Vladimir Lucic, Telekom Serbia CEO, told a media outlet owned by the state-owned company that United Group is contemplating the future of the media outlets owned by United Media in Serbia.
Lucic also spoke about possible top management jobs in United Media, especially the CEO.
United Media newsroom editors demanded immediate comments from their owner United Group.
“While UM employees are waiting for information from the owners about plans for future operations, the CEO of the rival company Telekom Srbija is speaking on Euronews Serbia’s morning program about United Group’s internal decisions,” a statement said.
“They want to say that BC Partners, which has 50 billion in revenue, a British firm, if it appoints anyone—anyone—I believe it would be some foreigner, an Englishman, an American, anyone, but certainly not Brent) Sadler, that no one can provide guarantees of independent journalism except (UM CEO) Aleksandra Subotic, which sounds like a story that is not even realistic,” Lucic said.
“At the same time, Vladimir Lucic failed to acknowledge that he spoke to UG CEO Stan Miller to negotiate Subotic’s removal in a phone conversation whose recording was published earlier this year. Lucic says that he and Miller filed criminal complaints. “That the recording was edited, illegally recorded, and it will be in my great interest that the investigation goes all the way to the end,” he said.
“The very participants in that conversation, Miller and Lucic, did not deny the conversation nor its content. UG acknowledged in a statement that they did talk but added that it means nothing, that Subotic is still there,” KRIK journalist Vesna Radojevic said.
The Miller-Lucic erecording was the focus of a clash over jurisdiction between the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, after pro-regime media reported that a court expert, engaged at the request of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, determined that the recording was edited. Lucic said that it is in his interest for prosecutors to full clarify the case.
Radojevic said that the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office is defending Serbian President Vucic, Lucic and Miller.
Lucic voiced lies on Euronews, accusing UM journalists of waging a campaign against him and Telekom Serbia as well as the president. He said their aggressive approach towards Vucic placed the president in the position of victim.
“UG remains silent about all of this, and in such a context that silence is not neutral. It creates insecurity, deepens justified suspicion, and encourages those who openly work on shutting down independent media in Serbia, according to the statement by UM journalists and editors.
“We Recall that Telekom Srbija has for years conducted a systematic campaign aimed at undermining and shutting down United Media outlets. United Media published an internal strategic document of Telekom in which their explicit goal stated: ‘shut down all United Media channels,” the UM editors add.
“At a moment when editors and news directors in four countries proposed the only sustainable solution for protecting independence—a management buyout—a rival state-owned company is publicly speaking about that internal initiative, while the official owners remain silent.
The editors demanded an urgent, clear, and publicly-stated position from BC Partners and United Group:
How does the CEO of Telekom Srbija, a state-owned competitor and a close political associate of the President of Serbia, possess information about future staffing solutions and internal decisions at United Media?
How is it possible that a direct competitor publicly speaks about the internal affairs of United Group, while the UG management remains completely silent?
Does this appearance confirm that there is still behind-the-scenes cooperation between Telekom Srbija and United Group, despite the damage such cooperation causes to independent media in Serbia?
“Our journalists, our audience, and the public in all countries where UM operates deserve clear answers. Now more than ever,” the UM editors said.
Source: N1
