Information

So far, 141 local government, the Vojvodina Secretariat, and the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications have announced competitions for project co-financing of media content for the year 2026.

When, in 2015, following the adoption of a set of media laws, the then President of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, Vukašin Obradović, spoke about the pillars of project co-financing – public interest and strict control over the spending of funds – expectations were high. In theory, the system was supposed to ensure that public money went to the highest quality media projects, primarily investigative ones, while control mechanisms would guarantee the legality and purposefulness of the expenditures.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has established a database of the results of the competition for project co-financing of media content for the year 2026, as well as a registry that allows tracking which candidates for project evaluation committees have been selected at which levels and in how many committees.

In nearly two-thirds, or 17 out of 29 commissions formed to date for the evaluation of media projects, all selected members have achieved the maximum score of one hundred points, and most of them come from pro-government journalistic and media organizations, according to a study by UNS.

The representative of the Professional Association of Journalists of Serbia (PROUNS), Slavoljub Ristić, and the representative of the Journalists' Society of Vojvodina (DNV), Biljana Ratković Njegovan, have been replaced by other members in the committees for evaluating media projects in Svrljig and Dimitrovgrad, as well as in Rekovac and Gornji Milanovac, due to a conflict of interest, UNS has learned.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has sent official letters to the local governments of Dimitrovgrad, Čajetina, and Svrljig requesting the annulment of the decisions regarding the appointment of committees for project evaluation within the grants for co-financing media content. This request is based on the fact that Slavoljub Ristić, who holds a public office, was selected in all three cases. The letter was also addressed to the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, urging the removal of this candidate's name from the Unified Information System (JIS) so that the authorities issuing the grants cannot select him again.

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications published on February 10 the register of candidates for members of the competition committees for co-financing projects in the field of public information, which includes a total of 110 names – 72 candidates were proposed by journalistic and media associations, while 38 applied independently.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia appointed Slavoljub Ristić, the General Secretary of the Professional Association of Journalists of Serbia (PROUNS), as the President of the Board of the Public Institution Film News on March 12 of this year, thus making him a public official.