Journalistic and Media Associations: Reassess the results of the media competition and the work of the commission in Šabac.

Associations assess that it is illogical for the highest amount of funding in Šabac—6.6 million dinars—to have been awarded to the company Infomačva, which was registered in January of this year and is the publisher of the portal macvatv.rs, officially registered in the Media Register only at the beginning of April, that is, one month before the announcement of the competition in that city.

Considering that the evaluation of projects also scores the capacities of the applicants, such as the duration of their activity, continuity in working with the target group for which the project is intended, and the average number of employees in the previous year, it is unacceptable in this case to award someone a multi-million amount for co-financing a project that is incomparably larger than all those submitted in the aforementioned competition.

It is particularly indicative and concerning that the City of Šabac has, without consequences, delayed for more than two months in relation to the legal deadline in which all bodies were required to announce media competitions, which was on March 1. It is necessary to reconsider whether the delay in announcing the competition was related to the registration of the portal that received the highest amount of funding in this city.

At the same time, we question the relevant institutions how this same company launched a television program called TV Mačva, which is broadcast on the cable system, if such a television is not registered in the Media Register nor has it received the appropriate broadcasting licenses from the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM)?

We also remind you that this is not the first case of undermining the process of project co-financing of media content in Serbia, but it represents a drastic and dramatic example and proof of how public funds are distributed without any relevant criteria and in a questionable manner.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS)

Local Press

Media Association

The project of the Association of Independent Electronic Media “Participatory Monitoring of the Co-Financing Process of Projects” is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the MATRA program. ANEM is solely responsible for the content and it does not necessarily reflect the official views of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.