“Evening with Ivan Ivanović” will no longer be broadcast on Blic Television, but again – on YouTube. Ivanovic talks to “Vreme” about why the contract was terminated officially, and what hurts someone unofficially. And about what bothers him in the entire Serbian journalism
Za Ivan Ivanović and his two shows more there is no place on Blic Television either. After one season, the contract was terminated with the explanation that the show “jeopardizes the reputation of the company”.
After he was unable to work on TV Prva, and had a stormy parting with Nova S, Ivanovic tells “Vreme” that he has no career plans now except to take a good rest – and harshly criticizes the situation in the media, both this and that.
TIME: Are all doors closed for you now?
Ivan Ivanovic: It seems that they are, but it doesn’t even matter – when you have a career like mine, you don’t look at work as if you started yesterday. I don’t like the way the media looks, it’s criminal, on both sides. Both sides of the media poisoned the people with equal intensity only with different drugs. It’s like choosing which dealer is better, the one who sells cocaine or the one who sells heroin. It seriously affected the strength of this regime, and I don’t think any of us, who have worked in the media in the last ten years, will be able to morally wash ourselves away.
And I’m not thinking about a new door, but about another job or finally going on a stand-up tour.
You switched to Blic with a lot of fanfare, and now you’re already bothering them.
There is fanfare where I am, but I did not make the fanfare. People terminated the contract, they had the right to do so, I don’t dispute that. I felt somewhere during the season that it would be like that, I knew that the possibility was there. It’s legitimate to me.
Legit? With the explanation that you are ruining the reputation?
It is legitimate for them to think so. Of course, I don’t think that I bring a bad image to the media company, but the people who run the company think so. There were no arguments or bad words. I intimately believe that there are other reasons, but everything was done within the legal framework. It’s for my work calculated risk.
It’s interesting that people are calling me now, and I’ve never given an interview in my life about why I left Nova S for Blic.
Yes, you talked about it for Blic.
Well, except for the Flash. Even now, my respect for “Vreme”, but apart from you they also called FoNet, Insider and KRIK and that’s it. Elem, back then I believed that what we do at Nova S has become completely meaningless – a closed system, our people, our guests and our themes. It does not produce any result or move this country forward. It just satisfies the needs of the capital that holds that medium.
I wanted to see if it was really impossible to do anywhere else. I told the people from Blic that “Evening with Ivan Ivanovic” brings some problems, but they said that they are convinced of cooperation. Now it was clear that they understood the hard way.
I put in the contract that the termination cannot occur during the broadcast of the first season. Thus, for the first time, the users of Telekom’s network could see a live student and hear the requests, which they watched throughout the season. We worked completely freely, without complaints, invitations and questions – I have never had that degree of freedom in my life.
And I did what I wanted. When all is said and done, I will be the only person in Serbia who was completely free for a year in the midst of Vučić’s regime and did whatever he wanted.
In translation – it is not possible to be free in such media, because you are in a hurry.
And yes and no. But I was free for a year, by force of contract. That’s enough for me. We did not want to be in closed circles and be guided by the interests of companies. Do we have a greater mission? I always remember the last interview with Gordana Suša, who said that those who did not want to change the world should not have been involved in journalism.
You owe me an answer – what is the real reason you are “ruining the reputations” of Ringier and Blitz?
There was displeasure from the Swiss management because of my Twitter account. But I’m sure that the owner of Ringier doesn’t read there personally, I guess he doesn’t know Serbian. There have been various activities of mine that are not in accordance with the doctrine.
The main reason, I think, is that the elections are coming up. It’s a nice story to let Ivanovic work freely – if you have no choice. But when the election comes, no one needs two of my shows on television that barely has national coverage.
Are you saying that someone from the regime is calling Switzerland?g owner to remove you from the program?
I won’t say. I said what I said, and let everyone read between the lines as they wish.
What are you going to do next?
I really don’t know. I’m going to have a good rest first. We will do some version of the show for YouTube, the team will definitely stay together. But I will finally add that stand-up tour that I could never commit to. I will probably work abroad – it seems to me that it will not be easy to get a hall in Serbia.
I’m used to nobody caring about me. I warned about this situation in the media, but they told me that as a taxi driver I should not interfere in journalistic matters. There are a thousand and two of you journalists, and we need ten slightly braver, tougher people with the awareness that they have to sacrifice themselves for the common good. Now is the time for sacrifice, and it will be time for laurels. But I’m afraid that those who have fought fair will not be greeted with laurels, as it usually is. But there is no room for despair, this is the target plane.
Source: Vreme
