Journalist Pavle Kosić: How I Became a "Technological Surplus" at TV Juronjuz Serbia

In journalistic circles, there has been talk for some time about a change in the editorial policy of Juronjuza, and the atmosphere in the newsroom has been tense since I returned in December of last year. However, everything came to a head on April 18, when an unsigned statement titled "We Call on the Authorities to Enable RTS to Function" appeared on the Juronjuza website. The statement was published during a student blockade of the public service buildings, and to this day, no one has publicly claimed responsibility for that text, leaving the editorial team to only speculate about its author. Among other things, the controversial statement compared the students in the blockade to the Khmer Rouge, who want to turn all of Serbia into a "large re-education camp." For the record, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and are responsible for the genocide of approximately two million people.

Since some colleagues refused to read even the "mild" version of the text in our program, despite threats that they would face "consequences," that same evening, almost the entire newsroom publicly distanced itself from the unsigned statement. As someone who had had a correct but already strained relationship with the editor-in-chief up to that point, I wrote to her hoping that she would support her journalists in the resistance they provided against the attempted abuse of the Juronjuza editorial team. Of course, I never received a response. At least not a direct one.

Instead, in the following period, my suggestions were often ignored, and in some cases, there were even talks of an outright ban on researching certain topics. For example, in response to a proposal to do a story on the phenomenon of offshore companies, the editor-in-chief replied that she did not believe that the topic could be addressed "with two interlocutors and without serious research," and that the writing from KRIK, whose text was the impetus for the topic, should be taken "with great caution." She added, however, that we could agree "on how we would approach this topic next week." Although I gladly accepted the opportunity to investigate the topic more seriously, that conversation never took place. The situation was similar with the proposal to address the issue of police brutality, while I never received any response to proposals to do a story for World Press Freedom Day or to investigate what was happening with the changes to the law on the Expo exhibition.

These and similar stories used to be an integral part of the Juronjuza program, which I pointed out on several occasions. These are just some examples that were accompanied by numerous emails to which I never received a reply, including comments on the new work organization that was established shortly after almost the entire newsroom publicly distanced itself from the aforementioned unsigned statement. When I complained that the new shifts were exhausting, as well as that it was impossible for one journalist to be in three places at the same time, I was only assigned more such shifts. It turned out that the new work system was actually an introduction to the "systematization" and "rationalization" announced to the newsroom because, as stated, the owners were dissatisfied with the results achieved. The atmosphere of tension thus grew into an atmosphere of waiting for the expected, which soon occurred when, in one day, June 25, at least 12 of us were fired, following the dismissal of colleague Marija Šehić.

It is the duty of journalists not to remain silent. In the case of the Juronjuza editorial team, it has been shown that this can come at a cost, but journalistic integrity is something that is difficult to build and can be easily destroyed, as this case also confirms. Censorship, political propaganda, withholding important information, and the prohibition of researching certain topics are incompatible with journalism. In such an environment, the space for practicing this profession honestly is shrinking, but there are still people within the newsrooms who fight small battles every day that many will never know about. It is precisely these individuals who, despite everything, demonstrate that this profession still makes sense.

Source: UNS