UNS: The Municipality of Bečej should allocate funds for co-financing media projects.

UNS calls on the Municipality of Bečej to allocate all funds designated for information, in accordance with the Law, through a public competition, rather than through direct subsidies for services.

UNS reminds that, according to the Law from 2023, the announcement of a competition for project co-financing of media content production is mandatory and that a monetary penalty is prescribed for violating this provision.

UNS also points out that the ZJIM stipulates that money for media should be distributed exclusively through competitions for co-financing media content production projects, rather than for pre-agreed services.

UNS has sent questions to the Municipality of Bečej regarding how much money will be allocated for the competition, but as of the publication of this statement, no response has been received. Officials in the Bečej municipal administration have not answered phone calls either.

UNS emphasizes that the Municipality of Bečej is one of the municipalities that reduced the amount allocated for media content production tenfold in 2024 compared to the previous year. This local government allocated 9 million dinars for project co-financing in 2022 and 2023. Last year, this amount was reduced to 900,000 dinars, and it is expected to be 1 million dinars in 2025.

UNS stresses that any reduction in the amount allocated for media projects contradicts the idea of achieving public interest, while not allocating money for these purposes is contrary to the Law.

Source: UNS