ASMEDI becomes a member of the NPA

At their annual assembly held in Warsaw, members of the European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA) have unanimously accepted the Media Association (ASMEDI) from Serbia as a new member of the society of European national associations of newspaper publishers. The ENPA brings together national associations of newspaper publishers from 23 countries.
(Dnevnik, Politika, Vecernje Novosti, Press, 24/05/2011)

Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists to be held in Belgrade

The Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists will take place in Belgrade on June 15-17 in the Hotel M, it was announced at a press conference. It is expected that around hundred representatives of journalistic and trade union organisations from Europe will attend the event, which will be hosted by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Journalists' Union.
(Danas, Blic, 20/05/2011)

The media audience

Since August 2009, when the regional daily online newspaper "Southern News" ("Juzne Vesti") first began its trial operations, the web site has achieved more than 3 million visited pages, as evidenced by Google Analytics. In this period, the "Southern News" web site has attracted a 1,200,000 visitors and in a short time managed to become by far the most visited news web site from south Serbia with an average of 6,000 daily visits in May, says Predrag Blagojevic, the editor of "Southern News".
(Juzne vesti, 23/05/2011)

A publication entitled "The Media Treatment of Books", resulting from a project by professors, associates and students of the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, was presented at the National Library of Serbia. The research included 134 media outlets, of them 97 print media outlets and 37 electronic media outlets, during July and August 2009. The research has shown that the available space for culture and books is being continually diminished under the pressure of more attractive publications. It was noted that editorial offices are less aware of the necessity of culture and books, and that the commercial and entertainment role of the media is gaining more prominence at the expense of their educational role.
(Danas, 20/05/2011, B92,Blic, 21/05/2011)

The research entitled "The Media Treatment of Books" also included the newspaper "Politika" which devotes significant amount of attention to books and renowned authors, while its journalists have actively reported on closure of publishing companies and conversion of bookstores into shops, and presented new publications and new authors.
(Politika, 21/05/2011)

TV B92, which aired the tennis match between Djokovic and Nadal, was the most watched TV station in Serbia among the population segment aged 18-49. The match was watched by 2,500,000 citizens, which is a third of all TV viewers at the time.
(B92, 16/05/2011)

The portal "Serbian Newspaper Montenegro" ("Srpske Novine CG") is an electronic media outlet that was founded by the Serbian National Council. Today it is one of the most visited electronic media outlets in Montenegro, says the announcement by the Journalists' Association of Serbia on the occasion of the second anniversary of this outlet.
(UNS, 13/05/2011)

"Religious Tolerance – A Step Towards the EU", a project implemented by the Media Center Belgrade with support from the EU Media Fund program aimed at professional development of the media in Serbia. An integral part of the project is the documentary series "The Different Others" ("Drugi Drugaciji"), consisting of four half-hour films and dealing with the topics related to life in the environment with multiple religions in Serbia. The first promotion of the films will be held in the premises of the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina on 23 May 2011 at 11.00 AM, while the second promotion will be held in the Media Center Subotica on 24 May 2011 at 11.00 AM.
(Media Center, 21/05/2011)

Awards, courses and contests

The Belgrade Center for Human Rights has presented diplomas to attendees of the school for journalists within the project "Promoting Responsible and Professional Reporting on the Fight Against Organized Crime, War Crimes, Discrimination and Domestic Violence".
(Danas, 13/05/2011)

On May 23, Jelena Drakulic-Petrovic, the general director of the company "Ringier Axel Springer", received the award "Businesswoman of the Year" presented by the Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade for results achieved in 2010.
(Blic, 19/05/2011)

Journalists below the age of 35 dealing with economic issues can apply to participate in the workshop "Journalistic Chase – Expenditure of Public Funds" by Friday, May 20. The workshop is organized by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS).
(UNS, 17/05/2011)

A photo reporter for "Vecernje Novosti", Predrag Pedja Mitic, presented in the gallery of the Municipality of Vracar photographs related to political events in the last 20 years. The exhibition entitled "Take a Shot, If You Dare", includes, among other subjects, portraits of the murdered Slavko Curuvija, Ivan Stambolic and Zoran Djindjic.
(Vecernje novosti, 17/05/2011)

The winners of the BETA Photo Award Competition are: Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP, Greece, for the photograph Athens 1; Janko Petkovic, Beta, Serbia, for the photograph Proboj ("Breakthrough") and Damir Sencer, HINA, Croatia, for the photograph Stop progonu hrvatskih branitelja ("Stop persecuting the defenders of Croatia"). BETA is organised this photo competition since 2004 and SEEMO has participated for the past four years with its special award. In 2011, 11 photographers from nine countries submitted 486 entries for the competition.
(SEEMO, 18 May 2011)

"The Golden Quill" ("Zlatno Pero"), the most prestigious award by the Journalists' Association of Vojvodina was presented to six journalists who have made the most significant contribution to advancement of journalism in this year: Matilda Varga, Samuel Ceman, Milorad Stevancev, Jovan Vajdl, Ljubomir Markov and Bogdan Ibrajter.
(Dnevnik, 05/23/2011)

Anniversaries

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the airing of the first programme "Susretanja" ("Meetings") on Radio Belgrade 1. The programme, deals with current events in the world of classical music and is broadcast every day in various time slots.
(Blic, 15/05/2011)

The public service broadcaster of Serbia marks 20 years of broadcasting of the satellite programme prepared by the editorial office of the Diaspora Programme with participation of all departments of the RTS. The primary function of the project was to enable the diaspora to receive programme from Serbia.
(Politika, 14/05/2011)

The regional TV Bor celebrated its 18th anniversary on May 10.
(UNS, 16/05/2011)

Celebration of the eighth anniversary of the Kurir daily newspaper was held under the slogan "Long Live the Revolution" and brought together the political, business and artistic elite of Serbia.
(Kurir, 16/05/2011)

The editorial office of the newspaper "Republika" celebrated the publication of the 500th issue. Nebojsa Popov, its founder and long-time editor, said that in its new issues "Republika" managed to preserve "its opinions, approach and recognizability achieved in the last 20 years". "I believe that Republika will succeed in continuing its work despite all the difficulties", said Popov to Danas.
(Danas, 21/05/2011)

Apology of the Managing Board of RTS

In today's announcement, new members of the Managing Board of Radio-Television Serbia offered their apology to citizens of Serbia and neighboring countries who during the nineties were subjected in the media house's programme to "insults, libels and what today would be legally defined as the hate speech". The announcement says that the Managing Board will be dedicated to preservation of the cultural and national identity of the Serbian people and all national minorities and ethnic groups in Serbia, and that it will strive to improve and advance the educational, cultural and science programme of the RTS.
(Beta, Blic, B92, Danas, Večernje Novosti, Kurir, 23/05/2011, Politika, 24 sata, Alo!, Pravda, 24/05/2011)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) welcome the decision of the new Managing Board of the Radio-Television Serbia to offer an apology, but consider that the Board should have made a greater emphasis on the warmongering role of the Radio-Television Belgrade and Radio-Television Serbia.
(MC, 24/05/2011)

In memoriam

A long-time journalist of Tanjug, Ljubisa Ilic, passed away in Nis. He began his journalistic careed in 1961, working for the newspaper "Nasa Rec" from Leskovac. Later he worked as a journalist of the youth newspaper "Zbivanje" in Nis and the editor-in-chief of "Narodne Novine" during two terms. For the better part of his career he was the chief of the correspondent office of the Tanjug news agency in Nis.
(Juzne vesti, UNS, 23/05/2011)

Other news

An automotive map issued as a gift supplement of a German car magazine that is published under license in Serbia does not include the southern Serbian province. The president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Liljana Smajlovic, says that Auto Bild has to apologize to readers. Her colleague from the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Vukasin Obradovic, is of the opinion that the incident was mostly caused by an editorial error.
(Kurir, 12/05/2011)

A former vice president of the Government and a former ambassador in Israel, Mile Isakov, who is one of the founders of the political party Reformists of Vojvodina, has been employed again by the public service broadcaster of Vojvodina at the position of an editor of the Special Programme although he had already received severance payment. He has announced that he would pay back the severance pay in installments from his salary.
(Alo!, 19/05/2011)

At the moment, TV Pirot is not broadcasting its programme due to transmitter malfunction caused by bad weather around the city of Pirot.
(Južne vesti, 19/05/2011)

The news agency Beta has delivered a strong protest to the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS). Its jury recently selected a recipient of an investigative journalism award whose work contained accusations against Beta. The accusations were made in an article authored by Zoran Janjic and published on the E-Novine portal, claiming that in the run-up to the murder of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, the Beta agency cooperated with and "published announcements" of the so-called Zemun Clan. The jury of NUNS said that there had been no reason to doubt the integrity of any of the participants in the contest.
(Beta, NUNS, 16/05/2011, Beta, Danas, 17/05/2011)

Issue No. 4
May 12 – May 24, 2011

Abbreviations