The leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, Cedomir Jovanovic, says that all media outlets have the right to independence and security resulting from the willingness to operate within the boundaries of law. Jovanovic also says that his party objects to certain individuals' intention to establish control over the print media outlets that would be similar to the control exerted over the electronic media.
(Tanjug, Press, Politika, Večernje Novosti, Danas, 24.12.2011)

The media in Serbia needs a kind of a mental transition, says Jelena Trivan, the deputy president of the parliamentary Culture and Information Committee. During the presentation of the new issue of the magazine "Challenges of European Integration" dedicated to the media, published by the Official Gazette, she added that the state should immediately begin to regulate the ownership over the media and the issue of impermissible concentration, as well as to withdraw from media ownership. "It is not natural for the state to own 137 media outlets, because that constitutes unreasonable waste of money. The state should abandon ownership of media outlets and the deadlines stipulated by the Media Strategy are reasonable", said Trivan.
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 29.12.2011)

The state and the media

The National Parliament of Serbia has adopted the Law on Cinematography, which stipulates that expert duties in the area of cinematography shall be performed by the Film Center of Serbia. The Center will organize public contests for co-financing of films. Funds intended for stimulation of domestic cinematography are to be provided from the national budget, as well as in the form of 1.5 percent of the collected monthly TV fee for Radio-Television Serbia; 20 percent of the money collected by the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA); and 10 percent of the money collected by the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL). The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) are opposed to the adoption of the Law on Cinematography. Previously, they had called on the National Parliament of Serbia not to adopt the proposed law because it would take away significant amount of money collected by regulatory bodies from radio and TV broadcasters and telecommunication providers.
(RTV, B92, NUNS, 26.12.2011, Dnevnik, UNS, Pregled, 27.12.2011)

A columnist for Politika newspaper, Branislava Dzunov, writes: The problem – where to find money for Serbian cinematography – is being solved in a wrong way: money is to be taken away from someone else. In our cultural situation, this approach will lead to production of meaningless and morbid films and neglect of television programme for children.
(Blic, 25.12.2011)

A member of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), Gordana Susa, writes: Apparently, it was easier to fight against the European Law on Broadcasting – which already resembles a piece of Swiss cheese after five amendments and adoption of two laws that directly contradict its provisions (the Law on Local Self-Government and the Law on National Councils) – than to oppose the lobbies that need money to make films. It seems that the third law will be adopted as well and that the RRA will be placed in a situation where it would be impossible for it not to violate some of these laws, regardless of the steps it takes.
(Blic, 24.12.2011)

Public service broadcasters

The Football Association of Serbia (FSS) has continued its cooperation with the Public Service Broadcaster of Serbia (RTS). Matches played by the football representation will be continue to be aired by RTS in the future. A contract on cooperation was signed by the president of the FSS, Tomislav Karadzic, and the general director of RTS, Aleksandar Tijanic, at a ceremony held in the RTS building.
(Alo!, Blic, 27.12.2011)

The Association of Writers of Serbia wrote an open letter to the public commenting on the decision of the editorial office of the Cultural and Educational Programme Department of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) to reject producing the TV film about the return of Milos Crnjanski to Belgrade from emigration. In words of the editor of this department of RTS, Miodrag Zupanc, the project was not in accordance with the programme policy of the public service broadcaster.
(Blic, 24.12.2011)

Threats, attacks and legal proceedings against journalists; media-related trials

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade has decided that the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) are joint owners of the building in Resavska Street in Belgrade. According to a statement issued by the Court of Appeals, this decision legally ends the proceedings related to the lawsuit filed by NUNS against the UNS in relation to ownership of the building and the right of NUNS to register itself as the owner.
(Beta, Tanjug, Press,Politika, UNS, Blic, NDNV, RTV, NUNS, 23.12.2011)

The owner of TV Pink, Zeljko Mitrovic, was examined in the First Primary Court in relation to the lawsuit filed against him by his brother-in-law and a former football player for Crvena Zvezda, Zeljko Krmpotic. Previously, the public had been intrigued by Mitrovic's claims that someone from his circle of friends or a family member poisoned him, causing him to become sick with a serious form of anemia. At the time, Mitrovic allegedly told the police that he considered Zeljko Krmpotic and his wife, Lola Krmpotic, to be the most suspect. After that, they decided to file a lawsuit against Mitrovic.
(Alo!, 24.12.2011)

In his response to the complaint filed by representatives of the media from Zrenjanin – who complained against the behavior of the higher public prosecutor, Borislav Miglinski, towards journalists and the public – the acting public prosecutor for appeals in Novi Sad, Djordje Ostojic, said that the office of the higher public prosecutor had offered "as much information as was necessary and possible without jeopardizing the criminal legal proceedings and the interests of those involved in them". Journalists from Zrenjanin had written a complaint to the republic public prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, and the acting public prosecutor for appeals, Djordje Ostojic, claiming that they had not been successful in their attempts to contact Miglinski since 2009 and his appointment as the higher public prosecutor in the city. However, journalists have not given up and the have announced their intention to file a complaint with the State Council of Prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice, demanding that they be allowed to perform their work in an appropriate manner.
(Vecernje Novosti - Vojvodina, NUNS, 27.12.2011)

The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) has banned the broadcasting of the RTV Duga Sat programme from Novi Sad via cable distribution systems. The reason behind this decision was the pressure exerted by the Independent Trade Union of the Police because of the public criticism of the strike organized by police trade unions – claims the director and the editor-in-chief of RTV Duga, Dusan Moraca. The trade union of the Serbian police says that they have nothing against TV Duga, but they cannot allow the station to publicly broadcast hate speech aimed against members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After being asked by the newspaper Pravda to offer its comment about the ban, the RRA has not offered any response and instead asked for the questions to be delivered via email.
(Pravda, UNS, NUNS, 29.12.2011)

The Media Strategy

It is possible that the government has no intention of fulfilling the commitments undertaken as a part of the Media Strategy that was adopted this year – said the representatives of journalistic and media associations during the conference entitled "The Past Year – A Missed Opportunity for the Media Sector?" Representative of the Media Association, Zoran Sekulic, said that it seemed that the Media Strategy had been adopted only for the purpose of getting a positive opinion of the European Commission about the progress in the process of European integration achieved by Serbia, and that "there is a real danger that the government will disregard its obligations stipulated by the Strategy due to the decreased Euro-enthusiasm and its focus on the election campaign". In his words, the state has already broken its promises by prescribing direct financing from the national budget of four media outlets in Serbia in its proposed budget for the next year, despite the fact that the Strategy allows only project-based financing of media outlets.
(Danas, NUNS, 22.12.2011)

The state has no intention of ending its financing of media outlets in 2012, and Serbian taxpayers will be paying one million dinars a day (10,000 euros) to the media, with most of the money going to the news agency Tanjug – said the representatives of journalistic and media associations. "This would violate the provisions contained in the Media Strategy that was adopted at a telephone session of the Government held in September, because the Strategy stipulates withdrawal of the state from the media and transition to project-based financing", said the representative of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Vukasin Obradovic. The 2012 budget prescribes allocation of 368 million dinars for the news agency Tanjug, Panorama, Jugoslovenski Pregled and the International Radio Serbia.
(Beta, Pregled, Pravda, NUNS, UNS, Vecernje Novosti, 22.12.2011)

Gordana Susa writes in her article published by the newspaper Blic: "The Media Strategy has been prepared for two years. Everything that was agreed upon fell through already at the first operational task – this year's budget. Instead of being transparent on the basis of submitted and socially beneficial projects, the state assistance (i.e. money from the national budget) to be given to the media in the next year will again be paid to state-owned companies whose ownership the state had promised (yeah, sure) to relinquish. In this way, instead of being reduced, discrimination between the media has intensified."
(Blic, 24.12.2011)

The minority media

The director of Radio-Television Panon, Istvan Bodzoni, said that the structure of the station's programme had been fundamentally changed, but that many changes would be introduced gradually. He added that the local and regional information would continue to be the main segment of the programme of the station, but that it would also like to introduce coverage of the events in the Province and the Republic, as well as to report on the most important issues in Hungary and the world. "It is our ambition to develop TV Panon into a provincewide Hungarian television station", said Bodzoni.
(Magyar Szo, NDNV, 02.01.2012)