Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) expressed serious concern about the way in which changes in media management are taking place Adria News Network (ANN).
The announcement stated that this is happening at a time when the procedure for their takeover by Alpak Capital has not yet been completed in terms of regulation.
Luxembourg's independent audiovisual media authority ALIA confirmed on August 18 that the transaction has not yet been approved and that the opinion process on the change of control of ANN is still ongoing.
NUNS stated that journalists and other media workers, more than 1.000 employees of ANN throughout the region, their labor and professional rights and job security must come first.
He also included "the right to be timely and fully informed about changes that directly affect their work and the future of the newsroom".
According to data from the Agency for Business Registers, on August 17, the previous directors, i.e. legal representatives and part of the management of those companies, were replaced in the companies United Media Digital, Adria News, Dan Graf and Adria News Nova S, through which N1, Nova S, Nova.rs, Nova, Radar and Danas operate, it is added.
Concern and uncertainty
NUNS reported that they were replaced by the general manager of Alpac Capital, Pedro Vargas David.
"Such a change, carried out without prior notification of the employees and before the transaction was regulatoryly completed, still further increased the concern and uncertainty among journalists and media workers, especially with announcements that changes in editorial positions could also follow," it states.
The trade unions of those newsrooms, as recalled, have already requested an urgent meeting with the new director and a written guarantee that there will be no encroachment into the editorial policy or jeopardizing the positions of editors and journalists.
The announcement also states that "the fact that these changes are happening while the regulatory procedure is still ongoing is of particular concern."
An important role in preserving professional and critical journalism
NUNS announced that it "does not prejudge the decisions of the regulator", but believes that changes in management structures before the end of the regulatory procedure "justifiably raise the question" of whether factual control over the media is established before the competent bodies have completed the assessment of the transaction.
The press release states that this issue is not only about labor rights and that N1, Nova, Danas, Radar and other ANN media have an extremely important role in preserving professional and critical journalism in Serbia and the region.
"Their editorial independence is therefore a matter of public interest," the announcement reads.
It is for this reason that the European Act on Media Freedom requires that, during media concentrations, not only the market aspect of the transaction but also its impact on media pluralism and editorial independence be assessed, it is added.
NUNS therefore demands that Alpak Kapital and the current management of ANN talk to representative unions and employees without delay.
It also demands "to provide employees and the public without delay with clear, written and verifiable guarantees about the protection of the labor and professional rights of journalists and other media workers, the preservation of jobs and the editorial independence of all newsrooms within ANN".
They noted in the statement that "such a request is not just a matter of good business practice."
Source: Beta
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