RTS 1
RTS 1, the main channel of the country's public broadcasting service, was developed from Radio Television Belgrade (RTB) founded in 1958 and it is the most watched electronic media in Serbia. Four editors are in charge of informational, educational, amusement and cultural programs while the Program Council oversees the quality of programming and public interest.
Management tasks are fulfilled by the General Director and Management Council. The election of the members of the RTS Managing Council was disputed by the public on the grounds that most of its members were connected to the ruling party.
RTS 1 is obliged under the Law on Public Broadcasters to produce program content in the wider public interest, paying special attention to the specific needs of national minorities.
The average viewer spent two hours a day watching RTS 1 during 2017. Most viewed were domestic TV series produced by RTS, live coverage of sports events or Dnevnik 2, the main evening news. Although informative news programming makes up 41% of the entire production (data from 2017), experts and many citizens feel dissatisfied with the quality of programming.
The informative news program is undoubtedly in the service of the Serbian Progressive Party according to the conclusions of an analysis of the central news program and monitoring of media reporting ahead of elections carried out over the last few years by the Novi Sad School of Journalism. It was precisely RTS’ avoidance of reporting on societal problems that became the reason for a large number of citizens to believe that this television station had lost its credibility.
The RTS building became a key point on the route of the protests organized in Belgrade for months every Saturday since the beginning of December 2018. In front of the building, the protest organizers read out the ‘main news’ of ‘free Serbia’, all those news stories which citizens could not hear on RTS’ main news, while speakers appealed to the editors and directors of RTS not to ignore reality.
Audience Share
19.25%
Ownership Type
Public
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free (subscription fee 220 RSD)
Media Companies / Groups
PBS RTS
Ownership Structure
The leading bodies of RTS include nine members of the Managing Council and General Director, while the fifteen members of the Program Council shape the program content. The Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) selects nine members of the Managing Council for a period of five years following a public selection process. The Managing Council appoints the General Director and members of the Program Council on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information.
Group / Individual Owner
Republic of Serbia
General Information
Founding Year
1958
Founder
Missing Data
Ceo
Dragan Bujosevic
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Although he reached the age of retirement (65 years) in January 2019, Bujosevic will nevertheless remain in the job of General Director of RTS, thanks to a decision of the Managing Committee, which extended his term for six months.
Bujosevic has been the General Director of RTS since 2015. Over the last few months, he has been a target of criticism by the opposition and protesting citizens, who have been demonstrating every Saturday since December in Belgrade under the slogan ‘1 of 5 million’. The protesting citizens and opposition see Bujosevic as one of those responsible for the fact that the RTS is not reporting on the protests, the protesters’ demands for the government to be removed, as well as for the fact that opposition leaders rarely appear in political debates on the public broadcaster.
Paradoxically, the current Director is author of the book ‘5th October – 24 Hour Coup’, which describes the last day of the demonstrations on the streets of Belgrade leading to the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime, and has a renowned career as a journalist behind him.
Editor-In-Chief
Editorial team
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Began his journalism career in the Vecernje Novosti daily, then the weekly Vreme. He is known for his reporting from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague and was the only Yugoslav correspondent from East Berlin during the fall of the Berlin Wall. Stefanovic was chosen for the first time to the position of acting managing editor for news in 2004
Known for the political show Da mozda ne which has been broadcast on RTS for seven years. Kovacevic began her career in the former TV Politika as a daily news editor. Following the democratic changes of 2000, Kovacevic moved to TV Pink as a news editor and became the author of the Klopka program. Kovacevic moved Klopka from TV Pink to BK Television in January 2004 and stayed there until 2006, when BK Television lost its frequency.
Well known theatre director, formerly the manager of the Atelje 212 theatre and Belgrade Dramatic Theatre. He was politically active as a member of the Executive Committee of G17+, the former political party led by Mladjan Dinkic. Bradic was Minister of Culture and Information between 2008 and 2011.
Part of the RTS scientific program since 1991. An archeologist and author of over 200 documentary films, television programs and interviews for RTS.
Other Important People
Vladimir Vuletic - Head of Managemant Board
Milivoje Pavlović – President of the 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
RTS does not have separate financial data for each channel of the public broadcaster. Financial reports are produced collectively for the entire company. In this sense, the MOM team was not able to publish financial data pertaining to this channel.
