Timofeev: NIN will be critical of everyone

Alexander Timofeev will be the new editor-in-chief of NIN, since a large number of experienced journalists are leaving that newsroom to join the new United Group weekly.

"I'm not afraid, but it's a big temptation." I'm a person from the electronic media and everyone knows that, but the offer came and the challenge was too great for me to refuse," Timofeev told Vreme.

As he says, he already has his first meeting with his new colleagues on Friday (January 19). In the newsroom, he found a dozen people who remain at NIN, including those who work on the weekly's new website.

"Today I sat with a dozen people who stay there, I'm talking about serious people, not beginners," says Timofeev. "The curiosity is that I also met Mica Ćulibrka, who is my longtime colleague and friend, so we hugged."

Independence is the only criterion of journalism

However, Ćulibrk, as the outgoing editor-in-chief of the oldest weekly, said in public that he got the impression that the owner of NIN, Jelena Drakulić Petrović intends to change the direction of the weekly and that the question is how much freedom there would be.

Timofeev says that he had no impression that anyone would limit his journalistic freedom. "Absolutely no time at all." I could not agree. I didn't have to, nor did anyone call me to suggest that I agree."

"I spoke directly with Jelena, whom I knew, but we never worked together. We have had several meetings and it is interesting to what extent we think about many things related to media and the future of media. Then I signed."

Photo: Srđan Pablo Doroski/FoNet

As he says, some new people will certainly come to NIN, but it is still too early to say which ones.

When asked whether NIN will remain critical of the authorities, Timofeev tells Vreme: "Someone has already asked me whether NIN will remain an 'opposition newspaper'." That division into positional and oppositional media is meaningless. There is one thing that must be fulfilled in order for it to be journalism - the truth. I accept independent and free journalism as an absolute unit of value measurement."

"During my entire career, I worked in media that were not the favorites of the authorities, above all I think of B92 and Studio B. It is a fortune to have all sides of the story." And I know that it will be so, objectively, independently, critically towards everyone. I underline - to everyone," says Timofeev.

"If I were a man in power, I would be the eternal director"

The former well-known journalist of B92 and the director of Studio B at the time when the Democratic Party governed the city from this latter media outlet left when the city government was taken over by SNS. Then he said the famous sentence: "Politics brought me, politics replaced me."

Did "politics bring him" even now? "In this case, it has nothing to do with it," says Timofejev, recalling the continuation of the sentence about Studio B, that it was a radio-television station that worked for Belgrade and the citizens of Belgrade.

"When they invited me to Studio B, I asked them why they were offering me a direct political position, and I was told that I just make good radio and television and not to worry about politics."

Timofejev has always been an occasional correspondent for the German radio station WDR, and he spent several years in the background, working at Vojvodina Radio and Television. He held media trainings for government employees.

"I am one of the few people who held media trainings in the Government of Serbia and the Government of Vojvodina, while Pajtić was still the provincial prime minister. Those trainings are under the auspices of the American Embassy, ​​so they are not directly related to the Government."

"So, those trainings do not mean that I am a man of power, if I were, I would be the great director of Studio B forever," says Timofeev.