Serbian media financing system criticized for favoring pro-government outlets

Serbia's project-based co-financing system for media is increasingly serving as a tool to distribute public funds to favored outlets, rather than promoting public interest, an analysis presented today reveals.

Kristina Kovač Nastić, a member of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), stated that this year marks the most drastic example of the system's "pointlessness" since its inception in 2015. She noted that, as in previous years, pro-government media received the largest share of funds in most local self-governments, while critical media outlets were left without support or received substantially less funding.

"The system has not only failed to achieve its intended purpose of serving the public interest but has moved entirely away from it," Kovač Nastić explained. She added that by August 24, 1.933 billion dinars had been allocated for media co-financing at all levels this year, approximately 200 million dinars less than last year.

The analysis highlighted that professional media organizations fared the worst this year. Notably, none of the projects submitted by UNS, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (AOM), the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Lokal pres, and the Association of Media received support. Funding was also withheld from the Journalists' Union of Serbia and the Press Council.

Instead, significant funds were allocated to outlets such as Zona plus Niš, Radio-televizija Vranje, Radio-televizija Pančevo, Novosadska televizija, Vranjska plus, Radio-televizija Novi Pazar, and Kruševac, among others. The analysis also pointed to systemic issues within the co-financing cycle, including delays in forming candidate registers and a dysfunctional Unified Information System (JIS) that hinders data comparison and transparency.

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The system has not only failed to achieve its intended purpose of serving the public interest but has moved entirely away from it.