Information

In Šumadija, 80 media projects were supported through competitions for co-financing media content in 2026, with a total of 71,700,000 dinars. Every third funded project focuses on cultural and historical heritage, while nearly a quarter addresses tourism; however, none of them have been identified as dealing with corruption, public spending, or oversight of institutional operations. In this way, the project co-financing model, which is currently crucial for the financial sustainability of local media, has completely displaced investigative and critical journalism from local media and communities.

The system of competitive co-financing of media content in Serbia increasingly loses its meaning and moves away from its fundamental purpose – as established by law – and the results of this year's competitions organized by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications indicate that it has experienced a complete failure.

The media publisher Zaple Media Group has received a total of 16.2 million dinars, or approximately 138,000 euros, in this year's completed competitions for project co-financing of media content, as indicated by an analysis from the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM).

The most money from a total of 50 media competitions announced this year in Vojvodina was awarded to Radiotelevizija Pančevo, which received a total of 31,145,000 dinars for project implementation.

Based on the 140 completed competitions for project co-financing of media content in Serbia for the year 2026, funds totaling 1.7 billion dinars have been distributed.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) highlights the scandalous decisions made by the competition committees regarding the allocation of funds for the project co-financing of media content conducted by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications.

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications announced yesterday the results of nine competitions for project co-financing of media content, through which 482.5 million dinars will be distributed. The biggest beneficiaries of these competitions are mainly media houses that are already known to be record holders in the previously completed competitions in local governments.

Independent media experts Valentin Mik and Jasmina Mijajlović have so far been appointed to 20 committees each for project evaluation in media competitions, which is the prescribed maximum per person for membership in these bodies, according to the register of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM).

Radio Zrenjanin, which broadcasts folk music and does not have an informational editorial department, is the only media outlet from Zrenjanin that received funding from the provincial competition for co-financing media content production projects in the field of public information this year.