Journalist N1 television's Ana Novaković, on August 27 at Hotel Bristol, was rudely prevented by the staff to take a statement from the director of the company, which owns the media it works for. However, this is not an isolated incident. Ana Novaković is threatened multiple times because of the topics she deals with - she reports from the Special Court about the most serious criminal proceedings in the country, but also from the streets of Belgrade.
We talk about the night when she was rudely prevented from recording a statement, about the pressures and threats she endures, as well as what such events say about the state of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Serbia.
"WEATHER" What exactly happened at the Bristol Hotel when you were prevented from doing your job?
ANA NOVAKOVIĆ: I received the information that the director of United Group (UG) Stan Miller was staying at the Bristol Hotel together with other leaders of that company on the day when the international network of investigative journalists OCCRP, in cooperation with KRIK, announced that the directors of competing companies, Miller from UG and Vladimir Lučić from Serbian Telekom, agreed to replace Aleksandra Subotić, the director of United Media, which includes N1, Nova, "Radar", "Danas" and Forbes.
I waited for several hours in the hotel lobby to meet Stan Miller and ask him for a comment for TV N1 regarding the discovery of investigative journalists from that morning. When I realize that Mr. Miller is in the garden of the hotel, I decide to look for him there and record the statement on the phone. I told the hotel staff that my director was in the garden and that I wanted to greet him and ask him something. They allowed me to enter the garden, but I must admit that I was surprised by their warning that I may not record or take photos, since I did not notice such a sign anywhere, and that, on the contrary, guests regularly take photos in that recently renovated hotel. The hotel manager practically led me to the table where Stan Miller was sitting, without me even having determined who the person I wanted to meet was. I turned on the camera on my phone to record everything, and as soon as I spoke with only four words: "Good evening, Mr. Miller," the phone was snatched from my hand by the manager of the Bristol Hotel. Even though he illegally took my phone, I stayed by the table because I wanted to ask the question I came for. I introduced myself to Miller with the words: "I am Ana Novaković, a journalist from TV N1." He looked at me silently for a second or two, and the hotel manager started yelling at me in front of all the guests, calling security and the police. At no time did the director of the umbrella company that operates TV N1, where I work, stop the manager to hear what I had to say. I walk out of the hotel garden, my phone in the hands of the manager who refuses to give it back to me until I leave the building completely.
Were you surprised by the reaction?? Was there any prior pressure or warning from the company?
Of course I was surprised by the reaction of the hotel staff because I was kicked out of the garden as if I were a criminal. First of all, it is a public space that anyone can enter. I don't see anything objectionable that as a journalist, as I introduced myself to Miller, in a public place I should try to get his comment on the biggest story at that moment in which he is the main actor. By the way, Miller did not answer the questions previously sent to him by journalists. So he is not anonymous and should expect journalists to try to approach him. I did not break into his private hotel room, but tried to ask him a question in a public place. If anyone does not understand what a journalist's job is and how they come up with statements, then I can only refer them to the BBC, the Guardian, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, which have been doing this for decades.
The phone was returned to me in front of the hotel, with a prior warning that from that moment on I was "persona non grata forever at the hotel in Bristol". The most important thing I was told was that from the moment I entered the hotel, the staff had the information that I was "a high-risk person, and that they were following my every step." In front of the hotel, there was a whole drama with a security person from United Group, whose director is Stan Miller, and lawyer Bogdan Getic, who represents two competing companies - Telekom Srbija and United Group.
The man from United Group's security kept insisting in an authoritative tone that the police should be called, especially after I, as a journalist - because I properly introduced myself to him - recorded him asking the hotel's security, who was also present. Lawyer Gecić tried to smooth over the situation by persuading me for more than an hour using different methods to delete the video I took in the Bristol garden. I didn't agree to that even when he warned me that I could be fired.
It must be clear that the video is the product of journalistic work, because I approached it exclusively as a journalist. The video is of public interest and that's why it was published. The story for which I approached Stan Miller is the story about the threat to the freedom of the media in Serbia and the involvement of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in that business.
Lawyer Gecić even offered me to enter the hotel from which I was kicked out, to write a news inside, to send questions to whoever I want and that I would get an answer. I refused. I asked Stan Miller to give me a statement. It was rejected. Imagine that the man, Stan Miller, who is about a hundred meters away from me and who is the main actor of the story that upset the public and employees of the United Media media, will not come out to talk to the journalist, whose employer he is indirectly, but sends a lawyer to warn her that she may be fired. I could only conclude one thing - that Miller is afraid and that it is true that, at the request of Vučić, he tried to weaken and dismember the media within United Media, before replacing the director Aleksandra Subotić.
As a journalist reporting from the Special Court and from the protests, you have already been exposed to threats and attacks. What does the daily pressure you work under look like??
Certainly the pressures are present. If you want to engage in professional journalism and report objectively - as TV N1 journalists do all the time and as I have been doing throughout my entire career since I started at BIRN as an investigative journalist - then you have to ignore that and be aware that you work exclusively and only in the service of the public interest and the truth, no matter who likes it or not.
I specialize in reporting from the courts, mostly on high corruption and organized crime. In the Special Court, from which I most often report, various proceedings are underway, some of which are particularly sensitive because they prove the involvement of state services in crime. The most famous such procedure is the "Jovanjica". And that he is of exceptional importance is also proven by the fact that President Vučić often, as well as representatives of the Serbian Government and high-ranking officials, present the affair as a "lie".
Isn't that interference between the executive and judicial powers?
Of course, but not only that, but the executive power devalues, humiliates and belittles the judicial power, because the Prosecutor's Office for organized crime filed two indictments in that case, the High Court and the Court of Appeal confirmed them, and the trials began. With all that, "Jovanjica" was not discovered by journalists or politicians, but by the Serbian police. So – all state bodies. The trial is now entering its sixth year due to constant apparent obstructions, which once again shows how important this case is to the government. Only a few media reports on this case. There is never any media close to the government during the hearing, and it is not that they are not in the court on other occasions, which in itself shows that reporting on "Jovanjica" is not at all in the interest of the current government.
Due to my regular reporting, the participants in the proceedings and those who defend them, whether in the courtroom or in public, constantly accuse me of "lying", "having others write reports for me" or even "cooperating with the Prosecutor's Office" and of being their "spokesperson". This is based on the fact that I am regularly informed, often even before them. I perceive that only and only as a compliment to my work because that is the job of a journalist, especially one who is on the topic.
Have you ever received institutional protection or support from the police, prosecution offices or journalist associations?
Every time it was necessary, the journalist associations provided support not only to me and my colleagues from TV N1, but also to all other colleagues whose right to work and professional reporting was threatened. If we talk about the police, then we are here especially on the field of protest. There were many cases in which police officers used force against journalists, attacked them or simply prevented them from doing their job. I can't think of an example of a member of the police being sanctioned or prosecuted for that, but I can't say it's universal for everyone either.
It is far from the fact that every member of the police or Gendarmerie acts against the law, but not all media are treated equally. The government's narrative that is heard in the public contributes to this, and it comes most often and especially loudly from the highest state officials - President Vučić, former Prime Minister and current President of the Assembly Ana Brnabić, as well as MPs from the Serbian Progressive Party, who do not hesitate to use the harshest and most eyeless wording in targeting independent journalists. It is disastrous that citizens, daily exposed to such a narrative, adopt the same and behave towards journalists on every corner according to that model.
None of that can significantly affect my professional work. Yes, it makes my job harder because sometimes it makes me focus on myself, but I quickly get back on track. On the other hand, I am more tired because I have to answer dozens of calls and messages and say "everything is ok", and I have to work. But that's the job. Let's move on.
This text was created with the financial support of the European Union. The weekly "Vreme" is solely responsible for the content of this text and under no circumstances can it be considered to reflect the views of the European Union. The project - Women Journalists Are Not Alone: Information, Protection and Resilience - is supported within the "Safejournalists.net" support program.
