NUNS: State finances propaganda in media at expense of public interest in Serbia

NEWS 02.01.202017:49
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The Independent Association of Serbia's Journalists (NUNS) said on Thursday that the country planned 155 grants for co-financing media in 2019 and allocated 1.6 billion Dinars (€1 = 118 RSD) mostly for public propaganda at the expense of public interest, investigative journalism and unbiased reporting, the FoNet news agency reported.

 Out of all 155 grants, Serbia’s Ministry of Culture and Information published nine and paid 274 million Dinars for the chosen projects.

Vojvodina’s Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Information published five and spent 64.2 million Dinars.

Local communities published calls for 141 grants, six of which were annulled and re-published for slightly above 1.3 billion Dinars.

The city of Belgrade topped the list with 81 million Dinars given to media headquartered in the capital.

NUNS said that the critical weaknesses in co-financing the media were the same as in 2018 at all levels of authorities: the lack of transparency in appointing commissions’ members, the absence of media experts and unclear criteria for the projects that would be financially supported.