Distribution of funds to the media in Kruševac – Some for shoes, some for socks.

Based on the amount of funding received from media competitions during the observed period, ADD Produkcija (TV Plus) follows, having been awarded 18.553 million dinars. This amount should be supplemented by 2.2 million dinars, which the same company received for its television portal.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of CINK, Slaviša Milenković, told Odjek that the competitions for publishing media content of public interest have lost all meaning, as funding is not allocated based on the quality of projects—which should be the primary criterion—but rather based on the name of the project applicant or the media owner.

– Throughout this time, no evaluation of the projects that received funding has been conducted, and there are suspicions that some projects have not even been realized at all, as they cannot be found anywhere. A good idea from ten years ago has turned into a farce, so the most funding is awarded to media outlets controlled by the authorities for shows and programs that serve the ruling party, rather than the interests of the citizens. Other media have served for years as an “alibi” to create the illusion of procedural compliance, and as of this year, even that illusion no longer exists – says Milenković.

The money of the citizens of Kruševac, he adds, is being used to finance a propaganda machine while citizens are deprived of basic information.

– Fortunately, there are independent media outlets that strive to operate professionally, adhering to the highest journalistic standards. The only question is how long they will survive in that struggle – he concludes.

According to the amount of budget funds received from the City, based on the aforementioned analysis, the local television Kanal 12 (TV Jefimija) ranks third, having received 16.35 million dinars, plus 1.6 million for its portal.

Regarding local printed media, Albos, which publishes the newspaper Grad, and later its portal, has received a total of 14.44 million dinars from 2015 to the present.

The newspaper Pobeda has received a total of 5.392 million dinars from the City budget over the past six years since it resumed operations.

Radio Rubin has received a total of 5.05 million dinars over the course of 11 years.

As for online media in Kruševac, the portal KruševacPress, founded by the Center for Investigative Journalism Kruševac, has received a total of 2.8 million dinars from 2015 to 2024. This media outlet did not participate in the local media competition this year. The portal LINK received a total of 1.15 million dinars from 2017 to 2024, the same amount awarded to the agency Lotis during that period.

Other participants in the media competitions have received less than one million dinars over more than a decade. Many of them started applying in 2017, and some did not apply every year.

The analysis conducted by CINK also shows that the funds allocated by the City of Kruševac to support projects intended to improve citizens' access to information on matters of public importance have increased from an initial 7.753 million dinars in 2015 to 20 million dinars, which was allocated this year.

To read about how budget funds for media in Kruševac were distributed this year, click HERE, and about last year's distribution HERE.

Additionally, CINK's analysis of the distribution of funds for media in Brus and Aleksandrovac can be found HERE, the analysis of distribution in Trstenik HERE, and in Ćićevac and Varvarin HERE.

Source: Odjek