Belgrade, 23 January 2026 – Journalists’ and media associations are calling on the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications to immediately publish the biographies of all candidates for membership in commissions for media calls, whose names appear on the published preliminary list, in order to make the ongoing process of project co-financing of media content and the allocation of a budget totaling more than €15 million in 2026 more transparent.
The Ministry published the preliminary scoring list of candidates two days ago, containing 112 names, and set a five-day deadline for possible objections before adopting and publishing the final list of candidates who will be eligible to apply for commissions evaluating projects throughout 2026.
The list was published with a delay of as much as three weeks, since under the Rulebook on Co-financing Projects for the Realization of the Public Interest in the Field of Public Information it should have been updated by 31 December 2025.
The journalists’ and media associations (Association of Independent Electronic Media – AIEM, Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia – IJAS, Journalists’ Association of Serbia – JAS, Media Association, and Local Press) point out that it is problematic that objections to the preliminary scoring list may be submitted exclusively by the candidates themselves, and only if they notice that, based on the documentation they submitted, they were not adequately scored by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications.
By preventing the interested public, as well as media and journalists’ organizations, from accessing the biographies and filing objections regarding the scores awarded to individual candidates, transparency in the scoring process of those who will decide on the allocation of state budget funds at all levels of government is undermined.
Moreover, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications plans to publish the biographies only after the final list is adopted, when changes will no longer be possible on the basis of potentially identified and indicated irregularities.
The selection of candidates for commission membership is one of the most important processes in the field of project co-financing, given that commission members are tasked with evaluating media projects and proposing the allocation of state budget funds at the local, provincial, and national levels. It is therefore of utmost importance that these tasks be carried out by truly competent, professional, incorruptible individuals with integrity.
Citizens’ access to information on matters of public interest, the development of media pluralism, and ultimately the survival and development of media in Serbia depend on the assessments made by commission members.
For this reason, the undersigned associations and organizations request that all submitted biographies be published immediately, so that the entire process can be subject to public scrutiny, as is customary in democratic societies for activities of such significance conducted under the auspices of state institutions.
Association of Independent Electronic Media (AIEM)
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
Journalists’ Association of Serbia (JAS)
Media Association
Local Press
