A Decade of Media Co-Financing in Novi Pazar

The most funding (4.2 million dinars per month) was received by RTV Novi Pazar, followed by TV Jedinstvo with 300,000 dinars, Sto Plus Radio with 100,000 dinars, and both Danas and Yu Radio with 50,000 dinars each per month.

In total, over these three years, RTV Novi Pazar received 151.2 million dinars (89.4%), TV Jedinstvo 10.8 million, Sto Plus Radio 3.6 million, and both Danas and Yu Radio received 1.8 million dinars each.

In the next competition, in 2019, funding was approved for 11 media outlets, with RTV Novi Pazar receiving the highest amount of 45.6 million out of a total of 52.6 million dinars. This represents 86 percent of the total funds allocated for the media.

Novi Pazar allocated the highest amount of money in this decade (64.1 million dinars) in the subsequent competition. The funds were distributed among 16 media outlets, with RTV Novi Pazar receiving 45 million, which is the lowest percentage (70 percent) during this period.

Significant funding that year was received by TV Sandžak – 13 million dinars.

The following year, the budget for media competitions in Novi Pazar amounted to 55 million dinars, of which 46.9 million dinars (85.3 percent) was allocated to RTV Novi Pazar.

From the following year, a trend began where Novi Pazar allocated less funding for media projects (2022 – 48 million, 2023 – 46 million, 2024 – 41.8 million, and 2025 – 41 million dinars), but the percentage of funds allocated to RTV Novi Pazar remained high at 75 to 82 percent.

Media workers and experts have been warning for years about this negative practice in Novi Pazar, urging the local government to put an end to it.

The editor-in-chief of the A1.net portal, Enes Radetinac, stated that for a decade, media projects have not been evaluated based on quality, capacities, and results, but rather on political grounds and the principle of appeasing everyone.

“There are two clear problems here. The first is the significant concentration of funds to one media outlet that is favorable enough to survive, and the second is the major issue that the remaining portion of the funds, which constitutes only about 20% of the total budget, is distributed among all the other media outlets to create the illusion – look, everyone received something, we gave to all. Then, if any of us points out a problem, it is said: well, what’s the issue, you received funds,” said Radetinac.

“The city of Novi Pazar has been subtly trying for years to stifle objective media while presenting itself to the public as if it is not responsible for this. Every year we hear that the practice will be better and more transparent, but that has not happened so far,” concluded Radetinac.

The director of TV Sandžak, Salahudin Fetić, believes that the practice of allocating 80 percent of the total funds to one media outlet “seriously undermines the principles of fairness and pluralism.”

“On several occasions, we have initiated proposals to introduce a legal cap so that no media can receive more than 50% of the total allocated funds per competition, including associated publishers and employees within the same media house. Given that the competition for 2026 is still ongoing, now is the time for the authorities to react and closely monitor how it will be conducted to ensure that public money for information serves the interest of citizens, not the preservation of the privileged position of certain media,” Fetić stated.

Media expert and president of the Management Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), Veran Matić, has been warning for years that Novi Pazar is an example of how not to conduct competitions for co-financing media projects.

“That is a record amount (that RTV Novi Pazar received) and a record percentage in the ten-year period — and an injustice that has lasted an entire decade. Due to the violation of project co-financing rules, smaller media outlets, which operate much more qualitatively and professionally, barely survive, reducing costs and the number of employees to a minimum, instead of using those funds to develop and enhance the scope of content of public interest,” said Matić.

He assessed that there are media outlets in Novi Pazar that, with their quality content, represent true public services.

“We have the excellent Radio Sto Plus, a model by all media standards; the portal Freemedia.rs, whose editor was named the Person of the Year by the OSCE Mission in Serbia for last year; A1 TV, the TAKT portal, and others. All of them collaborate excellently based on universal principles, respecting the Journalists' Code and civilizational values,” Matić assessed.

On the other hand, Matić adds, we have RTV Novi Pazar, which broadcasts the program of TV Informer live, a media outlet known “for the unchecked and unlimited spread of interethnic hatred and bias against anyone who thinks differently from the current authorities in Serbia.”

“Such propaganda has the most severe consequences precisely in multiethnic environments like Novi Pazar, where policies have worked for years and decades to create divisions, extremism, conflicts, and stereotypes as products of the spread of hatred. Such distribution of funds encourages propaganda instead of quality media content of public interest — content that provides citizens with information, knowledge, and solidarity. In this way, the authorities show for years what they think of their citizens: that they should be kept in media darkness and divisions should be encouraged,” added Matić.

Source: Radio Sto Plus