N1 Program Director Igor Bozic said after a meeting with a European Parliament delegation that the MEPs wanted to hear firsthand about events on the Serbian media scene.
He said the MEPs were informed about the problems facing United Group media outlets. “My impression is completely different from the impression of the Parliament Speaker that this is not a fact-finding mission,” he added.
He said that the way the MEPs spoke with media representatives showed that they want facts and data, and to hear them directly from people working in the media in Serbia. “At the meeting, we talked about the state of the media in Serbia, and what was interesting to me is that representatives of the European Parliament were actually already familiar with a good part of the situation, but of course there were some things they did not know. For example, they did not know the data that was presented — that Vucic, as President of Serbia, was mentioned on media with national frequencies last year an average of 470 times per day. They were surprised by that, but not so much as to think it was something they did not expect to hear,” he said.
The facts presented by media representatives, he added, help them get a better understanding of the situation in Serbia. “What they noticed is that the Parliament Speaker mentioned “their data” but this was not “their data” but facts you can’t dispute. You cannot invent alternative data when you have facts,” he said.
MEPS know situation in United Media
Bozic said the MEPS are partly familiar with the problems faced by United Media outlets.
“I had the opportunity to warn them of the fact that by destroying N1, by placing it under government control, one of the last strongholds of independent news reporting in Serbia could be endangered — and without that, the state of democracy in this country would be practically completely destroyed. What is problematic is that the authorities are trying to present everyone who works professionally, according to journalistic standards and who is not subordinate to the authorities, as working against the state. No — we operate for the sake of the citizens of this country, and that work is, among other things, in the interest of the country itself — to be more prosperous and more democratic than it is now,” he said.
He stressed the engagement of “bot factories” working to stifle freedom of speech even on social media. There was also discussion, he added, about REM and how that body is being obstructed by the authorities, leading to an unregulated media landscape.
Attempts to discredit the EP delegation
Attempts by the authorities to portray the delegation’s visit as hostile culminated today when representatives of pro-regime media, who are leading this campaign, spoke exclusively of an “Ustaše delegation,” he said.
“First of all, that is offensive. Second, it is said without any thought that the delegation includes people from other countries, not only Croatia,” he said.
He explained that the staging of an exhibition dedicated to the victims of Jasenovac was intended to ensure that citizens watching pro-regime media would not hear what was actually discussed at the meetings, who spoke there, and what was talked about — but rather to divert attention.
“To create a separate topic for viewers of pro-government media, in order to divert attention from the real issue — which is the state of democracy in this country, and the reason why the Members of the European Parliament actually came.”
State TV not represented
Bozic expressed surprise at the fact that no one from the state TV (RTS) was at the meeting, even though they were invited.
“There are two possible reasons. One is fear of how the authorities would react if an RTS representative appeared in talks with European MPs who have been labeled as problematic, and the other is a lack of respect for the invitation. They can say, ‘These are not representatives of our country,’ and choose not to respond, but essentially that is not how representatives of this country’s public broadcaster — funded by all citizens — should behave.”
Source: N1
