MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS: DISPUTABLE CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS IN PRESEVO AND BUJANOVAC

19. November 2015.

Belgrade, Presevo, Bujanovac – A coalition of journalists' and media associations consisting of NUNS (Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia), UNS (Association of Journalists of Serbia), NDNV (Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina), ANEM (Association of Independent Electronic Media) and "Local Press", warned the responsible of the local self-governments in Presevo and Bujanovac that it wouldn’t participate in the future work of their commissions responsible for the calls for applications for the co-financing of media contents, because those calls for applications weren’t in accordance with the Law on Public Information and the Media.

On that occasion, the coalition demanded an explanation from the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia, which would confirm the assessment that the said calls for applications weren’t in accordance with the Law.

In response to the coalition, the Ministry stated that "it is clear that under the Law on Public Information and the Media, a group of persons that may apply for project co-financing is precisely specified, while the said group of persons can’t be limited by means of a public call for participating in the call for applications”.

The coalition once again requires from all local self-governments, city municipalities and cities to fully comply with the provisions of the Law on Public Information and the Media during the announcement and implementation of calls for applications for the co-financing of media contents of public interest.

The coalition of journalists and media organizations requested from the Ministry of Culture and Information to construe the legality of the calls for applications of the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo which were issued regarding the co-financing of projects of public interest in the field of public information. The calls for applications of the two municipalities restrict the eligibility to apply of the media whose headquarters are located in the territory of the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo.

Particularly disputable is the Presevo call for applications, under which eligible to apply are only the media based in the territory of the municipality "that produces the program in minority languages that are officially used in the municipality of Presevo." This directly denies the right to apply to the media that produce programs in the Serbian language and that participate in public informing of the municipality’s citizens.

Source: Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia and Coordination Body