Professional standards

Weekly magazine NIN reports that Facebook considered, after numerous negative comments, whether to remove the ad banner of new NIN on its web pages. The banner shows a clenched fist, a straightened finger, and a thumb appearing from the fist with messages: "Strict, But Just", "Daring, With a Reason", "Opinionated, But Truthful", while the slogan of the campaign is "Use Your Head". As soon as NIN placed the banner, Facebook said that it was being analyzed. A few hours later, the banner was approved. "I am unpleasantly surprised by the fact that the freedom of expression can be difficult to ensure even on the Internet – which is the most democratic media – because of most trivial reasons", said the editor-in-chief of NIN, Nebojsa Spaic.
(B92 onlajn, UNS, 24.11.2011)

Representatives of VDSS, DSS and LDP left the session of the Municipal Assembly of Bor after the discussion about the business operations of the Public Company "Stampa, Radio i Film", which also includes the local radio and TV station. During the discussion, it was said that the city was characterized by "media darkness" and that the editor-in-chief of the media company was on the payroll of the Mining and Smelting Complex Bor.
(Vecernje Novosti - Srbija, 26.11.2011)

The National Parliament of Serbia reelected Rodoljub Sabic as the commissioner for information of public importance and protection of personal data for the term of seven years. Sabic, who has graduated in law, was elected with 127 votes from the ruling coalition and representatives of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party.
(Pravda, NUNS, 06.12.2011)

Appraisals, awards, training courses and competitions

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its existence, the Anti-Corruption Council selected Rodoljub Sabic as the recipient of its annual award for personal contribution to the fight against corruption.
(B92, NUNS, 06.12.2011)

In cooperation with the Friedrich Ebart Foundation, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Office of European Integration will organize two one-day seminars entitled "Programming and Implementation of IPA Components (I-V) and EU Funds Available to the Republic of Serbia" on December 5 and 12, 2011 at 10.00. The seminars are intended for representatives of the media and will be realized in an interactive form.
(NUNS, 25.11.2011)

After two months of competition between around 1200 websites from the region, the largest regional web festival, Web.Fest.ME 2011, ended with a presentation of awards for best web projects. The winner of the competition is the web site Njuz.net, which has received Grand Prix from the jury of experts. Apart from the competition, this year's Web.Fest.ME included a conference which featured speakers Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, and Tony Conrad, an investor from the Silicon Valey and the founder of the web portal About.me.
(MC, UNS, 25.11.2011)

The OSCE Mission in Serbia organized in Novi Pazar a conference entitled "Professionalism Instead of Propaganda" intended for editors and journalists of most of the media outlets in Sandzak at the time before the approaching parliamentary elections. The head of the media department of OSCE, Dragana Nikolic Solomon, said that the organization wanted to strengthen the media and help journalists to report objectively and without bias during the election campaign.
(Pravda, 26.11.2011)

Karolj Kovac is the recipient of this year's "Slavuj Hadzic"award given byRadio-Television Vojvodina to individuals for their creative work in the field of television. The award was presented to Kovac at a ceremony organized to celebrate the anniversary of Radio-Television Vojvodina, while last year's awards were presented to best authors and employees of RTV. A new visual identity of RTV was promoted at the ceremony, as well as the slogan "On the Move". The day of RTV is on November 29, the day on which Radio Novi Sad began broadcasting its programme in 1949.
(www.rtv.rs, UNS, 29.11.2011)

The Reuters agency has published on its web site the list of 100 best photographs in 2011: not less than seven photographs were made by Serbian photo reporter Goran Tomasevic.
(24 sata, UNS, 01.12.2011)

Juliana Koleva, a journalist from Bulgaria, won the first prize in the program "Balkan Scholarships for Journalistic Excellence" for her article on the treatment of asylum-seekers in the region. Jelena Kulidzan from Montenegro won the second prize and 3,000 euros for her article "Brutal Justice for Rape Victims in the Balkans". Stevan Dojcinovic, journalist from Serbia, was placed third and received an award in the amount of 1,000 euros for his investigative article entitled "Criminals Still Profiting from Privatization in Serbia".
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 01.12.2011)

Journalist, editor and TV host from Studio B, Mihaela Sljukic Bandovic, is the winner of the special award Press Vitezfor 2011. The award is given by the Journalists' Association of Vojvodina and the Press Monitoring Action.
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 02.12.2011)

Traditional series published by the newspaper Blicunder the title "100 Most Powerful Women in Serbia" includes the following media personalities:3 DRAGICA PILIPOVIC-CEFI, general director of SBB, 8 JADRANKA DRINIC, director of "Multikom Group" , 12 JELENA DRAKULIC PETROVIC, director of the media company "Ringier Axel Springer", 17 BRANKICA STANKOVIC, author of "The Insider" on TV B92, 23 OLJA BECKOVIC, the author of "The Impression of the Week", 37 MILICA MITROVIC, the second highest-ranking individual in TV Pink, 42 LJUBICA MARKOVIC, director of the news agency Beta, 54 TIJANA BAJOVIC, deputy director of the publishing and press company "Ringier Axel Springer", 78 RUZICA MEVORAH, the editor of "Blic Women", 79 BRANKA DJUKIC, general director of the news agency Tanjug, 88 DRAGANA NIKOLIC SOLOMON, head of the media department of OSCE in Serbia.
(Blic – special supplement, 05.12.2011)

In cooperation with the Media Center Belgrade, marketing and consulting agency Target Plus will launch a series of free training courses and workshops for journalists and managers aimed at helping them to become more successful in their professional and private life. The courses and workshops will be held during 2011 and 2012 and cover topics related to personal and professional development. The main training course "Creation of Success" will take place on 16 December 2011 between 10.00 and 16.00 in the Media Center Belgrade.
(MC, 05.12.2011)

A seminar about the state assistance to the media, organized by the media department of OSCE, will take place on 9 December 2011 in the Media Center, Terazije 3, Belgrade.
(MC, 04.12. 2011)

The media audience

Aleksandar Tijanic: During the seven years of our domination, we have never won the year more easily with regard to citizens' trust and our programme's ratings. In 2011, according to official agency data, Serbia chose RTS as the best-rated programme for 272 days of the year. All other TV stations combined (TV Pink, TV Prva, TV B92, TV Avala, TV Happy...) were ranked first for only 44 days of the year.
(UNS, 30.11.2011)

ABC gemiusAudience™ measuring officially begins on December 1, and no less than 112 of the leading Serbian web sites have already joined the system. In this way, Serbia has become one of the European and regional countries (together with Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary...) in which Gemius has improved transparency and the efficiency of advertising on the Internet. A complete list of websites that have joined the ABC gemiusAudience™ system is available at the address abcsrbija.com/o-nama/web-odit.html
(ABC Srbija, 30.11.2011)

For the first time since its founding, the website of Juzne Vesti, the first regional online newspaper, had more than 200,000 visitors in 30 days, according to Google Analytics. The same source shows that the website has achieved 16.3 percent of average monthly increase in the number of visitors since its launch in September 2009. The editor and one of the founders of Juzne Vesti, Predrag Blagojevic, says that the success of the web site is better characterized by the structure of its visitors. According to Facebook statistics, almost 65 percent of citizens visiting the website are aged between 18 and 34.
(Juzne vesti, 05.12.2011)

Media transfers

As of December 1, the new executive director of ABC Serbia is Nikolina Bobic (n.bobic@abcsrbija.com), while the previous executive director, Milan Kovacevic, has become the representative of Gemius Serbia. Administering of ABC audits of the print media will be performed by the executive manager Neda Lukic (n.lukic@abcsrbija.com). A session of the Board of ABC will be held in January 2012 because of these changes as well as other necessary activities. At the same time, a proposed enlargement of the Board and introduction of new members from the electronic media will also be discussed.
(ABC Srbija, 30.11.2011)

Anniversaries

Radio Novi Sad began airing its programme on this day in 1949. This day was later accepted as the Day of Radio-Television Vojvodina.
(RTV, NUNS, 29.11.2011)

At the time when they are celebrating more than four decades of their station's existence, employees of Radio Subotica have a reason to worry about the fate of the oldest electronic media outlet in the Severnobacki District. The station is facing privatization. Having in mind the previous bad experiences in privatization of the media, they want to have a final say about their future.
(RTV, NUNS, 30.11.2011)

The programme "Encounters" that is aired every workday on the Channel 1 of Radio Belgrade is about to celebrate 30 years of its existence. Every workday, the editor of the programme, Aleksandra Paladin, informs the listeners of Radio Belgrade Channel 1 about musical events in Belgrade and the outside world. The programme has gradually evolved and become a specific diary of classical music. "The radio is performing one of the functions of the public service broadcaster, which is to inform and educate those who do not know much about the classical music", says Djordje Vlajic, the editor-in-chief of the Radio Belgrade Channel 1.
(www.rts.rs, UNS, 02.12.2011)

In Memoriam

Ivo Eterovic, a photography artist, has passed away in Belgrade at the age of 76. He won the Special Award for Contribution to the National Culture of Serbia and other awards and prizes, including those given by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Association of Journalists of Yugoslavia.
(www.blic.rs, UNS, 26.11.2011)

Zoran Marinkovic, a long-time technical director of the Borba newspaper and a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), passed away in Belgrade on Saturday, 3 December 2011. In 1972 he began working as a technical director for Borba. After 2005 he was working for Knjizevne Novine.
(UNS, 06.12.2011)