Pursuant to Article 16, paragraph 1, item 4 and Article 20 of the Law on Public Information and Media (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 92/2023), the Decree on the Conditions and Criteria for the Compatibility of State Aid in the Field of Public Information (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 9/2022 and 32/2023), the Decree on the Rules and Conditions for Granting Minor Aid (de minimis aid) (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 23/2021), the Rulebook on Co-financing Projects for the Realisation of the Public Interest in the Field of Public Information (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 6/2024), the Decision on the Budget of the City of Smederevo for 2024 (“Official Gazette of the City of Smederevo”, No. 3/2024) and the Statute of the City of Smederevo (“Official Gazette of the City of Smederevo”, No. 2/2019, consolidated text),
the City Council of the City of Smederevo, at its 8th session held on 1 April 2024, adopted the following
Public call
to take part in the Call for applications for co-financing media content production projects in the field of public information in the territory of the City of Smederevo in 2024
The Call is issued to provide financial support for the production of media content that contributes to the realisation of the public interest in the field of public information of citizens in the territory of the City of Smederevo, as defined in Article 15 of the Law on Public Information and Media, and is published on the website of the City of Smederevo.
The funds allocated for this Call amount to RSD 3,000,000.
The minimum amount that can be approved for co-financing a project is RSD 10,000 and the maximum is RSD 500,000.
A participant in the call for the production of media content for print media and news agencies, in accordance with the rules and conditions for granting minor aid (de minimis aid), may apply for co-financing of a project in an amount not exceeding 80% of the eligible costs of the proposed project, up to the maximum amount set by the call.
A participant in the call for the production of media content of local importance for radio and online media, in accordance with the conditions and criteria for the compatibility of state aid in the field of public information, may apply for co-financing of a project in an amount not exceeding 80% of the eligible costs of the proposed project, up to the maximum amount set by the call.
A participant in the call for the production of media content for television, in accordance with the conditions and criteria for the compatibility of state aid in the field of public information, may apply for co-financing of projects in an amount not exceeding 50% of the eligible costs of media content production, up to the maximum amount set by the call.
Exceptionally, in accordance with the conditions and criteria for granting state aid in the field of public information and with Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Law on Public Information and Media (hereinafter: the Law), a participant in the call for the production of media content for television may apply for co-financing of projects in an amount not exceeding 80% of the eligible costs, if the call is issued for media content production projects whose commercial exploitation is not envisaged, namely for:
- the production of media content intended for socially vulnerable groups, such as children and young people, women, older people, socially and medically vulnerable persons, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBT community, members of ethnic minorities, etc.;
- the production of media content intended to preserve and express the cultural identity of both the Serbian people and national minorities, bearing in mind that national minorities should be able to follow certain programme units in their mother tongue and script;
- the production of media content that promotes and affirms subjects in the fields of science and general education, including media literacy as part of the education system, health education and environmental education;
- the production of media content intended to inform our citizens abroad in Serbian, as well as members of the Serbian people living outside the territory of the Republic of Serbia;
- the production of media content intended to present cultural heritage and
artistic creation in the country and abroad.
The Call is issued and funds are awarded for projects whose implementation may last up to one year from the date of the decision on the award of funds.
When the contract is concluded with each beneficiary, a deadline for implementing the project is set in line with the plan of project activities.
Eligibility
The following are eligible to take part in the Call:
1) a publisher whose medium is entered in the Media Register in accordance with the law and which has
the appropriate authorisation to provide a media service in accordance with the law governing electronic media, or which is entered in the Register of Media Services kept by the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, in the case of electronic media;
2) a person engaged in the production of media content who submits proof, not older than 30 days, that the co-financed media content will be delivered through a medium that meets the conditions under item 1.
Micro, small and medium-sized legal entities and sole traders are eligible to take part in the Call for the production of media content in print and digital format.
Micro, small, medium-sized and large legal entities and sole traders are eligible to take part in the Call for the production of media content for television.
Publishers, or persons engaged in the production of media content, are not eligible to take part in the call with the same project that has been supported in calls of the Republic of Serbia, the autonomous province or a local government unit and for which the beneficiary has submitted a project implementation report to the authority.
Publishers with a medium in which the basic details of the medium have not been published in the form of an imprint are not eligible to take part in the call.
Publishers financed from public revenue to carry out activities in the field of public information are not eligible to take part in the call.
Applicants who received funds for co-financing a project in a call of the Republic of Serbia, the autonomous province or a local government unit and did not submit, within the period set in the contract and in the prescribed form, a narrative and financial report and the media content produced, or proof of the project’s implementation, are not eligible to take part in the call.
Applicants who received funds for co-financing a project in a call of the Republic of Serbia, the autonomous province or a local government unit and who are found to have spent them for purposes other than those intended, or not to have fulfilled their contractual obligation, are not eligible to take part in the call.
Persons subject to proceedings for the recovery of state aid or de minimis aid, and persons who were in difficulty within the meaning of the regulations on state aid control, are not eligible to take part in the Call.
Conditions for taking part in the call
A participant in the Call may apply with only one project.
A publisher of several media may take part in the Call with one project for each medium.
A project within the meaning of the Law means a complete programme unit or part of a unit (by genre and time) that contributes to the realisation of the public interest set out in Article 15 of the Law.
Funds are awarded for the production of new media content, in line with the planned activities set out in the project, in which the share of content taken from other sources or of archive footage may not exceed 20 per cent, and content from other sources and archive footage must be clearly marked.
Documentary material (video and audio recordings and photographs) used for illustration in the production of new media content (documentary and other programmes) is not included in this percentage.
A project within the meaning of the Law does not include day-to-day coverage of social, economic, political, cultural, sporting and other events (news, the main news programme, the morning programme, the daily round-up, etc.).
A participant in the call who does not have the appropriate capacity may engage another person to produce media content whose value does not exceed 20% of the amount of funds awarded by the authority for the implementation of the project.
A person engaged to produce part of the media content may not be employed by the publisher or be a person related to the publisher within the meaning of the law governing the legal status of companies and other forms of organisation.
Sole traders who have ceased trading are not eligible to take part in the Call.
Criteria for evaluating projects
The general criteria are:
- The extent to which the proposed project activity is suited to realising the public interest in the field of public information, with particular regard to:
1. the relevance of the project;
2. the feasibility of the project;
3. the monitoring of project implementation;
4. the capacities of the project proposer;
5. the accessibility of the content to the target group;
6. the budget and the justification of costs.
- The extent to which the medium through which the project will be implemented adheres to professional and ethical standards:
1. whether measures have been imposed on the medium through which the project will be implemented by
state authorities, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media or the Press
Council in the past year for violating professional and ethical
standards;
2. the seriousness of the violations and how often they have been repeated.
Documents
The participant in the Call must submit the following documents, arranged in the order listed:
- The completed and signed application (Form 1) in three copies
Form 1 consists of the project proposal and the project budget and can be downloaded from the website of the City of Smederevo
- The scoring sheet for evaluating the media content production project (Form 4) in three copies.
On the scoring sheet, applicants fill in:
Name of the public authority:
Name of the call:
Applicant:
The project proposal, the project budget and the scoring sheet must be fastened together as one set (each copy must be a separate set, without binding)
- Proof (confirmation) that the media content will be broadcast/published in a medium entered in the Media Register (mandatory only for persons engaged in the production of media content who are not media publishers) in one copy
- A copy of the latest issue of the newspaper in which the media content will be published (for print media) in one copy
- A statement by the participant (in free form) that the content produced will not be commercially exploited (for projects whose commercial exploitation is not envisaged) in one copy
- A statement by the participant (in free form) that the project could not be implemented without the award of state aid, or that the project could not be implemented with any instrument of state aid other than subsidies (non-repayable funds) (for television, radio and online media) in one copy
- A statement by the participant (in free form) on the total amount of funds awarded to them as minor aid (de minimis aid) in the current and the previous two calendar years (for print media and news agencies) in one copy.
- A statement by the participant (in free form) that they are not subject to proceedings for the recovery of state aid or de minimis aid and have not been in difficulty within the meaning of the regulations on state aid control in one copy.
Deadlines
The Call is open from 1 April 2024 to 20 April 2024.
The decision on the allocation of funds is adopted no later than 90 days from the close of the Call. The decision is adopted in the form of a reasoned ruling.
Invitation to take part in the work of the expert commission
The projects submitted to the Call are evaluated by an expert commission appointed by the City Council of the City of Smederevo.
Journalists’ and media associations are invited to propose members of the expert commission in writing.
Media theorists, analysts and practitioners interested in taking part in the work of the commission are invited to propose themselves as commission members in writing.
Proposals for commission members are submitted on the Application Form for Commission Members (Form 3), published on the website of the City of Smederevo.
The persons proposed must not have a conflict of interest or hold public office, in accordance with the anti-corruption rules.
Associations and media theorists, analysts and practitioners may send proposals for expert commission members within 10 days of the publication of the Call on the website of the City of Smederevo.
Applications are to be sent to the address of the City of Smederevo: City of Smederevo, City Administration of the City of Smederevo, Omladinska 1, 11300 Smederevo, marked: “Application to take part in the work of the call commission for the Call for applications for co-financing media content production projects in the field of public information in the territory of the City of Smederevo in 2024”.
Method of application
Project applications to the Call are to be sent exclusively by post in a separate envelope marked: for the Call for applications for co-financing media content production projects in the field of public information in the territory of the City of Smederevo in 2024, to the address: City of Smederevo, City Administration of the City of Smederevo, Omladinska 1.
Application materials will not be returned.
Applications that do not meet the conditions for taking part in the call, applications submitted after the prescribed deadline, and applications on the wrong form will be rejected.
Further information can be obtained on working days from 8:00 to 15:00 by telephone: 026/672-724, ext. 1712.
Publication of the decision on the allocation of funds
The ruling on the allocation of funds under the Call will be published on the website of the City of Smederevo and delivered to all participants in the Call electronically.
A contract will be concluded only with a person who has been awarded funds and whose account is not blocked at the time the contract is concluded.
Note
All rights and obligations not set out in this Call are governed by the relevant provisions of the Law on Public Information and Media, the Rulebook on Co-financing Projects for the Realisation of the Public Interest in the Field of Public Information and other applicable regulations.
City Council of the City of Smederevo
No. 051-41/2024-09
Smederevo, 1 April 2024
PRESIDENT
OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Jasmina Vojinović
Forms to download: