Relations between state institutions and the media in Serbia often leave much to be desired. Interaction between government press services and journalists in Serbian provinces and municipalities is frequently impeded by a failure to understand mutual needs and concerns as well as insufficient professional training.

Press officers and spokespersons in the recently established press departments of many state bodies have generally not been trained to handle media requests and enquiries professionally.

Local public media, for their part, remain vulnerable to political influence, in spite of major government reforms of the legal framework regulating media work. Newly appointed authorities tend to replace media staff with persons sharing their political affiliation. This state of affairs erodes the trust of the audience, and the quality of the coverage of municipal affairs suffers.

Independent media outlets, feeling the pressure of the current economic crisis, are often turning away from reporting on municipal affairs altogether in favour of more lucrative commercial entertainment.

OSCE courses

In order to help improve co-operation between municipal and media representatives, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM) organized two training seminars in Belgrade on access to information for some 60 press officers and journalists from across Serbia in November 2008 and March 2009.

The RFOM Office has organized similar training courses in other OSCE regions, but Serbia was the first State in South-Eastern Europe to host such an event.

"We are trying to build stronger and more principled links between municipal bodies and journalists, in order to improve media coverage of community affairs and increase public trust in both the authorities and the media," explained Ivana Jovanovic, Acting Head of the Press and Public Information Unit at the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Encouraging mutual understanding

In the seminars, international and local experts shared their knowledge of the technical, legal and ethical aspects of the interaction between municipal officials and journalists, as well as of global standards on access to information.

The seminars also included simulations of press conferences, in which press officers and journalists switched roles. This approach gave both parties an opportunity to understand each other's needs and to define a way forward.

"It is important for us to reflect on these aspects of our job," commented Mentor Nuhiu, a member of the cabinet of the mayor of Presevo who participated in one of the seminars. "Considering the relatively recent creation of press offices in many municipal institutions, there is often a need for us to improve our skills in order to establish effective contacts with journalists," he explained.

Tom Kelly, Resident Senior Director of the National Democratic Institute and one of the international trainers, expressed his satisfaction at seeing so many officials and journalists from all over Serbia making an effort to improve the quality of their service to citizens. "I myself have been a print journalist and a press officer and I deem it very important to see these two parties working together," he said.

Different regions, similar problems

The participants in the courses came from different regions that are nonetheless subject to similar difficulties.

"It was important for me to have the possibility of networking and exchanging experiences with colleagues from the local media of other parts of Serbia, as well as to interact with officers from different municipalities," said Snezana Kalic, a young but experienced journalist from the south-western city of Novi Pazar who works for the local TV station Regionalna.

"For example, our difficulties in southern Serbia come partly from the multiethnic and multilingual nature of our society, which is mirrored in the media and municipal institutions. It was very helpful to discuss sensitive aspects of our situation with our colleagues from Vojvodina, a region with a similarly multiethnic character," Kalic elaborated.

According to Alexander Boldyrev, Senior Adviser to the RFOM and manager of the training project, training events such as these are important steps for consolidating democracy in Serbia. "We believe that these courses have contributed to better implementation of the good legal framework that has been created in the country. We hope to see other states of this region following Serbia's example and hosting similar events," he said.