Beta editor-in-chief Dragan Janjic has died

Longtime editor-in-chief and one of the founders of the Beta agency, Dragan Janjić, died suddenly last night at the age of 65.

Janjic was born on October 6, 1955 in Lopare, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Philology and began his journalistic career at the Tanjug agency, where he worked from 1983 to 1994 as a journalist, reporter and editor. He is one of the founders of the independent news agency Beta, where he was editor of the internal newsroom and deputy editor-in-chief from 1994 to 2000, and editor-in-chief from 2000 to 2007.

From 2007 to 2008 he was Vice Minister of Culture and Information, 2008-2010. He was Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Politika and from 2010 to 2016 Media Advisor to the Protector of Citizens.

He returned to Beta in 2016 as editor-in-chief.

During his long journalistic career, he fought tirelessly for objectivity and professionalism in information and the rights and position of journalists and independent media. He was a member of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, the Commission for the Protection of Journalists and one of the initiators of the establishment of an independent journalists’ union and a member of the Nezavisnost union.

The time and location of Dragan Janjic’s funeral will be announced later.