Political Scientist: Twitter Used Wrong Formulation to Denote Government-Controlled Media Outlets in Serbia

Cvijetin Milivojevic (Photo: YouTube)

Political scientist Cvijetin Milivojevic on Aug. 19 said that social network service Twitter had used a wrong formulation to denote the media outlets collaborating with the Serbian government.

Milivojevic told BETA that the problem was not in cooperation with the Serbian government, explaining that the problem was when the government controlled and directed editorial policies of media outlets as was the case in Serbia.

“By saying that certain media outlets are close to the Serbian government, Twitter has only provided tailwind to Aleksandar Vucic to further tighten control of media reporting. Twitter, unfortunately did not stress that those were the media outlets which were under absolute control of the Serbian government,” Milivojevic said. He added that the question was whether powerful people in the world wished to see what they should see in relation to the suppression of freedom of the press in Serbia.

“It would be more important for media freedom in Serbia if MEPs underlined the consequences of the suppression of media freedom in the inter-party dialogue. MEPs should make it clear to the government that no election could be held before media outlets are freed of the government’s pressure and before the government stopped using media only for propaganda purposes,” Milivojevic stressed.