What is the role of the members of the committees for evaluating media projects?

The Chairman of the Board of ANEM, Veran Matić, emphasized at the beginning of the event that the budget funds for media project co-financing have begun to be "seriously plundered" year after year.

“The largest portion of the funds is received by those who have violated the Journalists' Code and many laws. This has rendered the project co-financing process meaningless as it has become a sort of mechanism for co-financing the lies disseminated in tabloids. It is therefore essential to expose the abuses occurring from those who implement this process and to do everything possible to ensure that the funds are allocated to the purposes stipulated by law, i.e., to make visible everything that has been done in a non-transparent manner in the past period,” Matić stated.

The Ambassador of the Netherlands to Serbia, Martjen Elhersma, highlighted at the opening of the event that it is essential for Europe to see peace, stability, and progress in the Western Balkans region.

“We want to see democratic societies and stability in this region. In this process of democratizing society and strengthening democracy, the foundation consists of human rights, but within that framework, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of media freedom and the existence of a pluralistic media landscape. The first sign of a decline in democracy in certain societies is the impediment to media operations and the circumstances under which journalists perform their jobs,” the ambassador noted.

Saša Mirković, as a representative of ANEM, urged candidates for members of the commissions evaluating media projects to remain motivated to apply for the competition commissions despite obstacles and contentious issues, and not to lose heart.

“We should try together to influence the change of that climate and participate in as many commissions as possible,” Mirković said.

Media consultant and event facilitator Natalija Bratuljević stated that we all have an obligation to follow the process because we are “accountable to the public and our citizens.”

“It is clear to everyone that content serving the public interest is under attack from all sides, fundamentally and essentially, not only due to the polarized situation but also because we are all together in the same ring with large companies that daily change the way we are informed,” Bratuljević assessed.

Participants at the event who were in the commissions, as well as those planning to apply for next year, shared their experiences, uncertainties, and the problems faced by the project co-financing process in recent years, particularly regarding the Unified Information System (JIS) platform launched by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications this year.

Lawyer Kruna Savović pointed out to the candidates the legal foundations and reminded participants what is necessary for the competition to be considered complete and in accordance with the law, as well as what the penalties are in cases where this is not adhered to.

“It is necessary to inform the public about everything and exchange information in order to address some irregularities and to react,” Savović emphasized.

The training is organized as part of 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.