Aleksandar Vučić's official newspaper, the tabloid "Informer", published an advertisement a few days ago inviting journalists and media workers to join a new association called the Association of Serbian Journalists. In the letter of invitation, it is stated that information is in the public interest of citizens and it stands up to defend the profession, but also the personal and professional integrity of journalists. Journalists and journalism are also threatened, if I understood correctly, so 135 colleagues are calling on us to join this club of the righteous who will save Serbia from media darkness and pressures of various kinds.
What does this proclamation, this letter to media workers actually tell us? Illiti, as I understood it, without intending to claim that only my interpretation is correct?
In the first place, I would support any type of car that comes with this kind of support. Obviously, many journalists in Serbia share a common attitude about our reality, about the government, but also about our profession and its threats. Also, the establishment of a new journalist association, in addition to the existing three, implies that there is a different Code from the one that all three associations accepted as the basis of their activities 20 years ago.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (ANS) gathers exclusively journalists who are not critical of Aleksandar Vučić, as the personification of the authorities in Serbia. Although they come from different media houses, they are united by their support for the authorities and/or their extremely critical attitude towards those who criticize them.
Among the signatories you have people who have changed many editorial offices, as well as today's owners of various newspapers. On the list, you have only a few employees in public services (RTS and RTV), so it can be said that in different ways the employer of the people on this list is Aleksandar Vučić. That's probably why the logo of the association resembles the famous font AV from pre-election posters.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia is a clear answer to the question - how is it possible that every day on the front pages of tabloids, in the news of all pro-government television stations, you have identical titles, platitudes, formulations and attitudes? I would say that this association has been functioning for a long time as a unique mailing list, Viber group or similar informal community that forms a media front for the promotion of Aleksandar Vučić.
For now, we can only speculate about the reasons for this car trip. The first would certainly be a public act of support for the authorities and an expression of loyalty required of colleagues to continue funding and secure status. I am sure that one of the reasons for such a list is the recent support of all domestic and foreign journalistic associations to colleagues from Euronews Serbia. When they single-handedly dissociated themselves from the manipulation attempts carried out by their leadership, various measures of repression against journalists followed, from dismissal to punishment. Now some of the signatories of the initiative for ANS are the ones who are carrying out repression against journalists.
The Parliament of Serbia adopted a set of amendments to the law on media and public services, and a second, most likely unsuccessful attempt to constitute the REM Council, the key body for controlling electronic media in Serbia, is underway. Among the apostles of ANS is the former president, now spokeswoman of REM. The new association, after its constitution, will certainly be able to propose its own candidates for the REM Council, instead of the previous obscure gonzo associations.
This association is confirmation that in Serbia the media represent the strongest lever or club of the government, the disciplinary club with which Vučić ruthlessly beats his dissidents. This list, which the signatories claim is not exhaustive, shows that we have a hyperproduction of channels and content, but that on hundreds of channels we are actually watching the same undersigned people in different combinations and roles. We actually received a list of participants in a huge reality show, in which the Big Boss puts someone in the Elite, someone in the Farm, someone to drag opponents through the mud - but they all have the same goal: Vučić's favor. Belonging to this association is definitely entering the fast lane when it comes to career, because you will progress very quickly and get paid for your involvement. This differentiation is actually an invitation to a referendum among journalists with only one question: "Are you ready to absolutely and uncritically support everything Aleksandar Vučić says and does?"
This question actually resembles Cvijetin Milivojević's famous definition of the famous Movement for the People and the State, with which Vučić wants to replace the worn-out and spent SNS.
That association also confirms a kind of obsessive need to control the media through which the government diverts huge amounts of money in various ways. The list is perhaps also a reminder to those who are paid not to think that they got their money because they are smart, creative and beautiful, in a pluralistic media market. The example of the extremely close election result in Kosjerić and Zaječar shows that the propaganda will be significantly intensified in the days and months, which we could already state.
Perhaps the most important message of the creation of ANS, which should be understood by everyone who deals with the media in Serbia today, is the fact that no newsroom or owner will be your alibi for the quality of your work. Each of us, regardless of where he works today and where he worked before, signs exclusively with his first and last name, so if you are ready to trade - the invitation is open.
