(2021) PRESS COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE PRESS COUNCIL IN 2021
The work of the Complaints Commission
From January to December 2021, the Press Council received 110 complaints, which is less than the
previous year, when 163 complaints arrived, but is above the average annual number of complaints.
Only five complaints were resolved through mediation, while 13 complaints were rejected for not
meeting formal conditions (most often the complainant was not personally involved), and the
Commission decided in inly 12 cases that the Code was not violated.
Members of the Press Council Complaints Commission most often decided that the media violated
the articles from the first chapter of the Journalists; Code, which refers to the truthfulness of
reporting – 40 such cases, then Responsibility of Journalists – 35 and from the section Respect for
Privacy – 32 times. In almost all cases, one text violated several points of the Code.
Half of the total number of complaints were filed by individuals, 21 complaints were filed by
NGOs, 25 by media representatives, five by members of the Complaints Commission and four by
state authorities.
Complaints filed from January to December 2021:
1.Mešihat islamske zajednice u Srbiji – Snews – Code not violated
2.Pavle Jelisijević – Glas zapadne Srbije – Public warning
3.Opština Žitorađa – Kurir.rs – complaint rejected – no media content peraining to complaint
forwarded
4.Nilola Milosavić Aleksić – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
5.Nikola Milosavić Aleksić – Informer – Public warning
6.Nataša Mijušković – Informer – Code not violated
7.Nikola Radisavljević – Infrovranjske – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
8.Medin Halilović – SANA – Code not violated
9.Medin Halilović – SANA (II) – Public warning
10.Eparhija bačka – Autonimija.info – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
11.Medin Halilović – SANA (III) – Code not violated
12. Roma World – Alo – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
13.Roma World – Srbija danas – resolved by mediation
14.Bojan Cvejić – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
15.Bojan Cvejić – Kurir – Code violated – decision published
16.Bojan Cvejić – Alo – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
17.Bojan Cvejić – Informer – Public warning
18.Milica Ivanović – JUGPress – Commission did not reach decision
19.Nikola Radosavljević – Kurir – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
20.Bojan Cvejić – Kurir – Code violated, decision published
21.Bojan Cvejić – Pink.rs – Public warning
22.Bojan Cvejić – Republika.rs – Public warning
23.Bojan Cvejić – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
24.Bojan Cvejić – Informer- Public warning
25.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Kurir – Code violated, decision published
26.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Informer – Public warning
27.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Večernje novosti – Code violated, decision published
28.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Alo – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
29.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Srpski telegraf/Republika.rs – Public warning
30.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Telegraf.rs – Code violated, decision published
31.Gvozden Nikolić – Ozonpress – Code violated, decision published
32.Gej lezbejski info centar – Srpski telegraf – Public warning
33.Igor Velimirović – Informer – Public warning
34.Društvo za zaštitu životinja „Stič“ – TPKNews – Public warning
35.Saša Živković – Novi put – Public warning
36.Milica Stanković – Telegraf.rs – Code not violated
37.Milica Stanković – Republika.rs – Public warning
38.Milica Stanković – Informer.rs – Public warning
39.Dubravka Đorđević – Vreme – complaint rejected – pertains to article published before Press
Councel started work
40.Milica Stanković – Srpki telegraf – Public warning
41.Milica Stanković – Pink.rs – Public warning
42.Milica Stanković – Kurir.rs – Code violated, decision published
43.Milica Stanković – Espreso.rs – Code violated, decision published
44.Milica Stanković – Novosti.rs – Code not violated
45.Milica Stanković – Alo.rs – Code not violated
46.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
47.Milica Stanković – Infomer – Code not violated
48.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (II) – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
49.Nenad Prokić – Kurir – Code violated, decision published
50.Milica Stankmović – Kurir – Code violated, decision published
51.Milica Stanković – Objektiv.rs – Public warning
52.Nebojša Bakarec – N1 info – Code not violated
53.Nebojša Bakarec – Nova.rs – Public warning
54.Nebojša Bakarec – Direktno.rs – Code violated, decision published
55.Nebojša Vučinić – Kurir.rs – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
56.Ivan Radovanović – Danas – Commission did not reach decision
57. List Zrenjanin – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
58.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (III)- Code violated, paper did not publish decision
59.Slavica Knežević – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
60.Vladimir Knežević – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
61.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (IV) – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
62.Srojan Videski – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
63.Marijana Knežević – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
64.Jelena Perović – Pančevac – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
65.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (V) – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
66.Aron Vujić – Ivana Soltić – complaint rejected – not pertaining to mdia content
67.Medin Halilović – Sanapress – Public warning
68.Sanja Đorđević – Novosti.rs – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
69.Komora socijalne zaštite – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
70.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (VI) – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
71.Danas – Informer – Public warning
72.Medijska mreža Info 24 – Cenzolovka – complaint rejected – additional information not
provided per request of Secretary General
73.Jovan Ćirić – Pančevac (VII) – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
74.Centar za socijlani rad Beograd – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
75.Anonimna žalba – Novosti.rs – complaint rejected – complaintant not named
76.Marko Lens – Glas javnosti – complainant withdrew complaint
77.Igor Velimirović – Objekiv.rs – Public warning
78.Igor Velimirović – Republika.rs – Public warning
79.Igor Velimirović – Srpski telegraf – Public warning
80.Igor Velimirović – Srpski telegraf (II) – Public warning
81.Igor Velimirović – Republika.rs (II) – Public warning
82.Igor Velimirović – Informer.rs – Public warning
83.Igor Velimirović – Objektiv- Public warning
84.Igor Velimirović – Objetiv (II) – Public warning
85.Infovranjske.rs – Tanjug – complainant withdrew complaint
86.Infovranjske.rs – Nova ekonomija – complainant withdrew complaint
87.Infovranjske.rs – SEEBIZ – complaint rejected – media not under jurisdiction of Press Council
88.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Kurir – Code violated, decision published
89.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Informer – Public warning
90.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Alo – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
91.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Srpski telegraf – Code not violated
92.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Republika.rs – Public warning
93.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Telegraf.rs – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
94.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Novosti.rs – Code not violated
95.Prijatelji dece Srbije – Srbija danas – resolved by mediation
96.Slavica, Vladimir and Marijana Knežević and Jelena Perović – Pančevac – Code violated, paper
did not publish decision
97.Centar za socijalni rad Malo Crniće – TPKNews – Public warning
98.Pero Nedinić – TPKNews – Public warning
99.Zlatko Čobović – Alo.rs – Code violated, portal did not publish decision
100.Vojin Rakić – Informer.rs – Public warning
101.Dragoljub Patrović – Informer – Public warning
102.Aleksandar Arseno vić – Media portal – Public warning
103.Krovna organozacija mladih Srbije – Blic – Code violated, paper did not publish decision
104.Branko Žujović – Subotica.com – complaint rejected – complaintant not personaly involved
105.Džejhun Bulić – Indeksonline – Commission did not reach decision
106.Slađana Filipović – TPKNews – Public warning
107.Ljubica Zdravković Džonov – Infovranjske.rs – Code violated, decision not published per
Complaints Comission decision
108.Zoran Jevtić – Danas – Code violated, decision published
109. Gvozden Nikolić – Ozonpress – Code not violated
110.Saša Živković – TV Happy – complaint rejected – media not under jurisdiction of Press
Council
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic sessions of the Commission were held mostly online. During the
year, the Commission held one public session outside the seat of the Council – in July at the
Cultural Center in Zrenjanin. In order to achieve greater publicity of the work of the Commission,
integral recordings of all sessions were published on the Internet. The most interesting cases
considered by the Commission were presented at online forums in February and December.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Monitoring of daily newspapers
The Press Council, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union, monitored the
observance of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics of Serbia in ten daily newspapers with national
coverage in the period from the beginning of July to the end of December. The results were
presented at the online forum in early February 2022. According to these results, the Code was
violated in 5,715 articles in 2021, which is significantly more than the previous year (3,724 texts),
even if we do not take into account the results related to two new daily newspapers – Objektiv and
Nova, which were monitored for the first time in 2021.
As in previous years, the most frequently violated points are Chapter IV (2727 times): point 3,
which refers to the violation of the right to the presumption of innocence, point 6, which prescribes
the obligation to respect culture and ethics of public speech, and point 7, (unmarked) advertising,
then points of Chapter VII, which guarantees respect for privacy (2129 times). Compared to
previous monitoring, there has been a significant increase in the number of violations in Chapter I
(as many as 2101 violations), most often when reporting on political topics, where false information
is often presented, speculations and assumptions are presented as facts and more sources of
information are not consulted. As in previous years, the Code was most often violated by the Alo
newspaper, followed by the Serbian Telegraph and the Informer. The fewest violations, as before,
were recorded in the newspapers Danas and Politika.
Update of the Guidelines for implementation of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics for the online
environment
The use of embedded content and artificial intelligence, the collection and processing of user data,
use of are part of the instructions that are offered in the supplement to the Guidelines.
The guidelines also specify what is meant by hidden advertising (economic or political) and what
the media should do when they are asked to ;delete the archive; due to the right to forget. Almost
daily changes in the online sphere have made it necessary to create additional explanations for some
new ethical dilemmas that editorial offices might face five years after the adoption of the first
Guidelines. A month-long public discussion of proposed changes was held before the public
presentation in late December. The update of the Guidelines is also foreseen by the Action Plan for
the implementation of the Media Strategy, so this project was realized with the financial support of
the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia. A video of the round table where the new
guidelines were presented was posted on the Councils website and on the social network.
Research Are the media ready for internal codes of ethics
Research was conducted on whether the media in Serbia have internal codes of ethics, how
important they are to them and whether they are ready to adopt and implement them. Research was
conducted with the financial support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. This is another activity
envisaged by the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Media Strategy.
A questionnaire was created for the needs of the survey, and the survey was conducted on an
available sample of 85 owners, directors and editors-in-chief of media including television, daily
newspapers, periodicals, radio and online media. A total of 28 media outlets responded, mostly
portals (75%). The finding stating that 95.8% of the surveyed media say that they are guided in their
work by the Code of Journalists of Serbia is encouraging, as well as the fact that all respondents
believe that respecting the Code is important. It is also important that more than half of the
respondents believe that the media in which they work has the capacity to draft an internal code of
ethics, but a large part of the media (87.5%) would accept support and assistance (training,
experts…) to draft that act. It is worrying that over 83% of the surveyed media do not have a
training program for ethical conduct of journalists and editors, but 80% of them would accept help
in creating such a program. The results and conclusions of the research were presented at an online
forum at the end of January 2022, and will be used for future projects, as media that want to work
with the Press Council to adopt internal rules have been identified.
Fake News Exhibition
The exhibition intended for young people was prepared in 2020, and during 2021 it toured four
schools in Nis and Loznica, where 2,950 students saw it. The teachers were satisfied that they have
an unusual teaching tool that they immediately used in working with children, the journalists talked
to the young people, and the children showed interest in the exhibition.
The exhibition was organized at the elementary school Branko Miljković;, high schools ;Stevan
Sremac; and ;Bora Stanković; in Niš and high school ;Vuk Karadžić; in Loznica. In order to improve the interaction with citizens, teachers and students, an Instagram profile called Fake News
Exhibition was created. Južne vesti, Danas and Lozničke novosti reported on the exhibition. The
activity was financially supported by UNESCO and EC.
Educational videos
The Press Council continues to use video content to educate and raise awareness of media ethics
and the importance of responsible media. During 2021, five educational videos were recorded on
the following topics: Self-Regulation and the Press Council, Budget Money and the Press Council,
Legal Framework and the Press Council, Ethics in the Online Environment and the Code of
Journalists of Serbia. The duration of the videos is between five and ten minutes, and nine members
of the Managing Board and former and current members of the Complaints Commission
participated. The project was also financed by UNESCO and the EC, and was realized in
cooperation with the Fonet agency.
Other activities
In September, an in-house training was organized for the editors and journalists of Sremske novine.
The Secretary General held a training on media ethics for young journalists at the Fonet School of
Journalism and the UNS School of Journalism.
The Secretary General participated in the conference ;Ethics and Values in the Digital Age;,
organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information, as well as in the regional meeting of the
Southeast European press councils organized by UNESCO in Sarajevo, where the Regional
Declaration of the Southeast European press councils related to ethics in digital ecosystems was
adopted.
The representative of the Council participated in the Regional Conference on Media and
Information Literacy organized by UNESCO, and the representatives of the Council participated in
the meeting of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) held in Vienna. This
year, the conference was held online.
The Council was also visited by the new OSCE Ambassador Jan Braathu.
The Press Council organized an online webinar ;Media Ethics, Self-Regulation and State
Subsidies; for representatives of six press councils in the region.
During 2021, the Press Council responded to 81 inquiries from local governments for a total of
1,122 media outlets that participated in competitions for co-financing media content of public
interest. In several cases, the money was allocated to the media, for which the Complaints
Commission decided several times during the year that they had violated the Journalists; Code. The
number of inquiries is higher than in the previous year, when there were 75.