Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

In the year 2009 following the dramatic decrease in collection of fees, the overall funding of public media in Serbia
reached 90 million EUR 66 , the equivalent of 0.29% of GDP.
However, as we shall see the percentage of public media support in Serbia is fairly similar to that found in the three
selected EU Member States. The absolute amount reflecting the Serbian economy is low in comparison to the EU
Member States.
2.7.4.2 PRESS AGENCY TANJUG
The national state owned press agency TANJUG is formally a relic of former Yugoslavia, with a long professional
tradition, as well as abuse during the Milosevic government. However, documentation from TANJUG’s archive has
in recent years been used to throw light on war crimes, which shows the importance of this type national
institution. TANJUG perceives itself as a unique, professional institution, self-confident, and up-to-date.
TANJUG is the Serbian representative at the European Association of Press Agencies. It has lost its regional market
share in recent years, is burdened by a significant budget debt of 1.3 million EUR, but is gradually improving the
quality of news and services. The management is preparing a strategy for transformation of its legal status but is
entirely dependent on its owners’ decisions.
According to related legal provisions all parliamentary parties supervise the agency. 60% of the budget is given
from the state as public aid and 40% is gained by commercial activities. TANJUG considers its products to have a
fair market price. It has tried to distinguish between the “public obligation portion of information”, mostly of
economical nature, which it considers to be fairly subsidized by state, and the “market oriented” multimedia
products such as audiovisual services and interactive/web services, which represent the commercial dimension of
the press agency services.
66 65 million license fee plus 25 million euro estimated other sources
69