Professional standards

Ivan Ivanovic, a TV host on TV Prva, described the girls who participated in the Playboy Playmate of the Year contest aired on TV Pink using bad language on his Tweeter account. (Press, Kurir, 17.01.2012)

During a seminar on media reporting about the social protection system, organized by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the vice president of NUNS, Jelka Jovanovic, said that journalists should be careful while reporting on vulnerable segments of society – like children, the elderly, disabled persons and the impoverished.
(Danas, NUNS, 26.01.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) calls on the media to adhere to professional standards when reporting on issues related to protection of human rights and abuse of victims, especially children. Daily newspaper Kurir published in today's issue an article entitled "The Ombudsman Cares About the Paedophile Murderer" which abuses the tragedy of the raped and murdered girl, calling on revenge against the convicted while at the same time denying his right to safe stay in prison, as well as the ombudsman's right and obligation to control the treatment of prisoners. The editorial staff's decision to publish a photograph of the murdered girl together with the article had an effect of inciting the readers to hatred.
(NUNS, 27.01.2012)

The Complaints Committee of the Press Council has rejected the complaints claiming that the daily newspapers Vecernje Novosti and Politika and the weekly magazine Vreme violated the Journalistic Code of Serbia. The complaints against Vecernje Novosti and Politika were submitted by the company "MFC-Mikrokomerc" and the newspaper Svedok, respectively, while the complaint against the weekly magazine Vreme was submitted by Danijela Gajic. The decisions and explanations by the Complaints Committee are available on the web site of the Press Council www.savetzastampu.rs.
(Beta, NUNS Newsletter No.29 01.02.2012)

Appraisals, awards, training courses, scholarships and competitions

The Media Center offers organization of training courses for employees in downtown Belgrade, together with affordable prices, complete service and technical support. Additional information: Snezana Petrovic 063/406931, spetrovic@mc.rs
(MC, 16.01.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) has announced a public contest for the annual Investigative Journalism Award in three categories: 1. Electronic Media (Radio and TV); 2. Print Media; 3. Online Media. Only the works published in the Serbian media between 1 April 2011 and 1 April 2012 are eligible for the contest. All entries have to be submitted before 3 April 2012. The application form is available on the web site of NUNS.
(NUNS, 11.01.2012)

Photography competition "My Community, My People". Application deadline: 15th of the month during 2012. The theme is very wide-ranging and at the same time very specific: we expect to receive photographs that tell a story about the place where you live, work, spend time with friends and meet people...
(MC, 19.01.2012)

Epson International Panorama Awards. The deadline for application is 28 April 2012. The Epson International Panorama Award is given to photographers (both amateurs and professionals) worldwide. Photographs can be photographed individually or merged using appropriate software, whether by digital or analog cameras...
(MC, 19.01.2012)

Public Contest for Young People from Serbia: The Club 27 The deadline for application is 24 February 2012. The main idea behind the program is to award and promote young people that have achieved exceptional results in their areas of activity, and to stimulate others to join their work and develop a system of values...
(MC, 19.01.2012)

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The deadline for application is 15 February 2012. Individuals, organizations or institutions that have contributed to advancement of the freedom of the media can be nominated for the prize. The prize has a value of 25,000 dollars and is traditionally given every year at a ceremony dedicated to May3, the World Press Freedom Day. (MC, 19.01.2012)
Annual Award "Ana Njemogova Kolarova". The deadline for application is 31 May 2012. The award is given for the best media product dealing with the life of the members of the Slovakian national minority in Vojvodina and published in any language except Slovakian in the last three years...
(MC, 19.01.2012)

The Assembly of the City of Novi Sad decided on January 27 to give this year's highest city award – the February Award – to journalist, publicist and historian Dusan Popov. Popov is the author of the Encyclopaedia of Novi Sad in 30 volumes. Members of the city committee said that thanks to Popov, Novi Sad is one of the few cities that have their own encyclopaedia. Dusan Popov was nominated for the February Award by the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina.
(Autonomija, NUNS Newsletter, 01.02.2012)

The Balkan Investigative Network (BIRN), in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Foundation and the ERSTE Foundation, has announced its sixth public contest that is a part of the program "The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence". Additional information about this year's theme, the application form and guidelines is available here: fellowship.birn.eu.com/en/fellowship-programme/topic-2012-communities.
(Birn, NUNS Newsletter No.29, 01.02.2012)

The American Embassy in Belgrade and the International Training Center for the Media have announced a public contest entitled "Professional Advancement in America for Young Journalists and Media Professionals". Additional information is available at the web sites www.nuns.rs and belgrade.usembassy.gov
(NUNS Newsletter No.29, 01.02.2012)

Croatian journalist Drago Hedl is the recipient of the Jug Grizelj Award 2011 that is given for highest achievements in investigative journalism, it was announced by the Media Center.
(MC, Beta, Danas, NUNS, 26.01.2012, Politika, Blic, Alo!, 27.01.2012)

According to readers of TV Revija (published by Politika), the most popular TV personality is Jovan Memedovic, while journalists of Radio-Television Serbia were successful in other categories, with the best-rated programmes being the RTS' Morning Programme, the News and the Sports Programme. The readers' favorite documentary programme is "Kvadratura Kruga", while the best entertainment shows are "TV Personalities..." by Tanja Peternek-Aleksic. The best political programme is "The Impression of the Week" by Olja Beckovic.
(Politika, 20.01.2012)

Daily newspaper Press and the Faculty of Culture and the Media of the Megatrend University, with support from the Ministry of Education and Science, will organize a project dedicated to St. Sava during which twenty future journalists – talented contributors to high-school newspapers from all parts of Serbia – will have a chance to spend two days in Belgrade as guests of the newspaper and make an interview with the minister of education.
(Press, 23.01.2012, Press, NUNS, 25.01.2012, Press, 26.01.2012)

Journalist from Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), Branko Stankovic, is the recipient of the "Ivan Markovic" Award for reporting on activities of the army and the Ministry of Defence, while the most successful contributor to the magazine Odbrana is Sebastijan Balos from Novi Sad.
(Beta, Politika, NUNS, 24.01.2012)

Media visits

The Media Association, which brings together major media companies in Serbia, organized a traditional annual cocktail party in its premises at Senjak. Apart from numerous guests from media and public scene, the event was attended by the prime minister of Serbia, Mirko Cvetkovic, the minister of external affairs, Vuk Jeremic, and the minister of defense, Dragan Sutanovac.
(Blic - Beograd, 24 sata, 19.01.2012, Politika, 20.01.2012, Gloria, NUNS, 24.01.201,ABC Newsletter, 25.01.2012)

Media audience

According to Google Analytics, the number of visitors of the web portal Juzne Vesti has increased by almost three times since the beginning of 2011, while the number of articles per day has doubled. The number of monthly visits increased from 88,000 in January 2011 to 240,000 at the end of December. Juzne Vesti have become the media outlet with the largest audience in South Serbia among all online and print media outlets.
(Juzne vesti, 09.01.2012)

After the publication of annual averages of the number of sold copies of daily newspapers in the New Year's issue of the daily newspaper Blic, ABC Serbia has issued a statement saying that this information had not been distributed from the ABC Serbia office, in accordance with the company's rulebook and procedures, and that ABC Serbia had not participated in this campaign. However, the published results are not different from the data that is available on the web site www.abcsrbija.com. At the same time, the company announced that the publisher of the Ona magazine had been removed from membership of ABC Serbia because of its failure to fulfill statutory obligations.
(ABC Serbia Newsletter, 11.01.2012)

ABC Serbia says that it has terminated its contract on cooperation with Gemius, effective as of 18 January 2012, and that starting today the company does not accept any responsibility for consequences of the activities of Gemius in the Serbian market.
(ABC Newsletter, 25.01.2012)

Cable providers in Serbia are most interested in distributing the programme of TV SOS and TV B92 Info, reports daily newspaper Danas. TV SOS is currently being distributed by 30 providers in total, which means that 30 providers have a license to distribute its programme in their cable systems, while B92 Info is available to users of 28 providers. The Republic Broadcasting Agency has so far issued broadcasting licenses for 91 cable providers.
(Danas, NUNS, 23.01.2012)

"Nedeljnik", a news magazine launched by the Press Publishing Group on 28 December 2011, has been registered for auditing. First results will be available after the completion of the process of initial auditing in May and will include the period from the first issue and later.
(ABC Newsletter, 25.01.2012)

Anniversaries

On the occasion of publication of its 200th issue, the editorial office of the weekly magazine "Loznicke Novosti" presented gifts to the children's department of the General Hospital in Loznica.
(Blic - Srbija, 21.01.2012, Vecernje Novosti - Srbija, 21.01.2012)

Regional daily newspaper "Timok" celebrates 67 years of continued existence.
(Pravda, 12.01.2012)

On February 1, the newspaper "Polimlje" from Prijepolje celebrated 80 years of its existence.
(MC Newsletter, 13.01.2012, Beta, NUNS, 01.02.2012)

Daily newspaper Kurir has published 3,000 issues to this day.
(Kurir, NUNS, 01.02.2012)

In Memoriam

Long-time journalist, the general director of RTV Zagreb and the advisor to the general director of RTV Beograd, Veljko Knezevic, has passed away in Belgrade from stroke.
(UNS, 11.01.2012)

Long-time journalist for News from Frankfurt, Lazar S. Topalovic, passed away suddenly on January 16 at the age of 63. During his rich journalistic career he worked in Politika Ekspres, satirical magazine Jez and the magazine Star.
(Vesti, UNS, 18.01.2012)

Long-time journalist and a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Radomir Soskic, passed away at the age of 78. He began his journalistic career in 1966 in the magazine Mladost. Between 1988 and 1993 he was the editor-in-chief of Ilustrovana Politika.
(UNS, 18.01.2012)

Branko Kopunovic, who worked as the editor of army newspapers "Narodna Armija", "Front", "Vojska" and "Odbrana", passed away on Saturday, 21 January in Belgrade.
(UNS, 24.01.2012)

Renowned journalist Veljko Samolov passed away after a long and difficult illness in Belgrade at night January 30-31. He works as a journalist for Radio-Television Belgrade and a contributor to Radio Free Europe, weekly magazine Vreme and other media outlets. He was one of the founders and members of the Managing Board of the Solidarity Fund that was formed in the beginning of 1993 as a response to the brutality of Milosevic's regime. Between September 2006 and September 2007 he was the general director of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia.
(NUNS Newsletter, 01.02.2012)