Case of Zaple Media Group: Millions in Media Competitions for Newly Established Portals That Are Already Violating the Code.

The projects of this company have been supported in Užice, Požega, Vojvodina, Aranđelovac, Majdanpek, Aleksinac, Bajina Bašta, and through the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications' competition for internet media, for which they received co-financing for seven projects amounting to 4.9 million dinars.

Their websites, Užice Notice Board, Drina Info, Stara Pazova Live, Serbia in the East, Voice of Aranđelovac, Strength of the South, and Palanačke Vesti, have been supported, most of which had only existed for a few weeks or months at the time the competition was announced.

According to the commission's proposal in Stara Pazova, an additional 2.4 million dinars is allocated for this company, but an official decision has not yet been made. Additionally, competitions have not been concluded in another 17 local self-governments.

It is worth noting that the company Zaple Media Group was registered in December of last year, and since January 1 of this year, it has established a total of 12 portals: Strength of the South, "Then and Now," "Then and Now Info," "Before and After Info," "Before and After," Stara Pazova Live, Nova Pazova Live, Podunavlje Live, Serbia in the East, Palanačke Vesti, Voice of Aranđelovac, and Lučani Live.

In parallel, the company also acquired two existing local portals – Užice Notice Board and Drina Info from Bajina Bašta.

Already in the first months of the existence of most of these media outlets, the Complaints Commission of the Press Council made decisions in 11 cases that the content of these outlets violated the Journalists' Code of Serbia, specifically on the portals Užice Notice Board, Lučani Live, Drina Info, Palanačke Vesti, Voice of Aranđelovac, Stara Pazova Live, Nova Pazova Live, Serbia in the East, and Podunavlje Live.

The owner of the Novi Sad company that publishes these portals is Milica Lainović, and the director is Gradimir Banković, who is also the editor-in-chief responsible for all 14 media outlets.

Gradimir Banković has, in fact, appeared in the media for the past year and a half, analyzing social issues and the state situation as a representative of the Center for Social Stability, where he was listed as a "collaborator" on their website. This NGO is known for organizing last year's counter-demonstrations, which were attended by the state leadership.

The Center for Social Stability has also produced several films targeting dissenters of the government, including "(De)blockade" and "NGO Dossier," which were broadcast on cable and national frequency television stations as well as on social media. At the beginning of the year, a piece titled "Evil Age 2" was aired, targeting Veran Matić, the chairman of the ANEM Managing Board and a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, on the channels Prva, B92, Informer, and Documentary TV, which broadcasts its program without being registered as a media outlet or having a license from REM.

Banković is also the owner and director of Elementum Media LLC from Novi Sad, registered for the production and broadcasting of television programs, and simultaneously the legal representative of the association "Kogitatum Center," which received funding from the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2021 through a competition aimed at the civil sector.

The ANEM database with the results of the competition for project co-financing of media content for 2026 is available at this link.

The register of selected members of competition committees in 2026, initiated by ANEM, is available at this link.

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