RTV has terminated its collaboration with FoNet

In response to the question about the reasons for terminating collaboration with FoNet, the general director of RTV, Goran Karadžić, did not provide an answer before the news was published. However, the Branch Union “Nezavisnost” at the Radio-Television of Vojvodina states that the reason is cost reduction.

In a response to NUNS, the union branch “Nezavisnost” at JMU RTV expressed disappointment with the management's decision not to extend the contract with the news agency FoNet from August, justifying it with austerity measures.

“Agency news has long been used as a primary source of information in the program and on the RTV website, and the content received from FoNet, particularly the video service of that agency, has been extremely significant in providing a somewhat different ‘tone’ in the information presented in the Informative Program, news, and shows of RTV,” stated representatives from Nezavisnost.

The union points out that the informative program of RTV is violating its legal obligation to inform the public truthfully, impartially, completely, and in a timely manner, especially regarding events in the country following the tragedy at the railway station in Novi Sad and the protests of students and citizens that ensued.

“We believe that the termination of FoNet's service and reliance solely on one ‘state’ agency, along with the already deeply rooted censorship in the operations of the provincial public service, will further diminish the quality of the program. On the other hand, this is additional confirmation that the quality of the program has long ceased to be a concern for management, as RTV has been hiding information from citizens and ignoring the public interest for too long, despite it being its primary legal obligation,” concludes the Union.

Small fee and cost rationalization

The Association of Journalists of Serbia announced at the end of last month that a “possible termination of collaboration with a large number of employees” was discussed at the programming board of RTV.

As stated by the general director of RTV at that time, it is necessary to “rationalize operations in a large company like RTV,” meaning it is essential to assess “whether such a large number of executors is necessary or if it is possible to better organize the work.”

Journalistic and media associations have, during the public debate on the recent amendments to the Law on Public Media Services (ZJIM), requested the cessation of budget financing to ensure the independence of the public service. It was also proposed that the fee amount, currently set at 349 dinars, be increased, and that RTV should receive a larger share of the revenue from the fee than it does now.

However, media organizations and unions failed to convince the authorities that increasing the fee to at least 500 dinars is essential for the sustainability of public media services – the same amount it was over 15 years ago. As they stated in a joint announcement at that time, “the decision not to increase the fee represents a populist measure with serious consequences for the operation and quality of the program, primarily of the provincial public media service.”

Source: NUNS