Working with the European Centre for Broadcast Journalism, we helped develop B92, Serbia's largest provider of independent media.
Start: 2003
Finish: 2005
Media types: Radio, television
Issue: Human rights and governance
Country: Serbia
B92 was the independent radio station that defied the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, despite a concerted effort by the authorities to silence any media that refused to push the government's line.
In the autumn of 2000, B92's first TV broadcasts hit the airwaves, just weeks before the crucial election in which Milosevic lost the Yugoslav presidency.
So what has B92 achieved? Despite more than 80 awards for journalistic excellence and courage, the station has notched up a number of significant regional firsts.
Instead of unbiased and objective reporting, the media ended up manufacturing lies for those who pay for them
Veran Matic, board of directors, B92
In the early spring of 2004, B92 introduced the region's first converged newsroom where journalists working for TV, radio and the website combined to improve quality, speed of delivery and save costs.
Multiplatform authoring was introduce so that content could be delivered to multiple devices, enabling B92 to tap fresh revenue-generating opportunities and reach a wider audience.
And now B92 is the first TV station in the country and the region to deliver a 24-hour rolling news channel.
Why this is remarkable is that between 2000 and 2004, B92 was in serious financial trouble and could have gone under.
When the foreign donors, who had support ‘independent media' following the war, packed their bags, took their money, and headed to the next political flash point, B92 was left in a crisis.
The donor's exit strategy hadn't left behind a roadmap to independent financial sustainability, a must have for editorial independence.
The then CEO, and now President of the Board of Directors at B92, Veran Matic, wrote at the time that others, eager to plug the gap, began moving in.
"We now had the so-called donors who belong to the blocks of certain tycoons or were members of the mafia. As a result, instead of unbiased and objective reporting, the media ended up manufacturing lies for those who pay for them."
The BBC World Service Trust was invited to move in as part of a European Agency for Reconstruction, project to help support independent media through this period.
It was a difficult time, not only was the country in transition but the thinking and attitudes of the journalists were in transition, too.
Solutions needed to come from inside the organisation rather than being imposed by visiting journalist from Europe, who could only work as catalysts, sharing tried and tested solutions and leaving those living in the country to figure out which worked for them.
The B92 staff introduced radical changes to working practices that some media organisations in the more affluent West are still struggling to come to terms with. It's amazing what can be achieved when media freedom is at stake.
