16. 11. 2007

DELTA PRESSURES POLITIKA EDITORIAL STAFF

BELGRADE, 16 November 2007 (B92) - ANEM media association today strongly protested the latest developments regarding the daily Politika.

A statement released Friday in Belgrade says that the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) was voicing protest against pressures exerted on editors and journalists on one of Belgrade's leading newspapers.

An editorial published in today's issue, written by Ljiljana Smajlović, the paper's editor-in-chief, accuses Miroslav Mišković, Delta Holding CEO, of having made phone calls to editors and journalists to criticize them for their alleged "lack of patriotism", which was reflected, in Mišković's opinion, in lack of support to his business empire in the Politika pages.

Mišković, who was ranked 42nd among the 100 richest people in post communist countries in Europe according to the Polish weekly Wprost, that estimated his wealth at USD 2bn, is at the helm of a group of companies listed in Serbia, the formal owner of which is HEMSLADE TRADING LIMITED company based in Cyprus.

Clearly dissatisfied with the treatment that their company had recently been receiving in Serbian media, which examined its position in the market in relation to anti-trust laws, Delta Holding threatened, more than a month ago, that they would bring charges against "anybody who states anything untrue about Delta Company or their management".

ANEM would like to remind that, according to the existing laws and regulations, nobody is allowed to limit the freedom of public information, either directly or indirectly, the statement said.

"The current Act on Public Information also envisages that nobody is allowed to exert any kind of pressure on any media or their employees, and prohibits any influence intended to interfere with their job."

"ANEM also points out that media must be independent from centers of political, but also financial power in order to carry out their primary function in a democratic society, and that they are to be led by the interest of the general public only," the statement continued.

ANEM appeals to all journalists' and media associations to condemn such pressures and to openly show their solidarity with journalists and editors of Politikay, and also with professionals from any other media that are exposed to any kind of pressure.