Some Serbian media discriminated, research shows

31/05/2018

BELGRADE, 31.05.2018. – The Serbian media are operating under discriminatory conditions because some of them are in a privileged position, participants in Wednesday’s debate on privileged media said.

The debate was organized by the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CINS) to present its research of the media scene which showed that the state Tanjug news agency has received millions of Dinars to shut down but has continued working.

Tanjug was officially closed on October 31, 2015.

The CINS report said that officials from the Ministry of Culture and Information and the board of the news agency are not talking about how it still works. CINS representatives said it’s also not clear how the Pink International Company, which owns the pro-government TV Pink, received 10 million Euro for guarantees on loans from a government export finance agency in 2014.

They said the pro-government tabloid Informer was given a record 25 warnings by the Press Council in 2016 and 2017 for violating the Serbian Journalists Code while the Srpski Telegraf tabloid got 11. Both tabloids were award millions of Dinars at public tenders.

Poreska uprava da objasni sumnje da ne tretira isto sve firme

IJAS

31/05/2018

BEOGRAD, 31.05.2018. – Na debati CINS-a “Da li postoje povlašćeni mediji” programski direktor Transparetnosti Srbija Nemanja Nenadić izjavio da bi Poreska uprava u slučaju “Južnih vesti” morala da se oglasi povodom sumnji da ne postoji isti tretman poreskih obveznika, kao i da objasni da li je bilo prekoračenja ovlašćenja, poput kontaktiranja članova porodica vlasnika firmi koje se oglašavaju na tom portalu.

Nenadić je ocenio da „postoji snažna sumnja da inspekcijski organi ne postupaju isto prema svakom privrednom subjektu u Srbiji“.

„U slučaju Južnih vesti su se pojavile ne samo sumnje u pristrasnost, nego i na moguće zloupotrebe u smislu kontaktiranja članova porodica oglašivača“, objasnio je Nenadić i ocenio da je tu reč o konkretnim sumnjama da je neki službenik Poreske uprave prekoračio ovlašćenja.

Prema Nenadiću, razumno bi bilo očekivati da Poreska uprava izađe i objasni šta se desilo, ili da negira sumnje da su prekoračena ovlašćenja, ali je dodao da on nije video da se to dogodilo.

Glavni urednik Južnih vesti Predrag Blagojević izjavio je da je Poreska uprava u proteklih pet godina u tom portalu sprovela kontrole koje su ukupno trajale skoro dve godine, iako Južne vesti redovno plaćaju poreske obaveze.

Na debati Centra za istraživačko novinarstvo „Da li postoje povlašćeni mediji“, Blagojević je rekao da su se Južne vesti suočile sa tim da pojedinci iz Poreske uprave kontaktiraju i članove porodica firmi koje se oglašavaju na tom portalu i sprovode pritisak na te ljude.

On je ispričao da je bilo više slučajeva da je članovima porodica oglašivača u Južnim vestima govoreno kako taj portal finansiraju strane obaveštajne službe.

Blagojević je precizirao da Južne vesti ne mogu da pokrenu nikakav postupak protiv takvih pojedinaca u Poreskoj upravi, jer se ne može očekivati od malih privrednika koji se oglašavaju na tom portalu da na sudu posvedoče da trpe pritiske od nekoga iz Poreske uprave.

Mogućnost za takvo svedočenje pred sudom ili tužiocem je ravna nuli, istakao je Blagojević u debati u EU info centru u Beogradu.

On je objasnio i da se Južne vesti na javnim konkursima prijavljuju za sredstva koja daju razne institucije, poput Misije OEBS ili ambasada pojedinih zemalja.

Blagojević je napomenuo i da je svojevremeno premijerka Ana Brnabić javno zatražila od direktorke Poreske uprave da se prekine kontrola u Južnim vestima, ako za njom nema potrebe.

„Ako premijerka jedne zemlje može da pozove direktorku Poreske uprave i da kaže ‘prekini kontrolu’, onda je to strašno“, smatra Blagojević.

On je upitao i šta znači deo izjave premijerke Brnabić u kojoj se kaže da se kontrola prekine ako za njom nema potrebe i da li to znači da Poreska uprava sprovodi kontrole i bez potrebe.

The rapport of public institutions with the access to public documents – superficial answers, lack of quality and useful data

CJA

29/05/2018

PRISTINA, 29.05.2018. – Democracy Plus during the first six months of 2018 has submitted about 50 requests for access to public documents to 20 public institutions, including five municipalities, five ministries/OPM, five public enterprises and give independent agencies. Out of these, 16 have responded to D+ requests while four institutions have not answered at all, thus 80% of the institutions have responded, however, the quality of the response provided has been low, the data incomplete and very deficient.

Democracy Plus

According to the Law on Access to Public Documents in Kosovo, the requests for information may be required verbally or in writing. However, in practice, the institutions most of the time, prefer to receive requests in written form. The Law also foresees a fee that may be required in case the documents need to be transcribed or translated.

Public institutions are legally obliged to respond within seven days an in cases when the public institution does not respond, then the applicant has the right to initiate a case with the Ombudsperson or in the Court.

Nevertheless, although the Law on Access to Public Documents aims to ensure the right to access to public documents, according to the EU Report on Kosovo for year 2017 that was published on April 2018, “implementation remains uneven. The Law requires a thorough revision to address the challenging and fragmented implementation”.

In Kosovo, most of the requests for access to public documents are filed by journalists and civil society while citizens file very few requests – primarily due to lack of sufficient knowledge about their rights.

However, in the last public report available from the Office of the Prime minister concerning the implementation of access to public documents (for year 2016) by all public institutions, 2169 requests have been submitted to public institutions, 2050 have received a positive response, 22 have been rejected and 12 have obtained limited access to documents. This report of the OPM also noted that the Ombudsperson has treated 26 complaints during 2016 concerning the limitation of the right to public documents, out of which only two have been made by journalists.

However, the path of the NGO’s and journalists in securing access to public documents and information as well as the advocacy efforts to treat this issue seriously, has been difficult, challenging and in some years has lasted up to 6-7 years.

NGO’s challenge un-transparent institutions in Court

As reported by Insajderi, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN, FOL Movement and KOSID have followed all legal means of ensuring transparency and accountability of public institutions related to some contracts and the biggest expenditures made from the budget of the country.

In the case of BIRN, the latter had requested access to expenditures of the highest officials of the Government of Kosovo, while the Office of the Prime minister had rejected to provide evidence of expenses made by public officials. OPM had justified its decision to reject the request with protecting personal data.

BIRN had sued the Office of the Prime minister in 2013. The Basic Court of Prishtina on may 2015 gave BIRN the right to access the expenditures, based on the reason that expenditures of the officials and in particular high officials are funds collected through taxes paid by Kosovo citizens.

“… in this regard they have the reasonable interest to be informed for every cent, where it is spent by public officials who have been entrusted with public authorisations and based on this fact they need to be kept accountable for those expenses” says the verdict.

Ministry of Economic Development for two years had not responded positively to the requests of the Kosovo Consortium for Sustainable Development (KOSID).

The member organisations of KOSID, during the period of 2011-2013 had submitted tens of requests for access to public documents on the privatization processes. According to KOSID, all requests were rejected by the MED based on the justification that those documents were drafts and classified documents not permitted to be accessed.

Based precisely on this, on June 3 2013, GAP Institute on behalf of KOSID sued the MED for not allowing access to public documents.

But, on December 2017, the Basic Court of Prishtina had thrown the claims of MED and granted GAP the right to these requests.

“The lawsuit of the Institute for Advanced Studies – GAP is approved as grounded. The defendant, Ministry of Economic Development in Prishtina is obliged to provide Institute for Advanced Studies – GAP with seat in Prishtina within 30 days from receiving this decision with access to all public documents related to the privatisation process of KEDS and Offer of the “Kosova e Re” project” notes the decision of the Basic Court of Prishtina dated on December 12 2017.

After this decision of the Court, in January 2018, the Ministry of Economic Development made the commercial agreements signed between the Government and the “Contour Global” company public.

The Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka said that all delays in publication came as a consequence of approval of publication by the investor “Contour Global” as well.

In March 2018, FOL Movement won the lawsuit against the Ministry of Infrastructure, which had rejected the request for access to public documents, concretely access in the contract for building the Morinë- Merdare motorway 8 years prior.

The Basic Court of Prishtina found the lawsuit made by FOL Movement grounded and obliged the Ministry of Infrastructure to give FOL Movement within 30 days access to “the tender dossier for building the Morinë-Merdare motorway and the copy of the contract for building the motorway”.

Nevertheless, although the final verdicts exist for some of the abovementioned cases, not all points of the verdict have been fully executed.

78% of institutions do not provide access to journalists

Journalists do not have it easier to obtain access to public documents in Kosovo either. The Association of Journalists of Kosova, the organisation working to defend the rights of the journalists in Kosovo has been notified with some of the cases when journalists had their requests for access to public documents rejected.

In an answer given to Insajderi, it is said that at the moment journalists reported about these cases, AJK has reacted, calling for institutions to be more open and transparent in regards to access to public documents and to be more cooperative in providing responses to media and journalists.

AJK in its report “Indicators on the level of media freedom and journalists safety” for 2016, has surveyed more than 50 journalists for this report.

“ 78% of them highlighted that institutions had refused to give them access to the required documents” says the AJK answer to Insajderi.

However, despite these cases, there are institutions that have been more correct with journalists and the media in providing access to information and public documents.

80% of institutions tested by D+ provide information but is is superficial and insufficient

In order to further challenge public institutions and test their level of responsiveness and level of provision of access to public documents and quality of information provided, D+ has sent requests for access to public documents to 20 institutions, on the topic of advertisement and marketing in the media.

In order to conduct this test, D+ initially selected 20-targeted media, concretely 5 public enterprises, 5 independent institutions, 5 municipalities and five ministries of the Government of Kosovo. In selecting these institutions, the following criteria was taken into account: their scope of work, size, political afiliations of heads of the institutions aiming to create a balance, in order to have as real as possible situation reflected on the willingness to provide access in data related to advertising in the media and quality of information provided.

Hence, the following institutions were selected: municipalities of Gjakova, Prizren, Shtime, Vushtrri and Mitrovica South; independent institutions such as the National Audit Office, Kosovo Privatization Agency, Procurement Review Body, Central Elections Commission and the Central Bank; ministry of Environment, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Local Government Administration, Ministry of Economic Development and the Office of the Prime minister and public enterprises such Kosovo Telecom, Kosovo Mail, Kosovo Electricity Corporation, Transmission, System and Market Operator – KOSTT and TrainKos.

For this purpose, in the first half of 2018, D+ submitted about 50 requests for access to public documents, letters and phone calls to follow up on the requests to these institutions concerning advertisements contracted with different local and national level media during 2017.

Out of all these institutions where requests for access to public documents were submitted, 16 out 20 institutions responded, either in writing through e-mail, phone calls or providing physical copies. However, the quality of information provided was lacking, as the answer provided were incomplete and do not serve even comparative purposes.

However, there were some institutions that provided more complete information, such as municipality of Vushtrri, that responded in writing and notified that all advertisements, announcements, vacancies and broadcasting of the activities of the municipality were contracted through a framework contract with Kosova Sot (signed on 15.09.2016 for a period of three years in the amount of 10, 772 euro) and provided details on the payments in the amount of 6, 034 euro made to the contracted during 2017 in the scope of the framework contract.

Similarly, the municipality of Gjakova provided sufficient information on the contracts signed such as the contract with local TV station “Syri Vision” (signed on 03.05.2017 for a period of two years in the amount of 50, 000 euro) and “Kosova Press” (signed on 21.10.2015 for a period of two years in the amount of 9, 780 euro). These contracts were signed for the purpose of live broadcasting of Municipal Assembly sessions live on TV and for following the activities of the municipality (Syri Vision) in one hand and promoting the municipality at the central level (Kosova Press) on the other hand.

The municipality of Mitrovica reported that they signed a framework contract for the period of 36 months in 2016 with RTV Mitrovica in order to follow the meetings of the Municipal Assembly, Committee for Politics and Finances and all activities of the Mayor in the municipality and outside as well as to publish all notifications, announcements and other publications. However, the municipality did not report how much does this framework contract cost in order to provide the said services.

On the other hand, the municipality of Prizren reported that they had a contract in the amount of 9, 895.00 euro with Opinion TV in Prizren to broadcast meetings of the Municipal Assembly of Prizren, Committee for Politics and Finance, announcements, different advertisements, broadcasting of events outside of the building of the municipality, roundtables, conferences, etc.

KOSTT reported in more details that during 2017, in Bota Sot daily they published 10 publications/vacancies, in daily 14 publications, in Rilindja 12 publications, in Koha Ditore 12 publications, in Epoka e Re published two, same as in daily Kosova Sot. For these services, it paid 310 euro to Bota Sot; 1, 892 euro to Zëri; 1, 358 euro to Rilindja; 1, 496 to Koha Ditore; 50 euro to Epoka e Re and Kosova Sot each.

MLGA reported through an official letter for the entire procurement procedure of selection a media for the service of “publishing in daily newspapers (advertisements and vacancies) for the needs of the MLGA”, for which it selected daily Zëri in the amount of 2000 euro, signed on 02.03.2017.

MED on the other hand reported more generalized information, without going into details for the amount of 36, 931.62 euro. In this regard, the MED reported that they paid the amount of 8200 euro for publications/announcements/vacancies in daily newspapers; 21, 936.61 for online portals for banners for EE and BRE as well as 6795,01 euro for Agencies/Productions for producing video-reports for the MED.

The National Audit Office reported that they spent the amount of 4, 729 euro for vacancies and provided a financial report for the expenditures, while it also notified that all procurement activities such as contracts for supply and expenditures have been published through the PPCK while also notifying that there have been no advertisements in the media on Internet.

Kosovo Mail also notified that they had no procurement activities during 2017 for advertisements in televised media, print or Internet media.

The Office of the Prime minister through a short letter only reported that according to the Procurement Office, the OPM has a contract for publication of vacancies, announcements and other publications with daily “Epoka e Re”, in the amount of 5, 960 euro for a period of three years, in the scope of a framework contract, while also reporting that it had selected this daily through open procurement procedure.

On the other hand, Ministry of Justice provided only the amount of money for 2017, precisely 8,674.41 euro spent for the purpose of public vacancies, repetition of vacancies, announcements etc., but in its answer, the Ministry of Justice did not provide any details concerning the media that received this amount of money.

PRB reported that they have no contract with any media for any kind of services, but that they use the contract of the Central Procurement Agency with Bota Sot daily, through which it disseminates vacancies to this daily. The PRB also attached copies of vacancies published.

The Central Bank of Kosovo on the other hand reported that they do not have any kind of marketing, while announcements, vacancies and contracts are published in the official Internet page of this institution, while it also informed that vacancies are published in two Kosovo dailies on rotation basis thus ensuring a rational distribution to all daily newspapers.

The PAK was one of the very few institutions that provided full and detailed access, by providing physical copies of all materials of the contracts and the actual contracts with the media. Hence, according to the documentation received by PAK, this institution on July 6th 2017 published a contract notice for signing a contract for broadcasting TV adverts and announcements to national TV stations, RTK, RTV21 and KTV and according to the notice, each TV got 10, 000 euros or 30, 000 in total were distributed for this service. Similarly, PAK reported that in October 2017, also signed contracts with daily newspapers Koha Ditore, Kosova Sot, Epoka e Re, Bota Sot and Zëri.

On the other hand, Kosovo Telecom responded through a letter in which it analysed the request for access to public documents by providing provisions of the Law on Public Procurement and saying that contracts are public in the PPCK web page while calling upon Article 12, 1.7 of the Law on Public procurement concerning limiting provisions on commercial contracts. Telecom did not provide any documents but simply called a meeting in order to provide relevant responses.

Out of 20 institutions, which received requests for access to public documents, 16 have provided

responses while four did not respond at all. Out of the 16 responses, there was lack of information on how

much these contracts cost Kosovo taxpayers in 5 cases, while in others amounts spent and actual copies of contracts were provided. Apart from initial requests, D+ also sent follow up requests in order to remind public officials about requests. However, even after all efforts made, the following institutions did not respond to any of the requests: TrainKos, Central Elections Commission, municipality of Shtime and Ministry of Environment. In some cases, 3-4 requests/follow up requests and reminders were sent, but to no response.

D+ will continue testing public institutions in the future as well in order to encourage them to engage more in enforcing inter-institutional mechanisms to ensure full, unrestricted access within the deadlines for all interested parties, thus contributing to strengthening transparency and accountability.

This project is funded by the European Union through the Small Grants Scheme “Protecting Freedom of Media and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans” implemented by the Association of Croatian Journalists, as part of the regional project Western Balkans Regional Advocacy Platform on Freedom of Media and Journalists’ Safety, in partnership with six regional journalist associations – Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia (IJAS), Association of Journalists of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Association of Croatian Journalists (CJA), Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), Association Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and Montenegro’s Media Trade Union. The project has started to be implemented on 01 October 2017 and will last until 31 May 2018.

The government will have zero tolerance for violence against media and journalists

AJM

29/05/2018

SKOPJE, 29.05.2018 – The Ministry of Interior has prepared a report, which determines the level of investigations for attacks against journalists. According to the Report, in the period from the beginning of the year 2013 to June 2017, 47 reports from citizens or media were submitted to the Ministry of Interior for physical attacks on journalists.

Most of the attacks were registered in Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia. The Ministry pointed out that some of the cases identified serious shortcomings in the investigation.

Regarding the attacks, criminal charges were pressed against five perpetrators, who committed a total of five criminal charges, out of which three were physical attacks, one evasion and one case of extortion. In five cases, misdemeanor procedures have been initiated.

The government says that, according to their promises, they are determined to face the problem of violence and threats to journalists. They invite all other relevant institutions to take action regarding these cases.

The Minister without portfolio responsible for communications, accountability and transparency, Robert Popovski, pointed out that this Government will have zero tolerance for any attempt to violate freedom of expression. As he said, any attack on media representatives, either physical or verbal, will be severely sanctioned.

Millions from media competitions for the Srpski telegraf and Informer

CJA

29/05/2018

BELGRADE, 29.05.2018. – Pro-governmental tabloid papers – Srpski telegraf and Informer – received the total of 23.05 million dinars through open calls for media financing, despite frequent violations of the Code of ethics of journalists of Serbia. The commissions which were deciding on allocation of funds ignored all reprimands pronounced against them by the Press Council.

From its establishment in March 2016 to the present date, the Srpski telegraf daily received 12.1 million dinars at 21 media competitions, while the Informer received 10.9 million dinars at 15 competitions since 2017. Both tabloids received the funds in Belgrade and at the territory of Vojvodina.
In the course of 2016 and 2017, the Informer was the record-holder with 25 publicly pronounced warnings by the Press Council for violation of the Code of ethics of journalists of Serbia. It is followed by the Srpski telegraf with 11 warnings pronounced in the same period.

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, projects achieving public interest should be given priority in allocation, with guarantees that the media outlet adheres to professional and ethical standards.
This means that commissions which decide on financing need to take into account data of the Press Council when allocating funds to print and online media, that is, measures of the Regulatory body for electronic media (REM) when deciding on TV and radio stations.
These rules did not mean much for the Belgrade commission which allocated money to both tabloids in 2017.
The Srpski telegraf received five million dinars for the project entitled „Beogradski čovek” („The Belgrade man”). 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.
The Informer 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. Vučićević, owner and editor of the Informer.
The two companies owned by Vučićević received money for two very similar projects, both of which were realized in the Informer: while Info IT media proposed the story „An interview with the Mayor – what was done between two celebrations of the Day of liberation of Belgrade”, company which owns Informer – Insajder tim – proposed to publish the first story entitled „Belgrade flourishes between two celebrations of the Day of liberation of Belgrade”.

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.

Tamara Skrozza, member of the Complaints commission of the Press Council

Photo: presscentar.rs

Both companies proposed to report on BEMUS, October Salon, FEST, migrants, growth of the birth rate, and reconstruction of city streets. The activity entitled: „How much the City of Belgrade allocated as assistance to new mothers and unemployed pregnant women” was contained in both projects, as well as reporting on the newly established utility portal of the capital.
Besides these two tabloids, the Belgrade commission also awarded the Tabloid Alo, which had already been issued four warnings for breaching the Code, with five million dinars.
At the same open call, no money was awarded to Pištaljka 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, Beta agency, Novi magazine weekly, and NUNS Media Centre, which had not received a single warning of the Press Council or REM.
„Things are quite clear here, pro-governmental media outlets receive funds from state commissions at state competitions”, says Tamara Skrozza, member of the Complaints commission of the Press Council. She adds that this is not about observance or violation of the Code, but support to the authorities.

Milan Lađević, editor-in-chief of the Srpski telegraf, says for CINS that his paper won the money because of the quality of its projects, and that nobody had any comments against that.
„Here 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”, says Lađević.
Unlike the Belgrade commission, commissions throughout Vojvodina allocated money to Srpski telegraf with justification that they believe this would help the tabloid observe the Code more, while most commissions fully ignored decisions of the Press Council.
By the time of publishing of this story, Dragan J. Vučićević did not reply to questions asked by CINS on how it is possible for the Informer to win money at competitions when his paper violates ethical standards.

Decisions of the Press council not important?

„We shall be the real people paper, neither pro-regime, nor opposition, we shall not incline either to the East or the West. We want and we shall do our best to serve citizens and the public, a national, pro-Serbian service”, said Milan Lađević, editor-in-chief of the Srpski telegraf before the first issue was published in March 2016.
Soon after that, the Independent newspapers Srpski telegraf gained popularity with tabloid headlines and reporting which was frequently in favour of political parties in power. In only nine months of its existence, this tabloid became the record holder among daily papers by the number of stories in which the Code was violated – according to the Press Council monitoring, in 2016 this happened as many as 1,320 times.
In the same year, the Complaints commission of the Press council pronounced the Srpski telegraffive public warnings for breaching the Code.
The Commission, comprising 11 members, representatives of media and media associations as well as the civil society, decides on complaints which the injured party submits due to violation of the Code in print and online media. Media outlets to which the compliant is addressed have the right to justify the reasons for their reporting, after which the Commission decides by a majority vote on whether the Code was violated or not.
The first warning for the Srpski telegraf was issued only two months after the first issue, when the stories with the following headlines were published: „Gays spread AIDS in Serbia”, and „Gays are sick. This problem needs to be eradicated”.

Milan Lađević, editor-in-chief of the Srpski telegraf, says for CINS that his paper won the funds at competitions because of the quality of its projects, and that no one had any objections to that.

Photo: Taken from the twitter account @ladjevic

In his reply to the complaint, Milan Lađević, editor-in-chief of the paper, said that it is nonsensical and ungrounded, as the paper did not promote hate speech against the LGBT community, and that the disputed headlines were actually published in the interest of the gay community.
Only several months as of its establishment, the Srpski telegraf started concluding contracts with institutions – Belgrade Municipality of Stari grad paid it 300,000 dinars in the end of April; somewhat later, the same amount was paid to it by Leskovac and Šabac.
In the first year of its existence the Srpski telegraf received 2.7 million dinars from the state through various commercial contracts. In the end of the year, the paper received its first money based on a public competition – 250,000 dinars in Sremska Mitrovica. In the following year already, it managed to get 10.8 million dinars at 18 competitions; in April this year, it received another million dinars in Pančevo and Stara Pazova.
Competitions were introduced as obligatory in 2015, as the Law on public information prescribed that funds from the budget are to be allocated to media outlets in this manner so as to stimulate them to produce content of public interest, and not only commercial content.
In the course of 2017, the Commission of the Press council pronounced six pubic warnings to Srpski telegraf, while the monitoring report of the Council for the period March-November indicated that the paper published 1,282 stories in violation of the Code, which was again the highest figure among daily papers.

Money to Srpski telegraf to observe the Code

In March 2017, small Banat municipality awarded Srpski telegraf 250,000 dinars for the project „Public information in Plandište”; the tabloid initially requested almost 500,000 dinars for the purpose.
The commission also took into consideration the measures pronounced by the Press Council: „however, the opinion that the applicant’s statement on measures and activities taken was sufficiently persuasive prevailed among the members of the commission; on the other hand, with this decision, the Commission wants to support the applicant in its endeavor to adhere to the recommendations of the Press Council and implement them in its work in future”.
The trust of the commission in the Srpski telegraf was not justified, as the tabloid was issued warnings even after this.
The commission of the Municipality of Vrbas, which allocated the Srpski telegraf 100,000 dinars for the project „Vrbas – timely information” was of a similar opinion, as well as the commission of the Municipality of Kikinda which allocated it 475,000 dinars for the project „Stories from Kikinda”.

Commissions in Vojvodina – same people every time

The analysis of all open calls at which the Srpski telegraf received money indicates that 11 out of 21 commissions comprised the name of Vladimir Jovanović from the Association of tourist journalists and writers in Serbian tourism– FIJET. In the case of the commissions which allocated money to the Informer, Jovanović was a part of seven out of 15 competitions.
Cenzolovka portal wrote about Jovanović as the record-holder by his participation in commissions in Vojvodina; in 2017 he participated in distribution of funds at 16 competitions, mostly as a representative of FIJET; this is more than one third of the local self-government units in Vojvodina which implemented competitions.
According to Cenzolovka, Jovanović used to work with TV Novi Sad which he left in 2017 to establish his own production Media info centar. This newly founded company was awarded about eight million dinars at four competitions in 2017. Meanwhile, Marko Carić became one of co-founders of the Business academy in Novi Sad.
Vladan Stefanović was a part of eight commissions which allocated funds to the Srpski telegraf; he was featured as a representative of FIJET, Association of radio stations RAB Serbia, and Association of electronic media ComNet.
What is also a common feature of all competitions where the Srpski telegraf won funds was the fact that local self-government units kept refusing to feature in their commissions members of the Media coalition of associations of journalists comprising UNS, NUNS, NDNV, ANEM, and Lokal press.

In all three cases, the commissions were familiar with the measures of the Press council, but kept ignoring them. At the same time, three totally different commissions provided almost the same justification, using identical sentences and quoting they believed that the decision on financing supports the media outlet in adhering the recommendations of the Council.
At the same time, in 2016 the commission in Vrbas passed an opposite decision in the case of TV station KCN (Kopernikus cable network), which, among other reasons, it was denied money as a result of the measures pronounced to it by REM.
Tamara Skrozza says: „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”.
In the Municipality of Apatin, the commission received an official letter of the Press Council which read that the Srpski telegraf had received eight public warnings in the period of one year before the competition was published.
The commission also received the official letter signed by Ljubomir Dabović, manager of the company Medijska mreža – publisher of Srpski telegraf. In the first lines of the official letter, it is written that the company does not recognize competence of the Press council „due to reasonable doubt as to impartiality and grounds for work of this citizen association, and the manner of appointment of members in bodies of the Press Council itself”.
Dabović mentioned the case of reporting on the topic of LGBT rights and why his tabloid received three warnings, stating that journalists „supported their positions in relation to LGBT population with arguments and facts”.
Some of these stories from 2016 had the headlines such as: „Darling don’t be a fag” and „Gays hid a weapon arsenal”.
Following this, the Srpski telegraf continued with its offensive reporting on the LGBT population, which is why it was issued new warnings in 2017.
Despite the fact that this is publicly available information, the commission decided that the project „Public information in Apatin” should be awarded 217,000 dinars, while the justification does not mention whether violation of the Code was discussed.
„As far as the NGO Press Council is concerned, I believe that they are actually a political organization which passes decisions based on the principle ‘this is the editorial policy I don’t like’”, says Milan Lađević, commenting the warnings of the Council; he adds that, in his opinion, „this Council has so far applied double standards and has a hypocritical attitude”.
On the other hand, Tamara Skrozza says that the Srpski telegraf and Informer „may or may not recognize the Press Council, but they must observe the Code of journalists of Serbia”. She explains that the Council also decides on media outlets which do not recognize its competence as it was recognized as a body which treats the issue of professional standards at national level.

Closing eyes before Informer’s warnings

“In this manner, I would like to state that Info IT media has not been pronounced measures by regulatory or self-regulatory bodies for violation of professional and ethical standards in the last year”.
This statement arrived on 7 February 2017 to the address of the Municipality of Bačka Palanka as a part of the application for a media competition.

In the course of 2016 and 2017, the Informer was a record holder with 25 public warnings pronounced by the Press Council for violating the Code of journalists of Serbia.

Info IT media was founded a month prior to this competition, had two employees, and was registered at the address which also hosted the newsroom of the Independent daily newspaper Informer. Info IT media is actually a company of Dragan J. Vučićević, which is also the editor, and – through the company Insajder tim – owner of the Informer.
Vučićević launched Informer in 2012, just before the Parliamentary elections in which Serbian Progressive Party was the winner; he presents his paper as „the paper with the largest circulation in Serbia.”
For the project „Guide through towns and municipalities in the Republic of Serbia – meet Bačka Palanka”, company Info IT media received 250,000 dinars.
In its justification, the commission emphasized that the „broad availability of information having in mind that the project is implemented through the Informer daily” gives the project a special value.
What the commission did not discuss was the 16 public warnings which the Informer received from the Press Council in the course of 2016.
The reason for this is the fact that the Municipality of Bačka Palanka did not even ask the Press Council as to the number of warnings issued to the Informer in the previous period. Although the official letter of company Info IT on the fact that it had no warnings was delivered to the commission, the company is formally not a media outlet, but was registered as an advertising agency, that it is not entered in the register of media outlets, and that it publishes its media content through the Informer, which is why the Council may not even issue it a warning.
The Council confirmed to CINS that neither Sremska Mitrovica nor Bački Petrovac, at the competitions of which the Informer was allocated money, did not request data on the pronounced warnings. They also stated that some municipalities request such information directly from applicants.
Through companies Info IT media and Insajder tim, the Informer tabloid earned 10.9 million dinars at 15 media competitions in the course of 2017 and 2018.
Following Belgrade, the Informer received the largest amounts of money from Novi Sad, Pančevo, and Stara Pazova, a million dinars respectively. According to the data of the Press council, the three commissions had data on the warnings pronounced to the Informer.

This project is financed by the European Union through the small grant project “Protection of media freedom and freedom of expression in the Western Balkans” implemented by the Croatian Association of Journalists within the regional project Regional platform for advocacy of media freedoms and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans, six journalists’ associations from the region – Independent association of journalists of Serbia, (NUNS),Association of BH journalists, Croatian Association of journalists, Association of journalists of Kosovo, Association of journalists of Macedonia, and Media Trade union of Montenegro

14 years since the murder of Dusko Jovanovic: The authorities to finally take responsibility

TUMM

28/05/2018

PODGORICA, 28.05.2018. – Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG) believes that it’s urgent to secure the conditions for carrying out an independent investigation of assassination of Dusko Jovanovic, the editor-in-chief of newspaper “Dan”.

It has passed 14 years since our colleague Jovanovic was murdered, and state authorities failed to detect, find and arrest the perpetrators and masterminds of the most grave violation against journalists in the history of Montenegro.

Dusko Jovanovic was killed on May 27, 2004 in front of the editorial offices of his newspaper in Podgorica. After 14 years, only a local organized crime figure called Damir Mandic from Podgorica was convicted as a co-perpetrator of the murder.

In the following years after this murder, a series of attacks on journalists in Montenegro accrued and all of them have one thing in common – impunity. Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG) asks the authorities to finally take responsibility for such situation.

As an affiliate of the International Federation and the European Federation of Journalists, SMCG will report this impunity case to them and asked to send the case of the murder of Dusko Jovanovic to be placed on the Council of Europe’s platform for the safety and protection of journalists (CoE Media Freedom) which collects data on the violence, threats and difficulties that journalists face in 47 countries around Europe.

Main Board

Sud ponovo vratio Arežinu na mesto direktora programa RTV

IJAS

28/05/2018

NOVI SAD, 28.05.2018. – Osnovni sud u Novom Sadu poništio je kao nezakonita rešenja Upravnog odbora RTV kojima je Slobodan Arežina krajem januara ove godine razrešen s mesta direktora programa RTV. U presudi koju je danas saopštila sudija Vesna Dušić, RTV se obavezuje da Arežinu vrati na tu funkciju u roku od osam dana.

Presudom, koja je danas doneta odmah nakon održanog prvog ročišta za glavnu raspravu, poništava se, takođe kao nezakonito, rešenje generalnog direktora RTV-a Miodraga Koprivice kojim je Arežina proglašen tehnološkim viškom, te aneks ugovora o radu kojim je Arežina premešten na mesto menadžera razvojnih projekata.

Najavljeno kao tek pripremno, današnje ročište u Osnovnom sudu, po tužbi Arežine protiv RTV-a kojom je tražio poništavanje navedenih akata, pretvorilo se u egzemplar efikasnog pravosuđa, ostavljajući stranke u postupku prilično iznenađenim epilogom.

Tokom rasprave koja je trajala 45 minuta, advokatica Slobodana Arežine Jelena Stanić i advokat RTV-a dr Siniša Novković zatražili su od suda da u daljem postupku bude saslušano ukupno sedam svedoka. Odbijajući ove predloge, sudija Dušić je konstatovala da za tim nema potrebe „jer je reč o čisto pravnom pitanju“, te uz opasku „da nema potrebe da se od postupka pravi pozorište“, najavila da će presuda biti saopštena nakon 15 minuta. Kako je zaista i bilo!

Rok za žalbu na ovu presudu je 15 dana od dana kada strankama bude dostavljen pismeni otpravak presude. Advokat RTV-a dr Siniša Novković rekao je za Cenzolovku da će odluku o žalbi doneti RTV. Cenzolovka je od generalnog direktora RTV-a Miodraga Koprivice zatražila da se izjasni o eventualnoj žalbi na presudu.

Arežina za Cenzolovku kaže da je rano da govori o povratku na funkciju sa koje je već dva puta bio smenjen jer, kako navodi, očekuje da će se RTV žaliti na presudu. „Čak i ako ova presuda postane pravosnažna, moja ranija iskustva pokazuju da to neće biti garant da ću ja svoj posao moći da obavljam u skladu sa zakonom.“

„Advokatska kancelarija Beljanski i advokatica Jelena Stanić naveli su u tužbi neoborive dokaze o tome da je moje razrešenja s funkcije iz januara ove godine bilo nezakonito. Istovremeno, ohrabruje me spremnost suda da prihvati činjenice i da nakon samo jednog održanog ročišta odmah i donese presudu. To što pravda stiže za 15 minuta uliva nadu da pravna država ipak postoji“, kazao je Slobodan Arežina.

On je dodao da je ova „presuda veliko ohrabrenje za sve novinare u Srbiji da se bore za svoja prava“. „Potrebni su samo odlučnost, upornost i, naravno, dobar advokat“, istakao je Arežina.

Današnjom prvostepenom presudom novosadsko pravosuđe je po treći put vratilo Arežinu na funkciju s koje je prvi put smenjen u maju 2016. odlukom Upravnog odbora. Nakon tužbe koju je nakon toga pokrenuo protiv RTV-a i odluke za koju je tvrdio da je nezakonita, istu tu ocenu izneo je u svojoj presudi najpre Osnovni, a potom, u novembru prošle godine, i Apelacioni sud. U pravosnažnoj presudi tog suda potvrđen je zahtev Osnovnog suda da RTV Arežinu vrati na mesto direktora programa.

Arežina je krajem decembra 2017. nominalno vraćen na tu funkciju, ali, usled činjenice da se na mestu direktora programa RTV-a već nalazila na javnom konkursu izabrana Sonja Kokotović Zečević, kreće rašomon koji se završio najpre proglašavanjem Arežine „viškom zaposlenih“, a pet dana kasnije, 29. januara – ponovnim – smenjivanjem, opet u režiji Upravnog odbora, s funkcije koju praktično nije ni stigao da u „drugom dolasku“ čestito obavlja.

Dva meseca nakon što je zvanično okončan postupak protiv RTV-a, Arežina krajem februara ponovo tuži svoju, i dalje, matičnu kuću i od nje traži poništavanje rešenja Upravnog odbora, rešenja generalnog direktora o „višku zaposlenih“, te aneks ugovora o radu, kojim se, nakon smene, premešta na mesto menadžera razvojnih projekata.

No, to nije i jedina njegova tužba protiv RTV-a. Sledeće nedelje, naime, biće održano prvo ročište po tužbi kojom traži poništavanje odluke generalnog direktora RTV-a iz januara ove godine, kojom je u toj kući faktički bilo uvedeno postojanje dvaju direktora programa (!), te da, shodno tome, aktuelnoj direktorki programa RTV-a Sonji Kokotović Zečević bude naloženo da u roku od osam dana obavi primopredaju dužnosti sa Arežinom.

Journalist: Existence of profession in Serbia in jeopardy

IJAS

28/05/2018

BELGRADE, 28.05.2018. – A member of the Independent Union of Serbia’s Journalists’ Executive Board (NUNS) said on Monday that not only the financial situation position of the media people was in jeopardy but also the profession itself.

Slobodan Arezina, told Danas daily that the abuse of journalism was at a higher level and that “today we witness that the media are becoming an active participant in the political arena.”

“Nevertheless, the journalists must fight,” regardless of the fact, Arezina said, that the media scene in Serbia looked hopeless.

“No one should give up. That goes for both journalists and their associations. We have to defend the profession equally because of ourselves and for the public,” Arezina told the daily.

Stojovic: Beatings didn’t hurt me, but all that happened later

TUMM

28/05/2018

PODGORICA, 28.05.2018. – Physical attack and severe beatings of journalists Mladen Stojovic, from Bar, on 23rd May 2008 are no longer formally under the care of the Prosecutor’s and the Police offices because the Basic Prosecutor from Bar, Milenko Magdelinić, declared the case being obsolete and closed the case.

“On May 24th 2018. a decision was made to reject the criminal charges against the NN perpetrator as the absolute obsolete prosecution took place … “, said Magdelinic in his response to “Vijesti”.

“The beatings didn’t hurt me, everything that was going on later hurted me more”, said Mladen Stojovic to “Vijesti”.

He ironically said that he “rejoice that his case become obsolete”, because he decided to keep silent all the previous years after what had happened to him and the lack of will to really investigate this case.

“I suffered various pressures all this time, in different areas, because I was a victim. I had to keep silent and make sure I don’t play with it. It was my personal estimation to keep quiet and wait for everything to go”, Stojovic said.

In the late evening, 10 years ago, he was beaten in his parental home in Bar. While sitting in front of a computer, the attackers entered the apartment and hit him in the head. Court expert Dragana Cukic in her report to the High Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica on June 30^th 2012., according to the Report of the Commission for Investigating Attacks on Journalists, stated that Mladen Stojovic was dealing with a serious bodily injury (a fracture of a pinched leg of the lower jaw, a fracture of the upper jaw tube, concussion).”

“Dr. Cukic concluded that “injuries in the head area were caused by repeated action of a blunt mechanical tool, such as fist, “box”, foot and other blunt means”. She excluded the “multiple-fall mechanism” as a possible cause of injury in the head area”, the document says.

Stojović said “to the sources who placed the information that he was ill with epilepsy” that he wasn’t ill with epilepsy before or later the attack.

Until the statute of limitations came into power, the inquest of the attack on him didn’t move from the beginning and was led against the NN persons.

“After the attack, Stojovic told the policemen “that the only motive for the attack on him could be his participation in the “Insider” show that was broadcast on B92 television in which he participated and talked about suspicious affairs in the football of Serbia and Montenegro, and then he, among others, spoked about Branislav Brano Mićunović and Radojica Božović”, said the Commission in its report from January this year.

Mićunović and Bozović were heard ten years later, two months before the statute of limitations was declared. As the chief Prosecutor from Bar said to “Vijesti”, Mićunović gave statement to the Police on March 15^th and Božović on April 2^nd this year. They, as reported by BST, Milenko Magdelinić, said that they had nothing to do with the attack and that they didn’t know the journalist.

The investigation of the attack was first managed by Zoran Bazovic, Basic Prosecutor at Bar, who is now the President of the Basic Court in Podgorica. He was succeeded by Milenko Magdelinić.

Four years before the attack on Mladen Stojovic, on May 27, 2004. the editor-in-chief of the daily “Dan”, Dusko Jovanovic, was killed, and for that only Damir Mandic was convicted, and the perpetrators and masterminds haven’t been found so far.

Following the murder of Jovanovic in 2007, a journalist Tufik Softic was beaten in front of his house in Berane, and this case was followed by a series of attacks on journalists, including the wounding of Olivera Lakic on May 9^th this year.

I agreed to keep quiet, I couldn’t leave Montenegro

“Among countless unpleasant cases after this attack, there was also the arrival of three members of the Police Intervention Unit at my apartment. It was five years ago, when the statute of limitation was declared for the first time. They appeared at my door, 15 minutes before I was supposed to be in the Police station where I was called, with the threat that I would be arrested if I don’t answer the call. However, I was waiting to the inspector to whom I made the statement for half an hour, so I got the impression that they didn’t expected me. And that impression I had during the all 10 years – that they expect me to be quiet. And I agreed to their rules, because I didn’t want to leave Montenegro for private reasons”, said Mladen Stojovic.

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Safejournalists.net

Tamara Skrozza, member of the Complaints commission of the Press Council

Photo: presscentar.rs

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Closing eyes before Informer’s warnings