The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said in an interview with TV Pink last night that he had sent a request to Željko Mitrović to cancel reality programs on this television and added that he was waiting for his response on this occasion.
"And I asked him and told him that a part of the citizens of Serbia thinks that reality TV is not a good thing and that I know what his attitude is and that of the viewers of Serbia who watch it, but that was my request. Before we sit down and talk about it. "I asked him before he talks about it within REM, I asked him to consider the possibility of canceling it - whether he will or not, we will see," said Vučić.
The answer came faster than expected: "On the recommendation of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, I made the decision to cancel the reality program "The Cooperative" in the shortest possible time, no longer than ten days. I believe that the unity of Serbia and the assessment of the President of the Republic is more important than any kind of interest of Pink and my personal interest," Mitrović wrote on his Twitter account.
Competent institutions did not respond to appeals
One of the main demands of the citizens and the opposition, who have gathered in the largest number so far for three mass protests against violence, was the immediate cancellation of programs that promote violence, immorality and aggression on television with a national frequency, such as reality shows.
In the course of 24 hours after the two mass murders in Belgrade, the Go-Change movement announced that more than 150.000 citizens had signed the petition to revoke the license of Pink and Happy TV stations for broadcasting reality shows.
From this civil movement, they said on that occasion that the competent institutions did not respond to 112 letters regarding the people's initiative from 2019 to limit reality shows.
"For four years, we collected petitions, held protests, proposed a law in the Parliament, organized public debates and demanded that illegal reality TV violence on national frequencies be abolished." Today it was announced that PINK will cancel the reality show Zadruga in 10 days. We ask that the Law by which we request the restriction of reality programs and the introduction of at least half an hour of programs for children and minors be passed. We are fully aware that this is a consequence of the pressure of recent years, which culminated in recent weeks due to the tragic events," stated the statement of Crani-Promeni.
On April 27, with a performance in front of the Government of Serbia, the Association for the Protection of Constitutionality and Legality submitted a petition with 60.000 citizen signatures to ban reality shows during the state of emergency.
Z.S.
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