ANEM: Uneven fees for media project commission members range from 5,000 to 70,000 dinars

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has highlighted significant disparities in the fees paid to members of commissions tasked with evaluating media project proposals. These honoraria varied widely, ranging from 5,000 to 70,000 Serbian dinars, irrespective of the actual workload, such as the number of projects each member had to read and score.

ANEM reported that at least 9.6 million dinars have been spent on these fees to date. The highest fee, 70,000 dinars, was awarded to members of a commission under the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications for internet media projects. These members were responsible for evaluating the largest number of projects, 298.

Conversely, commission members evaluating 223 projects for national minority media content received 60,000 dinars. A fee of 50,000 dinars was common, but the workload associated with it varied dramatically. For instance, in Vojvodina, members reviewed 177 projects for this amount, while on a provincial competition for professional standards, they evaluated only 14 applications. Similar discrepancies were observed across various other competitions, where the same fee was paid for vastly different numbers of reviewed projects.

ANEM pointed out that the smallest honorarium was 5,000 dinars in Merošina, where members analyzed 12 proposals, and 7,000 dinars in Ražanj for six projects. The association emphasized the inconsistency by citing examples where evaluating the same number of projects, like 22, resulted in different fees (50,000 dinars in Vršac, 15,000 in Lebane, and 10,000 in Dimitrovgrad). This situation underscores a lack of standardized criteria for compensating commission members involved in the crucial process of media project financing.