Minister Boris Bratina’s letter addressed to Pedro Vargas David is above all political pressure, says NUNS General Secretary Tamara Filipović Stevanović
Secretary General Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) Tamara Filipović Stevanović assessed that the letter of the Minister of Information and Telecommunications Boris Bratina to the owner of Alpac Capital Pedro Vargas David, although it is formally addressed to the investment fund, represents above all political pressure wrapped in legal terminology.
In the letter, Bratina invited the company to register with the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) after the completion of the takeover of the media within the “Adria News Network”, televisions N1 Beograd and Nova S.
He stated that he wanted to draw attention to issues that, in his opinion, relate to the legal and regulatory status of those televisions in Serbia.
Filipović Stevanović told N1 that the terms used to describe N1 and Nova S in the letter, such as “criminal media project”, “fraudulent legal scheme”, “piracy scheme” and “false representation”, are arbitrary disqualifications.
According to her assessment, when such rhetoric comes from a state body, it gains the weight of institutional pressure and may represent an announcement of future measures against those media.
She is particularly concerned, as she stated, that journalistic work in the letter is indirectly connected with “mobilization” and inciting riots.
Bratina was sharp before.
The General Secretary of NUNS reminded that Bratina had previously used harsh rhetoric towards independent journalists and media. She stated that on several occasions he called them derogatory names, said that media outlets like N1 and Nova S “should not exist on the air”, accused them of “war against the state” and claimed that they were “outposts of foreign agencies”.
She also reminded that Radio Free Europe was labeled as a dangerous media because of, as she said, its anti-Serbian program.
That is why Filipović Stevanović believes that the minister should deal with other problems in the area he is in charge of.
As one of the indicators of the situation in the media sector, she cited the fact that Serbia fell to 104th place among 180 countries on the World Media Freedom Index for 2026, which is eight positions lower than the previous year, and that it is in the category of countries with a “difficult situation”, as the worst ranked country in the region.
She also pointed to the European Commission’s assessment that Serbia is regressing when it comes to media freedom, reminding that this is part of the Commission’s strictest report on Serbia since the beginning of negotiations on membership in the European Union. At the same time, she reminded that we are talking about the same EU whose flag Bratina once publicly burned.
She concluded that, instead of putting pressure on professional journalists and media who, as she stated, manage to report in the public interest even in difficult conditions, the minister should focus his energy on solving the problems that led to such an international ranking of Serbia.
Source: Vreme
