Newspaper prices

Daily newspapers in Serbia are the cheapest in the region and their average price amounts to 15-35 dinars, shows the research conducted by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS). Prices are similar in Macedonia and Romania, where daily newspapers cost between 0.2 and 0.75 euros. In Hungary, prices range from 0.5 to 0.85 euros, while daily newspapers in Croatia cost three times more than in Serbia. Slovenian newspapers have the average price of 0.9-1.2 euros. In Montenegro, daily newspapers cots 0.5 euros, the same as in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(Danas, Press, UNS, B92 27/04/2011)

Commenting on the prices of daily newspapers in Serbia, Dragan Bujosevic, the president of the Press Council, said that prices in Serbia are lowest because of low incomes, while Filip Svarm, the editor of the weekly Magazine Vreme, believes that the reason lies in the lowest standard of living in the region. Aleksandar Stevanovic, an associate of the Center for Free Market, is of the opinion that the situation is caused by excessive competition and unsatisfactory content of newspapers. Srdjan Bogosavljevic, director of Ipsos Strategic Marketing, said that the Serbian market offers a much wider range of daily newspapers than the other countries of the region, while the purchasing power of the population has dropped significantly in the last three years.
(Danas, NUNS, UNS, 29/04/2011)

The minority media

Employees in the newspaper oriented toward the Bulgarian national minority, "Bratstvo", who have not received any salaries in several months, asked the founder of the National Council of Bulgarians (NSBM) in Serbia to remove from position its director Nebojsa Ivanov. In the opinion of the journalistic trade union, he is responsible for this situation. The director said that he has not received salary since October as well, and that the troubles began in 2009, when the then Ministry of Culture decided to reduce the available funds from 30 to 7.5 million dinars. The protector of citizens concluded that our rights as a minority newspaper had been violated and ordered the decision to be reversed, but without any results, said Nebojsa Ivanov.
(Vecernje Novosti, UNS, 28/04/2011)

Privatization and public media outlets

A representative of the state capital for the local television station, TV Valjevo, has not been appointed, while the station is facing closure because of the outstanding debt amounting to five million dinars. The explanation received from the Privatization Agency says that "the procedure of appointment has not been completed". "Quiet agony under the state supervision", say the employees in TV Valjevo, describing their current status.
(Blic, 09/05/2011)

Employees in the Radio-Television Smederevo began a strike yesterday because of unpaid salaries and inadequate working conditions. Radio Smederevo was sold at an auction held in the Privatization Agency in December 2009, and its majority owner is Marko Lukic.
(NUNS, Pravda, Danas, Vecernje novosti, Blic, 27/04/2011; Blic, 28/04/2011)

On the occasion of the strike of employees of Radio-Television Smederevo, representatives of the management said at a press conference that only a half of the workers were striking, and that the strike was caused by mandatory investment of the majority owner and the unpaid obligations of the previous employer.
(Pravda, 28/04/2011)

TV Smederevo, which is owned by the local self-government, has been working for more than two years without any plan or a program. During the same period, no sessions of the Managing Board have been held, while the Municipal Assembly has not received any financial reports. The Assembly discussed the operations of this media outlet only in October 2008.
(Vecernje Novosti, 05/05/2011)

On June 20, Radio Pirot will appear on an auction sale for the fourth time. The decision was announced by the Privatization Agency, while the starting price amounts to 3,487,000 dinars. Previous three auction sales failed to attract any prospective buyers for the station that is still being financed by the municipality.
(Vecernje Novosti, 29/04/2011, NUNS, Press, 10/05/2011)

Journalist Filip Mladenovic, a part-time worker employed with Radio Belgrade 202, protested in front of the Radio-Television Serbia and Radio Belgrade buildings because of discrimination of part-time workers. Remunerations paid to part-time workers have been dropping for months, while at the same time several vacant work positions could be filled by converting part-time employees into full-time workers.
(Blog B92, NUNS, 03/05/2011)

Employees in a regional TV station, RTV 5 from Nis, have ended their 2 month-long strike despite the failure to reach a written agreement with the employer on payment of remaining late salaries.
(Pregled, Vecernje novosti, UNS, 09/05/2011)

Broadcasting of parliamentary sessions

The National Parliament of Serbia sent a contract on airing of parliamentary sessions to Radio-Television of Serbia. The document states that the broadcaster would receive 80 million dinars for a year of airing – 40 percent immediately and the rest in installments.
(Beta, Blic, Pravda, E-novine, UNS, 28/04/2011; Vecernje Novosti, Kurir, 29/04/2011)

The director of the Radio-Television of Serbia, Aleksandar Tijanic, said that in around ten days RTS would offer a response to the Serbian Parliament about the proposed contract on broadcasting of parliamentary sessions.
(Tanjug, NUNS, B92, 04/05/2011; Kurir, Vecernje novosti, 05/05/2011)

Other news

At the end of April, the company "Novosti" launched a new publishing project entitled "The Golden Europeans". Every week until July 6, "Novosti" will offer to its readers literary works of famous European authors. The edition consists of 12 books that will be sold in newsstands for the price of only 390 dinars.
(ASMEDI Newsletter, 151)

Issue No. 3
April 28 – May 11, 2011

Abbreviations