Media business operations

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has announced that it has signed a Protocol with the Organization of Music Authors of Serbia (SOKOJ) which ensures significant discounts and benefits for payment of the minimal fee for usage of music works in 2012. The Protocol also regulates the issue of payment of debts from the previous period.
(ASMEDI Newsletter, September 2012)

The Association of Journalists of Nis (DNN) demands that the newly appointed director of TV Nis immediately "respond" to the dismissal of two journalists from the station. The president of DNN, Dragana Kocic, pointed out that a week had passed after the appointment of the new management and that their response was expected. "We expect NTV to reconsider the legality of these dismissals and to announce their position about the journalists' status", says Dragana Kocic. In its press statement, DNN warns NTV and its founder, the city of Nis, that the failure to rectify possible legal violations related to the dismissal of their colleagues might result in payment of large damages and legal costs – all of which would be paid by the citizens of Nis. Around the end of March, the then director of NTV, Dragana Nikolic (URS), fired the longtime journaist, Milena Vidojkovic.Ten days ago, the recent editor-in-chief, Dragan Miljkovic, was also dismissed.
(Juzne vesti , 26.09.2012)

Veselin Jevrosimovic's company "Internet Group", which owns the web portal Telegraf.rs, has become the owner of 50 percent of the shares of the Macedonian company "Graficki Centar", which publishes three Macedonian daily newspapers – Dnevnik, Vesti and Utrinski vesnik.
(ASMEDI Newsletter, September 2012)

Serbian authorities have launched pre-investigative proceedings related to the true identity of the owner of 62 percent of the daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti. Although official data says that the owners are phantom companies headquartered in Lichtenstein, Dresden and Rotterdam, it is suspected that the true owner is a private company from Sabac, which is owned by one of the well-known financiers of the Democratic Party, reports the daily newspaper Alo!.
(Alo!, 16.09.2012)

The deputy prime minister of the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said yesterday that the director of the company Farmakom, Miroslav Bogicevic, was behind the purchase of 50 percent of the daily newspaper Politika. Bogicevic did this as a favor to the Democratic Party. Vucic said that the case of Politika is connected with the case of Agrobanka, since the missing money for purchase had been taken as a loan from Nova Agrobanka and Privredna Banka Beograd. In his words, the loaned money was used to buy Politika, Novosti and Dnevnik.
(Alo!, Blic, Informer, Politika, RTS, E-kapija, 18.09.2012, Danas, 19.09.2012)

The first deputy prime minister of the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, did not want to reveal who forced the owner of Farmakom, Miroslav Bogicevic, to buy 50 percent of the daily newspaper Politika, although his statement clearly points to the Democratic Party (DS). A member of the DS, Dragoljub Micunovic, responded immediately, saying that none of the bodies of the DS had ever mentioned the issue of purchase of any newspaper. The president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Ljiljana Smajlovic, said to the RTS that the former president of the Managing Board, Sonja Liht, and the former prime minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, had been tasked with protection of the state property in Politika. She said that instead of fighting against non-transparent media ownership, the state had been encouraging it. Sonja Liht said that the management of the company, "including Ljiljana Smajlovic, were receiving huge salaries and bonuses, while the debt was growing continually".
(Tanjug, Politika, Blic, Dnevnik, Informer, 19.09.2012)

The president of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Ljiljana Smajlovic, said yesterday that if the claims made by Aleksandar Vucic about the purchase of Politika were true, that would mean that the owner of Farmakom, Miroslav Bogicevic, lied when he said that he was not the buyer, and that the Democratic Party (DS) lied when it said that it did not know who the byuer was. Smajlovic told the news agency Beta that the overtaking of Politika and Novosti had begun already in January of this year, before the DS lost the elections, with the aim to consolidate its control over the media.
(Pregled, 19.09.2012)

During his visit to the Military Technological Institute (VTI), Aleksandar Vucic said that he would persist in his fight against corruption and that no one would be able to defeat the state in this struggle, regardless of the fate of the individual participants. Vucic did not want to reveal his findings about the identity of the person who had forced the owner of Farmakom to buy 50 percent of the daily newspaper Politika. He told journalists that they should ask that question to Miroslav Bogicevic. "If you believe that he was interested in buying Dnevnik because the reporting of the reputable newspaper was of utter importance to his business, you will have difficulty trying to convince me in that story", said Vucic.
(Tanjug, Politika, Beta, Pregled, Press, 19.09.2012,ASMEDI Newsletter, September 2012)

"Commenting on the sale of the majority share of the company Dnevnik Vojvodina Pres, the first vice president of the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, made several insults agains the newspaper Dnevnik and its employees. In a free society, it is completely unacceptable that highest-ranking officials would insult a company, especially a media company. Therefore we strongly protest against the political pressure exerted by the minister of defense, Aleksandar Vucic, who is also the first vice president of the Government of Serbia in charge of the fight against corruption, as well as the secretary of the National Security Council and the head of the Bureau for Coordination of the Security Services", says the editorial team of Dnevnik.
(Dnevnik, 19.09.2012)

The minister of defense, Aleksandar Vucic, publicly apologized to the editorial team, journalists and all employees of the daily Dnevnik because of the "rude and stupid mistake of unintentionally belittling the newspaper".
(Tanjug, Press, Alo!, Informer, 09.20.2012, ASMEDI Newsletter, September 2012)

A member of parliament (Liberal-Democratic Party – LDP), Bojan Djuric, said yesterday that it would be difficult for him to comment on the specifics of the purchase of shares in Politika, Vecernje Novosti and Dnevnik revealed by the deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic. Djuric said that it should be investigated why the state had failed to use its right of first purchase and that possible legal or criminal accountability should be dealt with authorities, in accordance with the law, while the issue of the relationship between the state and the media should be analyzed separately.
(Danas, 19.09.2012)

The owner of the company Farmakom, Miroslav Bogicevic, told the authorities that he had bought 50 percent of the shares of the daily newspaper Politika, reported RTS yesterday.
(Tanjug, E-kapija, 19.09.2012)

Until the role of the state in the media is changed, there will be no freedom of the media. State subsidies have to be made in accordance with the Law on Control Over the State Assistance, said yesterday Vukasin Obradovic, the president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), at a regional OSCE media conference. "Perhaps the most drastic violation of the Law is the fact that the state news agency Tanjug is being financed directly from the national budget. This will result in closure of news agencies that are suffering from unfair competition", says Obradovic. He is of the opinion that this issue will be a test for the new government which, however, "in its revised budget still holds on to the previous solution that entails state financing of Tanjug".
(Vecernje novosti, 22.09.2012)

The editor-in-chief and director of the Smederevo weekly magazine Nas Glas, Goro Redzic, was arrested because of illegal business operations of the magazine. He was arrested after receiving marked bills amounting to 350 euros and 10,000 dinars for the lease of business premises located in the city center of Smederevo which belong to the newspaper company Nas Glas. The weekly magazine was privatized on 27 March 2009, but in July 2012 the Agency informed the newspaper's management about the cancellation of the privatization due to unpaid obligations. The weekly magazine also had certain obligations related to a social program which the majority owner had failed to fulfil.
(B92, Beta, UNS, Press, NUNS, 27.09.2012)

The local newspaper Suboticke Novine has lost their business premises which were sold at yesterday's auction held in the Primary Court in Subotica. The premises were bought by the company "Pedja Komerc". It can be said that the new owner of the real estate is the man who had caused its sale, since the owner of "Pedja Komerc" is Predrag Malisanovic. He is a part of the consortium "Vojvodina Info", which owns Suboticke Novine and its property. As one of the co-owners, he had used Suboticke Novine as a guarantee for the 250,000 euros loan he took from the Findomestic Bank for the need of his other companies, "Azotara" and "Azohema". Since the loan has not been repaid, the bank activated the mortgage. After the auction, Malisanovic has become the only owner of the real estate for the price that is lower than the amount of the mortgage of two years ago.
(Politika, UNS, NUNS, 27.09.2012)