Editors and management from United Media outlets sent a letter to their majority owner, BC Partners, demanding an urgent meeting to clarify the company’s future. They say all signs point to an intensified reorganization plan developed in coordination with the Serbian authorities.
Journalists at the daily Danas frequently expose high-level corruption and the murky dealings of those close to the government. Yet, paradoxically, the business operations of their own company remain a mystery. Their editor is unable to even tell them whether they will still have their jobs tomorrow, as the owners simply refuse to communicate.
“We effectively receive no feedback whatsoever on what they plan to do with us, they treat United Media outlets as if we were just inventory. All our appeals to them feel like we’re talking to a brick wall,” said Danas editor-in-chief Dragoljub Petrovic.
That wall went up after a conversation surfaced in which the CEO of United Group promises Telekom Serbia CEO Vladimir Lucic that he will do everything the Serbian president requested.
“I need to make that company very small in Serbia, if you understand what I mean, and separate it. The time for that, and that is what we agreed. We need to get the banks to move fast, etc. Now, I understand that the president called you and that he is very upset, and I can understand. But I need to find a way to do it fast, quick, quick,” United Group CEO Stan Miller told Lucic during the leaked phone call.
How far has this promised dismantling of the media outlets progressed? According to unofficial information, the owners are planning a reorganization that would involve consolidating all media outlets under a single company to be managed from Luxembourg.
“And why is this being done? So that those media outlets can later be sold. What we absolutely cannot allow is for that to happen without consulting us, because we do not want to become part of what we heard in the conversation between Stan Miller and Vladimir Lucic – coordination with the authorities in Serbia,” said N1 program director Igor Bozic.
Is the dismantling of Serbia’s remaining independent media part of a business strategy? United Media’s editors and executives want to ask the owners that question face to face.
“In an environment where pressure on independent media is thoroughly documented by EU institutions, any reorganization affecting editorial independence, employee safety, or the media’s role in public cannot be treated as a mere technical matter. Under these circumstances, there is a serious risk that the purpose and effect of such a reorganization would be to silence our outlets and erode their critical role as independent critics of the government,” the United Media editors and directors said in a statement.
They say this is the final moment for an honest conversation about the future. If the owners are determined to get rid of the newspapers and TV stations, the editors suggest they should be sold to the people who built them.
“The audience can only trust the people who have produced this programming so far to continue doing so independently of any influence. The only solution for that is a management buyout. This is why we are seeking the meeting with BC Partners that we haven’t had since the management at United Group changed,” Bozic emphasized.
“Come on, tell us – as editors, program directors, and managers – exactly what you plan to do with us. Because right now, it looks like you are selling us down the river and that we are ending up on the scrapheap of your new history of friendship with the President of Serbia,” Petrovic said.
United Media’s editors add that it is BC Partners’ responsibility to clearly distance itself from political influence and to avoid doing anything behind closed doors.
Source: N1
