Media business operations

It is necessary to introduce clear rules on financing of the media in Serbia and to guarantee fair competition, said the Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, Vincent Deger. "The source of financing must be clear and transparent, regardless of whether it is the state or a municipality", added Deger.
(Blic, 01.08.2011)

The equipment of a local TV Valjevo, worth around 250,000 dinars, was inventoried by court due to unpaid salaries to employees who have won their lawsuits against the station. The equipment will soon be sold at a public auction.
(Beta, NUNS, Danas, Pregled 25.07.2011)

The Assembly of Employees in TV Valjevo (TVA) has appointed journalist Branka Jevtic as acting director and editor. On March 28, the Privatization Agency terminated the sales contract between TVA and Slobodan Pavlovic from Urovac because of the failure to fulfill contractual obligations. News programme has not been aired since January 20, while the music and film programme of private production companies that TVA cooperates with are being broadcast within the cable network SBB, but not terrestrially. The future of TVA is uncertain since the city leaders are not willing to accept the debt made during the period when the station was private property.
(Beta, Pregled, 03.08.2011)

Five former employees of Radio Pirot, which is owned by the state, have individually sued the radio station for unpaid one and a half salary and unused annual vacation after being designated technical surplus workforce. The Public Company Radio Pirot has not been sold after four public auctions due to the lack of interested buyers.
(Beta, NUNS Pregled, 28.07.2011)

Each time when advertising is aired on TV, the volume of the sound increases drastically. No one has been punished for such violations although the Law on Electronic Communication stipulates harsh fines. The Public Service Broadcaster (more specifically RTS2) had the least deviation from the normal level, while the "noisiest" TV stations are commercial televisions: TV Pink, TV Prva, TV Happy, TV Avala. The Republic Agency for Telecommunication (RATEL) says that they have sent warnings to all TV stations and that they would begin initiating legal proceedings against violators if the violations continue.
(Blic, 25.07.2011, Kurir, NUNS, 26.07.2011)

Minority media

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) is concerned because of increasingly frequent pressure exerted on the media by councils of national minorities. "The last such example is the public statement issued by the committee for Monitoring of Violations of National Minority Rights of Croats in Serbia. The statement protests against the reporting of RTV Ju-Eco from Subotica from the press conference held in the Croatian National Council." After examining the TV and online report of the TV Ju-Eco, the NUNS was of the opinion that the committee of the National Council of Croats was unjustified and inappropriate.
(Danas, NUNS, 29.07.2011)

The president of the National Council of the Hungarian national community, Tamas Korhec, considers that local communities should be allowed to own media outlets in minority languages, i.e. to be exempted from the mandatory privatization specified by the Draft Strategy for Development of the Media in Serbia.
(Dnevnik, 01.08.2011)

Privatization, private media outlets and state-owned media outlets

TV stations TV Pink and TV Happy are the only broadcasters with national frequencies that are completely owned by legal and physical persons from Serbia, while a company from Greece is behind the owner of the TV Prva. RTV B92 is mostly owned by foreigners, while in TV Avala a foreign company owns almost 50 percent of the station. This information was published by the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) on its web site.
(Danas, 26.07.2011)

Ownership structure of national TV stations:

• TV Avala – The Economic Institute 0.99 %, Danko Djunic 45.65 %, Zeljko Mitrovic 4.95 %, Greenberg Invest (Austrija) 48.41 %
  RTV Pink
• Zeljko Mitrović 100 %
• TV Happy - MD Invest 95.01 %, Ideogram 4.95 %
• National TV Happy (Kosava) - Kanal 1 37.24 %, Ideogram 62.76%
• RTV B92 - Astonko 84.55 %, B92 Trust 10.74 %, Lake Bed Holdings (Cyprus) 0.63%, RDP B92 1.31%, small shareholders 2.33%
• TV Prva - Nova Broadcasting 51%, Varaner (Cyprus) 49%.

(Danas, NUNS, 26.07.2011)

The Anti-Corruption Council informed the Ministry of Culture, Informing and Information Society of Serbia that it had prepared a Report on the Media in Serbia that would soon be delivered to the Government and presented to the public. For the first time, the public will be informed about the owners of Serbian media companies and about those who have enabled them to became owners and remain anonymous to this day. The Council suggested that the Media Strategy should include an obligation to annually publish official results of contests for selection of programmes of radio and television productions, as well as financial reports of media companies that are of public importance.
(Dnevnik, NUNS 03.08.2011)

The assembly of the Journalistic-Publishing Company Novosti elected yesterday a new Managing and Supervising Board of the company. In accordance with the recently adopted decision of the Securities Commission, the previous majority owner, Milan Beko (who had owned 62.50% of the company), was temporarily deprived of managing rights and now owns only 25 percent of such rights, while the Republic of Serbia became the majority owner. Thanks to this position and its 29.52 percent of ownership, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has nominated its six members of the Managing Board (previously it could nominate two members) and two members of the Supervising Board (previously it could nominate one member). The new president of the Supervising Board is Dragana Simic, the assistant director for economy and finance in the Health Institute "Apoteka Beograd", while its members are Danijel Apostolovic, the counselor for the media to the President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and Slobodanka Koprivica, previously the president of the Supervising Board.
(Vecernje novosti, NUNS, 27.07.2011)

The case of "Dnevnik"

The employees in two production departments within the printing company Dnevnik in Novi Sad are currently in strike because the management owes them 11 monthly salaries and because they have been deprived of health insurance during the last 19 months, said the Strike Board. The Board also claims that the management has threatened the employees with dismissals.
(Beta, NUNS, Danas, 25.07.2011)

The management of Dnevnik Holding has fired 18 strikers in the Dnevnik printing company, said a member of the Strike Board, Biljana Simunic, to the news agency Beta. The information has been confirmed by the management of the company. She added that the striking workers would probably organize protests in front of official institutions of the Province which are the founders of Dnevnik Holding.
(Beta, Pregled, Dnevnik, Pravda, 02.08.2011)

Issue No. 9
July 21 - August 03, 2011

Abbreviations