Annual Report on the Projects of the Novi Sad School of Journalism

ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PROJECTS OF THE NOVI SAD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

IMAGES FOR SERBIAN MEDIA SPHERE PATCHWORK

In 2013 media sphere in Serbia was faced with these open questions:  The process of making changes to the media law is not transparent and takes too long.  Media ownership is not transparent; the state has not yet distanced itself from media ownership.  Advertising potential is extremely limited; the state is the biggest advertiser.  Media impoverished and public services on the verge of collapse.  There is no consensus on the importance of the role of public service broadcasters in the Serbian media system. The economic crisis in the region, as well as in Serbia has led to the fact that the only kind of media that can survive is the media funded from the state budget. Money set aside to assist the media in Serbia is not being spent on projects concerning public interest, but rather on those that correspond to the political interests of the ruling political and economic elite. Any attempt of professional and scientific community to examine how was public money, which was set aside for the media, actually used for financing advertising agencies known for their connections with people of high position in the government, was unsuccessful. At the same time the media themselves are insufficiently addressing issues of independence and economic survival of the media sector in Serbia, in general and other topics in the field of crisis and the need for deep reforms of the media sphere, particularly from the perspective of a sustainable funding. However, the most important thing for the media right now is economic survival.

Sources of revenue for the media Advertising In 2012 the revenue from advertising in the Serbian media was 172 million euros - the same amount as in 2011, when the decline of revenue was 1.7 percent. In comparison, this is about 50 million euros less than in Croatia. Revenue from online advertising in Europe for the year 2012 has increased over 11,5 percent despite the biggest economic crisis in advertising in 2009. Money spent on online advertising last year only was greater than investment in the print media, as shown by the Report on online advertising cost AdEx Benchmark 2012 published by IAB Europe. The total market value of online advertising in Serbia for the year 2012 was estimated at 14.32 million, representing an increase of 17.29 percent compared to the year 2011 when 12.2 million euros was invested in online advertising. AGB Nielsen estimates indicate that the largest share of the money from advertising, more than 56 percent, still goes to the television stations, which earned a total of 97 million euros from advertising - two million more than before. In the final "advertising pie" radio has reduced its stake, instead of 5.2 percent it got in the year 2011, last year it was less than five percent, except that advertising revenue overall remained the same - nine million. Almost 21 percent of the advertising money was spent on print advertisements. Outdoor advertising, billboards and other public places hold no more than 10, 5 percent. Advertising revenues recorded a constant growth since 2001, in which way the total cost of advertising in the media in 2008 amounted to 206 million euros. Serbian media has experienced the decline in advertising revenue during the 2009 by as much as 22 percent, which was significantly more than the decline on a global scale which was 7.2 percent. The global economic crisis led to a global decline in advertising revenues (25% in 2007-2011, OECD, 2010) Internet as a media has increased its share in media advertising since 2006 when the first AdEx Benchmark study was published. Today Internet makes 25.6 percent of total money spent on advertising in Europe, compared to 10.3 percent recorded in the 2006. Study for year 2012 shows that there was a growth of 78.3 percent on mobile display advertising.

The most vulnerable in the Serbian media sphere Print Out of the12 publishers of the daily newspapers positive performance over the last three years acheived only four - the company Ringier (Blic, Alo and 24 sata) and publishers of the Danas, Privredni pregled and Narodne novine from Niš. The two-thirds of the publishers had a financial loss at least once during this period, and one in four has operated with loss during the last three years. For most, the loss exceeds the amount of capital. When this is not the case, the accumulated losses are very high, especially among the publishers financed by the state (3.7 billion in the Politika, 614 million in the Novosti). Publisher of the daily newspeper Press in 2011 had a net loss of 285 million, five times greater than the loss in 2009 (52 million). Publishers of the Pravda and the Nacionalni građanski daily newspaper in Novi Sad achieved relatively small losses (16 to 14 million dinars), but they stopped publishing the newspaper. According to the agency for audit of newspaper circulation ABC Serbia in 2012 a total of 306 print media was selling advertisement space, 16 of which were daily newspapers, 52 weekly and 172 monthly publications. The average annual advertising revenues of print about 40 million each of them allow you to earn per month, only about 11 thousand euros, which is enough for printing costs three to seven days. Public service broadcasters Television U There are over 150 television stations in Serbia and only two public service broadcasters. Ownership is private, public and state-owned. Due to the populist government's announcements that the alleged financial problem public service broadcasters have would be solved in a way that they would be funded from the budget, the citizens of Serbia have stopped paying the license fee. That along with all the other problems led to the collapse primarily of Radio television of Vojvodina. The mechanism of payment through electricity bills made it possible for RTS and RTV to receive the money from license fees only if the citizens overpay the amount listed in their monthly electricity bill. Report on the debt which citizens get on their home address contains data on electricity consumption (which, by the way, is incomprehensible to the extent that no one has managed to predict how much energy they would spend, even if they read accurately their meter), the amount of debt for the current month, as well as the previous claims. Separate part of the account is the item concerning the TV license fee (500 dinars), which clearly shows the amount of the monthly allocations and how much of it is, perhaps, the debt from the previous period. However, the payment slip that is attached to the bill does not contain printed amount of the debt on both counts, but rather has an empty box in which the citizens themselves can add how much they are willing to pay. If they choose amount that is higher than their electricity bill, this amount will go towards the public service broadcaster's account. If, however, consumer decides to just reduce the dept, this will not be proportional, but rather the bill for the electricity will be lower, while the debt for the public broadcasters will increase. Practically, it all came down to Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPIS) not paying the monthly amount to the public service broadcasters, rather than just the part which was left over from the electricity bill. For only one month, EPIS owes 50 million dinars to the public service broadcaster, which corresponds to the monthly needs of the public service broadcaster of Vojvodina. On an annual basis this is about six million euros. The situation got even more dramatic in August of 2013 when the survival of RTV was brought into question. "Radio television of Vojvodina is in an even worse position because, unlike RTS, RTV is not getting any loans from the state budget. In that sense, apart from being broke, it is in an unenviable position, even though the law treats both public service broadcasters equally, because of their equal function." A year ago, license fee collection rate in Vojvodina was 57 percent, and in June of 2013 it fell down to 38,5 percent, as stated in the press release. "Because of this, the revenue for the period of the first six months of 2013 decreased for 145 million dinars compared to last year, RTV losses doubled, and the function of the public broadcaster not even with a rigorous savings plan brought by the General Board of RTV can be sufficed. Paychecks for around 1.400 employees are late for a long period of time now, and RTV is having trouble paying for their current obligations, not only toward the employees and external collaborators, but also toward public companies, electric power industry and other suppliers." (Press release of the General Board of the provincial public service broadcaster). At the meeting held in August 2013 the representatives of the Ministry of finance informed directors of RTS and RTV that their transfer to the budget funding would be impossible due to the state budget being empty. The state is currently helping RTS with 2,4 billion dinars loan, but RTV was no where to be found in the budget items. For proper functioning of RTS minimally 70 million euros is needed.

Causes Allocated as the structural causes of the crisis are: the lack of capital, unregulated, non- transparent and non-functional market (unknown ownership and financing of the media, lack of industrial data, the significant role of the state in the media market, unregulated market distribution), inadequate resources of newspaper companies in the market, inadequate media state policy and a monopolistic position of marketing agencies – Direct media and Universal media which hold more than 50 percent of the advertising market in Serbia. The reform of the media laws is late, not transparent enough and there is no consensus between the decision makes (political elite), the media as business, media owners and journalists.

Possible sustainability? This is a rhetoric question for which the answer is not expected, because it has been rescheduled for 2014. IN 2013, THE NOVI SAD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM IMPLEMENTED OR HAS STARTED THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS:

In 2013 the Novi Sad School of Journalism (NSSJ) won the ERSTE Foundation special jury award for Social Integration. The Award for Social Integration honors outstanding social projects that show high quality, innovation and sustainability. NSSJ won an award for a project entitled "A Day in your shoes."

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: DAY IN YOUR SHOES SUPPORT: Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia PARTICIPANTS: 3 students of journalism and members of the associations of students with disabilities from Novi Sad and Nis DURATION: 6 months (From July to December 2013) DESCRIPTION: In 2013 Novi Sad School of Journalism has, for the fourth time, implemented the "Day in your shoes” project. The main objective of this project was the development and further strengthening of the sensibility of the public regarding the problems of persons with disabilities, as well as improving the process of media production on this topic. The project has been implemented in two phases. During the first, preparatory phase, young journalists were educated and the cooperation with organizations that gathers people and students with disabilities was achieved. These organizations are Association of blind and visually impaired people from Nis, Association Per.Art from Novi Sad, Novi Sad Association of Students with Disabilities and the Association of Blind people Vojvodina. During the production phase journalism students wrote synopsis, and then with the help of director and editor from NSSJ created 3 TV reports. All media outputs were broadcasted on 10 local and regional TV stations and web portals: TV Bаčkа (Vrbаs), RTV VK Mediа (Kikindа), RTV Kаnаl M (Pаrаćin), RTV Kuršumlijа, TV Rubin (Kikindа), RTV YU ECO (Suboticа), TV Bаnаt (Vršаc), Bаnker televizijа (Niš), TV Kаnаl 25 (Odžаci), kao i studnel.com – Studentski dnevni list, Niš. A total of 99 minutes of program aired for the first time.

TITLE: LADIES DIARY OF CHANGE - active ladies in peace dialogue SUPPORT: European Commission, Civil Society Facility: Partnership actions- Empowerment of Women PARTICIPANTS: 18 young girls, 8 young boys and 8 high school professors from Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro DURATION: 18 months (December 2011- May 2013) DESCRIPTION: The project LADIES DIARY OF CHANGE- active ladies in peace dialogue had the main goal to empower young women in the Balkans in order to teach them how to take active roles in decision-making processes, dialogue and reconciliation processes in the region. The project was international and was implemented in Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Greece. Our partners were the Women’s Association Aureola from Kosovo, the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy from Greece, and the Montenegro Media Institute from Montenegro. In this particular case, the project LADIES DIARY OF CHANGE- active ladies in peace dialogue enabled young women and men of Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro, supported by the Greek model of good practice, to participate in the social and political life in their communities by using the skills needed for turning their ideas into concrete initiatives and prepare them for decision-making roles in the dialogue and reconciliation processes in the region. We built a network of associated organizations that already deal with the topic of empowerment of youth and women. Activities of this project were divided into 3 phases. The first one was an educational phase that included trainings, seminars and a study visit. The Second phase was making of the publication Ladies Diary of Change that is custom-designed and have a set of questions and answers on various topics, that is consisted of small info-articles about project activities; ways to use the knowledge and information for personal usage; photos; small interviews; handouts; own ideas, project ideas, recommendations, contacts, views in the form of reports by the participants and serve as a unique tangible result of the project. The third phase lasted throughout the project and included making of the project documentary that is produced by NSSJ. The project documentary is unique 15 minutes video made of best-of moments from the project. The film was distributed to all media partners of NSSJ, through the Media Exchange Database.

TITLE: A-COP: Civil Society against Police Corruption SUPPORT: EU Civil Society Facility Serbia Program and Office for cooperation with Civil Society PARTICIPANTS: 10 CSOs lead by the Belgrade Center for Security Policy DURATION: 18 months (December 2012 – June 2014) DESCRIPTION: The Belgrade Center for Security Policy, Toplica Centre for Democracy and Human Rights and Novi Sad School of Journalism as partners, and eight CSO’s are gathered into A-COP group in order to involve civil society in the fight against corruption in the police and to build the group’s capacity for monitoring and advocating for the implementation of anti-corruption policy in the police. The reason behind the formation of the group lays in the fact that in Serbia approximately fifteen CSOs deal with anti-corruption policy, but only two are focused on the police, covering this issue only occasionally and in an inconsistent manner. Also, tackling police corruption demands special research and advocacy skills because the police force operates under the veil of secrecy. By creating the A-COP, these initiatives will be joined and strengthened, and the group as a whole will gain and develop knowledge and skills for systemic monitoring and advocating anti-corruption policy in the police. The project objective will be achieved by making specific case studies of police corruption at the local level and advocating specific measures, mechanisms for improving the fight against corruption in the police force, but also by raiseing public awareness in Serbia. Execution of the action leads to capacity building of participating organizations of the A- COP group.

TITLE: CULTURE THROUGH THE EYE OF THE MEDIA SUPPORT: Provincial Secretariat of Culture and Public Information DURATION: 7 months (June – December 2013) DESCRIPTION: The main objective of the project was to identify the situation in reporting on cultural topics at Radio Television of Vojvodina and other Vojvodinian radio stations, with an emphasis on interculturalism, by using quantitative and qualitative analysis of media content, and finding and promoting good practices. In 2013 we monitor the content about cultural topics on the public media service of Vojvodina and a few multilingual radio stations on the territory of Vojvodina. The corpus has included TV and radio shows about cultural topics and in-depth interviews with the editors of the cultural programs. The monitoring results are published on the Novi Sad School of Journalism website. Results of the monitoring that are made within the framework of the project "Culture through the eye of the media" are incorporated into the big reporting on media freedom and transparency within the project "Media Observatory".

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: MEDIA AND MINORITIES IN WESTERN BALKANS SUPPORT: The project is supported by the support of social science research in the Western Balkans. (Regional Research Promotion Programme - RRPP). PARTNERS: MEDIAPLAN Institute in Sarajevo is the lead partner on the project and the Novi Sad School of Journalism, College of Journalism and PR and Natasha Ruzic as an independent researcher are partners in the project. DURATION: 18 months (January 2012 -June 2013) DESCRIPTION: Project objective is to obtain accurate comparative analysis of media coverage of national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia. The project detects and describes the main problems in the operation of these media in relation to journalistic, social, political and financial challenges. The book: "Information in Minority Languages in Western Balkans: Freedom, Access, Marginalization" is one of the project results.

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: ORIENTATION: FORWARD! SUPPORT: European Commission within Cross-border programme Croatia-Serbia under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, Component II. PARTNRS: Novi Sad School of Journalism is a project carrier while Nansen Dialogue Center Osijek, Croatia is a partner in implementation of the project. DURATION: 12 months (June 2013 – May 2014)

DESCRIPTION: Main objective of this project is to raise awareness of youth in multicultural cross-border regions in Serbia and Croatia about the effects of growing popularity of extreme right-wing organizations as well as increasing capacities of young representatives of social, political and media organizations in order to address this worrying trend.

Project will be implemented in two phases.

In the first phase of the project, 28 youth ambassadors (20 high school students and 8 young journalists) and 10 high school teachers participating in the project, from South Backa and Osijecko Baranjski and Vukovar Srem region, have learned how to recognize elements of hate speech, twisted historical data and indirect invitation to violence as well as spreading of language discourse with fascist and nationalist elements on the internet. Within this phase the participants were trained to perform Media monitoring and IN-Depth interviews which resulted in 10 quantitative and qualitative media monitoring reports and 14 interviews with representatives of the media, political parties and academics dealing with these subjects.

In the second phase of the project 14 young representatives of the political parties will join the participants from the first phase, with whom they will, after the series of joint meetings, create a Recommendation plan for further work of youth activists and slowing the growing problem of right-wing extremism.

During the project implementation the website www.odaberipravo.org was created, which serves as a unique medium where all reports, interviews, recommendations as well as all media outputs (articles, short documentary etc.) created during the implementation of the project, will be published.

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: SOUTH EAST EUROPEAN MEDIA OBSERVATORY SUPPORT: European Commission Partnership Programmes for Civil Society Organizations. PARTNERS: The Macedonian Institute for Media (Macedonia), Investigative Journalism Centre (Croatia), Albanian Media Institute (Albania), Media Center Sarajevo (BiH), Center for Independent Journalism (Hungary) and Peace Institute form Slovenia as leading partner on this project. DURATION: 12 months (December 2012 – November 2013) DESCRIPTION: Overall objective of this project is strengthened and more dynamic civil society in the region participating in public debate on media and freedom of expression with capacity to influence policy and decision making processes. Specific objective: greater capacity and commitment of CSOs and their regional network to: 1)inform and sparkle public debates on media freedom and pluralism, particularly addressing impact of media ownership and political clientelism, and 2) influence media sector reform processes through developing media integrity index, regional media observatory, consultations and coalitions It will build the capacity of CSOs in the Western Balkans and their regional network SEENPM to sparkle public debates on media integrity, pluralism and freedom of expression and influence media sector reform processes.

TITLE OF THE PROJECT: JOURNALISM WORKSHOP - MEDIA LITERACY SUPPORT: Provincial Department of Education, Administration and National Communities PARTICIPANTS: 37 teachers from two primary schools from Novi Sad DURATION: 3 months from September until Decembar of 2013. DESCRIPTION: Institute for the improvement of education accredited the training program of Novi Sad school of journalism “Media literacy”. The aim of the educational program “Media literacy” is the teachers’ ability to develop understanding, analysis and evaluation of media messages. Also, the acquisition of competencies relevant to the setting up of media content into social moral value systems. Training as many teachers in the field of media literacy and the basics of journalism is contribution to be trained to help students make their first steps in creating an independent media messages. Educational seminare started on 7th of December and lasted until 21st of December. During that period 37 teacher from primary school were educated.

PROJECT NAME: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR RUTHENIAN JOURNALISTS AND EDITORS SUPPORT: Provincial Secretariat of Culture and Public Information PARTICIPANTS: 22 journalists end editor from Ruthenian magazine DURATION: 3 months from September until Decembar of 2013. DESCRIPTION: Sad School of Journalism was the producer of the educational program of professional development Ruthenian journalist and editor of the publishing house "Russian character". The seminar lasted three days and a total of 22 students, which consisted of journalists and editors journalistic publishing house "Russian character" OTHER ACTIVITIES  Novi Sad School of Journalism participated in the the U.S. Department of State spon- sored Professional Fellows EMPOWER Program, administered by Mobility Interna- tional USA (MIUSA). This two-way international exchange program aims to expand the capacity of organizations in the U.S. and abroad to promote inclusive communities and advance the rights of persons with disabilities around the world. Partners of the Novi Sad School of Journalism in this program are Center "Living Upright" from Novi Sad and the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at Towson University in the United States.

 At the ceremony held on 18 December 2013th The Novi Sad School of Journalism has awarded the Annual prize to young journalist Jovana Zdjelarevic for comprehensive engagement in the field of journalism and the promotion of public interest.

 Novi Sad School of Journalism in April 2013th conducted training: "Writing press releases and communications with the media" for employees in PR department of Srbijagas.

 With the support of the Novi Sad School of Journalism in 2012 following events were implemented: 1. Presentation of the publication „Zaštita prava građana pred Upravnim sudom – Vodič za građane” – January 2013, Centar za razvoj Srbije, Beograd 2. Lecture „MULTIKULTURALNOST I POLOŽAJ ABORIDŽINSKIH STAROSEDELACA U AUSTRALIJI”, which was held by Australian Ambassador Helena Studdert and Professor Christine Nicholls - January 2013 - Australian Embassy in Belgrade 3. Two focus groups – March 2013 – CESID 4. Presentation of the publication „Evropska garancija o zapošljavanju mladih – Moguća ili nemoguća misija u Srbiji?” – October 2013, Centar za razvoj Srbije, Beograd