Serbian TV Company Apologized to Viewers for Misleading Them for Many Years
The Serbian public television company "Radio and Television of Vojvodina" (RTV) began its news broadcast on October 26 with an apology to viewers for years of one-sided event coverage and support for the government's position, according to the publication Vijesti.
The host of the broadcast admitted that the TV channel withheld important information and did not adhere to journalistic standards.
«The public broadcaster has not performed its functions for many years. It kept silent, turned a blind eye, provided one-sided information, covered events uncritically, did not ask necessary questions or did not ask questions at all. And for this, we must apologize to the viewers,» the host stated.
He added that some RTV employees fought for the opportunity to work freely in accordance with ethical journalistic principles. However, according to him, they failed to achieve victory in this struggle in time, so it must continue.
Against the backdrop of these events, Nenad Čačić, the acting head of the first program of Vojvodina Public Television, resigned. This occurred at the demand of some employees and RTV's General Director, Goran Karadžić.
Blažo Popović, a Serbian journalist who previously headed RTV, was appointed as the head of the first program.
The replacement of the editor-in-chief was one of the demands of the "Independence" trade union, put forward a year ago. The trade union drew attention to the loss of the channel's professional integrity and its pro-government journalism.
Previously, similar public apologies were made by Hungarian pro-government propagandists after this year's electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, who had been Hungary's long-time leader.
These events became possible due to the results of the early parliamentary elections in Serbia, which took place on October 25 after almost two years of student protests against corruption and the strengthening of authoritarian tendencies. In these elections, the Serbian Progressive Party of former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who had led the country in various capacities for 14 years, suffered a major defeat from the opposition "Student List", created specifically for the elections.
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