In a fairy tale The emperor's new clothes the entire media and court elite were ready to praise the emperor's invisible robe until a child said that the emperor was naked. This is actually the essence of the first episode of the new season of the children's series "Important Things", which is broadcast on RTS on weekends. In this Dutch TV format, children, with the presence and consent of their parents, talk about important things from their lives in the atmosphere of a hair salon. I have already written about the incredible, honest and shocking experiences that the children shared, and this weekend the authorities were furious at one of the children's comments, more precisely the statement that the boy did not go to school because protest and blockades carried out by students fighting for justice and a better future. This sentence enraged the Tsar and the courtiers to such an extent that the resignation of the editor of the children's program RTS, the resignation of the management, and more and more often underground tabloid channels are actually demanding the abolition of RTS as a public media service. One children's sentence actually laid bare the hypocrisy not only of the authorities but also of the competent institutions, and unfortunately, of the RTS management itself.
Let's go in order, from the most important actor, the boy from the show. The production of "Sense" is highly professional, until today they have produced films like Summer when I learned to fly or series No signal area. Every aspect of working with children is carefully monitored and respected, including the UNICEF Charter of Rights of a child. The boy in the show was not abused in any way, by any international or domestic standards, because Serbia is also a signatory to the Charter on the Rights of the Child. The boy did not offend an individual or a social group, because, just imagine, our children have been talking about their traumas on this show for more than a year, like the little girl who talked about her fears after the murders at her school "Vladislav Ribnikar".
If you had watched, dear courtiers, you would have seen and heard actually the most touching part of this boy's story, who was talking about his parents, their quarrels, which he might not have to listen to, so he thinks they love each other, but he thinks it's better to divorce. Some other boy might have heard in his family how students are drug addicts and slackers or foreign mercenaries. There is no censorship in this show, children say their important things in an atmosphere where no one will silence and judge them.
This was followed by a concerted attack on RTS, with demonstrators, a blockade, tents with barbecues, that kind of thing By Chacilendam 2, to demands for resignations that were spelled out by a girl in the microphone of Informer television. Neither the informative, nor the entertaining, nor the Belgrade Chronicle is good, especially because it only talks about breakdowns and problems, on the basis of which we can conclude that they don't like Belgrade. They have 30 days to beautify themselves, otherwise…
You could hear the same qualifications about RTS during the blockades against the blockades from Vučić, then from Minister Bratina, and then from the Protector of Citizens who want to learn from Vučević as well. Everyone is "horrified by the abuse of children" to the extent that bots are now calling for RTS to be shut down.
RTS's reaction is actually the most schizophrenic. The editor of the children's program, Jelena Popadić Sumić, was punished, and the Management Board of RTS reported RTS to the competent REM, more precisely like in the movie Balkan spy, they arrested themselves. Part of the RTS employees made a protest and supported the professional work of the editor and rebelled against the pressures and attempts to influence the editorial policy. This is exactly what the management of RTS failed to do already on Sunday when they created TV Ćaciland directed by Informer in Takovska, with the presence of state officials and Prime Minister Matsuto. In contrast to the announcements made during the student blockade of RTS, there were no metaphors about "Goebbels' fascist methods", "concentration camps", there was no reaction from ANS, nobody in Dnevnik spoke about interference in the editorial policy of the public service. It seems that the management of RTS did not feel the need to defend the Public Media Service, but to preserve its functions at the cost of professionalism.
This false, primitive and petty-bourgeois outrage over the words of a child and the cowardly reaction of RTS can be a prelude to an even fiercer confrontation with unfit artists whom this government sees as its opponents to the greatest extent. The strangling of culture goes from dismissals, to shutting down the budget, to the appointment of party henchmen and beheadings for bankruptcy trustees of cultural institutions. To that will now be added the censorship of those who moralize on Pink, Informer and Happy, where asses and tits are sown, of those who now say that a child is abused for political purposes while filming pre-election videos with children, taking them on walks against blockades, visiting them in intensive care and on their deathbeds.
Actually, this boy will be an alibi for Vučić to try to destroy another institution in Serbia. The management of RTS is furious with the students who asked them for objective reporting and an apology for the insults, which were later unsigned and unsigned from Juronuz to Informer. The students actually wanted to fight for independent and functional institutions in this country, including RTS, while this weekend it was seen that even this RTS, disgraced and one-sidedly oriented towards the government, is not to the liking of Vučić, who would abolish it and replace it with his own media. Any hint of public interest cannot be accepted by the totalitarian government and its apologists because it provides at least a theoretical possibility for different voices to be heard and seen.
That voice, I'm sure, can no longer be silenced, and the paranoia of the naked ruler, which does not necessarily mean nudity, but "undressing" or "shame" is now recognized even by children.
In the end, after everything, I am sad because of the too fast maturation of this boy, who at that age realized why he does not go to school and that it is better for his parents to divorce than to fight around the house. All of us, including politicians and the media, owe that boy something - we owe him our childhood! At least this show gave him a chance to talk about it, which takes incredible courage, and we're going to shut him up as is our custom. Supposedly, for his own good.
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