On the media competitions announced so far, 37 local self-governments have allocated significantly less money compared to last year

(Source: UNS) According to data from the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications (MIT), 37 local self-governments have allocated significantly less money in the media project co-financing competitions compared to last year.

Out of these, 20 municipalities and cities have allocated as much as 90% less money compared to last year’s competitions.

These include the cities of Pančevo, Vršac, and Sombor, as well as the municipalities of Ada, Apatin, Bajina Bašta, Bečej, Beočin, Čoka, Kosjerić, Mali Iđoš, Novi Kneževac, Odžaci, Srbobran, Požega, Sremski Karlovci, Žitište, Žabalj, Kula, and Pećinci.

Bačka Topola municipality allocated seven percent compared to last year, while Mali Zvornik allocated only nine percent of last year’s amount so far.

Up to now, Nova Crnja municipality allocated one-ninth, Kučevo and Ljubovija one-eighth, and Sečanj municipality one-seventh of last year’s amount in the media project co-financing competitions.

Novi Sad allocated one-sixth of last year’s amount in the competitions held so far. However, it’s worth noting that this city allocated funds for media projects last year through multiple competitions.

Among the local self-governments that allocated close to one-sixth of last year’s amount is Novi Bečej municipality.

This year, Osečina, Krupanj, and Bogatić municipalities allocated one-fourth of last year’s budget for media projects, while Loznica city and Obrenovac and Trstenik municipalities allocated one-third. Mladenovac, Nova Varoš, and Prijepolje municipalities allocated half as much as last year.

According to the Law on Public Information and Media, decisions of the Press Council and the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media will be one of the criteria for scoring media projects and distributing funds. Some local self-governments have found ways to circumvent the law by reducing funds for media project co-financing while increasing amounts for individual donations.

However, it’s important to note that some local self-governments adopted budgets for this year after the elections, while decisions on temporary financing were in place before that, under which the first competition was announced. This means that these cities may soon announce new competitions in accordance with the amount allocated for co-financing in the field of public information.

According to data from UNS and MIT, 32 out of a total of 167 local self-governments have not yet announced competitions.

As a reminder, according to the Law on Public Information and Media, the deadline for announcing competitions is March 1 of the current year.

The Law also provides for penalties for the responsible person in a public authority if they fail to announce a public competition for the realization of public interest in the field of public information, ranging from 50,000 to 150,000 dinars.

Author: A. Ničić