The overall aim of the project is to protect the public interest through the provision of independent and quality media production and more transparent public spending.
According to government-adopted Media Strategy and the new Draft Law on Public Information and Media, public funds should be allocated to the media outlets only through open-call procedures. Currently, the majority of funds for media are allocated directly, while a smaller portion are allocated based on open calls for projects and through tenders.
The project strategy is intended to develop a non-discriminatory, consistent and transparent system of financing media production in order to enable citizens to exercise their right to complete, timely and objective information.
Within the project, BIRN will analyse the existing practice of financing, develop proposals for future practice and organise a series of round table discussions in five cities.
The project research will start by December 2013 and will last until October 2014.
This research is part of BIRN’s ‘Enhancing media independence through development of sustainable and competitive financing model’ project, conducted under the auspices of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Belgrade.