Press

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	see below
Editor	see below
Founded	15 December 2005
Political alignment	Center-right Populism
Ceased publication	15 November 2012
Official website	www.pressonline.rs

Press was a daily middle-market tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade.

Press Publishing Group also owns a daily aimed at businesspeople called Biznis, as well as a lifestyle weekly magazine Lola and a glossy monthly magazine called FAME. Founded in late 2005, the company has quickly established itself as one of Serbia's leading media enterprises.^[1]

According to its most recent annual financial report submitted to Serbian Economic Register Agency, the company has 136 employees and it posted an annual profit of RSD58,830,000 (approximately € 0.7 million at the time) for the calendar year 2007.^[2]

Contents 1 Ownership 2 History 2.1 Press vs. Bojan Krišto 2.2 Folding 2.3 Reaction 3 Editorial history 4 References 5 External links

Ownership

The Press owners controlled the paper through an entity named Press Publishing Group d.o.o. that's registered as a limited liability company since mid October 2006.^[3]

Initially, it was co-owned by three parties: Amber Press Limited company from Cyprus (50%), individual Đorđe Stefanović (40%), and Mediavox d.o.o. company from Belgrade (10%). However, since Mediavox is also owned by Stefanović, Press Publishing Group was essentially a 50-50 joint venture between Stefanović and Cypriot Amber Press.

Then in May 2009, the ownership got restructured with Stefanović's 40% stake divided amongst 4 individuals: Biljana Kralj (22%), Đoko Kesić (6%), Dragan J. Vučićević (6%), and Svetomir Marjanović (6%).

Over the years, there's been frequent speculation about the identity of the individuals behind the companies that were listed as the Press owners. Serbian tycoons and businessmen Miroslav Mišković and Dragan Đilas were often mentioned and called out in this regard. On 12 November 2012, that speculation got confirmed when politically-influential Serbian tycoon Miroslav Mišković announced his decision to sell his stake in the paper, admitting in the process that he was the paper largest individual stakeholder.^[4] Reacting to Mišković's announcement, Serbian deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vučić claimed that Serbian businessman and the mayor of Belgrade Dragan Đilas also owns a large stake in the paper and called on him to publicly admit it.^[5]

History

In mid December 2005, Press became the latest in a growing series of Serbian print media publications that came into existence due to a group of journalists leaving their previous place of employment en masse to start a new paper. This is how Vreme weekly was started in 1990 (left Politika), Naša borba in 1994 (left Borba), and Glas javnosti in 1998 (left Blic).

In this case, the majority of Press staffers including editor-in-chief Đoko Kesić and his deputy Dragan J. Vučićević worked at Kurir from its inception in May 2003 until early December 2005. At that time a dispute over revenue sharing came to a head, resulting in about 90% of Kurir's staff leaving the paper. Public accusations of corruption and political skulduggery started flying thick and fast between Kurir owner Radisav Rodić on one side and Kesić-Vučićević editing duo on the other. During mid December 2005, Vučićević and newly named Kurir editor-in-chief Antonije Kovačević even publicly squared off in an impromptu TV duel on BKTV's talk-show Klopka hosted by Olivera Kovačević (no relation to Antonije Kovačević), but apart from a lot of shouting and theatrical rhetoric not many concrete facts were established.

Led by Kesić and Vučićević, the group that left Kurir announced plans of starting their own daily tabloid named Dnevni kurir, however, Kurir owner Rodić immediately filed a complaint with Trade Court, protesting copyright infringement. The court agreed with him and issued an immediate junction prohibiting publication under that name. Though they felt Kurir became what it is in large part due to their own efforts and skills, Kesić & Vučićević decided not to pursue the matter further legally and ended the issue by naming their new tabloid Press, instead.

Its premiere issue came out on 15 December 2005.

Press vs. Bojan Krišto

In late November 2008, Press began running a series of articles about Bojan Krišto, CEO of the state-owned company JP Aerodrom Beograd that's in charge of Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport. The issue was his free-spending ways when it came to handing out bonuses for himself and members of the company's managing board. Since by the nature of the position, Krišto was politically delegated by G17 Plus, a party that was member of the ruling coalition For a European Serbia (ZES) at the time, the whole thing soon erupted into a political scandal. Opposition MPs demanded his resignation along with pressing criminal charges while even the President of Serbia Boris Tadić chimed in calling the situation unacceptable. Much of the public's anger was directed at Krišto's party boss Mlađan Dinkić who was also the Minister of Economy and Regional Development as well as the Deputy Prime Minister. For a while it even appeared that this is the beginning of the rift in the Serbian ruling coalition and some even went as far as suggesting that together with other disagreements between government members such as the Russian gas deal, this airport case might just make the government fall.

No such thing happened, however, as Krišto resigned on 25 November 2008 under the weight of public pressure^[6] while Dinkić went on B92 programme Utisak nedelje on 30 November 2008 and more or less defended his party colleague.^[7] Dinkić repeatedly referred to the entire episode as "witchhunt" and even suggested that part of the motivation for Press to go after Krišto might lay in his apparent decision to make them pay the outstanding sum on the sponsorship deal that allowed the Press logo to be printed on the back of boarding passes issued at the airport. The very next day Press responded to this by saying they will present Dinkić with all the details of that particular business deal and demand that he issue a public apology for the "libelous remark".^[8]

Folding

On 15 November 2012, in the wake of Miroslav Mišković's announcement of pulling out of the paper (which also meant the Serbian tycoon implicitly admitted to owning the paper, something he hid for years prior), the paper announced that day's issue to be its last in print. It was also said on the same occasion that the issue for Republika Srpska would continue as well as the website.^[9] According to unofficial sources, the paper accrued debts of more than €16 million at the time of its folding.^[10]

Mišković's implicit admission of owning a stake in Press when he announced his pullout from the paper as well as the publication's demise three days later, caused a lot of reaction and controversy on the Serbian media scene as well as in the country's wider public. It again opened the issue of the real ownership behind Serbian print and electronic media outlets.

Reaction

Ljiljana Smajlović, president of the Serbian Journalists' Association (UNS) said: "UNS supports the demands of Press employees to get to the bottom of everything - who were their real owners, what was the paper's circulation, and why weren't they given the opportunity to put together a newspaper the way they want to. UNS further appeals on the creditors of Press to show understanding of the situation the paper's employees find themselves in and to excersize restraint considering Miroslav Mišković's publicly stated promise to pay off most of the paper's outstanding debts. UNS is further criticizing the Serbian government for not delivering on one of its first promises upon taking office - discussing Verica Barać's report that clearly identified murky media ownership as the biggest threat to freedom of the press in Serbia. If it doesn't determine once and for all why the Serbian media market turned into Wild West in which everyone deceives everyone else when it comes to the real ownership and real circulation, this government will share the responsibility for the situation with the previous one. It would be good if the Press' other owner - the still clandestine one - finally owned up and took responsibility for the paper's finances thereby helping the journalists re-form their newspaper, hopefully this time without debts to tycoons".^[11][12]

At the 15 November 2012 press-conference he called over a different issue, former Press editor-in-chief, columnist, and one of the paper's founders Dragan J. Vučićević (at the time the editor-in-chief of Informer) took several questions about the paper's demise. He said on the occasion: "Towards the end of 2010, Press got hijacked and taken away from me and the other founders by the people from top echelons of the authorities that ran Serbia at the time. They basically blackmailed us with the threat of laying off the 250 staffers that were employed at the paper at the time as well the threat of making sure our loans don't get re-programmed. From the second half of 2010 until I eventually left in late December 2011 when they wouldn't allow me to continue writing my column, I was neither involved in the paper's business nor its editorial policy. All I did for the paper in 2010 and 2011 was writing a weekly column. Yes, I was listed at the same time as the managing board president of Press Publishing Group, but it was only a formal title by the decision of some people that made decisions at the time - in reality I had nothing to do with the managing board that didn't even exist by the way, and I'm not the right man to talk to about what went on in that paper in the last three years. Yes, I was fictitiously listed as the managing board president. As far as Oliver Dulić and the payments from his environmental fund go, I learned of those only after I had already left Press. I had nothing to do with him. If you prove that I ever met him, signed any of his payments, or even talked to him over the phone I'll gladly go to jail. I never took a dinar from Dulić or anyone else from the Tadić authorities. I only suffered under those authorities. During the Tadić era in Serbia, only a few journalists dared to put up consistent and resolute resistance to his tyrannical rule. I feel that resisting Tadić an his cronies is one of the greatest highlights of my career especially under the circumstances when other journalists kept silent while cashing in their integrity from Dulić and other characters like Cole, Krle, and Šane".^[13]

Speaking on Utisak nedelje political talk-show, the leader of opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Čedomir Jovanović said that hearing Mišković and Đilas were the owners of Press wasn't news to him, before continuing: "Press was the price Mišković had to pay to the DS-led authorities. It was a government racket".^[14]

Editorial history

• Đoko Kesić December 2005 – November 2007
• Dragan J. Vučićević November 2007 – November 2010
• Svetomir Marjanović November 2010 – May 2011
• Veljko Lalić May 2011 – October 2012
• Miša Brkić October 2012 – November 2012

References

External links

• Press Online - Official website