State discriminating against the media?

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Source/Author: Slavko Curuvila Foundation
Source/Photo: Foto: Cenzolovka

BELGRADE, 04.09.2017. – Serbian news agencies Beta and FoNet have protested because news agency Tanjug was the only one of the three to receive a statement from Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, in which he announced the withdrawal of staff from the Embassy of Serbia in Skopje.

Tanjug, which was owned by the state until unsuccessful privatization followed by a formal shut down a year ago, continues to work under unclear circumstances.

Beta and FoNet consider that they are being discriminated against and that the state extorts the loyalty of certain media, which is in agreement with the opinions of numerous representatives of the journalistic community, who point out that the state implements “unacceptable selection” of media outlets, which Dačić denied.

The suspicions that the state is granting Tanjug privileges is also supported by the fact that this agency recently received over 16,000 euros from the Ministry of Public Administration as part of a media services contest, about which FoNet and Beta, unlike previous practise, were not informed.

These agencies also suspect that the contest was fixed, because the conditions were such that “only Tanjug could fulfil them”.