IJAS: Serbian Progressive Party and pro-regime tabloids to stop attacks on Vukasin Obradovic

17/06/2022

Journalist and editor in the daily newspaper Danas and former president of IJAS Vukasin Obradovic has been the target of attacks by pro-government tabloids and high-ranking officials of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in recent days because of the article “Trump Junior, Hunter Biden and Danilo Vucic”, published by Danas.

In the text, Obradović explains to the readers that the jobs that the closest members of the families of high positions are engaged in are of public interest, by giving examples of media reporting on the sons of Margaret Thatcher, Donald Trump and Joseph Biden. It is also a legitimate right of the domestic media to report on who the older son of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is hanging out with and taking photos of, and not to be discriminated against because of that.

The mention of the president’s son was used by pro-government tabloids and some SNS officials, such as Darko Glisic, to accuse Obradovic of attacking President Vucic’s children and telling “the most heinous lies”, and that the text was funded by Socialist Party of Serbia official Novica Tonceva.

“Writing of the tabloids and statements of certain SNS officials regarding my text are actually an attempt to intimidate journalists who dare only to mention Danilo Vucic. Such behavior is a classic example of pressure on the media with the basic message of what will happen to you if you deal with this topic”, said Vukasin Obradovic regarding the latest attacks, and proof of that is the switching off of the microphone of the N1 journalist at President Vucic’s press conference when she mentioned Danilo Vucic while asking question.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) strongly condemns spinning and drawing the target of Vukasin Obradovic and reminds Aleksandar Vucic and other SNS officials that they must not refuse to speak for critical media, and that those officials are employed by all Serbian citizens and are responsible to all of them.

According to the Code of Journalists of Serbia, the right to privacy of public figures is narrowed, and if it is in the public interest to know data from the private life of public figures, the media have the right to publish it. In this case, the son of the president of the state was seen and photographed several times with people from the criminal milieu. Likewise, the publication of this information must not be a reason for discrimination against the media, and especially for attacks on journalists who report on it.

Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia

June 17, 2022

The Coalition for Freedom of the Media: Persecution and harassment of OK radio must be stopped

IJAS

17/06/2022

The owner of OK Radio from Vranje Olivera Vladkovic, was again visited by Dejan Nikolic Kantar, who has been threatening and endangering her property for a long time, only a day after the Working Group for the Safety of Journalists was in Vranje on that very occasion. By the way, at this moment, Nikolić is serving a prison sentence for violent behavior, which he is serving in his house, with permission to leave every day, in order to visit his construction sites, rest or relax.

OK Radio in Vranje and the No Comment cafe, which operates within this media house, have been exposed to serious attacks and threats for months. The threats have been going on since the owner of the radio reported to the inspection an investor who is building next to her facility without the necessary permits. As the inspection stopped the illegal works, the property of the radio was attacked on several occasions.

First, during the night, the windows of the No Comment cafe were broken, then the entire inventory and the interior of the building were sprayed with white paint, after which another person entered the cafe and turned on the speakerphone on his phone, when a third person threatened the employees.

Although the procedure was initiated, another attack happened about ten days ago, when the window of one of the offices was walled up on the outside of OK Radio overnight.

The Coalition for Freedom of the Media welcomes the work of the competent authorities so far, but due to the continuing intimidation and harassment, it demands that they be stopped without delay. The police and the prosecution must ensure the personal safety of everyone and prevent the convicted Dejan Nikolić Kantar or anyone else from intimidating or injuring Oliver Vladković, i.e. employees of OK Radio and the No Comment cafe. The state is obliged to ensure their safety and protect them from the arbitrariness and terror of the perpetrators.

The Coalition for Freedom of the Media gives full support to Olivera Vladkovic and the employees of OK Radio to continue to do their job professionally and responsibly.

The Coalition for Media Freedom consists of the Media Association, the Association of Online Media (AOM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of Local and Independent Media “Local Press” and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation.

June 17, 2022

BH Journalists: Urgently investigate the burning of a car of RTRS journalist from Trebinje!

BHJA

15/06/2022

Photo credit: RTRS

Sarajevo / Banja Luka, June 15, 2022 – The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) strongly condemn the burning of a car owned by RTRS journalist Natasa Miljanovic-Zubac, which took place last night in Trebinje, and demand that the authorities urgently investigate the case, find and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators.

As reported by the Police administration of Trebinje, the Police station Trebinje on June 15, 2022, at around 03:45, reported that there was a fire on a parked passenger vehicle Ford owned by N.M.Z. from Trebinje. The fire was extinguished by members of the Territorial Fire Brigade of Trebinje. The duty prosecutor of the District Prosecutor’s Office of Trebinje was informed about the case.

An investigation and determination of the circumstances of the fire is in progress.

We remind that in February last year, journalist Natasa Miljanovic-Zubac was the victim of verbal attacks and insults publicly directed at her by Vojislav Seselj, leader of the Serbian Radical Party. For this case there is currently a process at the court in Belgrade.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists and the Free Media Help Line express deep concern over this latest attack on RTRS journalist from Trebinje. Attacks on journalists, especially those manifested through vandal acts of destruction of their personal property, pose the greatest threat to media freedom in a democratic society and bring fear and insecurity to the entire journalistic community.

BH Journalists and the FMHL expect the police and Trebinje District Prosecutor’s Office to give the highest priority to this case, and to send a message to the entire public by conducting an efficient and detailed investigation that such attacks will not and must not go unpunished!

BH Journalists and the Free Media Help Line will also inform all relevant domestic and international institutions about this case.

BH Journalists Association/Free Media Help Line

Maja Sever is new elected president of the European Federation of Journalists

IJAS

14/06/2022

maja sever efj — Mogens Blicher, Maja Sever and Mustafa Kuleli

The president of the Croatian Journalists’ Union, Maja Sever, is new elected president of the European Federation of Journalists. She was elected at the assembly of the organization, which was held on June 13 and 14, 2022 in Izmir, Turkey.

137 out of a total of 144 delegates of the EFJ Assembly voted for Maja Sever. The second candidate for president from Poland, Marius Pilis, received the remaining 7 votes.

Sever is the first woman president of the EFJ. She thanked for the almost unanimous support of the assembly.

“This election is a great honor and an opportunity to continue the fight for strong, independent professional journalism. We live in a world where journalists are killed, detained and sued, where women work for lower wages, still cannot break through the glass ceiling, where journalists are exposed to attacks and insults, in a world where many journalists are not protected by labor or social rights, collective agreements are weak or non-existent, where freelancers are without rights and the survival of the public media is threatened …. so we need to remain strong and united. Keep fighting” , said Sever after the election.

In her program, she stated that the priorities of her presidential mandate will be the security of journalists, the improvement of workers’ and professional rights, the improvement of the position of freelance journalists and the fight against SLAPP lawsuits. She emphasized the importance of the struggle of journalists’ associations and trade unions for better strategic and legislative frameworks at the national and European level.

“We are entering a critical period in which the European Union could for the first time adopt a legal framework to support media freedom and pluralism, but the battle is ahead and we must join forces to get a strong European law on media freedom as we fight for protection. copyright and strengthening the legal framework for the protection of quality journalism, ” said Sever, presenting the program to the EFJ Assembly.

The President of the HND, Hrvoje Zovko, congratulated his colleague Sever on this great achievement.

“The Croatian Journalists’ Association, which unanimously supported the candidacy of colleague Maja Sever, congratulates her on her election as the president of the EFJ. This is a great thing, not only for her personally, but also for the entire journalistic scene in Croatia. It is a great thing for neighboring countries, as well for everyone. I believe that her mandate in the EFJ will be successful and for the benefit of all journalists in Europe. Sincere congratulations and good luck, ” Zovko said.

*Tamara Filipovic (IJAS), Maja Sever and Zeljko Bodrozic (IJAS), Photo: IJAS*

Maja Sever started working for the Croatian Radio and Television in 1990 as a journalist and war reporter in the Homeland War. She has participated in major public television projects, was the host and editor of the show Croatia Live and a member of the Program Council of the Croatian Radio and Television from 2015 to 2019. Since 2019, she has been the president of the Croatian Journalists’ Union. She has been an active member of the HND since 1995, where she has been the vice president since the beginning of 2019. In the same year, she was elected Vice-President of the Expert Group on Labor Rights (LAREG) of the European Federation of Journalists. She is the winner of the HND Journalist of the Year 2018 award. In addition to journalism, she has been involved in humanitarian work for years, which is why she received the Pride of Croatia award. She also received the Fierce woman award for her contribution to gender and social equality in Croatia.

The EFJ Assembly also elected a new vice president, Mustafa Kulelia of the Turkish Journalists’ Union.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is the largest journalistic organization in Europe, representing over 320,000 journalists in 72 journalist organizations from 45 countries. The European Federation of Journalists was established in 1994 as part of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to represent the interests of journalists’ associations, trade unions and members of their associations in Europe. According to the statutory provisions, the EFJ is a non-profit association and fights for the social and professional rights of journalists working in various media sectors throughout Europe through united and strong unions and journalists’ associations. The EFJ promotes and defends the rights to freedom of expression and information guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The importance and significance of the EFJ has been recognized by both the European Union and the Council of Europe, which recognize the EFJ as a partner and representative voice of journalists in Europe, and only those with a good and unblemished reputation can become members.

IJAS: Bomb threats to the media – Authorities to step up international co-operation and speed up finding perpetrators

IJAS

13/06/2022

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After the Adria Media Group, last weekend Becej Mosaic, Radio Television of Vojvodina, which had to evacuate two buildings, and the Association of Journalists of Serbia, whose building also houses the premises of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, were targeted by false reports about the bombs.

In the last few months, institutions in Serbia have been the victims of mass reports of planted bombs, which fortunately have so far turned out to be false. These “hackers” have now targeted the media and professional journalists’ associations.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the threats come mainly from abroad, mostly from Poland, Gambia, Iran, Nigeria, Ukraine, Slovenia and Russia. In the past three months, several citizens of Serbia and one citizen of the Gambia have been identified and arrested.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia condemns these bomb threats and any other form of harassment of citizens and calls on the competent institutions in Serbia to react faster and severely punish the perpetrators. We also call on the police and the prosecutor’s office to make additional efforts, strengthen international cooperation and do everything possible to stop further harassment of Serbian citizens.

Recommendations for supporting journalists’ well-being

IJAS

13/06/2022

mental-health-mentalno-zdravlje-pq434243j1zyko9dd8oxc8uz9a8h3c4bt22qxcjrs4 — souce: pixabay

A working group on journalists’ well-being met in the Spring of 2022 featuring a dozen key stakeholders – including representatives of the BBC, British National Union of Journalists, Centre for Media Monitoring, European Federation of Journalists, Headlines Network, Reach, Rory Peck Trust, Society of Freelance Journalists and UNESCO, as well as researchers from Middlesex University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Amsterdam, and University of Lincoln – to exchange knowledge and discuss the ways in which journalists’ well-being could be supported to benefit their mental health and job satisfaction, as well as the quality of journalism. The working group was organised as part of the project ‘Journalists’ emotional labour in the social media era,’ funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by Middlesex University. Through discussion, the working group has agreed a set of recommendations for supporting journalists’ well-being.

The key recommendations are as follows:

1. Acknowledge the well-being issue and contribute to the culture
change.

Journalists have long been taught to be detached and impersonal observers with ‘thick skin’ and adrenalin-fuelled endurance. The industry should
recognise that this comes at a cost and acknowledge that journalists experience physical and emotional reactions to work and its conditions – often
stress, anxiety and burnout. These have been found to negatively impact their well-being, mental and physical health, job satisfaction and performance.
Evidence from across the world suggests that journalists often must deal with ill-effects of work on their own, as seeking and receiving support is yet to be normalised within the industry.

Acknowledge that journalists face a range of occupational hazards in their line of work which often have a negative impact on their wellbeing. This does not involve only dealing with potentially traumatic events – many aspects of everyday work can be potential liabilities too, from constant pressure to meet deadlines and be always on, working long and irregular hours, facing precarious working conditions and
(online) abuse, and so on.
Acknowledge that journalists should not be left to deal with these challenges and their outcomes on their own. A holistic system should be put in place based on organisational, social, and professional support.
Support the change in culture by joining collective efforts and pursuing evidence-based approaches which are needed to normalise these discussions, as well as develop and implement appropriate support systems.

2. Educate and train in emotional & mental health literacy.

Work-related stress can be mitigated with personal resources such as emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-efficacy, which can improve journalists’ emotional literacy and enable them to manage challenges faced in the job in healthy and sustainable ways. Mental health literacy can enable
those working in the industry to recognise, manage and support themselves and others when faced with issues that can lead to impaired mental health and well-being.

Journalism educators, news organisations, professional associations and unions should offer training in development of personal resources to
deal with occupational hazards in the job to enable journalists to manage these with positive outcomes. This training can focus on emotional intelligence, resilience, mindfulness, active listening, mental health literacy, and so on.
Managers/supervisors in news organisations would benefit from training in emotional and mental health literacy which would enable them to
recognise, understand and adequately support their staff when experiencing ill-effects of work.
Good examples include Self-investigation’s free courses in digital wellbeing for journalists and their managers; Headlines Network’s resources
in how to manage your own mental health and support others; and Rory Peck Trust’s resilience programme for freelancers.

3. Create and deliver fair and transparent support systems within newsorganisations.

Journalists recognise that newsrooms and news organisations have changed in the past few decades towards being more attuned to well-being needs of their staff. However, issues remain. For example, Human Resources’ efforts to offer well-being support are often branded as inappropriate or not useful; supervisors are seen to offer support to ‘friends’ and ‘favourites’; and access to free counselling and therapy is inconsistent among media companies.

News organisations should adopt the principle of equity wellness, meaning that everyone has a fair and efficient access to transparent and easy to use systems supporting their health and well-being.
Newsroom leaders should lead by example and promote the organisational support systems in order for these to be widely known and its use institutionalised and normalised.
Proactive check-in systems should be instituted to enable prevention and/or early detection and support with issues that might affect journalists’ well-being and mental health.
Newsrooms should have dedicated well-being staff – trained in coaching and counselling and fully aware of the pressures that journalists face so
they can offer tailored support. It is suggested this should not be a line manager.
Support mechanisms should apply and be accessible to all journalists that produce work for the news organisation – from permanent to temporary staff; from full-time employees to freelancers.
Journalism can learn from related industries in how to set up these systems. Good examples from Film and TV industry are Mentally healthy
productions which offer advice in how to protect staff’s well-being in all stages of the production process, as well as Film & TV Charity’s Freelancer support resources.

4. Ensure well-being practices and systems are accessible and sustainable.

In order to internalise and normalise care for their and others’ well-being,
journalists should have easily accessible information about available resources,
as well as regular opportunities to practice this care.

Create and make accessible toolkits for journalists in different positions and in diverse forms of employment which would provide information
about their rights, employers’ obligations, expectations regarding duty of care, support contacts, networks and practices, online and physical safety recommendations, and so on.
Newsrooms should have regular briefings and debriefings, in forms of individual and collective critical reflective practice. These can help
prepare journalists for challenging aspects of work, assist them in recognising and understanding their own triggers of stress, anxiety, and burnout, offer support in their efficient management, and contribute to a collegiate and supportive culture of sharing and caring in journalism.
Intra- and inter-organisational peer support networks should be instigated, encouraged, supported, and promoted by all stakeholders in
order for social support systems, particularly peer-to-peer, to become a resource in managing journalists’ well-being.
Good practice has been observed in a young digital newsroom in Germany in which the editor has instituted a regular weekly collective
debriefing in which journalists talk through the issues they’ve faced in their work and receive emotional release and support from peers. Also,
an informal British peer support network NewsBreak holds informal online chats where journalists can engage in a critical reflective practice.

5. Build and join coalitions to support evidence-informed solutions.

Lots of work remains in raising the issue of journalists’ well-being and mental health on the agenda and creating and implementing appropriate support systems. Many stakeholders are working on this, and with a joint effort they can succeed in delivering an evidence-informed, appropriate, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions to the issue. We need researchers to identify and contextualise the scope and range of issues to be dealt with; mental health professionals working with newsrooms and professional organisations to create support systems tailored to journalists’ needs; news organisations and industry leaders acknowledging the issue and promoting appropriate solutions; trained educators to offer useful and practical training in development of personal resources; key stakeholders to secure these efforts are appropriately funded, and so on.

Build coalitions among stakeholders which will through knowledge and expertise exchange contribute to cost-effective and evidence-informed
outcomes.
Consider open sourcing research and training materials, as well as pooling resources, so the knowledge can be widely applied and contribute to development of cost-effective support systems.
Explore relationship among unions, businesses and political institutions and bodies in securing funding for development and implementation of
well-being support resources, particularly as these relate to freelancers and those whose employers do not yet offer adequate well-being
support.
There are many examples of robust research evidencing the scope and range of challenges impacting journalists’ well-being, including
UNESCO’s The Chilling, which provides an international view on the effects of online abuse on women journalists, and recently published Taking Care report which documents the mental health and well-being issues among media workers. European Federation of Journalists and
UNESCO are examples of organisations active in building coalitions between researchers, professional organisations, and institutions, to
create and implement resources benefiting journalists’ health and wellbeing.

For any questions, comments and suggestions, contact the project lead Dr Maja Simunjak ([email protected]).

Source: EFJ

Martinovic’s case is in court again

TUMM

13/06/2022

PODGORICA, 13.06.2022 – The Council of the Supreme Court made a decision in a case formed after the request of Jovo Martinovic for protection of legality against the verdict by which that investigative journalist was sentenced to one year in prison, was accepted.

The public relations service of the Supreme Court confirm that to Vijesti, explaining that the case will be returned to the lower court at the beginning of next week.

“In the case of Jova Martinovic, the session of the panel ended on May 25. The decision has been made and is currently being processed. At the beginning of next week, it will be returned to the lower court and made public “, said the PR service of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, on May 4, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by Martinovic and his defense attorney, Mitar Mugosa, against the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office’s decision rejecting their motion to protect the legality of a verdict convicting an investigative journalist of drug trafficking.

The judges of the Supreme Court stated in the decision that his appeal is now considered as if a request for protection of legality had been submitted, ordering the session to be scheduled, the verdict to be revoked and the case to be returned to the first instance court for decision.

”After considering the challenged decisions, allegations of appeals and all files of this case, the panel of the Supreme Court of Montenegro from Art. 438 st. 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure determined that the proposals of the defendant and his defense counsel should be considered as if a request for protection of legality had been submitted, ”states the explanation of the decision.

The judges of that court assessed that the reasons presented in the appeals of Martinovic and his defense counsel were justified.

On October 8, 2020, in a repeated procedure, Martinovic was convicted in the Podgorica High Court for drug trafficking, and acquitted of the original charges of creating a criminal organization.

With that decision, his sentence was reduced from 18 to 12 months. In March 2021, the Court of Appeals rejected his appeal and upheld the verdict.

The judges found, among other things, that Martinovic used his acquaintances from the journalistic profession to connect drug smugglers.

Martinovic then said that the verdict finding him guilty was in fact support for drug trafficking and organized crime, explaining that the man who was caught with 20 kilograms of drugs was forgiven in exchange for false testimony against him.

He also claimed that such a decision proved that the Montenegrin judiciary had been captured:

“The judiciary is governed by structures that are outside it. In such a judiciary, it is impossible to expect justice. It is enough that I was tried for five years by a woman who did not have the right to do so, because she decided on detention, “Martinovic said earlier.

Martinovic spent 14 and a half months in the Remand Prison and has already served his confirmed sentence.

The original verdict of the High Court, from January 2019, states that the journalist, an alleged member of the international group of jewelers “Pink Panther”, Dusko Martinovic, met people from whom marijuana can be obtained.

However, Dusko Martinovic said at the beginning of the trial that the drugs belonged only to him and that he had nothing to do with the other accused.

Following appeals by defense attorneys, the Court of Appeals quashed the conviction and remanded the case for retrial.

Jovo Martinovic repeated even then that his communication with the other accused was only for the sake of journalistic work and filming.

Martinovic and his defense counsel filed an appeal with the Supreme Court due to a significant violation of the provisions of the criminal procedure.

They proposed to the Supreme Court to accept the appeal in accordance with Art. 438 st. 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, act as if a request for protection of legality has been submitted.

“And then to schedule a session of the panel, and to revoke the mentioned verdicts and return the case to the first instance court for retrial and decision-making,” the decision reads.

According to Article 438 of the CPC, a defendant sentenced to unconditional imprisonment of one year or more or a sentence of juvenile imprisonment and his defense counsel may, within 30 days from the day when the defendant received the final judgment, request a written and reasoned motion to the Supreme of the State Prosecutor’s Office to file a request for protection of legality against a final judgment.

Suspend the competition for national frequencies, implement a new one after the necessary changes of the law

IJAS

08/06/2022

The Intersectoral Group on Freedom of Expression and Media of the National Convention on the European Union calls for the postponement of the public tender for the allocation of national television and radio frequencies, announced by the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (REM) on 15 April, until amendments to the Law on Electronic Media are adopted and new REM composition is selected.

We emphasize the fact that the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Development of the Public Information System in the Republic of Serbia 2020-2022 envisages that the Law on Electronic Media be amended by the end of June this year regarding the election of REM Council members, and then, after a new competition, the future convocation to be elected. We believe that it is necessary for the competition for the allocation of frequencies to be announced by that new convocation, based on the previously conducted analysis of the media market, which is also the obligation of the Regulator under the Law on Electronic Media. This is a necessary precondition to ensure that national frequencies are allocated in a fair and transparent manner.

Namely, Article 92 of the Law on Electronic Media prescribes that before announcing a public competition , the Regulator obtains data: 1) on the availability of radio frequencies for terrestrial analogue transmission from the Regulatory authority in charge of electronic communications – in relation to radio frequencies where there is no multiplex; and 2) on the availability of places in the multiplex for the needs of terrestrial digital transmission from the multiplex operator – in connection with TV stations where data can be obtained from PE ETV. Furthermore, Article 23 prescribes what the Development Strategy Proposal for radio and audiovisual media services should contain, and mentions not only technical conditions and availability, but also market analysis.

Concerns about the way the procedure is currently being conducted were also expressed by Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (IJAS), which also pointed out the politicization of the current composition of the Regulator. This is supported by the lack of reaction of REM to the disturbing scenes of violence in reality programs broadcast on Happy and Pink televisions, which will certainly compete for the renewal of the national frequency, which the expert public also recently pointed out. This once again shows that REM does not act within its powers and does not sanction the most serious violations of regulations by private televisions close to the authorities, which the NCEU Intersectoral Working Group has been pointing out in its reports for years.

In accordance with above, we urge the competition to be suspended before its expiration on June 20, in order to allocate frequencies in an objectively procedure, which would ensure that the work of existing electronic media is objectively reviewed, and new licenses awarded to media that prove that will do their job professionally and conscientiously, in accordance with the interest of the entire public.

Media Pluralism Fund: 220,000 euros for electronic media

TUMM

08/06/2022

video-g8845a1b3b_1920 — Photo: Pixabay.com

PODGORICA, June 8, 2022 – The Council of the Electronic Media Agency of Montenegro (AEM) has decided to support 11 radio and TV broadcasters with a total of about 220,000 euros, which completes the distribution of money from the Fund for Encouraging Pluralism and Media Diversity for last year.

AEM did not allocate the full amount available to it, as around 490,000 euros was provided for broadcasters and self-regulatory bodies. The proposal of the self-regulatory body was not accepted in this invitation, so self-regulation remained denied to the state’s help.

The realization of a total of 31 program contents was accepted by the invitation. Among radio broadcasters, the following were assisted: Radio Elita, Radio Petnjica, Radio Titograd, Radio Adriatic, Radio Zeta, Radio Homer, Radio Elmag, and Radio DRS, while TV broadcasters MNE sport 3, TV Nova M and Television Vijesti also received support.

During the ranking, there were a total of 100 points in circulation and the highest number of points won in the competition was 77.

AEM also published a ranking list with points, which shows that broadcasters received the most points on the criterion of their own production, while only eight content received points for contributing to improving the content for vulnerable groups, especially the persons with hearing and visual problems. Also, when scoring interactivity and encouraging the culture of social and political dialogue, only nine contents received points.

The decision of the Agency states that 27 applications for broadcasters and one for self-regulation have been received. A number of broadcasters were disqualified due to tax debts, certain content could not be supported due to non-compliance with legal requirements, and some proposed programs did not have a sufficient number of support points – 35.

Unspent money in the amount of about 270,000 euros is transferred for the next call.

Late last year, the Commission of the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, which decides on the allocation of budgets for print media and online publications, supported 32 projects of print media and online publications, including 12 projects of NGOs that have their own online publications. The total allocation was about 310,000 euros.

During the first distribution of money from the Fund for last year, the media received about 530,000 euros.

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