Brent Sadler, the former CNN reporter who is the new United Group management’s hand-picked candidate to take over as chief executive of United Media, continues promoting himself in Serbian pro-regime media. Paradoxically, the trigger for this latest barrage of articles in Alo, Informer, B92, and Politika was information originally revealed by N1.
Specifically, as N1 reported, Sadler received an investigative journalism award from the US Transatlantic Leadership Network in November. It was confirmed to N1 that Telekom Srbija CEO Vladimir Lucic was also in the audience during the awards ceremony in Washington DC.
No big surprise there: Lucic and Sadler are linked by the project to launch the Euronews newsroom in Serbia, as well as by agreements after the management shake-up at United Group, following which Lucic discussed the weakening of United Media’s portfolio in Serbia with the new CEO, Stan Miller.
According to Nova.rs, Sadler, who is one step away from being appointed CEO of United Media, continues to use his public appearances to slam the editorial policy of United Media outlets, and, in the process, he is getting significant support from media close to the Serbian regime.
So the news about his new award, first reported by N1, popped up a few days later in Informer, Alo, Politika…
For instance, Informer claimed Sadler had “buried” N1, adding that the “anti-Serb media outlet” didn’t know what hit it.
Novosti said Sadler had “exposed” N1, while Alo and B92 went as far as to say he had “killed” it.
This certainly isn’t the first time that Sadler has teamed up with Vucic’s mouthpiece media; we witnessed a similar scenario in early September. Following an interview Sadler gave to the Croatian magazine Nacional, regime tabloids seized on his statements to publish a barrage of headlines attacking United Media outlets in Serbia.
This is what it looked like:
Editorial independence of N1 and Nova S must be protected even from the owners themselves – Euronews shares Sadler’s interview, September 1
Exclusive: What did Brent Sadler write in his reports on N1 – Politika, September 2
Shocking: Here’s what Brent Sadler wrote in his reports about N1 – Informer reports in shock, September 2
Sadler exposes political and commercial influence on N1, Harding report buried – Kurir, September 2.
And so on.
Source: N1
