Enhancing Media Independence through Development of Sustainable and Competitive Financing Model

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Serbia
December 2013 – October 2014

BIRN Serbia – past programme

Proposed project works towards development of non-discriminatory, consistent and transparent model for financing media production in order to enable citizens to exercise their right to complete, timely and objective information.

Summary

According to the Media Strategy and Law on Public Information and Media, public funds should be allocated to the media outlets only through the open call procedure which is opposite to the current practice based on which majority of funds for media are allocated directly (73%), while smaller portion is allocated based on the open calls for projects and through tenders (17%).

BIRN will conduct the research on the current practice of media financing through projects, resulting in development of recommendations for optimal model to be applied, as well as for the monitoring and evaluation of the future practice. Follow up advocacy meetings will enable broad public and stakeholders understanding of the proposed measures, and eventually their buy in for application of standards developed through this project.

Overall aim of the project is to contribute to the protection of public interest through provision of independent and quality media production and more transparent public spending.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
 
Overall goal of this project is to protect public interest through provision of independent and quality media production and more transparent public spending.
 
Specific Objectives:
 
Specific goal is to develop non-discriminatory, consistent and transparent system of financing media production through project financing.

This goals will be reached through analysis of current practice of project financing, developing set of recommendations for programme financing and advocating for its future implementation as planned by new Law on public information.

Main Activities:

 
  • Conduct research on current practice of media project financing through: 1) documentary research od administrative practices, rules, legal regulations and procedures, 2) content analysis of programs co-financed by republican Ministry of Culture and Public Information, Vojvodina Secretariat of Culture and Information and selected local self-governments and 3) questionnaires among media which were selected for financing
  • Production of the Analysis on project financing practice and recommendations for the future reference.
  • Organization of five round tables that will gather all stakeholders - media professionals, representatives of media outlets and public institutions, media law practitioners, international institutions and students of various faculties for journalism, media or communication. Round tables will be organized at Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac and Novi Pazar
  • Promotion and dissemination of the Analysis- electronic version of the Analysis will be disseminated among relevant public national and regional institutions as well as all LSGs, media outlets, CSOs and international institutions. Besides, the Analysis will be published in PDF format on BIRN and Media Coalition websites and printed in 100 samples to be disseminated to the participants of Round table.

Target Groups:

 
  • Public administration / Ministries,
  • Vojvodina Secretariat,
  • local self-governments;
  • media, journalists, media organizations;
  • broader public.

Highlights:

 
First Analytical Report dedicated to media project financing ever published in Serbia.