Professional standards

Activities of the civil society in Serbia are not sufficiently visible in the media, as well as in the public – this is the opinion of the advisor for the organization TACSO Serbia, Zorica Raskovic. The director of the news programme of RTV Vojvodina, Igor Bozic, said at the event that their program was open to the civil society sector, but that journalists were still prejudiced towards the goals of this sector and the donors that support it. Representatives of civil society organizations unanimously noted that the media does not sufficiently report on their activities. However, they also admitted that they were not sufficiently educated for cooperation with the media.
(Dnevnik, 22.06.2012)

Overcoming of prejudices is a long process, but education, the media and personal experience are the most efficient tools for their elimination, says Dr Bozo Skoko, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Zagreb and an expert on national image, to daily newspaper Blic. Skoko has authored books "Country as a Brand" and "Croatia and Her Neighbours", as well as numerous studies on stereotypes and national images of nations in the Balkans, the last of which was dedicated to prejudices in the Balkans. Skoko points out that the media, and to a certain degree the educational system as well, have been more successful in preserving, instead of eliminating the prejudices in the Balkans. At the same time, he says, it is not possible to generalize any of the nations in the Balkans. "One of the rules of branding of countries says that people worldwide perceive other places in the light of the most recent significant even that took place there. They change their opinions only after something even more significant happens. Therefore, it is time to replace the news about conflicts, crimes and hatred with a large step towards normalization", adds Skoko.
(Blic, 24.06.2012)

At the World Media Congress held recently in Thessaloniki, one of the central events was the promotion of the collection of articles entitled "Management of Media Economy, Media Content and Technologies in the Age of Digital Convergence". The book was published in English language by the Portuguese publisher "Media XXI" and it has been used as a textbook at numerous European universities. In a very short time frame, the book has seen two editions and promotions in Lisbon, Moscow and Paris. Five prominent articles have been written by Serbian authors: Milena Dragicevic Sesic and Divna Vuksanovic from the University of Art, Milivoje Pavlovic and Marija Aleksic from the Megatrend University, and Ljiljana and Goran Bulatovic from the Faculty of Management in Novi Sad.
(Politika, 24.06.2012)

The Complaints Committee of the Press Council has received 25 complaints related to articles published in the print media since September 2011. Fourteen cases have been solved, four cases are being processed, while the remaining cases did not fulfil necessary conditions. Of the solved cases, violations of the journalistic code of conduct have been established in four cases, all of which have been committed by the daily newspaper Press. Out of 14 solved complaints, four were initiated against daily newspapers Vecernje Novosti and Press, three were initiated against Politika, and one against NIN, Blic and Vecernje Novosti each. The four complaints that are being processed were submitted against Blic, Press, Alo! and Vecernje Novosti.
(Fonet, NUNS, Vecernje novosti, 28.06.2012)

Publicly-owned electronic and print media are mostly equipped on the basic or intermediate technological level and their employees' knowledge of new platforms is lacking, said yesterday Miroljub Radojkovic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science, during a presentation second phase of the research "Journalism at the Crossroads – Journalism in the Age of Information Society".
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 30.06.2012)

Mladjan Dinkic accused the spin doctors from the Democratic Party (DS) of organizing a dirty campaign in the media.
(Alo!, 21.06.2012)

During a public discussion "LGBT Issues in the Media", on the occasion of the International Pride Day, representatives of the media and journalistic associations discussed the changes in the reporting on LGBT population. The media professionals agreed that reporting on LGBT individuals and their rights had been improved in the last few years, but that violence, which usually accompanies events like the Pride Parade, was still the main topic covered by journalists, instead of individual stories.
(http://www.mondo.rs/, NUNS, 28.06.2012)

Opinions, awards, training courses and competitions

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) organizes a school of investigative journalism in Mavrovo, Macedonia, between August 19 and August 25, 2012. Lectures at the third school of investigative journalism will be held by leading international journalists like Sheila Coronel– the head of the Investigative Journalism Center and a professor at the Columbia University; Mark Schoofs– a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and a professor at the Yale University; Paul Lewis – the editor of research projects of the Guardian, who was awarded as The Journalist of the Year; and many others. The deadline for applications for scholarships is 25 July 2012. Information about the the application process and the school are available at the website of BIRN, balkaninsight.com.
(MC, Blic, 26.06.2012, NDNV, 03.07.2012)

Among Belgrade students, the daily newspaper Politika is ranked third. Around 17 percent of interviewees reads Politika, while a half of them reads the free newspaper 24 Sata. Daily newspaper Blic is read by slightly more than 37 percent of interviewees. The fourth-ranked, daily newspaper Press, is read by students of the University of Belgrade in numbers greater by no less than 50 percent than in the last year.
(Politika, Press, 23.06.2012)

Media visits

For the third year in a row, students of the Faculty of Law of the Belgrade University will have a chance to acquire their first legal experiences, attend major trials and learn the secrets of the trade thanks to the traditional summer internship. This year, the Legal Office Tomanovic and the University of Law of the Belgrade University will organize a visit by ten students to UNS, OSCE and RTS, where they will have a chance to explore the limits of criticism and protection of privacy.
(Pregled, 02.07.2012)

Journalists from Belgrade media outlets were the first to travel the new bus line Belgrade-Krk, operated by "Lasta".
(Pregled, 02.07.2012)

The media audience

The RTS1 programme was watched by 47 percent of the total number of viewers who watched TV yesterday. Five top-ranked programmes yesterday were all broadcast by RTS. The live airing of the finals match of the European Football Championship between Spain and Italy on RTS was the best-rated programme with 2,167,000 viewers.
(RTS online, UNS, NUNS, 02.07.2012)

Although the city television is focused on the capital of the country, STB reaches more than three million viewers, since its audience is not limited to the city of Belgrade, says Nemanja Vranjkovic, the deputy general director. "We have increased our ratings by 2-2.5 times in comparison with the period five years ago. More than a million viewers watched us at moments. As a rule, whenever there are some extraordinary events in the city, viewers turn to STB", says Vranjkovic.
(Vecernje novosti, UNS, 28.06.2012)

Media transfers

A former programme director of Croatian station TV Nova, Sinisa Svilan, will join TV Pink. According to the daily newspaper Press, Svilan, who was dismissed from his previous company because of acceptance of bribes in the amount of 262,000 euros from Vladimir Selebaj, the director of the production company "Kor Medija", is supposed to become a regional coordinator of programme of TV Pink.
(Press, Kurir, UNS, NUNS, 30.06.2012)

In Memoriam

Journalist Cedo Males, a long-time member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), passed away on Saturday, 23 June after a long and serious illness, at the age of 81. He began his journalistic career in 1952 in the newspaper Metalac. Between 1960 and 1966 he worked as an editor of the newspaper Beogradska Nedelja, while in 1966 he became the editor of the newspaper Radnicka Stampa. In 2005, he became a member of the Presiding Board of the Veterans' Association of UNS.
(UNS, 25.06.2012)

A long-time journalist with the weekly magazine Nas Glas from Smederevo and a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Zoran Gajic, was buried today at the New Cemetery in Smederevo. He was born in Zajecar in 1955 and spent his career reporting on events in Smederevo for the local weekly magazine Nas Glas, as well as a journalist with Privredni Pregled and correspondent for daily newspaper Politika. He worked at all positions between the beginner journalist and the editor-in-chief and director of the weekly magazine Nas Glas.
(UNS, 30.06.2012)

Journalist, publicist and historian, Dusan Popov, a recipient of the February Award of the City of Novi Sad in 2012, passed away today in Novi Sad. He began working in journalism in 1945 for newspapers Slobodna Vojvodina (today's Dnevnik) and Glas Omladine. In the newspaper Dnevnik he worked at all positions between the positions of junior contributor to the deputy editor-in-chief. As a young journalist, he was appointed as the editor of the renowned cultural programme, Tribina Mladih. In 1972, he became the first editor-in-chief of then recently founded TV Novi Sad.
(Beta, NDNV, 03.07.2012)