(2019) PRESS COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT
THE PRESS COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2019
The work of the Complaints Commission
From January to December 2019, the Press Council received 81 complaints, which is significantly less than the previous year, when 117 complaints were received.
Most complaints were filed by citizens, individuals (61), then non-governmental organizations (11), state bodies and institutions and the media each filed four complaints, while one complaint was filed by a member of the Complaints Commission.
Mediation was successful in 14 cases, a higher percentage than any previous year. For formal reasons 11 complaints were dismissed, in three cases the complainant dropped the appeal. In 42 cases, the Complaints Commission ruled that the Code had been violated, of which in 33 cases it issued public warnings, because media question did not accept the competence of the Press Council. The most public warnings, nine, were issued to ePancevo, which has campaigned for months against journalist Nenad Zivkovic.
The decisions of the Commission were not published by: Alo (twice), Kurir and Blic zena one time.
Complaints filed from January to December 2019:
1.Gay Lesbian Info Center – Vecernje Novosti – Mediation successful – comments removed
2.Gvozen Nikolic – Ozonpress – Code violation – decision published
3. Salahudin Fetic – Danas – Code not violated
4. Nebojsa Jovanovic – Glas zapadne Srbije – Code violated – public warning
5.Group of citizens – Petrovac.info – Code violated – public warning
6. Usame Zukorlic – Sandzak Newspaper – Code not violated
7. Chamber of Public Enforcement Officers – Informer – Code violated – public warning
8. Samir Tandir – Sandzak newspaper – Code violated – public warning
9. Samir Tandir – Sandzak Newspaper (II) – Code violated – public warning
10. Ljiljana Djordjevic – Infovranjske – the Commission did not agree on the decision
11.Crta – Palež – Code violated – public warning
12.Godzen Nikolic – Ozonpress (II) – Code not violated
13.Salahudin Fetic – Sandzak newspaper – Code violated – public warning
14.Vesna Anđelković – Infovranjske – complaint dismissed – not arranged in accordance with the instructions
15.Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo – Code violation – public warning
16. Nenad Živković – ePancevo (II) – Code violated – public warning
17. Nenad Živković – ePancevo (III) – Code violated – public warning
18. Nenad Živković – ePancevo (IV) – Code violated – public warning
19.Vladimir Vrbaški – Serpski Telegraf, Republika – Code violated – public warning
20.Velibor Vukasinovic – Tabloid – Code violated – public warning
21.Caba Presburger – Blic.rs – Complaint dismissed – not personally harmed
22. Ivan Krsitć – Alo.rs – Code violated – decision published
23.Share Foundation – Blic.rs – Complaint resolved by mediation – video removed
24. Mario Malnar – Blic – Complaint dismissed – Requested removal of content based on right to be forgotten, which is not within the competence of the Council
25. Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia – Srpski telegraf – Code violated – public warning
26.Vladimir Vrbashki – Srpski telegraf – Code violated – public warning
27.Nevena Medić – Petrovačkiglasnik – Code violated – public warning
28.Share Foundation – Blic Zena portal – Code not violated
29.Share Foundation – Blic Zena portal (II) – Code violated – Decision not published
30.Share Foundation – Vecernje Novosti – Mediation Resolved Complaint – Text marked as “promo”
31.Share Foundation – Vecernje Novosti (II) – Mediation Resolved Complaint – Text removed
32.Share Foundation – Blic.rs – Code not violated
33.Share Foundation – B92.net – Code not violated
34. Jelena Ivancevic – Kurir – Complaint Rejected – Parental consent not secured
35. Jelena Ivancevic – Informer – Complaint Rejected – Parental consent not secured
36. Jelena Ivancevic – Telegraf.rs – Complaint Rejected – Parental consent not secured
37. Nevena Krivokapić – Alo.rs – Code not violated
38. Nevena Krivokapić – Beta – Mediation Resolved Complaint – Platform marked as “promo”
39. Nenad Zivotic, Slobodan Milosevic, Danijel Damjanovic, Momir Jovanovic, Nenad Horvat, Ivan Nikolic – Tpknews.com – Code violated – Public warning
40. The Protector of Citizens – Danas – The Code not violated
41. Vesna Lakicevic – Novi Palez – Code violated – public warning
42. Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo (V) – Code violated – public warning
43. Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo (VI) – Code violated – public warning
44. Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo (VII) – Code violated – public warning
45. Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo (VIII) – Code violated – public warning
46. Nenad Zivkovic – ePancevo (IX) – Code violated – public warning
47.Srdjan Nonic – Belami.rs – complaint resolved through mediation – response published
48.Srdjan Nonic – TV Zone plus.rs – complaint resolved through mediation – response published
49.Bozidar Vuksanovic – Telegraf.rs – complaint dismissed – the applicant is not personally damaged
50.Bozidar Vuksanovic – Tpknews.com – Code violated – public warning
51.Gorica Nikolin – Vecernje novosti – Code not violated
52.Lazar Chows – Alo.rs – Code violation – decision not published
53. Lazar Chows – Informer – The commission did not agree on the decision
54. Weekly – Tanjug – Code violation – public warning
55. NGO Egal – Kurir – complaint resolved through mediation – text amended
56. Tatjana Vešović – eVrsac – Code violated – public warning
57. Vladan Vlajković – Palež – Appeal dismissed – 90 days expired
58.Ninoslav Čujić – Kikindske – Code violated – decision published
59. Juzne vesti – Srpski telegraf – Code violated – public warning
60. Marko Vukobrat – Kikindske – Code violated in part of the complaint, in the second part of the complaint the Commission did not agree on the decision
61.Vuk Jeremić – Kurir – Code violated – decision not published
62.Zeljko Bodrozic – Nove kikindske novine – Code violation – Public warning
63. Đurđe Mecanin – Ozonpress – The complainant has dropped the appeal
64. Đurđe Mecanin – Ozonpress (II) – The complainant has dropped the appeal
65. Đurđe Mecanin – Ozonpress (III) – The complainant has dropped the appeal
66. Zlatko Cobovic – Informer – Code violation – public warning
67.Dusko Nedinic – Tpknews.com – Code violated – public warning
68. Juzne vesti – GP018 – Code violated – public warning
69.Ivan Radovanovic – Danas – Code violation – decision published
70.Marjan Banjanac – RTS – complaint dismissed – media is not within the competence of the Council
71.Aleksandra Pantovic – Blic.rs – Complaint resolved by mediation – disputed information removed from the text
72.Aleksandra Pantović – Telegraf.rs – appeal resolved through mediation – removed disputed information from the text
73.Aleksandra Pantović – Kurir – complaint resolved by mediation – disputed information removed from the text
74.Aleksandra Pantović .- Alo.rs – complaint resolved through mediation – disputed information removed from the text
75.RTS – Danas – Code not violated
76.Miodrag Milanovic – Politikin zabavnik – Complaint dismissed – Does not apply to media content
77.Tijana Mandic – Alo.rs – Code violated – decision not published
78.YUCOM – Sombor portal – complaint resolved through mediation – text with comments removed
79. Adam Santovac – Pressonline.rs – Code violated – public warning
80. Adam Santovac – Pressonline.rs – Code violated – public warning
81. Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia – Blic – Code violated (decision made in January 2020).
During the year, the Commission held three public meetings outside the Council headquarters – at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade in February, in Sremska Mitrovica in March and at the UNS Press Center in November 2019.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Monitoring of daily newspapers
The Press Council, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union and the Deutsche Welle Academy, monitored the observance of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in eight daily newspapers with national coverage between the beginning of July and the end of December. The first results were presented at the Deutsche Welle Academy Conference in mid-November and the final at the February 2020 press conference. According to these results, the Code was violated in a total of 5057 texts, which is about 17 percent more than in 2018. Most violations were recorded in the newspapers Alo (1266), Kurir (1106) and Srpski Telegraf (864). The most commonly violated was Chapter IV of the Code (Responsibility of Journalists), for which 3095 offenses were recorded, most of which violated the right to presumption of innocence, followed by Chapter I (Truthful reporting). Special attention was paid to texts about children and a total of 601 such violations of the Code were recorded, most notably in the Kurir (151) and the Alo newspaper (141).
Monitoring local print media
With the support of the OSCE mission and in cooperation with the Local Press, monitoring of the Code violations was conducted in six local print media from the beginning of August until the end of November – Grad (Krusevac), Pancevac (Pancevo), Nova nasa rec (Leskovac), Kragujevacke (Kragujevac), Loznicke novosti (Loznica) and Sremske novine (Sremska Mitrovica). These are mostly weekly newspapers, although some are published bi-weekly. During the monitoring, a total of 112 violations of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics were recorded, almost all of them in Kragujevacke and Pancevac. The most commonly reported violations were hidden advertising and non-disclosure of information sources. Petar Jeremic, who conducted the monitoring, presented the preliminary results at the Local Press Assembly at the end of October, while the final results were delivered to all observed media at the end of the year. The results suggest that the violations are more the result of a lack of understanding of the fine distinctions of the Code than of its general ignorance, and that most violations are made in the belief that it is permissible.
Seminars and trainings
During 2019 a total of 291 persons participated in the Press Council training sessions, which was organized in eight Serbian cities. Workshops for students and young people were successfully completed by 155, journalism schools by 56 and training for editors and journalists by 80 people.
Within the projects funded by Deutsche Welle Academy, five trainers held 12 workshops in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Bor, Loznica and Prolom. The workshop “How to Complain to the Press Council” was attended by 155 journalism students, high school students and young NGO activists.
Within the OSCE-supported project four trainings for local online media were organized. The seminars were held in Nis, Pancevo, Novi Sad and Gornji Milanovac for a total of 56 editors and journalists. The seminars presented the Guidelines for the implementation of the Code of Journalists of Serbia in an online environment, the results of a pilot project on monitoring eight online media, as well as two analyzes prepared within the same project, one of which concerns local online media and their membership in the Press Council, and the other complaints addressed by the Press Council and other press councils in the region in connection with news photography.
In 2019 the secretary general trained 80 journalists and students. In June and December, training was provided for 15 journalists attending the UNS School of Journalism, followed by 20 journalists attending seminars in the organization of the Center for Media Professionalism and Media Literacy, and in September for 19 journalists at a seminar organized by Media News & Consulting and the Media Association. In July, she gave a lecture on Journalism Ethics for 16 students of the Summer School of Journalism of the Media Association, and in May training for 10 young journalists from Kosovo on a study visit to Serbia.
New Complaints Commission convened
Based on the announced public competition, to which ten applications were received, in mid-July the members of the Managing Board elected Vida Petrović Škero, Snežana Andrejević and Dragan Đorđević to represent the public in the Complaints Commission. UNS and NUNS have re-elected former members of the Commission as their representatives: Ljiljana Smajlovic and Visnja Arandjelovic (UNS) and Tamara Skrozza and Vlado Mareš (NUNS). The Media Association delegated to the Commission: Jelka Jovanovic, Zlatko Cobovic and Bojan Cvejic, and Local Press Zorica Visnjic. The Commission held its first session with new members in September, after the expiry of the four-year term of the previous Commission.
Other
At the end of November, the Press Council observed the 10th anniversary of its establishment with a roundtable and reception. About 80 guests and officials attended the event, where speeches were given by representatives of the Press Council and ambassadors of the European Union to Serbia, the OSCE and the Kingdom of Norway.
During 2019, the Press Council responded to 99 inquiries from local self-governments and state bodies for a total of 1,704 media that participated in competitions for co-financing media content in public interest. In a number of cases, the money was given to media outlets for which the Complaints Commission had repeatedly ruled to be in violation of the Journalists’ Code in one year.
Instead of focusing on individual complaints of violations of the Code of Journalists and on the individual media outlets, which often provokes anger and resentment, the lessons learned from the most significant decisions of the Complaints Commission have been consolidated and a handbook “In Public Interest – A Handbook for Journalists, Editors and students of journalism on the most frequently violated provisions of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics of Serbia.” This project was co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
3,000 copies of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics and informative brochures for citizens were printed, and a new database of Council decisions www.zalbe.rs was created, which enables better use and search of all decisions of the Complaints Commission.
International activities
The Secretary General participated in the EU-Western Balkans Media Days regional conference held in Podgorica in September and in March at a regional media meeting in Skopje. In March, a working visit to the Media Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organized, while in February four Council representatives participated in the Third Regional Master Class for Self-Regulatory Bodies of Western Balkans and Turkey in Belgrade.