Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society launched, on December 22, 2011, the public debate on Draft Rulebook on Amendments to Rulebook on transition from analogue to digital broadcasting of television program and access to multiplex in terrestrial digital broadcasting and the Draft Decisions on Amendments to the Strategy for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting of radio and television programs in the Republic of Serbia.

The proposed amendments to these two documents, stipulate the change in the way the process of digitalization will be carried out, primarily in terms of the postponement of the digitalization and complete pulling out of the concept of digitalization-in-one-day, planned for April 4, 2012. Instead, the proposed amendments provide for a phase transition to digital broadcasting of TV programs, to be completed no later than June 17, 2015, in line with international obligations of Serbia. The amendments also  anticipate the implementation of a kind of limited simulcast, or phase which will include both digital and analog program broadcasting simultaneously and which will be available to national and provincial public service broadcasters as well as national broaadcasters. A mechanism of replacing the existing broadcasting licenses is also regulated here. However, even these proposed changes have not provided for the solution to the problem of increase of service zones of local stations and consequently their unfair competition to regional stations. Due to all this, ANEM has remained faithful to its proposal for urgent consultations between license holders and the RBA, with the active participation of RATEL and the Ministry of Culture, Media and Information Society. The consultations should address, on one hand, the extending of valid broadcasting licenses, and on the other, the introduction of the acceptable rules for all parties, as a condition of extending the validity of issued licenses. ANEM believes that these rules, or regulatory obligations, could be introduced in the form of binding, or general binding instructions under the Broadcasting Law, as a result of negotiations with the broadcasters themselves.

As there has been scarce official information so far related to deferral of the digitalization process, changes made to the way it will be implemented, as well as the rights and obligations of broadcasters in this process, and as this public debate is intended, primarily, for professionals and experts, on December 30, 2011, ANEM prepared for their stations, together with its law office "Zivkovic&Samardzic", a supplement to the internal Guide to the digitalization process, whose first edition was prepared and submitted to ANEM stations on January 31, 2011. The aim of the supplemented Guide is to provide timely information to ANEM TV stations on everything that is relevant to them in this process, with which the Association seeks to enable its members to keep abreast of all important events and changes, all in order to alleviate their business planning. This Guide was distributed to the stations and also made available through the internal network, ANEM Intranet.

In line with new information, ANEM will continue to supplement this Guide in the future, to help its members to better prepare for the transition to digital broadcasting.

The latest issue of the Magazine "Challenges of the European Integrations" treats the topic - "The media and European integrations" as a response to recent adoption of the Media Strategy. At the initiative of the Official Gazette, the publisher of this magazine, ANEM took a part in creating this issue, with the intention to use this opportunity to draw attention of the media, expert public and all interested parties again to important media issues and the way of solving them in the Media Strategy, as this document had to provide for a framework for genuine media reforms in Serbia in line with European regulations and standards in this area. This 17^th issue of the magazine contains 8 texts, out of which, 6 were academic articles of topics and by authors proposed by ANEM and whose creation was coordinated by ANEM. These are:

• 1. State and Strategy of Media Development: the future has not yet begun - author Snjezana Milivojevic, PhD
• 2. Media Strategy - closer to or further from the public broadcasting service - author Rade Veljanovski, PhD
• 3. Media Strategy, transparency of media ownership, media concentration and control of state aid - author Slobodan Kremenjak, attorney at law
• 4. Regulatory framework for implementing the digitalization of the media in Serbia - author Jelena Surculija, MA
• 5. State withdrawal from media ownership and regional public service broadcasting - author Kruna Savovic, attorney at law
• 6. National minorities in the Serbian media future - author Zuzana Serences, journalist

The articles deal with the recently adopted Media Strategy and its solutions related to specific media issues, analyzing and comparing them with European regulations and standards. The article of the professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Snjezana Milivojevic, PhD, analyzed the Strategy as a document illustrating the willingness of regulating the media situation, faced with challenges of the technological revolution and the process of EU integration. The paper of Rade Veljanovski, PhD and professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, is dealing with the Media Strategy solutions on the issues of functioning and development of existing public broadcasting services, pointing to apparent shortcomings of these solutions. Slobodan Kremenjak, attorney at law, analyzed the solutions of the Media Strategy referring to the transparency of media ownership, media concentration, providing non-discriminatory conditions for fair competition in the media industry and its sustainable development, as well as implementation of rules relating to state aid control in the media sector in Serbia. Jelena Surculija, MA, from the Faculty of Political Sciences, is analyzing the Media Strategy solutions related to the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting and economic aspects of digitalization. Kruna Savovic, attorney at law, is dealing with the solutions of the Strategy on the state withdrawal from ownership in media, forming of regional public service broadcasting, by analyzing the extent to which the Strategy defined the goals in the media sphere for the following period, if it had provided for a sufficiently clear base of the future legal framework in the field of media law and whether the provided solutions would enable accomplishment of media freedoms, right to freedom of expression, namely if the existing European standards would be followed in this field. In her article, journalist Zuzana Serences deals with minority rights in the field of information and the extent to which the exercise of these rights has been provided for in the Media Strategy solutions.

Brief summaries of these articles can be found at the end of this text.

This is yet another ANEM's endeavor of advocating for fundamental changes in the media sector, particularly in the field of media regulation and media policy, which should contribute to the creation of favorable conditions and environment for the functioning and development of the media.

The latest, 17^th issue of the magazine "Challenges of European Integrations" (publisher - Public company Official Gazette, supported by  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, GIZ Legal aid office) will be presented at the press conference on Wednesday, December 28, at 11 a.m. in the Gallery of the Official Gazette in Belgrade. Besides ANEM President Sasa Mirkovic, two authors of articles proposed by the ANEM - Prof. Rade Veljanovski and attorney at law Slobodan Kremenjak - will also attend the press conference to present their texts.

On December 22, 2011, ANEM held a workshop for its members in NUNS premises in Belgrade. Three main topics discussed at this workshop were: Implementation of the Advertising Law - with special reference to the rules on political advertising; Media Strategy and changes in the process of digitalization; the application of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights - tariffs of collective organizations and lists of broadcast musical works and phonograms. The workshop panelists included Slobodan Kremenjak, ANEM lawyer, Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President and Ksenija Golubovic-Filipovic, attorney at law at the law office "Zivkovic & Samardzic".

The workshop was attended by 15 representatives of 12 ANEM stations: Radio City, Nis; Radio Paracin, Paracin; Radio Kikinda, Kikinda; Radio Far, Alibunar; Radio Em, Knjazevac; Radio Pozega, Pozega; RTV OK, Kovacica; RTK, Kragujevac; RTV Kladovo, Kladovo; RTV Sumadija, Arandjelovac; RTV Krusevac, Krusevac and Timocka television and radio from Zajecar. The aim of this workshop was to enable representatives of ANEM stations to clarify dilemmas in application of two laws (Advertising Law - particularly the provisions of the rules on political advertising and the Law on Copyright and Related Rights), as well as to get acquainted with the solutions of the recently adopted Media Strategy and changes in the digitalization process, of relevance to broadcasters. This workshop was an opportunity for exchanging opinions and discussing other issues and problems that ANEM stations are facing.

Attorney at law Ksenija Golubovic-Filipovic elaborated on the general provisions related to advertising, with emphasis on the rules on political advertising. She also gave instructions and advices to broadcasters how to correctly apply the said rules in the pre-election campaign. She presented legal framework regulating the issue of advertising of political parties - the Advertising Law, Law on Election of Members of Parliament, Broadcasting Law and general binding instructions on the conduct of broadcasters (Code of Conduct for Broadcasters), general binding instructions, brought before each election, to radio and TV stations (broadcasters) for their conduct during the pre-election campaign. She explained the meaning of specific provisions of these laws and the rights and obligations for broadcasters deriving from them. The following issues were specifically addressed in the discussion: advertising of state bodies and organizations; sponsorship in the context of political advertising; advertizing of political organizations; rules on presenting of political parties; respecting election silence; prohibition of covert propaganda; the rules related to publishing results of public opinion polls etc. She pointed to the distinction between the obligations of commercial broadcasters and those for the broadcasters - public companies, which are obliged to follow the rules related to public broadcasting services. She particularly emphasized that, much like prior to every election, the RBA would pass General binding instructions for radio and TV stations (broadcasters) for conduct during the pre-election campaign and publish them on its website. Broadcasters must adhere to the said Instructions, in addition to the above said rules.

The second topic was related to the recently adopted Media Strategy and changes in the process of digitalization. Regarding the Media Strategy, Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President, elaborated on the issue of state's withdrawal from the media, the solution to form regional public broadcasting services, that is, the effect it would have on the functioning of the media sector and problematic aspects of such solution (unknown model of financing of such public services, selection of media outlets that would get the status of regional public services, lack of mechanisms for achieving the independence of the editorial policy of these services etc.), as well as the allocation of budget funds and methods of control of the state aid. Mirkovic said that the Government's recent actions indicated that the implementation of the Media Strategy was experiencing some problems. The first one is the proposed budget for 2012, which includes the decision on allocation of 368 million dinars directly to the media - budget users, primarily News Agency Tanjug. This questions the willingness of the authorities to respect the Strategy's solutions, stipulating that funds intended for the media shall be distributed through project financing and in accordance with the public interest. The second one is the Draft Law on Cinematography, which, contrary to the Strategy, creates an additional law collision, which could seriously affect the functioning of regulatory bodies, the media and the whole electronic communications sector. Speaking about the process of digitalization, attorney at law Slobodan Kremenjak said that a public debate on the Strategy and changes on Rulebook on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting of television signal had been launched on the very day of the workshop and that it would last until January 5, 2012. He briefed the participants on the proposed changes in process, specifically noting that the deadline for implementation of digitalization was postponed until further notice; that the idea of ​​switch-off in one day, which was imposed due to the lack of frequencies, had been replaced by the idea of the ‘phased' implementation of digitalization, which was now possible as certain frequencies were made available due to a shutdown of a number of broadcasters; that launching of a pilot test network had been announced. Stations were also informed about benefits, obligations and costs they could expect in this process, and advised to postpone the procurement of equipment, given that the process had been delayed.

The third topic of the workshop was related to the implementation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, with special reference to the tariffs of collective organizations and lists of broadcast musical works and phonograms. Here, the way of determining tariffs of collective organizations were discussed and stations were informed about the activities of ANEM as the representative association of broadcasters participating in the negotiations on tariff of collective organizations, as well as about the progress in these proceedings. Determining of the unique tariff of OFPS and PI is pending and is still before the Commission on Copyright and Related Rights. Back in August, ANEM submitted its objections to the proposal of the tariff to the Commission, after which the Commission should have issued its opinion on the proposed unique tariff of the two organizations. As for the tariff of SOKOJ, after unsuccessful negotiations in 2010, in August 2011, the Commission gave a negative opinion on the proposed tariff of SOKOJ, adopting ANEM remarks, after which re-negotiations were organized but had not led to an agreement, because of unacceptable demands of SOKOJ. The Commission has recently given positive opinion on the SOKOJ's proposal of the tariff, which is particularly unfavorable for small stations, since it increases the minimum amount of fees paid by the stations with low incomes. Stations were informed that ANEM would take legal action in this respect, in order to protect the interests of its members. Regarding the lists to be submitted to collective organizations, stations were advised how to meet their legal obligation in this respect, in order to avoid legal consequences of their failure to comply with it. In addition, stations discussed their problems in fulfilling these obligations. The stations also discussed the problems they had with cable operators, due to a lack of regulation of this important issue.

After the workshop, all representatives of the participating stations agreed that they had benefited from this workshop, while the topics discussed at it were very up-to-date. As for the choice and quality of lecturers, the way the topics were treated, responses obtained and quality of debate, the workshop participants rated them as excellent, noting that they especially liked interactivity and dynamics of the discussion. This workshop has shown that such events are indispensable to ANEM members, in order to keep up with current changes in media regulation that might significantly affect their work, but also as an opportunity to discuss problems and challenges they faced in their work, particularly relating to the application of regulations.

 This workshop was organized with the  support of the Civil Rights Defenders.

We are proud to announce that ANEM TV series "Mirror of Power" has won valuable awards in two recently organized contests for media pieces - the UNDP Serbia's contest for best media pieces - monitoring of public spending and the contest for the best media piece in the field of local self-governance, organized by the Council of Europe and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities. Jelena Aleksic, journalist of this ANEM TV series, is one of four award winners in the first contest for investigative media pieces on monitoring of public spending, while in the second contest, she and journalist Sandra Mandic have won the award for this series among total of six award winners in the category of the best national electronic media piece.

The awarded TV series "Mirror of Power" consists of 20 10-minute long programs, through which ANEM strived to contribute to a greater knowledge and education of citizens on the problem of corruption and its concrete forms of manifestation, as well as to encourage them to get involved in the fight against corruption and to strengthen the control over the work of the public office holders. Programs cover the specific stories from local communities in apprehensible and interesting form, aimed at wide audience and presented as a mirror of functioning of state and local self-government institutions, in which forms of corruptive behavior and possible sources of corruption could be recognized. The series was realized in cooperation with the production company "A-media", with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society Serbia (FOSS). The series was broadcast on 26 ANEM regional and local TV stations across Serbia, in the period between December 2010 and April 2011.

The contest of UNDP Serbia, within which the journalist of ANEM series has won the award, was aimed at young journalists (up to 35 years of age), who prepared investigative pieces in monitoring of public spending, by which UNDP Serbia strived to encourage investigative journalism in this field and to contribute to drawing public attention to the issues of transparency and accountability in public spending, thus supporting the efforts in the fight against corruption. Out of 14 received applications, the expert jury composed of representatives of UNDP and journalists proposed by NUNS and UNS, selected four journalists for the award. The prize is a group study visit to a country with a strong media and journalism tradition and an advanced practice in investigative reporting, where the winners will get acquainted with the work of reputable media-support organizations and institutions that nurture cutting-edge investigative journalism practice and advocate highest professional standards.

The contest for the best media piece in the field of local self-governance, in the organization of the Council of Europe and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, is part of the Council of Europe's program - Strengthening local self-governance, whose aim is providing help to central and local government in Serbia in establishing more efficient system of local-self-governance. Among more than 60 received media pieces, the expert jury selected the best seven, whose authors have been awarded with the study visit to Strasburg and Paris, where they will visit renowned media houses and institutions of European Union based in Strasburg.

The awards to journalists for their work on the series "Mirror of Power" are not only confirmation of the quality of ANEM productions but also incentive for ANEM to continue to produce radio and TV series for its stations, namely the series through which it encourages investigative journalism, creativity of journalists and contribute to strengthening the role of media in democratization of the society.

On September 1, the B92 Fund launched the campaign in order to raise the funds for buying 100 new incubators for hospitals across Serbia.

Namely, incubators in Serbian hospitals are close to being 40 years old. Prematurely born babies are put in incubators that are even older than their parents. Usually these incubators have no warranty, have not been serviced for a long time and lack spare parts. Outdated equipment does not provide adequate health care and its using is life threatening. Thus, buying new incubators is an urgent matter, in order to ensure basic conditions for health care of preterm babies.

ANEM has joined this B92 Fund humanitarian action in such a way that a large number of ANEM TV and radio stations across Serbia will provide media support to the campaign for raising funs for the purchase of new incubators. ANEM stations will broadcast, free of charge, video clips and radio jingles of the campaign, and report on it in their news programs.

ANEM and its member stations jointly supported this idea believing that, in synergy with the public sector, companies and individuals, the media should also take part in the battle for babies' health and safety.

32 ANEM member stations support this campaign, namely 24 TV and radio stations and 8 RTV media outlets that will be broadcasting TV video spot and radio jingle: TV Cacak from Cacak; TV Pozega from Pozega; NTV 017 from Vranje; TV Valjevo from Valjevo; TV Smederevo from Smederevo; Radio Pozega from Pozega; Radio Bus from Kovin; Radio Leskovac from Leskovac; Radio Kontakt Plus from Kosovska Mitrovica; Radio Vrbas from Vrbas; Radio M plus from Mladenovac; JP Radio NB from Novi Becej; Radio Patak from Valjevo; Radio Ozon from Cacak; Ivanjicki radio from Ivanjica; Radio Plus 010 from Pirot; Radio Ok from Vranje; Radio Uzice from Uzice; Radio Kikinda from Kikinda; Radio Ema from Bujanovac; Radio City from Nis, Radio Cacak from Cacak; Radio Luna from Uzice; Radio 021 from Novi Sad; RTV YU ECO from Subotica; RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad; RTV Prima from Bajina Basta; RTV Stara Pazova from Stara Pazova; RTV Sumadija from Arandjelovac; RTV Ok from Kovacica; RTV Trstenik from Trstenik and RTV VK from Kikinda.

Aiming to contribute to better cooperation of civil and media sector and continuing its successful cooperation with the Civic Initiatives, ANEM took part in awarding the MLADGRAD 2011 as a friend of the Award. ANEM has participated in the jury for granting this award, which has been assigned, second year in a row, to local self-governments, formal and informal organizations and individuals who contributed to improving the position of young people in local communities. Sasa Mirkovic, ANEM President, was among the Jury members selecting this year's award winners. The award is aimed at promoting successful stories and positive results as well as encouraging local self-governments to deal with the issues of importance to young people in their communities. All awarded are grouped into the following three categories:

1. Award for a local self-government for its contribution to the improvement of the position of young people in the local community;
2. Award for a local self-government for granting a public space to a local youth initiative;
3. Award for a youth group that contributed to the improvement of cooperation between local self-government and young people;

Apart from the main awards, within each of these categories the recognitions were also granted, while the special recognitions were awarded for the contribution to improving the status of the marginalized youth as well as for a personal contribution to the improvement of the status of young people in a local community.

On the occasion of the International Day of Youth, the Civic Initiatives traditionally organizes awarding of MLADGRAD with support of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government and international partners.

The ceremony of awarding MLADGRAD 2011 was held in Belgrade on the August 15, 2011. More information on the award and its winners is available on the official website of the MLADGRAD Award: www.mladgrad.rs.

Continuing the cooperation with the production company KCMedia, ANEM has enabled its TV stations to broadcast new programs of the TV series „Ekonnews"  free of charge!

This series is composed of four thematic episodes in duration of 25 minutes, broadcast under the common title "Ekonnews". The main topic of the series is positive examples of entrepreneurship in Serbia and reviewing the models of business success. The program was created during the first training for young journalists and student of journalism held this year in the organization of this production company. Programs are diverse, mostly in the form of reportage, made with a number of interlocutors and at different locations.

The first episode contains six TV program parts: E-kapija - story about the establishment one of the most visited internet portals; Potrcko - business growth in short period of time and competition fight;  Human-robot - latest invention of students of the Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering, robot that could even do the chores; Catering - how difficult it is to succeed in development of such a business; Kafanas - tradition as a success mode, Tri šešira, Znak pitanja, Korčagin; Dah Teatar - the first Serbian theater that is implementing the project called "EU Culture" (their new project "Invisible City", performed on buses and streets, has been done in the collaboration with EU partners from the Great Britain and Danmark). The second episode is composed of the following program-parts: Reportage from Gornji Milanovac, examples of the development of big enterprises, the factory "9. Septembar"; integration of small enterprises into big corporations, merging of Belgrade-based company Comutel with one of the biggest system-integrators in Europe, Telelinkom; Women entrepreneurs - European network for the development of women entrepreneurship, positive examples: ethno village near Latkovac and Maja-honey in Belgrade surrounding; Development of privately held print media, magazines Ekonometar and Biznis; Drivers who get you and your car home safely when you go out and drink, Safe Drivers company, innovative ideas for starting up a business; Cricket, a new sport in Serbia, how much time and money will it take to develop and implement such idea;  The third episode has six programs, too: Reportage from Svilajnac, business development at the local level; family cooperatives as a success model, production of church lamps and crowns, family business of the Pancic family; Cinematheque as an institution, projects and plans, how much it has influenced film lovers; DIY, soap production, is it possible to develop a business at your home; kennels of dogs, earning from sales and competitions; Takeaway fashion - commercial design and entrepreneurship, selling  through social networks (Facebook). The last, fourth episode contains the most interesting parts of the previous episodes.  

Starting from the end of July 2011, the series has been broadcast on the following 17 local and regional TV stations: RTV VK, Kikinda; RTV Caribrod, Dimitrovgrad; TV Leskovac, Leskovac; TV Niska, Nis; TV Spektar, Sombor; TV Smederevo, Smederevo; RTV OK, Kovacica; RTV Pancevo, Pancevo; RTV Mag Obrenovac; TV Alfa, Uzice; TV Cacak, Cacak; Timocka TV, Zajecar; TV Jedinstvo, Novi Pazar; RTV Trstenik, Trstenik;  RTV YU Eco, Subotica; RTV Mlava, Petrovac na Mlavi i B92 Info, Beograd. 

Starting from the end of June 2011, the series of documentary episodes "Welcome to Europe" has been broadcast on 23 ANEM local and regional TV stations. The series, produced by the production company DTV Production and consisted of 8 documentary episodes in duration of 30 minutes, treats the topics related to the higher education system in Serbia and in EU member countries.

In these dynamic programs, a high-school graduate Fedor, is travelling to eight European cities (Maribor, Graz, Utrecht, Bologna, Valencia, Thessaloniki, Timisoara and Ghent) where he is investigating various aspects of studying, together with his hosts, Serbian students who study in these cities. They discuss topics like the Bologna process, student mobility, private or public faculties etc. After his return to Serbia, analysis and comparison of studying in Serbia and Europe was made, through interviews with our students as well as the experts and people dealing with higher education.

ANEM has provided its member-stations with the possibility to broadcast this quality and educational series free-of-charge. ANEM TV stations that broadcast the documentary series "Welcome to Europe" are: RTV VK from Kikinda; RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad; TV 017 from Vranje; TV Leskovac from Leskovac; RTV Prima from Bajina Basta; RTV Krusevac from Krusevac; TV Niska from Nis; TV Spektar from Sombor; TV Plus from Valjevo; TV Smederevo from Smederevo; RTK from Kragujevac; RTV OK from Kovačica; RTV Pancevo from Pancevo; RTV Trstenik from Trstenik;  TV Cacak from Cacak; RTV YU Eco from Subotica; RTV Sokobanja from Soko Banja; RTV Mlava from Petrovac na Mlavi, RTV Pannon from Subotica; Timocka televizija i radio from Zajecar; TV Alfa from Uzice; Novosadska televizija from Novi Sad i B92 Info from Beograd.

Owing to the cooperation with the NGO "Integration NOW!", which organized, with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, 2 three-day seminars for professional development of managers in the media on the topic "Basics of media management", ANEM enabled its stations' representatives to participate, free of charge, at those seminars held from May 18-20 in Nis and from May 23-25, 2011 in Belgrade.

The program "Basics of media management" is a training program aimed at developing a successful advertising and sales strategies in media companies. U.S. expert, professor of media management at the University of North Alabama, Gregory Pits, presented to the participants the American model of management in media companies, while the domestic speakers, successful managers, shared their practical experience in this field.

Participating at the seminars, ANEM stations' representatives had the opportunity to acquire new knowledge that would help them to develop successful management strategies in their companies.

Six representatives of ANEM radio and TV stations were among participants of the three-day seminars organized in Belgrade and Nis:  Sremska TV from Sid, Radio Ema from Bujanovac, Radio Ok from Vranje, Radio Far from Alibunar, Radio Kontakt Plus from Kosovska Mitrovica and RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad.

Since May 2011, the TV program "Ekonnews" has been broadcast on 18 ANEM local and regional TV stations.  This program was made by the production company KCMedia and it deals with the topic of international integration of Serbia. The program was created during the first this year's journalistic training for young journalists and students of journalism organized by this production company.

Series "Ekonnews" includes four episodes in duration of 25 minutes. Each episode has five or six TV programs. Programs are diverse, mostly in the form of reportage, made with a number of interlocutors and at different locations in Belgrade, Pancevo, Barajevo, Novi Sad, Cacak, Kragujevac, etc. All programs were made with the support of the professional team of KCM.

The first episode contains six stories: Women (cadets) in the Serbian Army; the Internet 65 + (a training program for using new technologies for elderly people); Effects of implementation of the Law on banning smoking in Serbia; Will "burek" survive the adoption of HASSP European standards for the food production?; Couch surfing - conversations with strangers and hosts - members of the network for connecting people and travel; how to keep top students in Serbia (experience of the scholarship grantees of the Pexim Foundation and Zoran Djindjic Foundation). The second episode is related to cultural exchange with European countries from the region and consists of five programs: Belgrade - European Capital of Culture 2020; Cultural exchange with the region - student theater festival organized by Krsmanac; Book market in the region - is there a place for our books on shelves in the neighboring countries?; Academic exchanges with other countries (experiences of the organization the International Academic Network); Copyright - is currently implemented law in Serbia in line with the European law framework. The third episode dealing with the green economy consists of six programs: organic food - myth or business? Alternative energy - Will a field of windmills appear in Pancevo surrounding?; Reportage - biomass based mini power plant in Dragacevo near Cacak; Reportage on a citizen of Kraljevo - farmer who went around France; The biggest magnets for tourists visiting Serbia; Volunteer camp in Serbia and abroad; The last, fourth episode contains the most interesting parts from the previous episodes, connected by a common story on integration and connecting people as well as temathic news.

ANEM has enabled its member - stations to broadcast the TV program free-of-charge. This program can be seen on the following ANEM stations: RTV VK, Kikinda; RTV Caribrod, Dimitrovgrad; TV 017, Vranje; TV Leskovac, Leskovac; RTV Prima, Bajina Basta; RTV Krusevac, Krusevac; TV Niska, Nis; TV Spektar, Sombor; TV Plus, Valjevo; TV Smederevo, Smederevo; RTK Kragujevac; RTV OK, Kovacica; RTV Pancevo, Pancevo; RTV Trstenik, Trstenik;  RTV YU Eco, Subotica; RTV Santos, Zrenjanin;  RTV Mlava, Petrovac na Mlavi and B92 Info, Beograd. 

During April and May this year, ANEM 22 radio and TV stations have broadcast free of charge the radio/TV series "Hands full of the Past", produced by the Initiative for the RECOM in cooperation with TV B92.

Series "Hands full of the past" consists of six half-hour episodes in which journalist Danica Vucenic talk with reputable and competent guests from the region about the need for establishment of RECOM, the Regional Commission Tasked with Establishing the Facts about All Victims of War Crimes and Other Serious Human Rights Violations Committed on the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia in the period from 1991-2001

After its premiere broadcasting on B92 Info channel, the series will be aired on the following ANEM radio and TV stations across Serbia: Radio Kikinda, Plus radio 010 (Pirot), Radio M plus (Mladenovac), Radio Ozon (Cacak), Radio Luna (Uzice), Radio Ema (Bujanovac), Radio Vrbas, Radio Bus (Kovin), Radio Max (Gnjilane), Radio Caribrod, Radio Mlava, Radio OK Kovacica, TV Spektar (Sombor), Novosadska TV (Novi Sad), TV Leskovac, RTV Mlava (Petrovac na Mlavi), Televizija Krusevac, TV Alfa (Uzice), RTV OK Kovacica, RTV Caribrod, Dimitrovgrad, TV Sumadija (Arandjelovac) and TV Plus from Valjevo.

ANEM has supported the current campaigns of the Ministry of Health of Republic of Serbia aimed at information of the public on the importance of health care, by broadcasting radio jingle and video spots free of charge on ANEM radio and TV stations throughout Serbia.

Starting from the end of March 2011, 32 ANEM radio and TV stations will be broadcasting free of charge radio jingle and TV spots of these campaigns.

ANEM stations recognized the importance of the Ministry's campaigns: "Serbia against Cancer", "Your No, Changes Everything" (national campaign against drug abuse), campaign on protection from exposure to tobacco smoke and campaign to promote HIV testing. ANEM stations supported the idea of campaign's greater visibility on local level with the purpose of quality information of the public.

ANEM stations that have supported these campaigns are: Radio Ozon from Cacak, Radio City from Nis; Radio Bus from Kovin, Ivanjicki radio from Ivanjica, Radio Patak from Valjevo, Radio Plus 010 from Pirot, Radio Leskovac from Leskovac, Radio Cacak from Cacak, Em radio from Knjazevac, Radio Kikinda from Kikinda, Radio OK from Vranje, Radio Bum 93 from Pozarevac, Radio Luna from Uzice, Radio 5 from Nis, Radio Bemin Musical 93 from Arilje, Radio Paracin from Paracin, Radio Ema from Bujanovac, JP Radio Novi Becej from Novi Becej, TV VK from Kikinda, RTV Mlava from Petrovac na Mlavi, TV Sumadija from Arandjelovac, RTV Prima from Bajina Basta; RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad, TV Pozega from Pozega, Novosadska televizija from Novi Sad, RTV Trstenik from Trstenik, TV Pancevo from Pancevo, RTK from Kragujevac, TV Spektar from Sombor, TV Cuprija from Cuprija, TV Kraljevo from Kraljevo and RTV Pannon from Subotica.

ANEM stations have supported another activity of the partner from the NGO sector, the NGO "Civic Initiatives", by broadcasting of the TV program "Citizens decide"!

In every local community in Serbia, there are problems that people face on a daily basis. The question is whether and how citizens engage in solving these problems. Is ascertaining the problems only thing they do or they organize themselves and advocate their solutions? Do they wait for local government officials to organize their life or they participate in making political decisions that affect them, their children, neighbors and relatives?

Four 15-minute TV episodes "Citizens decide", produced by Civic Initiatives and Study 4, talk about citizens of Nis, Subotica, Sabac and Kragujevac who do not wait for simple and given solutions, but try to change things in their local communities. Gathered in citizens' associations, they have initialized local initiatives for solving numerous problems in their communities, within the project "Citizens decide" - citizens of Subotica have been trying to deal with the lack of social services for children who lived with foster families and they have also been working on establishing a fund for gifted Roma children; citizens of Sabac have advocated for people with disabilities to participate in decision-making process at the City level and they have also launched an initiative for establishing the Roma Inter-Municipal National Council; citizens of Kragujevac have engaged in promotion of student entrepreneurship as well as in building facilities for the care of persons with disabilities; the episode on Nis shows what citizens have done in terms of solving problems of their fellow citizens - the Roma, not able to use the premises where their Cultural Institute had been based before '80-ties when it was confiscated as well as what activities are planned by them in order to solve the problem of the lack of public garages and cinemas in Nis.

Each episode presented the ways in which an individual could engage, lobby and advocate a solution for a certain problem, and all this through the presentation of the document "Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process" passed by the Council of Europe in 2009.

As of March 2011, 20 ANEM local and regional TV stations will broadcast episodes of the TV program "Citizens decide": Novosadska TV form Novi Sad; RTV OK from Kovacica, TV Spektar from Sombor, RTV VK from Kikinda, RTV Mlava from Petrovac on Mlava, TV Smederevo from Smederevo, TV Plus from Valjevo, RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad, TV Leskovac from Leskovac, RTV YU Eco from Subotica, RTV Trstenik from Trstenik, TV Alfa from Uzice, RTV Sokobanja from Sokobanja, RTV Pancevo from Pancevo, RTV Prima from Bajina Basta, TV Sumadija from Arandjelovac, RTV Krusevac from Krusevac, Timocka TV from Zajecar, TV Nezavisna 017 from Vranje and B92 Info from Belgrade.

Working on improving the program quality of its members, ANEM provided for its TV stations two interesting and quality documentary films to be broadcast free of charge.

The first documentary "Women called courage", produced by the Euro-Atlantic Initiative (EAI), presents 40-minute historic documentary about British women who came to Serbia during the World War I as volunteers, nurses and doctors to help the Serbian people. The film also mentioned Flora Sandes, the first woman officer in the British and Serbian Army, who had replaced her nursing uniform with the military one. This documentary was filmed at several locations in Serbia and Scotland, with Serbian and British interlocutors: PhD Cedomir Antic, historian, Louise Miller, publicist, PhD Zelimir Mikic, MD and publicist and Nenad Vukovic, son of the late Zarko Vukovic, MD. The authentic footage of the Serbian army in the Great War (from the Yugoslav Film Archives) and Scottish women in war (donation from Scottish National Archives) were also used in this film.

The second documentary film "TUTTI IN OVCHA" presents the story of the Norwegian "Tutti" organization that had prepared the World Music Workshop in Ovca, which was attended by top musicians from Norway. These musicians had worked with children from Serbia and children from the region; they organized rehearsals and prepared the final concert. This 37-minute film is very entertaining and the intertwining stories of Norwegian musicians and the local population (Romanians, Germans, Serbs, etc.) contribute to that.

During March 2011, these two documentary films were broadcast on 26 ANEM local and regional TV stations: Novosadska TV form Novi Sad; RTV Mag from Obrenovac, RTV OK from Kovacica, TV Spektar from Sombor, TV Cacak from Cacak, RTV VK from Kikinda, RTV Mlava from Petrovac on Mlava, TV Smederevo from Smederevo, NTV from Nis, TV Sremska from Sid, TV Plus from Valjevo, RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad, TV Leskovac from Leskovac, RTV YU Eco from Subotica, RTV Trstenik from Trstenik, TV Alfa from Uzice, RTV Sokobanja from Sokobanja, RTV Pancevo from Pancevo, RTV Kraljevo from Kraljevo, RTV Santos from Zrenjanin, RTV Prima from Bajina Basta, TV Sumadija from Arandjelovac, RTV Krusevac from Krusevac, Timocka TV from Zajecar, TV Nezavisna 017 from Vranje and B92 Info from Belgrade.

In line with the Strategy and Action Plan for the Transition from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting of RTV Programs in the Republic of Serbia, adopted in July 2009, the digitalization process in Serbia implies for now the change in terrestrial television broadcasting. The digital TV switchover is scheduled for April 4, 2011. The digitalization, as defined in the Strategy, does not relate to radio, which will continue to broadcast analogue signal. The digitalization, as defined in the Strategy, neither relates to the cable distribution of TV program.

Although it provides new opportunities to TV stations, this process also brings numerous challenges and new ways of media functioning, which TV stations should timely be prepared for. However, the realization of preparatory activities is late, important information for TV stations in Serbia is almost completely lacking and because of that, TV broadcasters are disabled to timely plan their costs and duties.  

It is why ANEM, in cooperation with its Law office "Zivkovic &Samardzic", prepared for its stations the internal Guide on the process of digitalization, whose aim was to enable their better understanding of the process, benefits and risks for them as well as to facilitate their business planning. This Guide was submitted to the stations on January 31, 2011, and it is also available on internal network, ANEM Intranet.

ANEM will continue to monitor the digitalization process in Serbia and, in line with new developments in this field, it will update this Guide in order to help its members to prepare for digital switchover as much as possible.

The creation of this Guide was supported by Civil Rights Defenders

„Media Funding from State Budget Funds and Media Market Functioning"

This activity was supported by the Civil Rights Defenders

The way in which the majority of local self-governments fulfill their legal obligation to take care and ensure the conditions for public information in their local environment, greatly contributes to the difficult position of local media. Since there is no clearly defined legal way to allocate funds aimed at local media, local governments determine their own way of meeting this obligation. The practice has shown that these funds have been often allocated in a nontransparent way, which creates a basis for unlawful competition on the media market as well as for pressures on local media and it substantially influences the quality of informing on the local level.

The abovementioned problems related to media funding from state budget funds, as well as potential ways of their solving, were the main topics of the workshop that ANEM organized for its member stations, on January 27, 2011, in Belgrade, with the support of the Civil Rights Defenders. The aim of this workshop was to enable the representatives of ANEM stations to better understand regulations, to share local experience in this field, and, together with competent panelist and representatives of competent authorities, discuss recommendations for strategic solving of this issue, especially in the context of preparing the Media Strategy. The workshop panelists were: Slobodan Kremenjak, ANEM lawyer and expert for media laws and Nemanja Nenadic, Executive Director of NGO "Transparency Serbia". The workshop was also attended by the representatives of the Public Procurement Office, Ministry of Culture and local self-governments from cities of Kragujevac, Pirot, Pancevo and Valjevo, as well as the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SKGO/SCTM). Twelve representatives of ten ANEM radio and TV stations participated in the workshop: Radio Ozon (Cacak), Radio OK (Vranje), Radio EM (Knjazevac), RTV Pancevo, RTK (Kragujevac), TV Valjevo, Radio Uzice, Radio Far (Alibunar), JP TV Smederevo, Sremska TV (Sid).

In the first part of the workshop, representatives of ANEM radio and TV stations had an opportunity to obtain information from competent speakers on anti-corruption legislation relevant for this issue, on ways of media funding from state budget funds that were recognized in the domestic legislation, ways of conducting control of illegal competition on the market in cases of allocation of state budget funds to media that were stipulated by law, problems in practice due to the lack of legally defined way of allocating budget funds to media, because of which it was strategically important (to the media and for the quality of local informing) to regulate this field (especially in the context of the preparation of the Media Strategy). In the second part of the workshop, the representatives of the stations discussed the ways the budget funds aimed at media were distributed in their local environments, as well as on problems and their possible solutions. The present representatives of local self-governments and state organs also took active participation in the discussion.

Broadcasting of radio series "The game of Truth", produced by "ShockArt" and author Olivera Milos Todorovic, has started in December on 25 ANEM radio stations across Serbia.

In 8 interesting 5-minute episodes of the radio series "The game of Truth", high school students from Uzice, Kikinda, Vranje, Kragujevac and Jagodina present their views on the following issues: What is more successful - traditional method of learning or informal relationship between teachers and students? How they cope with the violence? Will EU intimidate our national identity or will it help to preserve it? How they spend their spare time? Who affects them the most in this school period - parents, society, or friends? What is their relationship with parents based on - the punishments, praises, trust, restrictions? What the adults criticize them about the most? What is valued as a success in society today and who is successful? What is fairness? Which the authority rules today - the power or knowledge? Are they interested in politics? What is the impact of politics on their daily lives? What is national identity? What is patriotism, and what is nationalism?

The series "The game of Truth" was premierly broadcast on Radio B92. ANEM provided its local and regional radio stations with the possibility to freely broadcast this quality program afterwards, so it will be heard on these stations as well: Radio Ozon from Cacak; Radio Kikinda from Kikinda; Radio OK from Vranje; Radio Kragujevac from Kragujevac; Radio Indjija from Indjija; Radio Stara Pazova from Stara Pazova; Radio OK from Kovacica; Radio Uzice from Uzice; Radio Leskovac from Leskovac; Radio Luna from Uzice; Radio Sport plus from Pirot; Radio Bemin Musical 93 from Arilje; Radio M+ from Mladenovac; Radio Pancevo from Pancevo; Timocki Radio from Zajecar; Radio Ema from Bujanovac; Radio Cacak from Cacak; Radio VK from Kikinda; Radio Bus from Kovin; Radio NB from Novi Becej; Radio Paracin from Paracin; Radio BOOM 93 from Pozarevac; Radio Pirot from Pirot; Radio Max from Gnjilane and Radio Patak from Valjevo.

The film "Take Action!" is a 25-minute long documentary about the civic activism and initiative to exercise human rights in Serbia through state institutions, local self-government before all. Five different stories, recorded in various places in Serbia, show how a group of citizens can change the world or at least their living environment.  

The documentary, produced by the Belgrade Media Center, was aired during November and December on 21 ANEM local and regional TV stations: TV Kragujevac from Kragujevac; TV VK from Kikinda; TV Niska from Nis; TV Cacak from Cacak; TV OK from Kovacica; NTV 017 from Vranje; TV Novosadska from Novi Sad; TV Pancevo from Pancevo; TV Valjevo Plus from Valjevo; TV Timocka from Zajecar; TV Jedinstvo from Novi Pazar; TV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad; TV Leskovac from Leskovac; TV Mlava from Petrovac on Mlava; TV Sumadija from Arandjelovac; TV Prima from Bajina Basta; TV Soko from Sokobanja; TV Alfa from Uzice; TV Spektar from Sombor; TV Trstenik from Trstenik and TV YU Eco from Subotica.  

By facilitating free broadcasting of the documentary film "Take Action!" on its stations throughout Serbia, ANEM has provided support to its partner, Belgrade Media Centre.

 This activity was supported by the Civil Rights Defenders 

For the electronic media, the Public Information Law, beside the Broadcasting Law, represents the basic legal framework for their work. However, the practice has shown that for them, the implementation of this Law is not that simple, due to some unclear provisions as well as uneven court practice in the proceedings regarding the implementation of this law. In August last year, the controversial Law on Amendments to the Public Information Law was also brought, in spite of the strong reluctance of the media sector. This Law has caused additional sense of insecurity among journalists and media, while at the same time contributing to the increase of self-censorship due to extremely restrictive and unconstitutional provisions, excessive punishments in particular. The Constitutional Court declared the majority of this Law's provisions unconstitutional in July this year.  The dilemma was created among media professionals if these provisions were still valid, since the Court's decision has not yet been published in the Official Gazette of Republic Serbia. For that reason, ANEM organized for its members the workshop titled "Public Information Law in practice", which was held in Belgrade, on November 9, 2010, with the support of the Civil Rights Defenders. The aim of the workshop was to enable the journalists and editors of ANEM stations to understand which provisions of the Public Information Law were applicable and to get necessary explanation of both the provisions and the rights and obligations related to them, provided by the Law, in order to apply them with as little problems as possible and in favor of better quality of informing citizens.

The panelists of the workshop were: Slobodan Kremenjak, attorney at law, ANEM Legal Department; Dragan Lazarevic, Local Press attorney at law and Vesna Dabic, expert, member of the Working Group for amending the Broadcasting Law and former spokesperson for the Supreme Court, current spokesperson for the Administrative Court. Fifteen representatives of twelve ANEM radio and TV stations participated in the workshop: Timocka TV and radio (Zajecar), Novosadska TV (Novi Sad), Radio Far (Alibunar), RTK (Kragujevac), Radio Bus (Kovin), TV Gradska (Nis), Sremska TV (Sid), Radio Kikinda, RTV Krusevac, TV Sumadija (Arandjelovac), TV Smederevo, Radio Paracin, as well as the representative of the Civil Rights Defenders.

The workshop was designed as an open discussion of the panelists and participants. Apart from the clarification of some particular provisions of the Law and advices on how they were applied, the participants could hear numerous examples from practice and receive answers to their questions.

The representatives of ANEM stations had an opportunity to obtain expert information by competent speakers if the provisions of the Law on Amendments to the Public Information Law were still valid although the Constitutional Court declared them unconstitutional; what the obligation to respect the presumption of innocence really meant; what the protection of minors implied; how to report on court proceedings; how were the provisions related to disclosure of private facts and personal records applied; what were the responsibilities of the media in regard to respecting the right to a response and the right to a correction; what were the examples of court practice in media cases; which rules were applied on publishing new media content and so on.

After the workshop, the journalists - participants agreed that, due to the importance of the Public Information Law for their everyday work, this workshop would help them in their future work, since the provisions and their implementation were clearer to them after this event, as well as rights and obligations ensuing from this Law.

Working on its stations' capacity building, ANEM endeavors to provide them with free trainings and education in different fields. In cooperation with NGO "Integrations NOW!" ("Integracije SADA"), which organized a seminar for journalists and media professionals on "Reporting on peace operations" with the support of the Media Office of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, ANEM enabled its stations' representatives to participate in this seminar held from October 28-30, 2010, in Nis.

The motivation for organizing the training lies in the fact that Yugoslavia had had a prominent role in international peacekeeping missions and our journalists had reported about them, but this trend has stopped since the nineties. Our journalists do not have the opportunity to report on such missions, do not have contacts with colleagues from abroad dealing with it, and they are insufficiently acquainted with the current security architecture. Serbia is, however, expected to become more active in this field.

The program included the topics such as: reporting on peace operations, reporting from war zones, reporting at risk, work under pressure, censorship, self-censorship, personal courage and profession etc. The seminar was led by Slobodan Lekic, expert from the American news agency The Associated Press, who has a great experience in the field, including reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia and East Timor. Local guest speakers shared their experience from peace missions with the participants.

Nine journalists from ANEM radio and TV stations participated in the seminar, namely from: Radio Kontakt Plus from Kosovska Mitrovica, Niska TV from Nis, RTV Kragujevac from Kragujevac, RTV Petica from Nis, RTV Caribrod from Dimitrovgrad, Radio Cacak from Cacak, Radio Ema from Bujanovac and Radion Em  from Knjazevac.