According to the data on the Public Procurement portal, the Serbian state TV (RTS) last year spent a little over 77.8 million dinars (VAT inclusive) on advertising services (1 euro – 117 dinars).

Out of this sum, 36 million dinars was spent on adverting in print and online media, and 41.8 million dinars on advertising on billboards and lamppost banners.

Procurement for advertising services in print and online media was conducted through a negotiated public procurement procedure without publication of contract notice. It was divided into 13 batches, and the RTS knew exactly in which media it wanted to advertise, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) said.

The rationale of this negotiated public procurement says that these services can only be provided by certain economic operators due to the “absence of competition for technical reasons,” which is in line with the Law on Public Procurement. However, the same Law stipulates that this rationale may apply “only when no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of intention to unduly favor, or disadvantage a specific economic operator.”

Therefore, a negotiated procedure is conducted if there are undoubtedly no other bidders who could respond to a public call.

Since it was explicitly stated, in each of the batches, in which media outlets the RTS wishes to advertise, the question posed is whether there is an intention to favor certain media after all, because there are approximately two and a half thousand media outlets registered in Serbia.

The RTS said the Public Procurement Office issued it a positive assessment and that a number of criteria were used to decide in which media the public broadcaster would advertise. These include print circulation and number of visits for portals, projections of needs at the annual level in line with the budget, previously positive business experiences, adequate media responses to the needs of RTS and quarterly reports on visibility of advertising, the RTS said in its reply.

The conclusion that can be drawn is that the RTS conducted an internal procedure on the basis of the aforementioned criteria that could have been defined in a classical public procurement procedure.

The RTS, however, said that the Public Procurement Office had approved the conducting on the procedure without a public call.

Milos Djordjevic of Transparency Serbia told NUNS that the RTS defined the public procurement procedure in a way that no one but the media listed in the batches can submit bids, which means that these bidders had been given an advantage.

“The RTS simply decided to advertise in these media, that is, to award the money to them. Specifically, 13 media were selected and only companies that own these media can receive contracts for advertising. It is obvious that these are privileged media, because no one but them can come forward,” said Djordjevic.

Source: N1

AJK has been informed by the “Periskopi” portal about a threatening email they received regarding the publication of an article titled “Nine employees of the Faculty of Medicine receive salaries at University Clinical Center of Kosovo (QKUK) without working at all.”

On January 15, an email was sent demanding the removal of the news, stating “journalists, be careful what you write because many of you are going to be beheaded or your relatives will be taken captive.”.

AJK is concerned regarding the threat made against the editors of this portal and urges the Kosovo Police to investigate the base of the threat and take appropriate actions to protect this medium’s journalists. Furthermore, we invite the Prosecutor’s Office and other justice institutions to put in the necessary effort to deal with this case.

At least eighty-nine Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, several have been injured and others are missing during the war in Gaza. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemn the killings and continued attacks on journalists. The IFJ calls for an immediate investigation into their deaths.

In such dangerous conditions, the IFJ reminds journalists on the ground to take precautions, wear professional safety equipment and not to travel without their media providing them with all the professional safety equipment needed to cover events. No story is worth the life of a journalist.

In the early hours of 7 October, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel. In response, Israel retaliated with airstrikes over the besieged Gaza Strip and formally declared war at Hamas. The IFJ is working closely with PJS to verify information in real time and document all killings. Check the list of journalists and media workers killed since the start of the war in Gaza.

Journalists and media workers

On 14 January, photographer Yazan Al-Zuweidi, who worked for Al-Ghad TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, according to PJS and Al Ghad.

On 11 January, PJS confirmed the death of Mohammed Jamal Sabahi Al Thalathini, who worked as a journalist for Al Quds TV, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit his home in the south of Gaza city.

On 10 January, journalist Ahmad Bdeir, who worked for local magazine Hadaf News, was killed as a result of an Israeli bombardment outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, PJS and media reported.

On 9 January, PJS confirmed the killing of journalist Heba Al-Abdallah, who lost her life when an Israeli bombing hit her home in the southern city of Khan Yunis, media reported.

On 7 January, journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, was killed together with journalist Mustafa Thuraya, when an Israel drone hit the car they where travelling on assignment near Rafah, several local and international media and PJS reported. Hamza Al Dahdouh was working for Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuraya was a freelance videographer working for Agence France Presse.

On 5 January, journalist Akram Al-Shafei, a correspondent for Safa News Agency, lost his life after being seriously injured by an Israeli aristrike two months ago during the siege of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city, PJS and media reported.

Read full list of killed, missing and injured journalists in Palestine on ifj.org.

Croatian journalists’ union and country’s President condemn proposed law penalizing leaks from investigations as an attack on freedom of speech and the public interest.

The Croatian Journalists’ Association, HND, and the country’s President have condemned the government’s seeming determination to implement a new criminal offence, targeting the unauthorized disclosure of content related to investigative or evidentiary actions.

The HND said the initiative has hazardous implications and is an assault on the journalistic profession and the public interest. On Thursday, the government sent the new law to parliament.

“It is the biggest act of aggression against the journalistic profession and the public interest. This can be considered one of the biggest blows to the journalistic profession in the last 30 years,” HND president Hrvoje Zovko said on Friday.

“There is no justification for passing such a law, and HND cannot be ‘bought’ by the fact that the proposed law exempts those engaged in the journalistic profession from criminal prosecution,” said Zovko.

The legal proposal is an attack on freedom of speech and the freedom to transmit information and undermines democratic foundations because the public has the right to be informed about procedures conducted by state bodies, which this law will prevent them from doing, he added.

“They will exempt us [journalists] from criminal liability, but at the same time will sanction those who would provide information of public interest. This legal solution will contaminate the area around journalists and no one will dare to contact the media anymore,” Zovko said.

He also said the law was being persistently “pushed” by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who “in the manner of [Serbian President] Aleksandar Vucic, attacked N1 Television this week and showed what awaits us before the elections”.

Plenkovic said a few days ago that regional media house N1 television was only “semi-legal in Croatia”, after which he encountered criticism.

The HND said it will be “submitting a request to the Constitutional Court for an evaluation of the constitutionality and the possibility of organizing a new major journalistic protest”.

“The penalties for this criminal offence, which will now be included in parliamentary procedure, are up to three years in prison for revealing the content of evidentiary and investigative actions from the non-public phase of the procedure. Who will be sanctioned? Public officials, civil servants, defendants, defence attorneys, witnesses, experts and interpreters will be sanctioned. So, all the participants in criminal proceedings,” HND Secretary General Melisa Skender said.

“Journalists will be prevented from accessing data in real-time. I’m afraid that with the application of the new law, which is very rigorous, sources will be very careful about what they say to journalists,” concluded the HND Vice President, investigative journalist Drago Hedl.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, known for frequent conflicts with the PM, also denounced the new law on Friday.

“Plenkovic would like to arrest those who publish information from an investigation,” he said. “In order to dull the blade of journalists, he [Plenkovic] is threatening people from the system. Because he knows where it’s leaking from,” Milanovic asserted.

He assessed that journalists “will not be accused but will be harassed” through the new law and warned: “Whoever comes under the influence of that law, I will pardon him!”

Source: Balkan Insight

Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) sincerely regrets the events in the weekly NIN after the majority of the journalists of this newspaper announced yesterday that they had left the newsroom. This decision was preceded by the departure of the deputy editor Vesna Malisic, and then the editor of the newspaper Milan Culibrk.

IJAS appeals to the owner of NIN, Jelena Drakulic Petrovic, to preserve the credibility that has been built for decades and enable new members of the editorial staff to perform their work in accordance with professional standards and without the influence of politics and business.

When in August last year the publisher of NIN, Ringier, announced that the ownership of this weekly was transfering to the director of the company, Jelena Drakulic Petrovic, the public was worried, as it turned out rightly, that this was a prelude to changes in this newspaper.

According to recent NIN journalists, the new owner announced a change in concept, but did not assure them that they will still be able to do their work as they have done so far – “without compromise and guided exclusively by the imperatives of professional journalism”.

The former deputy editor of the NIN weekly, Vesna Malisic, said that the dissatisfaction of the editorial office was caused by the fact that the owner, from the moment she bought NIN until New Year’s, did not contact the editorial office.

“We worked for five months without knowing how someone bought a newspaper, what was happening there, what kind of changes these were. The director spoke to us before the New Year, she showed us some research that showed that people are more interested in the economy, IT, sports, the region… Therefore, they are not interested in what is the essence of a political weekly, which is to be a political weekly that is critically oriented towards the events in reality, but we expand in areas where there is more marketing, advertising, there is perhaps more money… everything else, and less of what is the essence of the political weekly”, explained Vesna Malisic.

The now former editor of NIN, Milan Culibrk, said yesterday that on February 8, the last issue of this weekly, which will be worked on by the current editorial staff, will be published. He also announced that all those who left NIN will move to a new weekly published by United Media.

IJAS provides support and expresses respect to colleagues who stayed together in difficult moments and showed unity, solidarity and commitment to the journalistic profession.

IJAS expects that the weekly founded by recent NIN journalists will be able to work professionally and unhindered, as before.

Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia 

January 11, 2024

All the journalists and editors from the revered weekly magazine have walked out, citing fears that the new owner will change its concept – and will start a new publication.

The entire editorial staff of the Serbian weekly magazine NIN have left and announced that they will continue to work in a new weekly magazine. In a collective statement, they explained that they wanted to keep their professional integrity.

“The new owner of NIN d.o.o. Jelena Drakulic Petrovic announced a change in the conception of the weekly NIN, but she did not assure us that we will be able to continue doing our work as before – uncompromisingly and guided exclusively by the imperatives of professional journalism,” their statement said.

United Media announced later that they will form a new weekly magazine within this media group.

“The current editorial staff of NIN, together with Vesna Malisic and Milan Culibrk, will be part of the new weekly edition, which will soon be in front of readers across the country,” media portal N1 published as part of the United Media statement.

NIN got a new owner in the form of its former general director Jelena Drakulic Petrovic in August 2023. It was owned previously by the Swiss company Ringier for 14 years.

Drakulic Petrovic said then that they would “continue to nurture independence, trust and information and critically deal with socio-political events”.

NIN is one of the oldest newspapers in Serbia. It was established in 1935, but was soon banned. It continued to be published regularly in 1951.

It was often the target of attacks by the authorities. Some politicians, such as Vladimir Djukanovic, former deputy of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party or Nebojsa Stefanovic, a former minister, filed lawsuits against NIN because of its writings about their affairs and criminal activities.

Source: BalkanInsight

Russia launched two massive attacks in Ukraine between 29 December 2023 and 2 January 2024, which injured three journalists and damaged four newsrooms. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemned the attacks in the strongest terms and expressed solidarity with the media workers targeted.

On 30 December 2023, two employees working for the German TV channel ZDF were injured by the shelling of the Kharkiv Palace Hotel which was mostly occupied by media workers at that moment. As a result, a security guard of foreign nationality who was working as a security advisor to ZDF, had to undergo an operation at a local hospital and Svitlana Dolbysheva, a ZDF producer, was transferred to a Kyiv hospital. She suffered a head injury and a concussion, as well as fractured vertebrae and ribs. Her condition is now stable.

“Since April 2022, I have been cooperating with various international media and visited various frontline and dangerous positions. But I got wounded where I least expected it,” Dolbysheva told the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).

She recounted the details of the attack: “My colleagues and I finished work and agreed to meet for dinner at 7 p.m. in the lobby of the hotel. I did not hear the air raid alert as at the time when it was announced, I was in the bathroom. Then I got dressed, went down to the first floor, and sat down to wait for my colleagues. The explosive wave threw me back, I started to crawl, and there was a second arrival, from which everything rained down even harder. I was very scared”. She eventually managed to reach the hotel’s underground shelter, where she received emergency medical treatment.

On the same day, in Kharkiv, the Radio House, which serves as the local office for Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne and for Ukrainian Radio, which is part of Suspilne, was also struck. In the building, the windows were blown out, and the heating system, doors and walls were damaged, making it impossible to carry out any further activities. No journalists were wounded in the strike.

In addition, the newsroom belonging to the Obiyektyv media group in the centre of Kharkiv was also hit by the shelling, which shattered windows and damaged studio, editing rooms and equipment. According to NUJU, the media group is currently in dire need of equipment that allows remote work.

In Lviv, Pavlo Dak, the editor of the Vholos news agency, was injured during a massive rocket attack on 29 December 2023. He suffered a minor head injury. Emergency doctors gave him first aid and he does not need further medical assistance.

In Kyiv, on 2 January, the newsroom of the national media company NV had to postpone its broadcasts for several hours following a Russian strike. The radio station plans to set up an emergency studio in an underground shelter.

Commenting on the latest attacks, Sergiy Tomilenko, the NUJU President, said: “Over these five days, a large number of journalists and newsrooms were hit simultaneously, targeted by Russian missiles. This is a very bad trend and a new challenge for the media environment. In these difficult times, we need the support and solidarity of the global journalistic community more than ever.”

“We stand in solidarity with all the journalists and media workers in Ukraine who continue to work despite fear and difficult material conditions. This is possible thanks to the Journalists’ Solidarity Centers’ network (JSC) set up by the NUJU, which is providing emergency assistance to journalists and media outlets. This work is of vital importance”, said EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez and IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.

About JSC network

The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers was launched in April 2022 in three cities of Western Ukraine – Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi. In July 2022, the network’s head office in Kyiv and front-line centers in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia were additionally created. In December 2023, a new front-line JSC in Kharkiv was founded under UNESCO‘s International Program for the Development of Communication and the People of Japan. The network was created by the NUJU, EFJ, and the IFJ and is supported by UNESCO.

Source: EFJ