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B.Davidonytė and D.Pancerovas see a threat to the independence of journalists
B.Davidonytė and D.Pancerovas explained their reasons for leaving Monday morning on their Facebook accounts.
“I am leaving the editorial office because I categorically do not agree with the behavior, plans and decisions of director Ramūnas Šaučikovas. At the end of September, we suddenly learned of the future restructuring of the company, one of the objectives of which, as I understand it. , is disrespectfully dismissing the editor-in-chief and several other major editors. <...> If such a restructuring takes place, which was unexpectedly announced, the editor will structurally consolidate his leadership in the newsroom. To my understanding, this is completely incompatible with 15 minutes culture and shareholder promises made after similar failed experiments. In my opinion, this is an attempt not only to silence critics, but also to limit the independence of journalists; in democracies it is accepted that the director of a media company cannot interfere with editorial work, and what I am trying to do now would violate this principle. D. Pancerov reported on his Facebook account on Monday morning.
“We are leaving 15 minutes protesting dishonest, disrespectful, not transparent 15 minutes the director’s treatment of our colleagues. “We no longer trust this director and believe that he should resign from his position,” he said.
“It just came to our knowledge then 15 minutes published all the time and demanded from everyone else for their journalistic activity. And you should always start making demands first for yourself and only later for others, writes B.Davidonytė. – More importantly, I am convinced that in a democracy, the director cannot manage the editorial department, which means journalists, and that means content. In my opinion, this represents a serious threat to the independence of the media and the editorial board and creates the preconditions for the editor to interfere in the work of journalists. The editor-in-chief is needed to prevent business interests from putting pressure on journalists, a Western practice.
Mudu and David understand our measure as a protest. It is a protest against, in our opinion, the dishonest, non-transparent and threatening behavior of the director to the independence of journalists. Even if, after editorial pressure from journalists, the director finally backed out of this “restructuring” idea, I realized that after the events of the last few weeks, I would simply no longer be able to work for his company because I no longer I trust the manager of the company and his decisions. “
October 2 was the last working day of B. Davidonytė and D.Pancerovas 15 minutes. The day before, Ernest Naprys graduated from the Research Department and decided to pursue a career at the portal. dolphins.
R. Shauchikov: these accusations are emotions
15 minutes Director R.Šaučikovas, commenting on the statements of B.Davidonytė and D.Pancerov, said that any modern medium lives in constant change.
Photo by Lukas April / 15min / Ramūnas Šaučikovas
“We currently live in a rate of change that has nothing to do with the independence of journalists. We argue with employees, we try to coordinate positions, we make constructive decisions and any manager will help me; It is a complicated process, especially when the company has many opinions and a lot of ambition.
Unfortunately, our colleagues made very quick decisions to leave the company, despite that 15 minutes No changes are expected in the research section. I think we will have joint works with David and Biruta for a long time, a portal a good week ago. 15 minutes He appealed to the court against the SCRPA decision, which is setting a precedent for censorship, in relation to the advertisement of “Cabinet 339”. Well, I treat accusations of restrictions on journalists’ freedoms, editorial independence or the desire to fire colleagues as emotions, ”he said. 15 minutes guide.
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