RTS 1
Radio Television Serbia 1, the country’s main public broadcasting channel, was developed from Radio Television Belgrade (RTB) founded in 1958 and is the most watched electronic media in Serbia. Four editorial directors are in charge of informational, educational, entertainment and cultural programs. The Program Council takes care of the PBS' quality of program and audience’s interests. Representation and leadership are delegated to Director-General and the Management Board. Election of members of RTS governing bodies has always been publicly disputed, mostly due to alleged political influence.
RTS 1 is obliged by the Law on Public Broadcasters to produce a program for a wide audience, paying special attention to the public interest and minorities. During 2015 the average viewer spent two hours a day watching RTS 1. Most watched were either TV series domestically produced by RTS or live coverage of sports events. News and political debates make up 30% of the entire production, but as the Novi Sad School of Journalism reports ‘controversial topics are often avoided and central executive authorities receive privileged treatment compared to other social entities.’ Recently a great deal of discontent has been publicly voiced, both among the employees and the general public, regarding the way in which RTS functions.
Participants of public protests, which took place after Aleksandar Vucic was elected president in April 2017, demanded dismissal of editors and management due to biased reporting during the presidential election campaign. Alongside, employees and members of the Nezavisnost employees union announced strikes requesting pay rises and full-time contracts for all employees.
Audience Share
19.47%
Ownership Type
public
Geographic Coverage
national
Content Type
free (subscription fee 150 RSD)
Media Companies / Groups
PBS RTS
Ownership Structure
The lead bodies of the PBS include nine members of the Management Board and the Director-general while the fifteen Program Counselors have an advisory role. The Council of Regulators (Regulatory Body of Electronic Media) elects nine management board members for a period of five years trough a public competition. The Management Board elects the Director-General and members of the Program Council, who are proposed by the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Information. Recent elections of the Board Members raised controversy in January 2016, when all six Members of the Council of Regulators voted for the same nine candidates out of 52 possible candidates. the chosen candidates were individuals considered close to the ruling party. The Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia and Vojvodina requested information on the criteria through which the nine candidates were selected, but their request was ignored.
Group / Individual Owner
Republic of Serbia
General Information
Founding Year
1958
Founder
Missing Data
Ceo
Dragan Bujosevic
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Established journalist, once the Editor-in-chief of weekly Evropljanin and daily Politika and a journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of NIN. Hosted political talk shows 'Nije srpski cutati' on BK TV and 'Stav Srbije' on Prva TV. Bujosevic published 'October 5th – 24 hours coup' a book describing how Milosevic's regime fell. Although portrayed as the Democratic Party candidate by the pro-government media such as Informer or TV Pink, Bujosevic did not introduce program changes in favor of the party since being elected in May 2015 by the RTS Management Board.
Editor-In-Chief
Nenad Lj. Stefanovic – Editor-In-Chief of News Program, Olivera Kovacevic – Editor-In-Chief of Amusement Program; Nebojsa Bradic – Editor-In-Chief of Arts and Culture Program; Ilija Cerovic - Editor-In-Chief of Education and Science Program
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Nenad Lj. Stefanovic - established journalist who worked in the daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti and weekly Vreme. Known for reporting from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague and being the only Yugoslavian reporter in East Berlin when the Berlin Wall fell. Stefanovic was first elected Acting Editor-In-Chief of News Program back in 2004.
Olivera Kovacevic - most known for her current affairs talk show 'Da mozda ne' which has been airing on RTS 1 for seven years. Kovacevic started at the former TV Politika editing daily news. After the democratic changes in 2000 Kovacevic moved to TV Pink as news editor and after a while became an author of a the talk show Klopka. Kovacevic moved the show Klopka from TV Pink to BK TV in January 2004 and stayed until the TV lost its frequency in 2006.
Nebojsa Bradic - Noted theatre director who worked as general manager in Serbian established theaters, including National Theatre in Belgrade, Atelje 212 and Belgrade Drama Theatre. An active member of G17+, the former political party led by Mladjan Dinkic and a member of the party's Main Board. Bradic was Minister of Information between 2008 and 2011.
Ilija Cerovic - part of RTS's science program since 1991. Archaeologist and author of more than 200 documentaries, TV shows and interviews for RTS.
Other Important People
Vladimir Vuletic - Head of Managemant Board
Milivoje Pavlovic - Head of Program Council
Contact
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Headlines
Meta Data
MOM Team sent FOI request to RTS on May 9th 2017 asking for separate financial information (RTS 1, RTS 2, Radio Belgrade 1 and Radio 202). Response came in on 16th of June with an explanation that RTS does not have a record of RTS's financial data separately for every program. In that sense, MOM team was not able to provide financial information for this particular outlet.
