Izvor: N1 televizija, 20.Apr.2018, 21:17 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
Local weekly fights for survival
The Kikindske weekly, published in the northern Serbia’s province of Vojvodina has launched, a crown-funding campaign called “Branim Kikindske” (I defend Kikindske) in order to secure another 1,000 issues, an editor said on Friday.
The campaign is supported by the Group for Freedom of Media.
The weekly exists for two decade now and just printed its 1001st edition. It has been known as a record holder in paying fines for published articles.
The other local >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << media outlet, Vranjske, seized to exist because, as its editor-in-chief and former head of the Independent Union of Journalists (NUNS), Vukasin Obradovic said, “all kinds of pressure the publication was under.”
“Vranjske closed down the pressure on media which is a context in which the majority of outlets critical of the regime works. We are only a part of what is going on in Serbia with almost all media,” Obradovic said last autumn.
Obradovic, who went on a hunger strike over the paper’s closure, said that they all were exposed to different kinds of pressure both economic and a direct one he, his family members and the paper’s journalists were put under. He added that that was “someone’s obvious aim to shut down media that are offering citizens a different picture from the official one and the one presented by media close to the current authorities.”
Zeljko Bodrosic, Kikindske weekly editor-in-chief has a similar story, but his outlet is still struggling to survive.
“We are not in a specific situation compared to other local media. This campaign is a kind of a premiere for what is going to happen in future. Kikindske is, by chance, first to start, but I hope we will to save other local media in Serbia, especially those printed,” he told N1 television.
Local media in Serbia are in constant lack of money for normal functioning, since, as they say, advertisements are limited because companies avoid them fearing repercussions if posting adds in media that have a critical stand towards both local and state authorities.
On top of that, local politicians often sue media if not happy with their reports and the fines are high enough to jeopardise the mere existence of media.
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