The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) is concerned because of lawsuits filed by the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and presidential candidate, Tomislav Nikolic, and the amount of the claim for compensation because of alleged damage to his reputation. Nikolic filed a lawsuit against the daily newspapers Blic and Kurir, demanding 200 million dinars from each. These damage claims are the result of articles about suspicions regarding Nikolic's university degree which he earned recently. In the case of Blic, the published articles were the result of investigative journalism, while Kurir had published a statement issued by one of the parliamentary political parties.
(NUNS, 11.05.2012, Kurir, UNS, 12.05.2012)

The regular annual Assembly of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) will be held in the Media Center on Saturday, 16 June 2012 at 12.00. (Terazije 3/1st floor, Belgrade).
(NUNS, 20.05.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) has condemned the threats made by the president of the municipality of Backa Palanka, Dragan Bozalo, who threatened to "throw a bomb on the building and the editorial office of Backopalanacki Nedeljnik". The president of the municipality denied that he made any threats against the director and editor of Backopalanacki Nedeljnik, but he did not deny his phone call provoked by the front page which called him a "former president of municipality". UNS demands that Bozalo apologize for his insults and calls on journalist to criticize public officials on the local level while taking into account the public interest, but also to refrain from exhibiting any political bias.
(UNS, 15.05.2012)

The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA)

The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) analyzed at its yesterday's session the television programme "Evening with Ivan Ivanovic", in which the presidential candidate Boris Tadic appeared in live programme. After a detailed analysis, RRA will decide on whether to initiate proceedings against TV Prva, taking into account the fact that participants in the election are not allowed to appear in entertainment TV programmes.
(Danas, 11.05.2012)

The Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) confirmed that it had not banned airing of any programme, nor appearance of any presidential candidate in television programmes.
(Dnevnik, Politika,UNS, NUNS, 11.05.2012)

At a session held today, the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) considered the complaint filed by Aleksandar Stankovic, an editor and journalist with Croatian Radio-Television (HRT), who demanded that the Agency protect his personal property and protected work, which had been inappropriately used in a video produced by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The Council decided to send to all broadcasters the note written by Mr. Stankovic, so that they would have all relevant information while deciding on whether to broadcast the content.
(RRA, 11.05.2012)

Ivana Vujanov says in an article published by the daily newspaper Dnevnik: "During the election, 45 minutes before the end of the pre-election silence, the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) ordered a suspension of broadcasting of the programme of TV stations Studio B, Svet Plus and three cable channels HRT, OBN and BN. The move was explained with 'violation of pre-election silence'. We still don't know what kind of violations occurred, and journalistic associations are still expecting relevant reports. The Law on Broadcasting and the Law on Public Information, which regulate broadcasting during elections, do not mention media outlets broadcast from abroad. Croatian Radio-Television is not obliged to abide by Serbian laws, including the law that stipulates pre-election silence, and the same applies to Bosnian OBN and BN, which are broadcast from the Republic of Srpska. Not to mention that this act violates the European Convention on Cross-Border Television. If the RRA is correct, why was not this decision applied to reports broadcast by BBC and CNN, for example, which also did not take into account the pre-election silence in Serbia and whose journalists freely aired their comments, assumptions and expectations from Serbian elections? At the same time, there was no 'silence' on the internet – on the contrary. Pre-election silence is enforced in only 15 countries worldwide, out of which six are former Yugoslavian republics."
(Dnevnik – special supplement, 12.05.2012)

The Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) established that the cable broadcaster TV K::CN Svet Plus 3 had violated pre-election silence on Friday evening by broadcasting content that could be characterized as political propaganda, and which was directly related to political campaigning of presidential candidates before the electoral run-off.
(RRA, 19.05.2012, Vecernje Novosti, 20.05.2012, NUNS, 21.05.2012.)

The Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) said today that the congratulatory note sent by the EU to one of the presidential candidates before the closing of polls on the election day, May 20, was not broadcast during the pre-election silence by the media with national coverage. It was later announced that the EU mistakenly published on its website a congratulatory note addressed to Tomislav Nikolic three hours before the closing of polls. The Council of the RRA analyzed the question asked by the Republic Electoral Committee regarding the congratulatory note. After analysis of the programme broadcast by all national TV and radio stations, the Council established that "the message was not broadcast during the pre-election silence".
(RRA, RTV, UNS, NUNS, 23.05.2012)

The Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society

Since the Ministry of Culture has not replied to the last week's question asked by journalistic associations ("Where has the money for media projects gone?"), the UNS, NUNS, ANEM and Local Press again demand that the Ministry answer the question and explain how the money was spent that was allocated to the media by various committees after the public contest organized by the Ministry of Culture.
(UNS, NUNS, NDNV, 10.05.2012, Beta, Danas, 11.05.2012)

SEEMO

One week before the second round of presidential elections in Serbia, scheduled for May 20, 2012, one of the presidential candidates, Tomislav Nikolic, said that he needed to be president in order to tell journalists what to report on. SEEMO expressed dismay at Nikolic’s warning. SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said: "I hope that whoever wins the presidential elections in Serbia guarantees press freedom."
(SEEMO, 16.05.2012)

The Media Association

Renowned publishing company Attica Media Serbia, founded in 2004, has been a new member of the Media Association since mid-May. The company is a part of the Greek media company Attica Publications S. A., whose majority owner is the largest Italian publishing company, Mondadori. Attica Media SRB publishes five magazines which are among the most popular in Serbia – Grazia, Playboy, Maxim, CasaViva and Sale & Pepe. The magazines are sold on around 12,000 newsstands in Serbia, and are also distributed in the markets of Montenegro, Macedonia and the Republic of Srpska. After the entry of Attica Media Serbia in the Media Association, the members of the Association now distribute and sell around 90 percent of all magazines in the Serbian market.
(ASMEDI NEWSLETTER, maj 2012)