Professional standards

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia (MUP) makes publicly available photographs and video recordings of arrested persons without their consent or any legal authorization, as well as textual information that allows identification of such persons, which constitutes impermissible processing of personal information", says a press statement issued by the commissioner for information of public importance. After the monitoring of the implementation of the Law on Protection of Personal Information, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic pointed out that the official website of MUP offers video recordings of arrests, together with textual information about the identity of arrested individuals. He added that officials also post photographs and video recordings on YouTube file servers. "At the same time, the Ministry also publishes these video recordings and textual information on its Facebook page", said Sabic.
(B92 online, NUNS, 05.04.2012)

"I call on the media not to deceive the public by reporting that President of Serbia Boris Tadic shortened his term in office, because such a definition does not exist in the Constitution and laws. Tadic has resigned", said Aleksandar Vucic, the deputy president of the Serbian Progressive Party.
(Pravda, 05.04.2012)

The editor-in-chief of Svet Plus Info, Tanja Vidojevic, does not see anything objectionable in the fact that she is the editor-in-chief of a TV station and at the same time active in a political party. The spokeswoman of PSS, Jadranka Tasic, who is a former journalist with TV 5 from Nis and Independent Production VIN, works as a TV presenter and the editor of the programme "Telefakt", despite the fact that she participates in collection of electoral signatures.
(Danas, UNS, 29.03.2012)

The Press Council has investigated 10 complaints filed by citizens on reports published in the print media and established that the Code of Journalism was violated in two cases. Public discussion to be held in Pirot on 5 April and Leskovac on 6 April constitute a continuation of the public presentation of the role of the Press Council in the media scene of Serbia. Information about the activities of the Press Council is available on the website www.savetzastampu.rs
(Vecernje Novosti - Serbia, NUNS, 29.03.2012)

The media in Serbia report on the important elections, but the content of reporting is mostly positive and promotional – this is the result of the media monitoring in the pre-election period conducted by the Bureau of Social Research (BIRODI) and published today. According to the Bureau's first report, between 18 March and 31 March, the media was not sufficiently critical or analytical in its reporting on politicians during the election campaign, while the electronic media allowed politicians to promote themselves and their activities. Radio-Television Serbia, which is a public service broadcaster, aired the largest number of reports about the election campaign, while 80 percent of the reports had audio-visual coverage. "Studio B is the only TV station that has removed political pre-election advertising from the main news programme, but it still reports on activities of the City Administration without any criticism and in a promotional manner".
(Beta, NDNV, 04.04.2012, Pravda, UNS, 05.04.2012)

The following electoral lists have been dominating prime-time news programmes of TV stations RTS1, B92 and Pink in the last few days: "For Better Life – Boris Tadic", which holds the first position, and "Let Us Move Serbia Forward – Tomislav Nikolic", which follows in the second place. Various other political parties hold the third place. On TV B92, the electoral list "For Better Life – Boris Tadic" was dominant as compared to all other parties – this is the result of media monitoring conducted by the agency Kliping.
(Danas – special supplement, UNS, 06.04.2012)

The Serbian Progressive Party says that Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) has openly sided with the Democratic Party (DS) by inviting Dragan Djilas to appear in the programme "Teleton", "in violation of the law and the General Mandatory Directive issued by the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA)".
(Blic, 10.04.2012)

After quite some time, on April 8, the electoral list entitled "For Better Life – Boris Tadic" was not the most dominant in prime-time news programmes of RTS1, B92 and Pink. Instead, the first position was held by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Individually, the second position in the news programmes of these TV stations was held by the coalition led by the Democratic Party (DS), while the third position was held by the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) on RTS1; the United Regions of Serbia (URS) on TV B92; and "Reversal" on TV Pink. The electoral list SPS-PUPS-JS was the most dominant only on TV B92, while SNS was not among the top three on this TV station – these are the results of the media monitoring conducted by the agency Kliping.
(Danas – special supplement, 10.04.2012)

During its reality show "Couples", TV Happy aired content that is not allowed to be shown in prime-time slots. This was discovered by RRA and investigation was launched. Representatives of the TV station are expected to attend the next regular session of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) and defend their actions.
(Blic, UNS, NUNS, 05.04.2012)

Responding to criticism, the editor of NIN, Nebojsa Spajic, wrote the following: "I cannot agree with the opinion of Mr. Medenica. He says that critiques have been 'degraded' to the level of simple description. I would claim the opposite – that they have advanced to that level. Journalistic critique, i.e. critical review, has to be more precise, daring, courageous, dynamic and sharp than the artistic critique, in less available space. It demands greater skill, more experience and more resolute attitude than the artistic critique, especially in a provincial environment such as Serbia."
(Politika, 31.03.2012)

The Managing Board of the Press Council has announced a public competition for the position of a new member of the Complaint Committee. The position of a representative of the civil society in the Committee became vacant when the previous member, Miljenko Dereta, resigned because of his political activities. The competition will be open until 4 May 2012. Nominations should be submitted together with a written justification to the address: Savet za stampu, Ljube Jovanovica 9c, 11000 Beograd, or to email: office@savetzastampu.rs
(UNS, 05.04.2012)

Awards, training courses and competitions

CORRECTION: In the article entitled "Miric Receives Jasa Tomic Award", published in our newspaper on Monday, 26 March, as a result of an unintentional mistake, it was stated that the awards "Jasa Tomic", "Svetozar Miletic", "Dimitrije Frusic" and "Dr Petar Drezgic" had been awarded by the Journalists' Society of Vojvodina ("Drustvo novinara Vojvodine"). Instead, these awards were given by the journalistic association Journalists' Association of Serbia – Journalists' Association of Vojvodina ("Udruzenje novinara Srbije – Drustvo novinara Vojvodine"), while the Journalists' Society of Vojvodina, which is a separate organization, gave the awards with the same name to other recipients.
(Vecernje Novosti – Vojvodina, 29.03.2012)

The renowned section of the daily newspaper Danas, "Correspondent", which featured several hundred authors during the last 15 years, is getting a new quality. The editorial office of Danas has ensured that in the year of its 15th anniversary the authors of articles receive awards.
(UNS, Danas, 30.03.2012)

SEEMO, calls for nominations for the 2012 Dr. Erhard Busek - SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South, Eastern and Central Europe. Eligible to be nominated are journalists, editors, media executives, media experts, writers or journalism trainers in South East Europe, who have contributed to promoting better understanding in the region and have worked towards ending minority-related problems, ethnic divisions, racism, xenophobia, gender discrimination, homophobia, etc.
(SEEMO, 30.03.2012)

The best architectural designs of the last year, as well as the best students' designs submitted to the architectural competition organized by the company "Novosti", are exhibited in the gallery "Ozon" following the presentation of awards.
(ASMEDI NEWSLETTER, April 2012)

Numerous guests and employees of TV Studio B gathered in front of the building "Beogradjanka" to celebrate 42 years of its existence. The editor-in-chief of Studio B, Aleksandar Timofejev, exposed a memorial plate dedicated to the renowned journalist Djoko Vjestica.
(Vecernje Novosti, 01.04.2012, Kurir, UNS, RTV B92, NUNS, 02.04.2012)

A three-member jury has selected the best radio jingles and advertisements in the competition for the award "V(RAB)AC". The awards will be presented on 12 April at 12.00 in Dom Omladine Beograda (in the Americana Hall). 23 participants took part in the contest – 19 radio stations and four agencies.
(RAB Serbia, 06.04.2012)

"Springtime Radio Days" will be held on April 22-24 in the Hotel Mona on the mountain Zlatibor. The event will being together guests, owners and friends of radio stations from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. The second part of the program is intended for presenters and editors, who will engage in strategic planning of content, sections, and the morning programme.
(RAB Serbia, 05.04.2012)

Media visits

Miodrag Kostic, the president of MK Group, visited the editors-in-chief and directors of media companies, members of the Media Association. During the visit, Miodrag Kostic said that MK Group was willing to financially assist in organization of specialized seminars for training of journalists who report on economy.
(ASMEDI NEWSLETTER, April 2012)

The media audience

In the period between March 1 and March 31, 2012, the website Juzne Vesti had more than one million visitors, according to Google Analytics, which is better than the previous record achieved during the 2.5 years-long history of Juzne Vesti. Since its inception in January 2010, the website has achieved constant growth amounting to 20 percent at the monthly level. Since then, almost 10 million pages have been visited, according to Google Analytics.
(Juzne vesti, 02.04.2012)

As of today and only in the daily newspaper Danas, the agency for media monitoring and analysis Kliping will publish daily analyses of media presence of political parties in three best-rated TV news programmes in Serbia – "Dnevnik 2" on RTS, "Vesti u 18.30" on TV B92, and "Nacionalni Dnevnik" on TV Pink. On RTS, on 1 April the first three positions were held by the coalition led by the Democratic Party (DS), the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), respectively. On TV Pink, the first three positions were held by DS, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and Reversal ("Preokret"), while the same positions on TV B92 were held by DS, SNS and DSS.
(Danas – supplement, NUNS, 03.04.2012)

Publishing company Crier Media has included another publication in auditing. "HRB Expert", which is intended for hotels, restaurants and bars, is a specialized B2B bimonthly magazine for professionals working in the HoReCa sector. Information about the sales of the magazine will be available since its first issue (March/April 2012), after the initial auditing that will take place in October November.
(ABC Srbija, 03.04.2012)

Anniversaries

During the ten years of its existence, TV Most from Zvecane has reported on all significant events in Kosovo in a balanced manner, and is on its way to becoming a credible Serbian media outlet in the province, said the station's general director, Zvonimir Miladinovic. Commenting on the anniversary, he pointed out that the station was with its people, that it had never used hate speech, and that it had always attempted to cooperate with neighbors and international organizations. The station has well-established cooperation with RTS, RT Vojvodina and TV Republic of Srpska.
(Beta, Politika, Pregled, NUNS, 04.04.2012)

Other news

The Fourth Conference of Media in Diaspora and Serbs from the Region will take place in Belgrade on April 12-13, 2012. The Conference will be organized by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) with support from the Ministry of Religion and Diaspora and the Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society. Two panel discussion will be held on the following topics: "RTS as a Public Service Broadcaster of Diaspora and Serbs from the Region" and "The Role, Significance and the Future of the Diaspora Media in the Context of Global Media Crisis". Today, the diaspora has more than 90 media outlets in at least 25 countries which are home to one third of Serbian population.
(Pregled, Blic, Dnevnik, NUNS, UNS, 04.04.2012, NUNS, 10.04.2012)

In Memoriam

The first identified victim of this morning's fire in the night club "Kontrast" in Novi Sad is the journalist with Radio-Television Delta, Tamara Miladinovic. Tamara was 25 years old and worked as a TV host appearing on entertainment and news programmes. TV Delta will not air programme until further notice because of the death of the young journalist. At the moment, her picture is being shown on-air. Radio Delta is currently broadcasting only classical music.
(NDNV, NUNS, 01.04.2012, Blic online, UNS, 02.04.2012)

Long-time journalist and a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Zoran Popovic, passed away on 31 March at the age of 83. He worked as a journalist since 1958, first in Radio Belgrade and later for the daily newspaper Politika and news programme of TV Belgrade, where for a long time he was the editor of the main news programme.
(UNS, 05.04.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), magazine Republika and Media Center have invited journalists and admirers of Verica Barac to gather in the Media Center on 12 April at 12.00 to pay homage to her.
(NUNS, 08.04.2012)