Are the citizens of the municipality of Novi Bečej paying for media silence?
The proposal of the decision by the commission for the allocation of funds in the competition for co-financing projects in the field of public information in the municipality of Novi Bečej for the year 2025 envisages that the funds will be granted to only one media outlet – the company VTV d.o.o. from Subotica, which operates TV Novi Bečej.
Out of a total of six submitted applications, the commission assessed that only one meets the conditions for funding. Among those rejected is the Webinfo portal – one of only two local media outlets that report daily from the territory of the municipality of Novi Bečej. TV Novi Bečej has received funding. Webinfo has not.
The Webinfo portal had received funding from the Novi Bečej municipality budget in previous years, but in symbolic amounts – significantly less compared to the sums awarded to TV Novi Bečej through the same competitions, and even to media outlets that have no real connection to informing the citizens of this municipality. In other words, we have previously been on the margins of distribution, but now the funding has been completely denied.
In practice, this means that if the commission's proposal is adopted, funds from the Novi Bečej municipality budget will be allocated to only one local media outlet – the one that received funding. And that media outlet, as citizens already know, reports selectively. Its programming does not include civic protests or criticism of the authorities.
Webinfo, on the other hand, reports on both celebrations and problems. On events and blockades. On municipal failures and school performances. On everything.
Perhaps that is where it all began. On that November 1, 2024, when a canopy fell in Novi Sad, leading to the first protests. Shortly thereafter, protests were held in Novi Bečej as well. We were neither blind nor deaf. We wrote about it – just as we wrote about performances, awards, and school competitions.
Since then, it has become clear that nothing is as it was before. Some have stopped inviting us to events. Some have stopped acknowledging us on the street. Novi Bečej is a small place – such changes are quickly seen and felt even faster.
This is not a formal ban – it is silence. And silence, when systemic, becomes a method of governance.
Delayed announcement of the information competition
The law stipulates that local governments must announce information competitions by March 1. Novi Bečej did not do this. The competition was announced on April 4 – after the Ministry of Information and the Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information issued warnings to municipalities that failed to fulfill their legal obligation, which Webinfo reported on back in February here.
Who was on the commission that evaluated the applications?
The commission consisted of Tatjana Ćitić (independent application), Mara Skenčić Reljić (representing the Association of Radio and Television of Serbia – ARTS), and Aleksandar Simić (representing the Association of Sports Journalists of Belgrade). Two out of the three members come from organizations linked to Vladan Stefanović – the owner of VTV d.o.o. from Subotica, which has been proposed as the sole beneficiary of the information funds in Novi Bečej.
Stefanović is the founder and key figure of the ComNet network (Network of Electronic Media of Serbia) and a long-time representative of the ARTS association, which just nominated Mara Skenčić Reljić to this commission. In previous years, he was the legal representative of both associations and a member of numerous commissions that allocated funds to media from his network – including TV Novi Bečej. This structure and network of relations clearly indicate a conflict of interest, rather than an objective assessment of the quality of the submitted projects.
What about the remaining funds?
In the 2025 budget of the municipality of Novi Bečej, 7,100,000 dinars are planned for information purposes. This competition allocated 600,000 – of which the commission proposed that 400,000 be awarded to one media outlet, while 200,000 remains unallocated. More than six and a half million dinars are still pending. It remains to be seen whether a new competition will be announced or whether the funds will be transferred through direct contracts, away from public scrutiny. The Ministry of Information's recommendations are clear: funds intended for public information should be distributed through competitions – transparently, with equal conditions for all media.
However, even though the competition for part of the planned funds has been formally conducted this time, it seems that this does not guarantee that the overall distribution will be free from well-known patterns.
The citizens of Novi Bečej pay for information from the budget. The question is – what do they get for it?
In Novi Bečej, there are only two local media outlets. One chooses not to see everything. The other chooses not to remain silent. The funds have gone to the former.
Source: Webinfo
