31.12.2018. – Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans has the honour of presenting outputs of Small Grants Programme, which took place during years 2017 and 2018 within the bigger project “Protecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans”. Small Grants Programme supported the project “Media Content and Media Financing as a Reflection of Public Interest in Local Communities”, implemented by Center for Democratic Development Europolis and Kanal 9.
The main outputs of the project were the research on the media funded with public money given through project tenders in local communities, a public campaign of raising awareness regarding the public interest within the local community and the influence of the government on the media by financing it through local tenders, gathering of topics of public interest regarding information, round tables dedicated to defining the public interest in information and the mechanism of influencing the media through targeted and biased use of public money, forming an informal OCD and media network and TV production.
The project contributed to the development of cooperation and partnership between local associations and the media, as well as strengthening their influence on local decision-making processes and policy-making. In addition, the project contributed to the improvement of the framework for transparent and impartial funding of the media from the budget funds, and thus to the strengthening of their independence and pluralism.
CDD “Europolis” is a civil society organization based in Novi Sad, the capital of the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Europolis was founded in 2014 with a mission to promote democracy-building, public administration reform and good governance in the framework of the process of European integration. Accordingly, Europolis’ project activities have thus far mostly dealt with fight against corruption and the promotion of transparency and accountability of the local and provincial governing institutions, especially with regards to public financing, as well as with building their capacities. A significant part of our activities also dealt with regional youth cooperation and dialog in post-conflict communities.
TV Kanal is the first private television station in Novi Sad. It started working in 1999. Its main activities in the past year have been regular reporting in our INFO program and evening shows, together with the Association for the Protection of Consumers’ Rights Prosperity, we managed to write off more than one billion RSD interest on utility bills to the citizens of Novi Sad.
Find the article about media financing in Novi Sad HERE.
Find the article about media financing in Sremski Karlovci HERE.
Find the article about media financing in Beočin HERE.
Find the article about media financing in Titel HERE.
Find the article about media financing in Temerin HERE.
About Small Grants Programme
During 2017. and 2018. 15 projects were funded through the Small Grants Programme in two LOTs (4 regional and 11 national projects) in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo* and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Small Grants Programme supported locally and regionally rooted civil society initiatives, engaging human rights activists, journalists and media, aiming to protect the freedom of expression and freedom of media.
The small grants programme was funded by IPA /EU with co-financing from the Croatian Government Office for NGOs and matching funds from grantees; it is part of a regional project Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety implemented through partnership of five regional journalists’ associations and one journalists’ union– Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (IJAS), Association of BH Journalists (BHJ), Croatian Journalists Association (CJA), Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM).
Croatian Journalists’ Association and its regional partner journalists’ associations thank all subgrantees and other participants for their interest and effort in engaging in the Small Grants Programme and for their cooperation throughout the whole application and project implementation process.
