Ceremony on the occasion of the Day of Odbrana Media Center

At the Ceremonial Hall of the Central Military Club of Serbia, Odbrana Media Center marked today its Day – January 24. On this day, in 1879, the first issue of military magazine “Warrior” was released, whose tradition “Odbrana” continues to this day, and 136 years of military press in Serbia.

Traditionally, on this occasion, awards were handed to the winner of the competition for the Journalism Award Ivan Markovic for reporting on activities of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia and to the best athlete and sports team of the Armed Forces of Serbia in 2014. This has been a custom of Media Center and Odbrana Magazine Redaction, earlier known as the Press Informative Center “Military” and the magazine of the same name, since 1994.

The ceremony was attended by Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence Zoran Djordjevic and Head of the general Staff of Serbia General Ljubisa Dikovic with associates, and other guests, associates and friends of Odbrana Redaction.
Congratulating the holiday to members of Odbrana Media Center, State Secretary Djordjevic stressed that the Armed Forces of Serbia have earned great trust among its citizens, that it is appreciated and esteemed, and that this is greatly owing to Odbrana Media Center.

- They say that words are deadlier than bullets. This is why we always approach publishing of any information responsibly. As the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, as a responsible person dedicated to truthfulness, I stress that no untrue information has or will leave our house. This is the case today, and so it will be in the future – State Secretary Djordjevic stated, adding that, thanks to the work of the employees, all activities of the defence system had been published on the website of the Ministry, social networks and pages of Odbrana magazine.

According to him, this was a way to inform both the public and the members of the defence system about all activities within the defence system.

- People trust “Odbrana” magazine. Its pages feature always previously checked and corrected information, whether it is the Ministry of Defence or the Armed Forces of Serbia. This has been the case since the times when it was published under the name of “Warrior” – State Secretary Djordjevic stressed, reminding of the well-known thought that “weapons are most lethal in war and the word in peace”.

Head of the Public relations Department of the Ministry of Defence Colonel Petar Boskovic reminded of the tradition of military journalism and stressed that it is now even more binding to accomplish best results in the work and affirmation of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia.

- By conjoining the informative and publishing activities within Odbrana Media Center and the Military Press, we have rationalized our capacities and increased their efficiency – Colonel Boskovic stated.

As he stressed, the Public Relations Department makes sure that carefully created and professionally reported cultural events include active communication with the public, which is why it has used its capacities for organization of cultural activities for a long time.

- Thus, linking the functions of informing and culture, we preserve the best traditions of our military and Serbian history – Colonel Boskovic concluded.

According to Colonel Stevica Karapandzin, Director of Odbrana Media Center, who presented the most important achievements of the house in the year behind us, the slogan of the military parade March of the Victorious and a large number of elements of visual identity have been devised at this institution. Furthermore, the photograph of photo-reporter Goran Stankovic, which displays the help of the Armed Forces of Serbia at snowbound Banat, has been published in all media.

- Our designers have realized 168 commercial campaigns and devised 350 graphic products, including the official logotype of the 100th anniversary of the Great War – Colonel Karapandzin stressed, adding that, among the 80 titles that the publishing house had published, one fifth was from the field of military opinion journalism. According to him, the year behind us was also marked by cultural contents, realized by Odbrana Media Center as the organizer and co-organizer, which were visited by over 71 thousand people.

As the Director of Odbrana Media Center announced, in the next year, digitalization of the rich photo archive of the house will be continued, and preparations are under way for the promotional campaign of Odbrana magazine, whose goal is affirmation among younger readers.
- The staff of Odbrana Media Center is ready to respond to all challenges ahead of us when it comes to presenting the defence system to the public – Colonel Karapandzin said at the end of his address.

This year’s winner of the Journalism Award Ivan Markovic is Marko Petkovic for his reportage “In army boots for up to twelve hours”, journalist of Tanjug Press Agency. The report states that Marko Petrovic’s work is characterized by remarkable perception of all key elements of preparation of the Military Parade. It was written in journalist reporting style, without pathetic tone and surplus words, as any top quality agency report. The reportage was excellently illustrated with photo and video material of Tanjug agency, and, as the jury was informed, this is the text that was most frequently quoted when it comes to informing about the preparations for the event.

Moreover, the jury unanimously decided that the Special acknowledgement was to be awarded to Djurdjica Dragas Vukovljak and the journalist team of the First Program of Radio Belgrade that had realized the live streaming of the Military Parade March of the Victorious. Jury members were Dragana Markovic and Snezana Djokic from Media Center Odbrana, Lieutenant Colonel Mihailo Zogovic and Helena Milosevic from the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defence, and Nino Brajovic, the chairman of the jury and the General Secretary of UNS.

Captain Blazo Maksimovic, member of the 204th Air Force and Air Defence Brigade was chosen as the most successful sportsman of the Armed Forces of Serbia in 2014, and the award for the best sports team was awarded to the Parachuting team of the Armed Forces of Serbia “Sky Otters”.

The aforementioned sports acknowledgements were awarded by the jury consisting of – Brigadier General Sinisa Radovic, Chief of Delegation at CISM, the chairman, and members Colonel Sladjan Ristic from the Department for Tradition, Standard and Veterans of the Ministry of Defence, Colonel BoskoZoric from the Department for Training and Doctrines of the General Staff, Captain Blazo Maksimovic, member of the 204th Air Force and Air Defence Brigade – the best sportsman in 2013, Dragan Sesum from the Sport Association of Serbia and Captain Aleksandar Petrovic, representative of the Media Center Odbrana.

By the decision of the Collegium of the Director of Odbrana Media Center, Mile Bjelajac, PhD, science adviser at the Institute for Newer History of Serbia, was chosen as the associate of the year. The plaque of the Ministry of Defence for excellent cooperation on projects important for the defence system was handed to Dr. Mile Bjelajac by Colonel Karapandzin.