Sometime around this time eleven years ago, the team that got together under the brand N1, then a new regional news channel, practiced broadcasting on a "dry run". We tested the technique, recorded, made stories, joined live - in short, we made a program that no one but us had seen. Everyone's excitement was huge, we got the opportunity to create a real news channel, and it only depended on us whether we would justify the trust given to us by the investors from United Group. Back then, we appeared at all important events, and our reporters reported live as if they were being watched by an audience of millions.
At that time, holding the Pride Parade was an event of first-class importance, primarily from the security aspect. The Prime Minister at the time, Aleksandar Vučić, wanted to prove to the European Union that he was capable of ensuring the safe holding of the parade. Police cordons were everywhere in the center of Belgrade and they had an order that no one without accreditation could pass into the procession zone in order to make sure that no incident would happen and put a stain on the power of the prime minister who took over the levers of power after the change of power of the Democrats in 2012.
Our team was located near Slavia, where there were strong forces of the Gendarmerie. Just when they thought everything was boring to report and were about to change location, they spotted two men trying to get through the cordon. The camera is on, the recording has started. The incident is well known.
They call the newsroom to say how the gendarme intervened, it was very tense. "We recorded everything, it's calm now, let's move on", they informed me and headed towards Slavia.
After half an hour, if my memory serves me correctly, Jelena calls me and says that some policemen she knows called her and asked about what they recorded. Then he calls Jugoslav Ćosić — he says that Suzana Vasiljević called him to convince him not to publish that video because the prime minister's brother and the mayor's brother (Siniše Malog) are on it. Only then does it become clear to us that we have anything but an ordinary incident. After that, BIA director Aleksandar Đorđević also called. And he tried to convince us not to publish the video. When they realized that we would not accept it, they sent us a written order to dub the recording of this event. We agree to that, and then broadcast the video on the newly opened N1 You Tube channel.
That was the moment when it became clear to Aleksandar Vučić that the TV station, which had not yet started broadcasting, had no intention of making agreements with the authorities. Then he realized that he would not be able to control us and that some journalists there would be disobedient; then begins Vučić's persistent fight against N1.
As his power evolved, so did the pressure on us. Knowingly or unknowingly, reacting to our random questions, Vučić raised our visibility. Even those who couldn't see us wondered what that N1 was. And that N1 was always where the news was, asking them questions and reviewing moves. In the beginning, Vučić allowed officials to visit us - if they wanted to. It wasn't often, but it happened.
Those "where you run away" elections came relatively quickly. While we followed the exciting election night, we were not aware that it was much more exciting in Savamala. There, masked men held the witnesses of the demolition of buildings captive and took away their phones. When they destroyed what was needed for Vučić's life project in cooperation with the sheikh to come true, they returned the mobile phones to the witnesses and threatened them not to tell anyone.
Some could not stand it, so they called N1 and testified about the first open suspension of the state because the police did not respond to calls for help. No one from the authorities even tried to call N1 and prevent the story from being published - they knew it would have no effect. Since the majority owner of UG at the time was the American investment fund KKR, government officials tried to discredit us by calling us CIA television. They knew that KKR has no influence on how we report, but it was convenient to discredit us as "foreign mercenaries", according to the good old recipe from the 90s.
WET DREAMS D. J. VUCIĆEVIĆ
When another international fund, BC Partners, came into the ownership of United Group instead of KKR, we became a tycoon media for the government. All the force of state propaganda was focused on the minority owner and the man who actually created UG - Dragan Šolak. For the general public in Serbia, he became a scarecrow and a symbol of the state enemy for Vučić and his most loyal supporters.
Why did the regime in Serbia start this way to deal with the minority owner of UG and the man who managed the affairs of Telekom's only competitor? The reason is simple - it was necessary to find one person who could say: "Enough - I give up, I will turn off N1". That did not happen despite the hundreds and hundreds of front pages of tabloids, with photos, painted with an enemy filter, of a businessman who has not set foot in Serbia for years.
Time passed slowly and the majority owner of UG, BC Partners, is trying to cash in on its investment by looking for a buyer for UG. As the group became too large with operations in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, it also proved to be a big bite for potential investors. Since 2023, it has become clear that BCP has decided to start selling parts of the group, as it was first announced that the sale of Telemachus in Bosnia and Montenegro was agreed, and not long after that the sale of SBB in Serbia.
There was no end to the jubilation of the authorities in Belgrade. It was as if they expected that at the same moment it would be the end of N1 and Nova - that they would finally see the realization of their dearest dream - an ether devoid of criticism. Months passed and nothing changed. Until it was announced in mid-June that Dragan Šolak had been removed from operational functions by decision of the BCP, it seemed that everything was as before in UG.
The group suddenly finds itself in a state of crisis, and its least financially significant operation -- the media -- becomes incredibly vulnerable. It is an open question - is this an introduction to the sale of media and if so, to whom are they sold? Will the editorial policy be free? We are still waiting for those simple answers from the owner (BCP), who has been with us for seven years.
In anticipation of those answers, the new director Vladica Tintor is coming to UG in Serbia, accompanied by lawyers who work for the state-owned Telekom Srbija. It appears near the end of working hours on the day it was registered in the APR, and regime tabloids appear alongside Telekom's lawyers. The informer is practically the first to report that a new director has arrived at UG in Serbia. Although they call him the new director of N1, maybe someone did not inform them well, and maybe they are just dreaming wet dreams. How else to explain when DJ Vučićević is photoshopped sitting in the N1 studio, except as incredible frustration.
UG in Serbia has no management role over N1 and Vladica Tintor has nothing to do with N1 and Nova.
LAST SPOTLIGHT ON
However, Vučić has all the connections with the media in Serbia, even when he does not have a direct connection. There should be no doubt that he ever gave up on the plan to destroy N1. Everything would be much easier for the government if there were no cameras and reporters from N1 who have been with students and citizens on the streets of cities and towns in Serbia for ten months. It would be much easier if N1 was not the most watched cable channel in SBB, and if the N1 portal was not at the very top of the readership in Serbia. It should not be believed that he still needs to justify himself to someone in Brussels when they ask him about media freedom in Serbia and to tell them: you have N1, what do you want?!
Is it still important for Europe that there is at least one free media here? Maybe they should ask themselves in time, so that it won't be too late. And time is running out. Either N1 will remain exactly as it was until now or it will not exist, because our people have never agreed to compromises.
When the last spotlight goes out, the darkness will no longer hide only the truth. They will hide us all.
The author is the program director of N1
