BETAPHOTO/VELIMIR PEROVIC
Several hundred Belgraders rallied on Oct. 14 in front of the editorial office of the Nova.rs portal to express support to the journalists who have been threatened with termination of employment unless they accepted to cooperate with the new editor-in-chief, Marko Stjepanovic.
The rally was also joined by a large number of journalists from other independent media, public personalities from the areas of culture, science, judiciary and sports, according to BETA’s reporter on the ground.
The editor-in-chief of the Nova daily paper, Ranko Pivljanin, told the gathered people that the newsroom had rejected the owner’s ultimatum and that they would continue to work as before.
“Some people, who have bought everything and who have bought people from other newsrooms, thought they could buy us. We are not for sale and we continue to work professionally as before,” Pivljanin said.
The deputy editor of the Nova.rs portal, Ratko Femic, said that the current staff of the portal would be reporting in the Oct. 25 electoral night.
The owner of the Alpac Capital and director of the United Media Digital, Pedro Vargas Santos David, within which the Nova portal and newspaper now operate, last week introduced the new editor-in-chief and his deputy, Marko Stjepanovic and Ivana Mastilovic Jasnic, to the employees, whom the employees have rejected. Previously, Stjepanovic and Mastilovic held editorial positions in the Swiss company Ringier that owns the Blic pro-government tabloid.
On Oct. 13, the new management gave the employees less than 48 hours to decide if they wanted to work under new management, or take severance pay and leave the portal. The journalists of the portal made an all but unanimous decision to stay at their workplaces.
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