The regulatory body for electronic media gave a green light to the Rulebook on emergency notification of the public about the disappearance of a minor.
As of September 20, the media are obliged to immediately interrupt their programming in the event of the disappearance of a minor and publish a photo, the name and surname of the missing person and a telephone number that people can contact if they spot the missing child.
Olgica Čekić from the Centre for Missing and Abused Children says that they are close to the goal, which is the launch of the so-called Amber Alert system.
In Serbia, this system will be called “Pronađi Me” (“Find Me”). The Working Group at the Interior Ministry has been working on the implementation of the system for the past two years.
According to the Rulebook, the media has to run news about the missing child for 48 hours. The news is repeated every half hour during the first 8 hours and every hour after that.
Olgica Čekić adds that media outlets have to report about the missing child immediately upon receipt of the notification sent by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications.
“The notification will be in the form of a poster with a photo and the basic information about the child and will contain a phone number that people can call if they have any information. The media will have the obligation to stop their current programme immediately after receiving the notification and to convey the notification in its unaltered form,” says Olgica Čekić.
Amber Alert originated in the US and was named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996.
(Dnevnik, 28.09.2023)
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