Project co-financing in Novi Pazar: "Lobbying through political structures is key to obtaining funding."
The process of project co-financing for media content in Novi Pazar is non-transparent, influenced by politics, and unfair, as every year more than 70 percent of the funds are allocated to a single media outlet – Radio-Television Novi Pazar, according to representatives of local media from that city.
Amela Bajrović, editor of the local portal Freemedia from Novi Pazar, states that every year they receive certain funds from local government competitions, but the biggest problem is that the majority of the money goes to one local television station, and everyone locally is pointing this out.
“This year’s competition has shown that nothing has changed. More than 70 percent goes to that television station, while the crumbs are left for other media, which is not fair. I assert that the current situation in Novi Pazar is such that most citizens are informed through portals, while television has the lowest viewership. It is up to us to continue fighting, to highlight this injustice, and to try to solve this problem,” Bajrović emphasized.
Medin Halilović from the portal SNEWS in the same city claims that the process of project co-financing for media content is still non-transparent.
“On one hand, there is discrimination, and on the other hand, this is about public interest and media, which should be completely open. As a media outlet, we have proven this through several articles and analyses. We expect that there will be drastic changes in the legislative framework, that everything will be redefined, and that what exactly constitutes public interest and how it is realized will be clearly defined. Everything has been relativized, and my impression is that lobbying through political structures becomes a key element for obtaining funds and support in those competitions. We hope that this practice will come to an end,” Halilović assessed.
The fifth training session for local media on writing media projects was held in Novi Pazar, organized by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM).
The workshop, led by Emil Holcer, was aimed at local media to gain concrete knowledge on writing projects of public interest, in accordance with the Law on Public Information and Media, as well as projects for international organizations.
The training was attended by representatives of the media, freelance journalists, and representatives of non-governmental organizations from Novi Pazar and Raška. The training was also an opportunity to exchange experiences regarding participation in this year’s project co-financing process, specifically in the competitions announced by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications and local government authorities.
This is one of ten training sessions that will be held by the end of the year in cities across Serbia.
The training was organized within the project of the Association of Independent Electronic Media “Participatory Monitoring of the Implementation of the Project Co-Financing Process,” which is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the MATRA program. ANEM is solely responsible for the content of the workshop, which does not necessarily reflect the official views of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
