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One of the hosts of the “Mandatory-Optional” program Igor Brakus and journalist Nedim Sejdinović commented for H1 on the latest events in the media in Serbia, as well as Brakus and Smiljan Banjac’s decision to leave work due to the announced acquisition from Radio Laguna. “We don’t want to be involved in anything that can connect us to the character and work of Pink’s owner Zeljko Mitrovic,” says Brakus. Nedimović: “The Pink Empire destroyed this society.”
“Our boss, owner and director of Laguna told us at the school on Friday that he had reached a commercial agreement with Zeljko Mitrovic to be able to buy the right to use the frequency on which he would transmit his new radio. This was presented to us as a trade agreement and we don’t have There is nothing against someone selling something that he himself made, but the problem is that this radio is really being sold to a man that we do not know and that we would never like to know and that has culturally set everything back The Serbian people. We do not want to participate in anything that can connect us with their character and their work, “said Brakus.
Sejdinovic welcomed the decision of his colleagues to leave their jobs following the information that Zeljko Mitrovic should take over the frequency and send a strong message to the company that they will have nothing to do with Zeljko Mitrovic and everything that symbolizes his empire Pink, which “destroyed” this company.
He also noted that the Serbian Code of Journalists calls on journalists who have suspicions that they will be forced to violate the code to publicly warn the public that “this is a good example.”
He evaluated that the acquisition of Laguna has two objectives: to silence the voices of that radio station and, on the other hand, to expand the Pink Empire and the progressive monopoly on our media scene.
Source: H1Sejdinović stressed that Pink and his journalists violate journalistic codes on a daily basis, adding that he regretted that there were no more colleagues who had the courage to resist those who were destroying media freedom.
Brakus emphasized that since they are doing the “Mandatory-Optional” program they have not had any kind of censorship and that the owner of the radio, Dejan Papić, has given them the freedom to do whatever they want.
“I don’t know if that is the reason for the acquisition, the owner told us that it was exclusively a business relationship,” Brakus said.
He added that he does not see an alternative in the Serbian media scene or a radio station that would like a program like the one he and Banjac did, because most radio stations cannot write about what is happening in the country. .
On the other hand, he says that the media emphasizes the story related to the popular host couple and their firing on television.
“Those problems look different to Smiljan and me: we are nonsensical characters,” he said.
When asked if, based on the example of that main couple, the phrase that the problem of journalism is not in freedom but in price is often heard, Sejdinović points out that the journalists’ code does not mention price, but work in the public interest.
“On the occasion of this dismissal, I wish my colleagues good luck, but they all know that their work does not meet highly professional standards,” said Sejdinović.
He called on international organizations and foundations working here to support independent media and open spaces for people who lose their jobs.
“Smiljan and I are really irrelevant in this story, we will manage, we can wait, but the bigger problem is that the radio that was a bastion of some common sense, that carried the legacy of the old B92 and brought together people who performed in team, it’s disappearing. ” “Everyone who created the show brought something authentic and cultural,” Brakus said.
When asked if there really is a division between the regime and the opposition media in Serbia, Sejdinovic said: “Somehow I don’t believe in this division, which is actually encouraged in some way by the authorities … I see a great quantity of means that are in the orbit of the governing interest “. parties, which violate the codes, and what the journalists ‘code says is that those who do not respect ethical norms do not deserve the support of journalists’ associations and, therefore, are excluded from a group that does its job in a professional. my deep conviction with certain omissions, the media that adhere to the journalistic code, the culture of dialogue and the like ”.
He also noted that there is often no dialogue, not because independent media do not want to, but because government representatives refuse to participate in such programs.
“I see a division in regime and, on the other hand, no matter how worn out that term is, independent media or professionals,” Sejdinovic said.
Brakus emphasized that the biggest problem in society is that it is extremely divided, and the government that has all the national frequencies is to blame for that, and encourages that way of treating people who are its opponents.
“If someone can come and confront the company what the security worker did to the H1 reporters yesterday, if all of that is allowed, we are a deeply divided society,” Brakus said.
He also evaluated that in Serbia, if you tell the truth, you automatically get the label that you are in the opposition. “They call me Yellow Bracus, I don’t know how long.”
Sejdinović says that at one point he was an active participant in negotiations between media associations and the government, and that in all the talks they emphasized that the government must stop creating an atmosphere of violence in society, because that endangers all citizens and journalists on the front line.
“We live in a society where the government has antagonized the people so much, and this incident with the H1 team is a product of that atmosphere,” Sejdinović said.
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