Champion of media competitions: For the media of a former JNA officer, over 200,000 euros just from the Ministry of Information.

After the announcement of the results of this year's media competitions by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, Slavko Stijaković could spread a rug under the fir and spruce trees, among blooming daffodils, lilacs, and ramondas, play our trumpet or something with six strings, and enjoy.

Namely, the media with such floral-folkloric names (cilim.rs, portalramonda.rs, narcisijorgovan.rs, and similar) of which he is the owner, along with those in which he is a co-owner, have collected exactly 24,530,000 dinars, or nearly 209,000 euros, solely from the Ministry. And the funds from the local competitions are yet to come!

Slavko Stijaković, a former officer of the JNA, who, besides graduating from the Military Academy, also completed the Faculty of Political Sciences, was previously mentioned in the media as one of the defense witnesses at the trial in the Hague Tribunal regarding the crimes that occurred in Vukovar.

One journalist, three portals – a formula for success

In the last few years, however, Stijaković has been significantly more present as the founder and co-owner of a whole network of media outlets, including Television Fruška Gora, City M Television, Radio Breg, Radio Fruška Gora…

If the results of the competitions organized by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, as well as the local competitions for which results have arrived so far (Kragujevac 800,000 dinars, Leskovac 600,000 dinars, Kraljevo 500,000 dinars, Vranje 400,000 dinars…), are any indication, the key to his success in the media business is represented by SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo.

This media publisher, which is directly or indirectly the owner of about twenty portals registered throughout Serbia in recent years – where one can find protocol announcements from local authorities and institutions, a few "light topics," but almost no real journalistic stories – actually brings in the most budgetary money with such content.

Stijaković may be somewhat less satisfied with the results of the competitions for the production of media content for television and radio stations, since his media outlets received a total of 5,030,000 dinars, which is not a large sum, as there were "players" who performed significantly better, and television is an expensive endeavor.

However, when it comes to the competitions for co-financing the production of media content for portals and content in the languages of national minorities – his network of media can be freely said to be the absolute champion.

Out of 78 projects for informing through internet media selected by the Ministry's commission, 11 will be implemented by portals directly or indirectly owned by Stijaković's company SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo.

SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo is, in fact, the owner of the companies Tvrđava 1780 doo Novi Sad, Vidik sa Cera doo Loznica, Naše trube doo Čačak, Portal Ramonda 1874 doo Niš, Portal Skadarlija 1854 doo Belgrade, Privredno društvo Vojvoda 1914 Valjevo, Heroji Morave doo Jagodina, Portal Toplica doo Prokuplje, Portal voz doo Leskovac, Palvinac doo Smederevo, and Zlatni vir doo Bor.

Each of them received 500,000 dinars for the implementation of projects on their respective portals. Thus, Stijaković's companies received 5,500,000 dinars in the competition for internet media, which is 11.7 percent of the total budget for this competition.

Announcements and "light topics," now in 14 languages

The media conglomerate owned by Stijaković performed even better in the competition for co-financing projects for the production of media content in the languages of national minorities, as it collected almost one-fifth of the total amount of funds allocated by the Ministry for the competition.

RTV Fruška Gora and City Television M received 900,000 dinars each for their projects, while Radio Breg Titel received 800,000 dinars. A total of 2.6 million dinars for reporting in Slovak and Croatian.

SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo received 800,000 dinars for a project involving the realization of media content in German, but in addition, the network of portals registered throughout Serbia for reporting in various minority languages was supported with an additional total of 7.2 million dinars.

Namely, for their projects in minority languages, the companies Portal Ćilim doo Pirot (for reporting in Bulgarian) and Omorika i bor doo Užice (for reporting in Bosnian) received 750,000 dinars each.

Each of the internet media publishers Šest žica doo Zaječar, Narcis i jorgovan doo Kraljevo, Banatski let 1928 doo Vršac, Talasi Dunava 588 doo Sombor, Vidik sa Cera doo Loznica, Cvet na tisi doo Zrenjanin, and Skadarlija 1854 doo Belgrade received 600,000 dinars.

For a total of 4,200,000 dinars, some of them will report in Croatian, some in Romani, Macedonian, Russian, Slovak, Romanian, or Bosnian.

The commission also decided that the projects of the companies Hej salaši 1848 doo Bačka Topola, Portal Koštana doo Vranje, and Zlatni vir doo Bor deserved 500,000 dinars each – totaling 1,500,000 for articles in Hungarian, Albanian, and Vlach.

When all is said and done, Stijaković's media received 10,600,000 dinars out of a total of 60,000,000 dinars that the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications allocated for this competition.

One of his portals also snagged a nice amount in the competition aimed at producing media content for electronic media in Kosovo and Metohija.

The company Portal Devič doo, the founder of the eponymous portal, which is 100% owned by SS Turistička Televizija 1961, was registered at the end of January this year.

For two million, it will also share the "formula" with others

Although the website portaldevic.rs during the competition contained only about twenty announcements and statements, the commission assessed that the project of this media should be supported with 1,400,000 dinars.

Given how much money SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo has managed to collect through its network of portals, it is not difficult to conclude that there is no better candidate to organize a seminar titled "Methodology for Improving Journalism on Portals and Working in Online Media."

The commission thought so too, and thus for this project of the company Privredno društvo Peto tri 1941 doo Kragujevac, which is owned by SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo, 1,000,000 dinars was collected in the competition for improving professional and ethical standards.

But that’s not all. Another million was received by Televizija Fruška Gora doo, of which Radio Fruška Gora is a co-owner, for the project "Three Media, One Journalist – a Formula for the Survival of Local Media."

Should it be emphasized that this formula is clearly known better by no one than Stijaković's media, as the portals owned by his company SS Turistička Televizija 1961 doo, judging by the data from the impressum, function precisely in this manner.

Source:  Cenzolovka