RTS journalists about Bujošević: "They burned themselves, killed themselves"

The first man Radio and Television of Serbia Dragan Bujošević does not advertise himself - it has been like that for years, he writes Deutsche says.

This is also the case during the blockade of RTS, which is entering its ninth day, while the RTS program looks like a barely patched collage produced by some small town television.

Admittedly, there are announcements that talk about "illegal blockades", "persecution" of employees and the most difficult working conditions "since the bombing". Then, exactly 26 years ago, there were forces NATO sixteen employees were killed in the rocket attack.

"If I were Bujošević, I would stop the program"

Several RTS journalists unofficially told Deutsche Welle that they are disgusted with the editorial staff, but also with one-sided criticisms that present RTS as the biggest problem in the media world. Some are in fear, they feel that a target has been drawn for them.

Another source thinks the stick-and-rope program looks silly. "If I were Bujošević, I would stop the program. The world will not end."

As for the news program, they know that RTS is far from objective, that, for example, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić comes to visit whenever he wants, but one source says: "From 15 minutes of reporting in Dnevnik about the big protest on March 15, we have now come this far."

Between two fires?

They say that the students' request to shut down RTS can make Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić very happy. In any case, he has a gallery of loyal television stations that are financed in one way or another with state money.

Many RTS journalists think that they are unnaturally squeezed between two media poles - aggressive regime tabloids and television on the one hand, and media that always criticize the government at all costs.

"The leading people of our house did not manage well there. They fell on their own, they killed themselves. But we are afraid that those who do not like Bujošević will not get better than, say, Dragan J. Vučićević or Milomir Marić", says one interviewee of Dojče Vele.

A collage of condemnations and that's all.

Two hundred employees, gathered in the "Our Protest" initiative, claim that the management of RTS discriminates against workers by including only suitable ones in the current extraordinary program. They also claim that it is not known who has been editing the news shows for the past few days.

And they are a collage of condemnations of the blockade of RTS from all sides, from President Vučić to on-duty analysts from the studios of other television stations with a national frequency.

Both major journalistic associations, UNS and NUNS, condemned the pasting of posters similar to warrants for RTS editors, as well as the fact that some journalists' phone numbers were published on social networks.

But opinions differ on the blockade itself. While UNS appeals to enable all journalists to work, NUNS say that RTS is outside the scope of journalism and the law, so they will not defend someone who violates the code.

"The student protest is justified. It is the logical finale of everything that happened in the last decade as RTS lost its professionalism and turned into Aleksandar Vučić's propaganda newsletter," says Željko Bodrožić, the head of this guild association.

On Tuesday, the blockade of RTS continues, as the central event of the protest that is approaching half a year in duration and whose end is not in sight. Students claim that they will not give up and that no one is tired.