ANEM, UNS, NUNS, and Lokal Pres: Irregularities and Lack of Transparency in the Project Co-Financing Process

Although there is an obligation for public insight, certain local governments have not published decisions on the allocation of funds for media projects in the form of documents, but rather in the form of news or minutes.

The competition in Prokuplje represents a drastic example of the concentration of allocated funds to a single media outlet. Namely, as much as 95% of the total budget, or 6.4 million dinars, was awarded to the local television station Most Net, while the remaining 400,000 dinars was evenly distributed among four applicants – 100,000 dinars each.

The trend of decreasing allocated amounts for project co-financing by local governments is also noticeable in the municipality of Golubac, which this year allocated only 100,000 dinars, the lowest in Serbia, while the maximum amount per project in this municipality was 50,000 dinars.

The issue of low amounts was highlighted by the GMinfo portal, which this year also refused to accept the 100,000 dinars awarded to it by the municipality of Gornji Milanovac in the competition for co-financing media projects. The editorial team of GMinfo emphasized that this amount is insufficient for the quality implementation of a project valued at over one million dinars, stating that the commission's decision is politically motivated and in the interest of media outlets close to the authorities.

Journalistic and media associations are also drawing attention to the frequent appointment of the same members to numerous commissions, as well as the significant representation of certain independent experts, among whom Branislav Sančanin and Branimir Grulović stand out.

A drastic example of concentration is also evident in the results of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications' competition for co-financing media content in the languages of national minorities. The largest portion of the financial resources, out of a total of 60 million dinars, was awarded to media associated with Radoica Milosavljević and Slavko Stijaković, even though these media mostly report in Serbian. According to Cenzolovka, the media owned by Stijaković received 10.6 million dinars, while the media owned by Milosavljević was supported with around 10 million dinars. The mentioned projects are often thematically superficial, focusing on folklore and customs, without serious monitoring of the issues faced by minority communities.

ANEM, UNS, NUNS, and Lokal Press assess that this year the negative trend in the process of project co-financing of media content in Serbia has continued, and that in numerous competitions the entire process has been undermined by point policies and criteria, the manner of selecting commission members, the selection of projects for funding, and the amount of financial allocations.

Media associations and journalistic organizations once again appeal to the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications to monitor the regularity of media project co-financing to the greatest extent possible and to urgently take measures to prevent the non-transparent and irregular processes that characterize numerous competitions this year.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS)

Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS)

Lokal Press

The project of the Association of Independent Electronic Media "Participatory Monitoring of the Implementation of the Project Co-Financing Process" is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the MATRA program. ANEM is solely responsible for the content, which does not necessarily reflect the official views of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.