19. 07. 2012

“Public needs to know name of Politika's new co-owner”

Belgrade, Julz 19, 2012 (B92) - Daily Politika Editor in Chief Dragan Bujošević has stated that the public should know who the new co-owner of the daily is.

He believes that one should not expect any changes in the decision-making process in Politika Newspapers and Magazines after East Media Group bought a 50 percent ownership stake in the company from German WAZ group.

"All decisions are made by two directors, a Serbian and German one so far and a Serbian and let's say one from Moscow from now on," Bujošević said in an article in Politika.

He stressed that it was a problem for him that the name and last name of the new co-owner was unknown and that "thousands of different people can be behind East Media Group".

"I believe that it is good for media that the name and last name of their owner is known. I know that the existing law does not obligate the owner to appear in public and I know that I wrote and spoke against it in 2003 when the law was passed. And I also know that there are countries in the EU that do not request a clear insight in the ownership structure since they know that it always or almost always can be hidden," Bujošević pointed out.

He added that it was better to know who the owner of a daily was because they "will act one way if the public knows about them and in another way if the public does not know them".

"The Law on Information from 2003 that I mention says that the state can be an owner of only one news agency and cannot own papers, radio and TV stations. Meaning that the state had to sell its shares in Politika and Večernje novosti nine years ago. It did not, it violated the law. I believe that Politika should be privatized, just like the law envisages. The fact that the state was rocking Politika in its lap cost the daily around 200,000 readers and among other things the building in downtown Belgrade that is now owned by Komercijalna bank and Politika is a tenant that pays the rent," the Politika editor in chief stressed.

The sale of the 50 percent ownership stake in the Balkans' oldest daily has caused strong reactions in the Serbian public.

Politika got a new co-owner on July 16 when Moscow-based East Media Group bought a 50 percent ownership stake from German WAZ group.

The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and United Regions of Serbia (URS) stated at the time that the Democratic Party (DS) was behind the sale and that the party had ties with tycoons.

The DS has denied the allegations. DS official Dušan Petrović and businessman Miroslav Bogićević also denied their involvement in the sale of Politika.

East Media Group has stated that no Serbian politician or party was behind of the sale, adding that the company will work on creating better working conditions for employees and that it would not interfere with the editing policy of newspapers and magazines issued by the company.

After the SNS and URS, the DS also called for a probe into the sale and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday requested from the Serbian parliament to form a committee that would look into the case.