{"id":19689,"date":"2018-05-29T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/millions-from-media-competitions-for-the-srpski-telegraf-and-informer\/"},"modified":"2019-09-17T12:50:49","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T10:50:49","slug":"millions-from-media-competitions-for-the-srpski-telegraf-and-informer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/millions-from-media-competitions-for-the-srpski-telegraf-and-informer\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions from media competitions for the Srpski telegraf and Informer"},"content":{"rendered":"

From its establishment in March 2016 to the present date, the Srpski telegraf<\/em> daily received 12.1 million dinars at 21 media competitions, while the Informer <\/em>received 10.9 million dinars at 15 competitions since 2017. Both tabloids received the funds in Belgrade and at the territory of Vojvodina.<\/p>


In the course of 2016 and 2017, the Informer <\/em>was the record-holder with 25 publicly pronounced warnings by the Press Council<\/em> for violation of the Code of ethics of journalists of Serbia. It is followed by the Srpski telegraf<\/em> with 11 warnings pronounced in the same period.<\/p>

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According to the Rulebook which prescribes criteria for evaluation of media projects, which was passed in 2014 by the then minister of culture and information Ivan Tasovac<\/strong>, projects achieving public interest should be given priority in allocation, with guarantees that the media outlet adheres to professional and ethical standards.<\/p>


This means that commissions which decide on financing need to take into account data of the Press Council <\/em>when allocating funds to print and online media, that is, measures of the Regulatory body for electronic media<\/em> (REM) when deciding on TV and radio stations.<\/p>


These rules did not mean much for the Belgrade commission which allocated money to both tabloids in 2017.<\/p>


The Srpski telegraf <\/em>received five million dinars for the project entitled \u201eBeogradski \u010dovek\u201d (\u201eThe Belgrade man\u201d). The two sentences of justification of the commission do not contain a single word on whether its members took into consideration the official letter of the Press Council which was filed to them and which read that, at the time the competition was published, this media outlet had already been issued four public warnings.<\/p>


The Informer <\/em>received three million dinars in Belgrade, despite the warnings of the Council. Another amount of two million dinars was allocated to company Info it media, owned by Dragan J. Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107<\/strong>, owner and editor of the Informer<\/em>.<\/p>


The two companies owned by Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107 received money for two very similar projects, both of which were realized in the Informer<\/em>: while Info IT media<\/em> proposed the story \u201eAn interview with the Mayor – what was done between two celebrations of the Day of liberation of Belgrade\u201d, company which owns Informer – Insajder tim – proposed to publish the first story entitled \u201eBelgrade flourishes between two celebrations of the Day of liberation of Belgrade\u201d.<\/p>

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This justification of the commissions, which they provided in a number of cases, is similar to a surgeon killing several consecutive patients who gets a pay raise and then you expect this to improve his standard, so his hand will not be as shaky and he would spare the others.<\/p>

Tamara Skrozza, member of the Complaints commission of the Press Council<\/h3>\u00a0

Photo: presscentar.rs<\/h4><\/div><\/div>

Both companies proposed to report on BEMUS, October Salon<\/em>, FEST, migrants, growth of the birth rate, and reconstruction of city streets. The activity entitled: \u201eHow much the City of Belgrade allocated as assistance to new mothers and unemployed pregnant women\u201d was contained in both projects, as well as reporting on the newly established utility portal of the capital.<\/p>


Besides these two tabloids, the Belgrade commission also awarded the Tabloid Alo<\/em>, which had already been issued four warnings for breaching the Code, with five million dinars.<\/p>


At the same open call, no money was awarded to Pi\u0161taljka <\/em>portal which wanted to write about corruption and conflict of interest in executive bodies of the City and city municipalities, with justification that the project is based on investigations which do not contain clear facts which would be of interest for citizens. The same commission denied funds for projects of the Danas daily<\/em>, Beta<\/em> agency, Novi magazine weekly<\/em>, and NUNS Media Centre<\/em>, which had not received a single warning of the Press Council<\/em> or REM.<\/p>


\u201eThings are quite clear here, pro-governmental media outlets receive funds from state commissions at state competitions\u201d, says Tamara Skrozza<\/strong>, member of the Complaints commission of the Press Council<\/em>. She adds that this is not about observance or violation of the Code, but support to the authorities.<\/p>


Milan La\u0111evi\u0107<\/strong>, editor-in-chief of the Srpski telegraf<\/em>, says for CINS that his paper won the money because of the quality of its projects, and that nobody had any comments against that.<\/p>


\u201eHere we have a chase by a certain group of media outlets which were not successful at those competitions. They think they will achieve something with pressures, but they had better provide a quality project\u201d, says La\u0111evi\u0107.<\/p>


Unlike the Belgrade commission, commissions throughout Vojvodina allocated money to Srpski telegraf <\/em>with justification that they believe this would help the tabloid observe the Code more, while most commissions fully ignored decisions of the Press Council<\/em>.<\/p>


By the time of publishing of this story, Dragan J. Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107 did not reply to questions asked by CINS on how it is possible for the Informer <\/em>to win money at competitions when his paper violates ethical standards.<\/p>

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