Journalists’ Associations Condemn RTS Public Broadcaster Board Member’s Comment about Cartoonist Petricic

Dusan Petricic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/AV)

On May 19, journalistic associations described as inappropriate the statement by Predrag Azdejkovic, a member of the RTS public broadcaster Managing Board, about cartoonist Dusan Petricic, while the Managing Board president said that the post has nothing to do with the RTS. 

On May 16, the same day the news was published about the death cartoonist Predrag “Koraks” Koraksic, Azdejkovic wrote on social media X: “Petricic should get ready.”

“The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) considers this statement to be absolutely inappropriate, unacceptable and particularly concerning, bearing in mind that it comes from a member of the Managing Board of the public broadcaster. In the context of the death of one of Serbia’s most prominent cartoonists, this message cannot be understood as harmless, but rather as a malicious allusion directed at another author who regularly uses his work to critically reflect on political and social realities,” IJAS said in a statement.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has called on the RTS Managing Board “to urgently respond to this statement, disassociate itself, and condemn it, as this is not the first time for Azdejkovic to behave inappropriately in public and cause harm the already shaken reputation of the public broadcaster.” 

RTS Managing Board President Branislav Klanscek has said that Azdejkovic’s post represents his personal stand which has nothing to do with the public broadcaster. 

“The inappropriate statement does not and cannot represent the position of the RTS Managing Board or the RTS as a public broadcaster,” he said in a statement.