May 12, 2009

12. May 2009.

As part of the Ministry of Culture's »Serbia in Serbia« activity, the »Kolo« national folk troupe gave its first concert at the Bujanovac »Vuk Karadzic« community center last night. Both Serbian and Albanian folk troupes performed during the program. The concert was opened by Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic.

Earlier that day, Minister Bradic made a tour of the »Kale« archeological site, which is situated in the village of Krsevica. He also talked to Saip Kamberi, Mayor of Bujanovac and Deputy President of the Coordination Body for South Serbia.

We shall try to provide assistance with the project of different cultures in the South Serbian region. We shall, in particular, help the media in the Serbian and Albanian languages, Minister Bradic said.

Minister Bradic had talks with representatives of South Serbia's media at the Press Center of the Coordination Body for South Serbia. Mr. Bradic pointed out that the economic crisis posed a threat to both print and electronic media, to which the Ministry of Culture, along with associations of journalists, responded by establishing two working groups and by adopting a package of measures for assisting the media and journalists with overcoming the crisis.

Nadežda Gaće, President of the Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia, talked about the problems that the media and journalists were faced with. She, among other things, said that the said association had established the Fund for Providing Assistance to the Media and Journalists in Economic Crisis. Vukasin Obradovic, Editor – in – Chief and the owner of the »Novine vranjske« weekly, talked about a difficult position of the media in South Serbia. He said that unless something was done, media outlets in South Serbia would be extinguished, while a great many journalists working for the regional print and electronic media would lose their jobs. Minister Bradic said that the Ministry of Culture's working groups had already adopted packages of measures for providing assistance to journalists, which include giving help to the local media.