14. 01. 2015

ANEM MEMO TO PIROT MUNICIPALITY – HARMONIZE PUBLIC COMPETITION FOR PROJECT CO-FINANCING WITH MEDIA REGULATION

ANEM stated the following deficiencies of the announcement for the competition:

• The text of the announcement neglects the provisions of the Law and the Rulebook of the Ministry which explicitly stipulate that a publisher of multiple media may apply with one project per public medium. The announcement states that an entity may apply with one project only, which constitutes a limitation not stipulated by the Law;

• The conditions stipulated by the announcement for the competition leave room for discrimination of traditional media (radio and television stations and print media) in relation to informative Internet media portals, which is forbidden and contrary to the provisions of the Law on Public Information and Media. As for the traditional media, the announcement requires that they are based entirely or that an organizational unit of theirs is based on the territory of the Municipality Pirot, or that they submit evidence that co-financed media content will be realised through the media broadcast on the territory of the Municipality Pirot, while it is enough for the informative Internet media portals to be registered in the south-east Serbia.

• The announcement envisages additional criteria for the assessment of project proposals to those envisaged by the Law. Among the additional criteria, the disputable ones are the following: participation of the Municipality Pirot budgetary funds in the planned total budget of a competition participants in 2015, and the cooperation with the local self-government. It is not clear how the stated disputable criteria may be a warranty of adherence to professional and ethical media standards, as stipulated by the Law, and it is undisputable that the additional criteria may not go beyond the general framework provided by the Law.

Therefore, ANEM in its memo asked for adequate changes in the announcement for the competition:

• It should be precisely defined that publishers of multiple media may apply with one project per public medium, as it is stipulated by the Law and the Rulebook;

• The conditions for participation in the calls for project proposals should be made equal for traditional media and informative Internet media portals so as to ensure their equal starting positions;

• The detailed criteria for the assessment of applications submitted to the public call for project proposals should be harmonized with the general framework for the assessment of applications stipulated by the Law on Public Information and Media.

ANEM MEMO TO PIROT MUNICIPALITY (IN SERBIAN)