highlighting yesterday’s protest by the Serbian Union of Journalists (UNS).

The Serbian Association of Journalists (UNS) staged a protest on Monday outside the National Parliament, urging MPs not to vote for the proposed changes to the Law on Public Information, describing them as anti-European and unconstitutional. UNS President Ljiljana Smajlović believes that the law will swiftly close down the media.

“In the event that the proposed changes are adopted, UNS will address President Boris Tadić and ask him not to sign the law, the Constitutional Court to evaluate the constitutionality of that law, and then it will address the European Court of Human Rights based in Strasbourg,“ Smajlović warned.