SIF attracts experts to assess the compliance of the “Re:Baltica” project

“Unlike the media, which can freely choose when to publish some information, we as a state institution have much less flexibility, especially if the reporting date is included in the contract. At the moment, the process of evaluating the final reports of the projects is taking its usual course,” he emphasizes SIF.

SIF also notes that during the year, on average, around 750 projects are submitted in the fund’s various program project tenders, of which around 400 are approved. From 2018, SIF has created a new project application design to make project submission easier, clearer and more transparent throughout the entire tender stage from submission and evaluation until the announcement of the results.

SIF emphasizes that all project applicants have the same requirements and the inspection process, if the project is approved, must be implemented in accordance with the submitted project application and the purpose of the program. The MAF competition has been administered by SIF since 2017.

SIF emphasizes that during the past four years media support tenders have been conducted according to a unified approach. The Ministry of Culture, together with the Media Consultative Council and SIF, drafts the Media Fund Regulations, which are reviewed and approved by the SIF Council, immediately after which a tender is announced and project applications are accepted.

The compliance of project applications with administrative eligibility criteria is initially evaluated by SIF employees, then the projects are directed to the members of the evaluation commission – ten representatives of the academic field of media, who themselves are not directly related to the media.

When these experts or members of the evaluation commission have evaluated the projects, a report of the evaluation commission is prepared, which includes comments as well as the number of points of the respective projects and a list of how the projects rank in order of points. This evaluation commission report is further reviewed and approved by the SIF Council.