News

Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS) announced today a competition for the appointment of the editor-in-chief of the news program of the public media service for a period of four years, as reported in the newspaper Politika.

The Appeals Commission of the Press Council unanimously concluded at yesterday's meeting that 25 portals violated the Code of Journalists of Serbia with their articles about Veran Matić, the president of the Management Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), specifically excerpts from the video segment produced by the Center for Social Stability that was aired on B92, Prva, Informer, and Documentary TV.

The company Best Media Team, which has acquired several local media outlets in Serbia since the beginning of the year, was wholly owned by Alo Media System, the publisher of the tabloid Alo. However, starting today, it is co-owned with the publisher of Informer, namely the company Insajder Tim.

During January of this year, the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) recorded a total of 38 incidents involving journalists and media workers.

The last interruption of the TV Mag program distribution from Obrenovac in the Telekom/Supernova system occurred on February 19th and lasted approximately 17 hours. During that period, we did not receive any prior notice, warning, or information that a planned technical intervention affecting our channel was underway. We requested an official written explanation, but to date, we have not received a response, says Miroslav Paunović, the editor-in-chief of this local media outlet, to the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM).

The subsidiary company Alo Media System - Best Media Team has acquired three more local media outlets - RTV Bačka Topola, Lotel Plus from Loznica, and Santos from Zrenjanin, according to data from the Business Registers Agency (APR). A new portal "Moja Bačka Topola" has also been registered in the media registry today, launched by the company "Vesti sa severa," which already owns the radio and portal NS uživo, the portal Vojvodina Uživo, and is connected with the unregistered television channel Dokumentarna TV.

Serbia is among the European countries that have recorded the highest number of attacks on journalists, as well as the highest number of cases of impunity for the murders of journalists, according to a report published today by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Alo Media System, through its company Best Media Team, has become the owner of Televizija Priboj and the portal valjevo5.rs. Prior to this, they purchased the Užice-based TV Lav plus and TV 5. The Loznica-based Lotel is also transferring into their ownership. During January and February, Zaple Media Group LLC established 11 and acquired at least two local portals.

The venture into the local media market by the Belgrade-based company Best Media Team and the Novi Sad-based Zaple Media Group is likely not yet complete.

Unlike situations where journalists deliberately steal others' photographs, there are numerous examples of media outlets paying compensation for violations of photographers' copyright, even though they did not intentionally break the law, but rather because they did not thoroughly verify who owns the rights to the photograph they published. However, sometimes these verifications are not straightforward at all. For instance, it happens that an organization forwards a photograph to journalists claiming it is theirs, only to later find out that this is not true, and under the applicable Copyright and Related Rights Law, the news agency has to cover the costs.