Professional standards

Blic has published the list of 50 most powerful people in the Serbian media.
(Blic, UNS, NUNS, 26.12.2011)

The Complaints Committee of the Press Council has decided that the newspapers Blic, Politika and Vecernje Novosti did not violate the provisions of the Journalistic Code of Ethics of Serbia in their reporting on the removal from position of the director of the Hospital Center "Bezanijska Kosa". The decision was not unanimous. Five complaints have been decided since the establishment of the Committee in mid-September, out of which only one was decided to constitute a violation of the Code. The Council's authority covers 66 print media outlets, which represents 85% of the total circulation of all newspapers in Serbia.
(UNS, NDNV, 29.12.2011)

Awards, training courses and competitions

The Ringier Axel Springer company, which publishes Blic, Alo, 24 Sata, NIN, Blic Zena, Puls, as well as numerous online editions, has been awarded by the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) for its professional reporting on economy and PKS.
(Blic, UNS, 22.12.2011)

During a ceremony held to honor the Sportsperson of the Year, Ljubica Stojanovic, a journalist for Juzne Vesti, and Bratislav Tonic, from TV Belami, received awards for best sports journalism in the city of Nis.
(Juzne vesti, 22.12.2011)

The Association of Sport Journalidsts of Serbia (USNS) has selected the best journalists in 2011 in eight categories. The journalist of the year is Predrag Milinkovic from Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), while the lifetime achievement award was given to the former journalist for Sportski Zurnal, Danilo Sotra. The special award for exclusive story of the year was given posthumously to Aleksandar Bobic, who worked for Zurnal. The best photojournalist is Nenad Negovanovic, who also works for Zurnal. In this year, the Association established the award for female sport journalists, whose first recipient is Rada Nikolic from Sport.
(UNS, 23.12. 2011, Press, 25.12.2011, UNS, 28.12.2011)

A longtime journalist for Politika, Branka Otasevic, and the photography editor in the weekly magazine NIN, Branko Belic, have received the lifetime achievement award of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS). The editorial award "Dimitrije Davidovic" was given to the website Njuz.net, while the recipient of the "Bogdan Tirnanic" award for the best column is Cvijetin Milivojevic, who is a columnist for daily newspapers Danas and Politika. Budimir Potocan, a publicist, has received the award "Zika M. Jovanovic", while the award for reporting "Laza Kostic" was given to journalist from RTV Vojvodina, Bora Otic, for his programme "The Premonition" ("Predskazanje"), and to correspondent of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) from Kraljevo, Kosta Garic, for his news and reporting. The award in the category of photography and television reporting was given to cameramen working for the correspondents' office of RTS from Kraljevo, Nenad Dimitrijevic and Zoran Saric. Television journalist Ivica Milosavljevic has received the Golden Award of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) for contribution to advancement of the journalistic organization.
(Dnevnik, Politika, Pregled, 23.12.2011, Politika, 24.12.2011)

This year's recipients of the traditional Award for Civil Courage "Dragoljub Stosic" are: Ljubomir Zivkov, journalist for Vreme, Vladimir Radomirovic, the editor of the website Pistaljka, and professor Dr Dragana Jovanovic. The jury said that comments and columns written by Ljubomir Zivkov had become a standard for courage, wit and truthfulness.
(E-novine, NUNS, 26.12.2011)

The president of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, Dragisa Slijepcevic, and his deputy, judge Marija Draskic, organized yesterday a cocktail party in the premises of the Court for media professionals who report on the activities of the "keepers of the Constitution". Slijepcevic thanked journalists from Tanjug, Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), Vecernje Novosti, Blic, Politika and NIN for working to inform the citizens about the activities of the Constitutional Court. He announced that sessions of the Court would soon be streamed on the Internet.
(Politika, 24.12.2011)

Ljubica Gojgic is the best journalist in 2011, while B92 is the best TV and radio station; Olja Beckovic is the TV person of the year – this is the opinion of journalists who participated in the poll organized by the Status magazine. The journalists selected two programmes aired by B92 as the best TV programmes of the year: "Between Two Fires" ("Izmedju dve vatre") and "The Impression of the Week" ("Utisak nedelje"). Journalists from more than 40 editorial offices participated in the tenth poll organized by Status magazine. They were of the opinion that Blic and Vreme were the best newspapers, and that Blic had the best media website. According to their colleagues, women have made great achievements in this year. Best articles in this year were written by the columnist for Danas, Dragoljub Petrovic, while the second and third place belong to Milos Vasic (Vreme) and Petar Lukovic (E-novine), respectively. In the opinion of their colleagues, the disgrace for the journalistic profession are Dragan J. Vucicevic (columnist for Press), followed by Manojlo Manjo Vukotic (Vecernje novosti) and Zika Nikolic (RTS). The worst daily newspapers are Alo, Kurir and Pravda, while the worst periodicals are Skandal, Svet and Pecat.
(b92.net, UNS, NUNS, 27.12.2011, Danas, NUNS, 28.12.2011)

At a ceremony held during the 96^th regular session of the Assembly of the Serbian Literary Foundation (SKZ) that took place in the Small Hall of the Foundation of Ilija M. Kolarac, the SKZ Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Zoran Radisavljevic, a journalist working for the cultural section of daily newspaper Politika, who is also a poet and a publicist.
(Politika, UNS, 28.12.2011)

In the opinion of the citizens of Novi Sad, the most successful journalist in the city is Bora Otic from Radio-Television Vojvodina (RTV). The poll was organized by the research agency Skan.
(RTV, NUNS, 28.12.2011)

The mayor of Novi Sad, Igor Pavlicic, gave the Annual Award for Best Young Journalist in Novi Sad in 2011 to Dejan Stojicic, a journalist for Radio 021, as well as an award to the highly praised young journalist of Radio Novi Sad, Norbert Sinkovic. The presentation of the awards was held during the New Year's cocktail party for media representatives organized in the City Hall of Novi Sad. The mayor thanked the media representatives for their reports about the activities of the city government and important projects.
(NDNV, 30.12.2011)

Milica Petkovic, a journalist and publicist, has made an immeasurable contribution to study of the culture of the Pirot region, while her work in journalism has been of crucial importance for the culture of the region. She was pronounced a deserving citizen of Pirot at a public ceremony held in Pirot.
(Juzne vesti, 29.12.2011)

Journalist for Press, Natalija Sekulic, is the recipient of the annual award Zlatno pero ("The Golden Quill") given by the Club of Economic Journalists. She has been awarded for her investigative journalism.
(Tanjug, Press, UNS, 30.12.2011)

Mirjana Pantic from the weekly magazine Novi magazin has been awarded for the best journalistic report on EU integration. In the category of the best TV report, the award went to journalists Miroslav Nackov from RTV Caribrod and Bojan Brkic from Radio-Television Serbia (RTS). Gordana Lazarevic from the news agency Beta has been awarded for the best report on a project financed by the EU and implemented in Serbia. Ines Mestrovic from the Belgrade TV station Studio B received the award for the best report published in the local media, while Aleksandra Krstic from the production group Mreza was given the award for the best report on small and medium-scale enterprises. Vladimir Novakovic from the web portal B92 received the award for the best interactive media content, while the award for the best students' journalistic work went to Danica Cigoja from Radio FMK. The winners of the contest will have a chance to visit Brussels. The awards are traditionally given by the Office for European Integration of the Government of Serbia, the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia and Erste Bank.
(Radio Boom 93, 29.12.2011)

Media transfers

Bojana Lekic is no longer the editor-in-chief of TV Avala. Her employment contract with the TV station expired on the last day of 2011. She said to daily newspaper Press that she would make a decision on whether to continue working as the editor of Avala in the following few days, after a necessary rest. "I am aware that the media can initiate changes and I am not a person that gives up easily, but the hope in better future is disappearing", she pointed out.
(Press, UNS, 04.01.2012)

In Memoriam

A retired journalist for Tanjug and a longtime member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Roksanda Grcic Sparavalo, died on 24 December in Belgrade. She began her journalistic career in 1947 in the newspaper Slobodna Vojvodina (which is now called Dnevnik). She also used to work for newspapers Borba and Prislusna Sluzba. She became the editor of the internal affairs section of Tanjug in 1960.
(UNS, 26.12.2011)

Strahinja Avramovic, who was a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) for 43 years, died in Belgrade on 23 December. He started working as a journalist in 1957 in the newspaper Krila Armije, while between 1961 and 1967 he was the correspondent of Radio Belgrade from Zadar. He became the editor of the newspaper Narodna Armija in 1967.
(UNS, 26.12.2011)