08. 03. 2009

END OF BROADCASTING OF THE "POWER MAD" TV SERIAL

With the broadcasting of the 20th episode of the series "Power mad- How to be responsible politician" we end the joint project of ANEM and A-Media which was realized with assistance from the Norwegian Peoples' Aid. During the five months of broadcasting, from October 2008 to February 2009, the viewers of local TV stations had a chance to gain insight into an extremely important issue – how worthy of citizens' confidence are the officials?

Once a week, in a form of 10-minute TV episodes, the Serbian audience was thoroughly and precisely informed about the standards of responsible behavior of local officials and offered the description of what it actually means to "work in the public interest". Each of the episodes was focused on a different aspect of this topic, as a paradigm of the problem, which was of interest to citizens in various local communities. The viewers of ANEM 27 local TV stations were offered an opportunity to find out what responsible behavior of officials actually means and how they can recognize the abuse of power for the benefit of an individual, group or a party. The existing mechanisms of control of the officials' behavior were also described.

The importance or focusing media attention on this issue is best evidenced by the fact that the Republic Committee for Adjudication on the Conflict of Interest has acted on several occasions on the information that was received from this series. It even resulted in a resignation, i.e. "suspension" of a local official.

With this project, ANEM additionally stimulates the local media to take an active role of a "guardian of the public interest" and more often engage in investigative journalism. Local journalists who have participated in the implementation of the project (eight journalists from various cities) had a chance to improve their professional skills, while the local media were offered an opportunity to broadcast free programs of high journalistic and technical quality.

The following ANEM's stations have broadcast the series: RTV Prima Bajina Basta, TV Spektar Sombor, TV Cacak, RTV Sokobanja, TV Kraljevo, TV Pirot, TV Gradska Nis, TV Pozega, TV Jedinstvo Novi Pazar, TV Kragujevac, TV Pancevo, TV OK Kovacica, TV Nisava Nis, TV Kursumlija, TV VK Kikinda, RTV Zajecar, TV Apolo Novi Sad, TV Panovizija Vrsac, TV Trstenik, TV VG4 Knjazevac, TV Majdanpek, TV Caribrod, RTV Mlava, TV Leskovac, TV Valjevo, TV Bor and TV Sumadija Arandjelovac.

The serial production was supported by Norwegian Peoples Aid