Serbia signs new broadcasting contract

The Serbian Ministry of Culture and Radio Yugoslavia/International Radio Serbia have concluded the contract on the basis of which the station will continue to broadcast programs via satellite and the Internet and in 11 foreign languages in addition to Serbian.
The contract on the co-financing that will be valid by the end of this year was signed by representatives of the Ministry and the radio station. Representatives of International Radio Serbia said that during the next week talks will be held on the social programme for a certain number of radio employees.
(Source: International Radio Serbia)

Andy Sennitt comments: The only distribution platforms mentioned are satellite and the Internet, so it would appear that the station intends to drop shortwave distribution for at least some of the languages, which explains the planned discussions on the ’social programme’, another term for redundancy.

(R. Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

International Radio of Serbia may drop six languages

The International Radio of Serbia (aka Radio Yugoslavia ) has received a draft contract from the Ministry of Culture, according to which the French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Greek and Arab services should be disbanded, while the remaining programmes would be broadcast in English, Chinese, Russian, Albanian, Spanish and Serbian.

The contract is not acceptable, said Station Director Milena Jokic, who resigned a month ago because of the official attitude towards the station. She said that the proposed contract has a number of legal shortcomings, and that closing down of those programmes does not save anything, because it would only close down ten jobs, and leave the entire infrastructure unchanged.

Ms Dokic also said that the programme in Arabic has a strong foothold in the Arab countries, so that it would practically mean the end of one important channel of communication. She confirmed that nobody from the International Radio of Serbia was consulted when the contract was drafted. She expressed the hope that, instead of closing down the programmes, the Ministry of Culture will offer a provisional contract on the financing of the station by the end of the year, after which another solution for savings will be found.

The editor-in-chief of Radio Belgrade, Dusan Radulovic, supports Ms Dokic, and said in an interview with the station that “the shortwave broadcasts should not be cancelled, and if the country wishes to make some savings, it should decrease the number of various advisors, for example.”

Mr Radulovic agrees that the savings achieved by disbanding these services would be insignificant, since the transmitter is already working around the clock, and the satellite channel has been rented for a long-term. “I believe that the cancellation of these services should be discussed again. The Government needs to think about the function of a station such as Radio Yugoslavia. Many countries in the region have tackled the same issue, and their world services are functioning normally”, added Mr Radulovic.

With regard to the request from the Ministry of Culture to provide information about the number of listeners of Radio Yugoslavia, he described it as meaningless. “I could have the greatest number of listeners, if I would try to follow the line of least resistance and adapt to the public taste. We have a social interest to preserve stations like this”, Dusan Radulovic concluded. (R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Full story at: http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7900&Itemid=32

International Radio of Serbia facing financial problems

Here is the English text of a union's appeal for the survival of the International Radio of Serbia (formerly Radio Yugoslavia). The text is available in 11 languages at: http://www.glassrbije.org/ap/en/content/survival-radio-yugoslavia-called-question

The Trade Union of Radio Yugoslavia (International Radio Serbia) hereby wants to inform the public of the very difficult situation which employees in this media house have faced 73 years after its foundation. The reason for such a situation is not only the undefined status of our house, but also the irregular financing of its activities, which includes the issue of employees' salaries.

Although there is a 2009 budget rebalance ahead, Radio Yugoslavia has not received any official information from the Ministry of Culture on the amount of this year's budget installment intended for the activities of our house. The financing of Radio Yugoslavia being defined in the budget under the entry subsidies, employees rightly fear that there will be a lump sum reduction of an annual installment, which will threaten the functioning and future of our house. After the previously adopted 2009 budget, monthly funds for Radio Yugoslavia were reduced by 12% compared with last year's monthly budget installment, which led to a reduction of employees' salaries to the same extent early this year. On the other hand, the irregular transfer of funds has threatened programme functioning, due to unsettled debts for electricity, satellite, internet, telephones, etc. If the financing of Radio Yugoslavia is not precisely defined in the budget of the Republic of Serbia and the total annual installment is reduced by another 20% judging by the announced Ministry's measures, employees in Radio Yugoslavia fear with much reason that the future of our media house and the existence of their families as well will be seriously threatened.

We expect the competent institutions of the Republic of Serbia and above all the Ministry of Culture and Minister Nebojsa Bradi´c to take the problem we have faced seriously and to offer a solution to the future financing of Radio Yugoslavia as soon as possible, which solution would not differ to the financing of employees in the Ministry of Culture. If not, employees in Radio Yugoslavia will be compelled to radicalize their battle for the survival of their radio.

The Trade Union hereby appeals to its colleagues in Serbia and abroad and to listeners to support the efforts of Radio Yugoslavia to preserve one of the oldest radio stations in the world. You can send your e-mails of support to the address radioju@sbb.rs. (Cobisi, Apr 25)
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