We are proud to announce that ANEM TV series "Mirror of Power" has won valuable awards in two recently organized contests for media pieces - the UNDP Serbia's contest for best media pieces - monitoring of public spending and the contest for the best media piece in the field of local self-governance, organized by the Council of Europe and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities. Jelena Aleksic, journalist of this ANEM TV series, is one of four award winners in the first contest for investigative media pieces on monitoring of public spending, while in the second contest, she and journalist Sandra Mandic have won the award for this series among total of six award winners in the category of the best national electronic media piece.

The awarded TV series "Mirror of Power" consists of 20 10-minute long programs, through which ANEM strived to contribute to a greater knowledge and education of citizens on the problem of corruption and its concrete forms of manifestation, as well as to encourage them to get involved in the fight against corruption and to strengthen the control over the work of the public office holders. Programs cover the specific stories from local communities in apprehensible and interesting form, aimed at wide audience and presented as a mirror of functioning of state and local self-government institutions, in which forms of corruptive behavior and possible sources of corruption could be recognized. The series was realized in cooperation with the production company "A-media", with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society Serbia (FOSS). The series was broadcast on 26 ANEM regional and local TV stations across Serbia, in the period between December 2010 and April 2011.

The contest of UNDP Serbia, within which the journalist of ANEM series has won the award, was aimed at young journalists (up to 35 years of age), who prepared investigative pieces in monitoring of public spending, by which UNDP Serbia strived to encourage investigative journalism in this field and to contribute to drawing public attention to the issues of transparency and accountability in public spending, thus supporting the efforts in the fight against corruption. Out of 14 received applications, the expert jury composed of representatives of UNDP and journalists proposed by NUNS and UNS, selected four journalists for the award. The prize is a group study visit to a country with a strong media and journalism tradition and an advanced practice in investigative reporting, where the winners will get acquainted with the work of reputable media-support organizations and institutions that nurture cutting-edge investigative journalism practice and advocate highest professional standards.

The contest for the best media piece in the field of local self-governance, in the organization of the Council of Europe and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, is part of the Council of Europe's program - Strengthening local self-governance, whose aim is providing help to central and local government in Serbia in establishing more efficient system of local-self-governance. Among more than 60 received media pieces, the expert jury selected the best seven, whose authors have been awarded with the study visit to Strasburg and Paris, where they will visit renowned media houses and institutions of European Union based in Strasburg.

The awards to journalists for their work on the series "Mirror of Power" are not only confirmation of the quality of ANEM productions but also incentive for ANEM to continue to produce radio and TV series for its stations, namely the series through which it encourages investigative journalism, creativity of journalists and contribute to strengthening the role of media in democratization of the society.

The production and broadcasting of TV series "Mirror of Power" was completed. ANEM realized this series in cooperation with the production company A-media and it was jointly supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society Serbia (FOSS).

TV series "Mirror of Power" dealt in an informative and educational way with the topics related to the problem of corruption in our society.

During five months of broadcasting on 26 ANEM TV stations, viewers throughout Serbia  had the opportunity to see ones a week a total of 20 ten-minute long episodes of the series, that throuh specific stories talked about the various forms of corrupt behavior and a possible sources of corruption.

Considering corruption as one of the key issues for the democratization of society and establishing the rule of law, by producing the TV series, through a media campaign, ANEM aimed at increasing awareness of citizens about the problem of corruption and its specific forms, as well as at encouraging them to get involved into the fight against corruption and improving control of the work of public office holders.

The episodes were recorded throughout Serbia and realized with the engagement of two journalists from Belgrade and journalists from local media. With this engagement, ANEM has sought to contribute to their professional qualities, and to encourage local media to be actively involved in investigative journalism and the topics related to this issue.

The episodes had premiere broadcasting in the period from December 2010 until April 2011 on ANEM regional and local TV stations. After the broadcasting, ANEM published on its web site 15 selected episodes, allowing them to be accessible to even more people. Also, in the newly opened section "Polls" on the home page of the web site, the first poll and the next few will be related to this series. By participating in these polls, all visitors will be able to vote for the best episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power".

Although the premiere broadcasting on ANEM stations was ended, selected episodes of the series will still be available on our website in the section Production/Mirror of Power.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

Broadcasting of the 20th episode marked the end the ANEM TV series "Mirror of power" produced in cooperation with production company A-Media. 

You have had the opportunity to watch selected 12 episodes of this series on ANEM website, and now you can see the last 3 episodes broadcast during April 2011.

In the first of these three episode, namely the eighteenth episode of the series, you could learn why citizens of Secanj still do not have the sewage system in this small Serbian town, despite the fact that the contract for the sewage installation was signed back in 2006 and around 70 million dinars have already been invested in this project. In this episode you can see where the problem is and why the work that could have been finished in 150 days has been prolonged to over 5 years? In the nineteenth episode you can see why the Ombudsman has issued a recommendation to Belgrade municipality Lazarevac for conducting more transparent work and better protecting citizens' interests in the procedure of expropriation for the purpose of expanding of "Kolubara" mining basin. The final, twentieth episode, summarizes up the impressions about the whole series and in this episode the experts for anti-corruption elaborate on the possible improvements in fighting this burdening problem. Besides education, more stringent sanctions and greater transparency, the experts are suggesting learning from positive practice of other countries.

In the media set you can see the last three episodes of the series. We remind you on their brief description in the attachment below:

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

New set of selected episodes of "Mirror of Power" available here, on ANEM website, were aired on ANEM stations throughout Serbia during February and March 2011. Once again, we have made a selection of 6 the most interesting episodes for you.

The first of newly selected set that can be watched online on ANEM website is the ninth episode of the series, recorded in Novi Sad, about this town's urban (un)planning. You can find out what urban planning "solutions" have been used in Novi Sad and why more than 200 detailed regulation plans have been adopted for the past 10 years. The next is the tenth episode, about the public figures not being too eager to make available information on the manner in which the public money is spent, which is exactly the reason why the Belgrade municipality Rakovica was obliged to pay 2 fines amounting to 200.000 dinars. The eleventh episode of the series is recorded in Nis and treats the problems in managing city's Symphonic Orchestra. As the public has show great interest in this episode, we recommend you see it again here on ANEM website, where you can also see the fourteenth episode of the series, recorded in Majdanpek, that deals with the question why the citizens in this Serbian town are still paying 2 percent of taxes for social security, health insurance charges and other remuneration-related costs, despite the necessity to collect the required amount of money through this tax had ceased back in 2008. Links to the remaining two episodes, fifteenth and seventeenth, are available at the end of this text; the fifteenth is recorded in Leskovac and it examines why and how has municipality donated the building of local Army Hall to a 25 years of free-of-charge use to the London-based college "City of London", although the municipality has bought this building out of the Serbian Army by compensating 22 apartments and 2 construction lots worth 1.2 million Euros. In the seventeenth episode, recorded in Belgrade, you will find out to what extent has the work of public authorities been transparent, namely, whether all 17 Belgrade municipalities have met their legal obligation to publish the Informatory on operations on their websites, as they have been required to do as of January 2011 by the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

We invite you to see all these episodes on links below and find out why they have been selected as the most interesting.

April is the last month of the TV series "Mirror of Power" broadcasting. In cooperation with production company A-media, ANEM is preparing the remaining three episodes of this series dealing with the problem of corruption in Serbia.

In the first April episode, namely the eighteenth episode of the series, you could learn why citizens of Secanj still do not have the sewage system in this small Serbian town, despite the fact that the contract for the sewage installation was signed back in 2006 and around 70 million dinars have already been invested in this project. Where is the problem and why the work that could have been finished in a 150 days has been prolonged to over 5 years? Charges for criminal offense have been filed against the investor and contractors, so the court would decide who was responsible. Nevertheless, in the end, the citizens of Secanj are the ones suffering the most.

The information on the contents of the 2 remaining April episodes will also be available here, in line with the dynamics of their broadcasting.

The nineteenth episode of the series, recorded in Lazarevac, examines why the Ombudsman has issued a recommendation to Belgrade municipality Lazarevac and surroundings for conducting more transparent work and better protecting citizens' interests in the procedure of expropriation for the purpose of expanding of "Kolubara" mining basin. Some citizens have objected to non-transparent criteria for compensation of all supporting facilities. In addition to competent legal services of "Kolubara" and municipality of Lazarevac, the Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic also speaks for the series.

In the final episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power", the experts for anti-corruption, Cedomir Cupic, Verica Barac, Sasa Jankovic, Rodoljub Sabic and Nemanja Nenadic, elaborate on the possible improvements in fighting this burdening problem, presented and tackled through nineteen episodes of the series, which affects citizens' lives. Besides education, more stringent sanctions and greater transparency, the experts are suggesting learning from positive examples of other countries.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

For March 2011, ANEM has prepared, in cooperation with A-media Production Company, 5 new episodes of the TV series "Mirror of Power" that presents the different aspects of the problem of potential corruption in local communities.

The thirteenth episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power" deals with the issue of the business conduct of the local community "Berbersko-bolnica" in Zrenjanin. "It's not their money, it's ours", says the resident of this local community and one of the signatory to the citizens' petition aimed at urging the local authorities to look into the business conduct in this community. The budgetary inspector found that, instead for asphalting streets, the funds were inappropriately used for other purposes. One of the former chairmen of the Local Community Council, as well as Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, speaks for this episode of the series.

The fourteenth episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power" was recorded in Majdanpek and it deals with the following: The decision of the City of Majdanpek's Community Council in 2006 introduced a voluntary tax (self-contribution). This decision stipulates the deduction of 2 percent from monthly salaries of employees at public entities. The decision also provides for this tax to be valid until June this year, by which time 32 million dinars should be collected. Despite the fact that the designated amount was raised back in 2008, this personal contribution tax is still, however, charged. Why is it so - is one of the questions that the president of the City's Local Community Gorcilo Potpara and Majdanpek Mayor Dragan Popovic answer in this episode. Whether the law has been violated in this case and how, is the question that we asked the Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic and Verica Barac from the Anti-Corruption Council.

The fifteenth episode investigates the story in Leskovac, where this municipality has given the London-based City of London College the permission to use the local Army Hall for a period of 25 years. The sixteenth episode raises the question whether and to what extent the pubic companies in Novi Sad are overstaffed. The seventeenth episode is recorded in Belgrade and investigates whether all Belgrade municipalities have published the legally required Informatory of work on their websites.

The information on the contents of the 3 remaining March episodes will be attached at the end of this text, in line with the dynamics of their broadcasting.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

 This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

On the ANEM web site, now you can watch the most interesting episodes of the TV series "Mirror of Power"! This TV series, produced in cooperation of ANEM and A-media production company, which has been broadcast on ANEM regional and local stations throughout Serbia since December 2010, aims to inform and educate citizens about the problem of corruption and contribute to its suppression and prevention.

Hereafter, you can watch the most interesting episodes of the series we prepared for you, epizodes that were broadcast in December 2010 and January 2011, and we remind you about their short description, which is enclosed below.

For February 2011, ANEM has prepared, in cooperation with A-media Production Company, 4 new episodes of the TV series "Mirror of Power" about the problem of potential corruption in local communities.

The ninth episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power" deals with the issue of Novi Sad town (un)planning. Images of city areas show that not much attention is paid to the look or the arrangement of certain neighborhoods. However, what the Department of City Development has to say about that? That there is urban disorder brought into practice confirms the fact that during the last few years, the so-called detailed regulatory plans have been constantly changing, while for the past 10 years, over 200 of them have been adopted. Whether such changes are necessary due to modifications in the field and why the plans have been changed so often is the question we asked Tatjana Gasevic from the Department of City Development. The answers to this question were sought also at the Museum of Contemporary Art Novi Sad and at the NGO Transparency Serbia.

The tenth episode of the TV series "Mirror of Power" tackles the issue of public officials not being ready to make available information to citizens on how is the public money spent. When the Center for Non-Profit Sector Development requested the information on donations to non-government organizations from 167 cities and municipalities in Serbia, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance had to arbitrate in one third of cases. The Belgrade municipality Rakovica was even obliged to pay 2 fines amounting 200.000 RSD for failing to provide citizens with requested information, as an obligation imposed by the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

The eleventh episode, recorded in Nis, tackles the arbitrariness of the Nis Symphonic Orchestra Management, while the twelfth episode deals with the conduct of public companies in Serbia and investigates if their work is being monitored, through example of the Public Company "Press, Radio and Film" in Bor.

The information on the contents of the remaining February episodes will be attached at the end of this text, in line with the dynamics of their broadcasting.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

For January 2011, we have prepared 4 new episodes of this series about the problem of corruption in local communities.

The fifth episode is exploring whether the public authorities are working strictly within their competence and to what extent are the citizens familiar with those powers? The new episode of the TV series "Mirror of power" follows the case of Head of the Department of Property and Legal Affairs in the Department of City Planning in Cacak, who has accused the Secretary of the Assembly of exerting pressure on him and interfering in his business. "There is a big difference if I have been called up by a superintendent or Cacak Assembly's secretary", he said. The Secretary of the City Assembly has requested dismissal of this officer.

The sixth episode of the series investigates how is the money from the budget in Nis spent on "reviving" of the city's airport. We were interested in what our interlocutors had to say about the subsidy of two airliners and investment of around 2 million Euros, mostly spent on booking of certain number of seats on every flight. Why were the flights from Nis to Forli discontinued after only 10 months? Nemanja Nenadic from the NGO "Transparency Serbia" says that the best way of clearing any doubt is the transparency in work.

The seventh episode of the series, recorded in Vranje, dealt with the business operations of the City Farmacy. The eighth episode brings the story about the unauthorized use of funds by the kindergarten "Milica Nozica" in Valjevo.

The announcements of remaining January episodes will be attached at the end of this text, in line with the dynamics of their broadcasting.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).

As of December 2010, ANEM TV stations will begin broadcasting the series "Mirror of Power", which aims to inform and educate citizens about the problem of corruption and contribute to its suppression and prevention. During five months (from December 2010 till April 2011), 20 ten-minute of this series, produced in cooperation of ANEM and A-media production company, will be broadcast once a week throughout Serbia.

In the first month of broadcasting, in December 2010, four episodes will be aired, the first of which seeks answers to questions of what corruption is and how the citizens of Serbia perceive it, while the remaining three episodes, initiated by specific stories from three local communities, deal with the possible forms of corrupt behavior.

The first episode deals with the definition of corruption and the answer to the question - how people react to this phenomenon and whether they accept corruption as an integral part of functioning of the society they live in. Answers to these questions, besides citizens, also provide representatives of professional bodies involved in the fight against corruption - Verica Barac (The Anti-Corruption Council), Zorana Markovic (the Anti-Corruption Agency), Rodoljub Sabic (Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data) and Nemanja Nenadic (NGO Transparency Serbia).

The second episode investigates the case of the building of Elementary School "Milovan Glisic" in Valjevo and tries to find out why this construction has lasted for 10 years. The latest in a series of problems related to this case, is the tender announced last year and annulled because of conditions it prescribed, due to which nearly half a million euros has been returned to the Ministry of Education and the municipal budget. Why the tender has prescribed such conditions, and who suffer the most damage, these are the questions to which the Deputy Mayor of Valjevo and representatives of the Valjevo opposition try to give answers in this episode. Is there a possibility that this tender has been fixed, Nemanja Nenadic of the Transparency Serbia will try to retort.

The link between the media and politics can also be an area in which forms of corrupt behavior could be identified. The third episode of this series, recorded in Uzice, deals with the phenomenon of funding of private media by local authorities. It also elaborates on whether the government put pressure on the media and the public with such type of financing, as well as so-called remunerated appearances on local TV stations. Interlocutors in this episode are, among others, the owners of TV and radio stations in Uzice, representatives of local authorities and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Rodoljub Sabic. The citizens of Uzice have also shared their thoughts about this topic and what is a good media reporting.

The fourth episode deals with the conflict of interest, through one specific case from the Kragujevac area. Kragujevac is the leading city in gasification compared to most cities in Serbia. All work related to gasification of the city facilities have been privately done by Zarko Mikic, owner of the K.G.-Uzor Company, who is at the same time an employee of the Directorate for Urban Planning which, inter alia, supervises the technical approval of buildings and installations, including gas installations. Mayor of Kragujevac, Veroljub Stevanovic, argues that the conflict of interest is an undefined category, while the opposition begs to differ. In this episode, the representatives of the Anti-Corruption Agency will attempt to resolve this dilemma.

The series will be broadcast on 26 ANEM regional and local TV stations: RTV OK (Kovacica), TV Jedinstvo (Novi Pazar), RTV Caribrod (Dimitrovgrad), TV VK (Kikinda), TV Smederevo (Smederevo), TV Spektar (Sombor), RTV Kragujevac (Kragujevac), TV Prima (Bajina Basta), TV Soko (Sokobanja), TV Santos (Zrenjanin), TV Valjevo Plus (Valjevo), TV Pozega (Pozega), TV Alfa (Uzice), TV Apolo (Novi Sad), TV Leskovac (Leskovac), TV Mlava (Petrovac on Mlava), TV B92 Info (Belgrade), TV Nezavisna 017 (Vranje), TV Pancevo (Pancevo), TV Timocka (Zajecar), TV YU Eco (Subotica), TV Sumadija (Arandjelovac), TV Trstenik (Trstenik), TV Krusevac (Krusevac), Niska TV (Nis), TV Cacak (Cacak).

TV series "Mirror of power" is being supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Open Society Serbia (FOS).

Corruption is one of the key problems for the democratization of society and establishing the rule of law. Aiming to contribute to a better understanding of the importance of its prevention, education of citizens about this problem and monitoring of the effects of repressive measures against corruption in Serbia, ANEM, in cooperation with the production company A-media launches a new TV series "Mirror of Power"!

The main goal of this TV series is to increase awareness of citizens, through a media campaign, about the problem of corruption and its specific forms, as well as to encourage them to get involved into the fight against corruption and improve control of the work of public office holders. Moreover, they will be informed on their right to know and control the decision making, how the decisions are implemented and public money spent and what instruments are available to them. Furthermore, the intention of the series is to support independent institutions for control, to influence more transparent conduct and behavior of officials, institutions and political parties and support local media to continually deal with this problem in the same manner.

The concept of the series is to present, in a popular manner and interesting form to the broadest audience, a specific story as a mirror of the functioning of the state and local governments' institutions, in which the forms of corrupt behavior and possible sources of corruption can be identified. The programs are consisted of such stories from local communities which can best draw the attention of citizens to the problem of corruption is in its various forms of manifestation, as they feel the consequences most directly in their everyday life. They also provide an opportunity for citizens to compare the behavior of local officials in their area with those from other communities. At the same time, the effects of the work of independent anti-corruption institutions in Serbia on local government could be monitored. The stories will also bring interviews with experts and representatives of independent bodies for control, citizens and responsible representatives of state and local governments, as well as representatives of political parties.

TV series "Mirror of Power" will focus on four thematic areas:

1. Respect for legality in the work of local institutions and officials

2. The transparency of work of local institutions and officials

3. Transparent, rational and effective spending of budget funds

4. Respect for the ethical principles in performing public office

The programs will be recorded in Belgrade and local communities (in the most part), and realized with the engagement of two journalists from Belgrade and eight from local media.

The series consists of 20 ten-minute long TV programs, which will be broadcast over five months, once a week on ANEM local and regional stations across Serbia, in the period from December 2010 until April 2011. Selected features will be available on ANEM web site after their premiere broadcasting.

This TV series is realized with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia (FOSS).