Nacional (newspaper)

Last updated
Nacional
TypeDaily newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s)Milorad Antonić
PublisherNIP Info Orfej d.o.o.
Editor Predrag Popović
Founded4 December 2001;21 years ago (2001-12-04)
Political alignment Sensationalism
Populism
Ceased publication18 March 2003

Nacional was a Serbian daily newspaper published in Belgrade from 2001 until 2003.

Contents

Owned by the NIP Info Orfej publishing company whose general manager Milorad Antonić previously made a profit on the Belgrade-based Ekskluziv magazine and Bijeljina-based Ekstra magazin, Nacional's first issue appeared on 4 December 2001. Published in the ambitious initial circulation of 60,000 copies, the paper managed to establish itself fairly quickly on the market. With its semi-tabloid content format, the paper's chief editor was Predrag Popović while Dragan J. Vučićević was his deputy. Svetomir Marjanović, another prominent journalist on the Serbian daily tabloid scene was a feature editor.

Nacional was published under the mantra 'Dnevni list Srbije' (Serbia's daily). Visually, the paper was a carbon copy of the Croatian Ninoslav Pavić-owned Jutarnji list daily with almost the same layout and exact same Latin font. [1] Furthermore, its name mirrored that of a Croatian weekly magazine owned by Ivo Pukanić.

The paper was shut down by a government decree during Operation Sablja following the assassination of Zoran Đinđić in March 2003.

History

Maršićanin's extramarital affair

In 2001, Nacional revealed the fifty-one-year-old Serbian parliamentary speaker Dragan Maršićanin's extramarital affair with a much younger female stenographer employed at the Serbian parliament. After ostensibly being caught by Nacional reporters at Hotel Jugopetrol on Mount Zlatibor, the tabloid ran salacious details of the adulterous relationship for days. [2]

The story appeared against the backdrop of continuous in-fighting among the member parties of the ruling DOS coalition in the wake of an attempt to have Maršićanin removed from the parliamentary speaker position for supposedly breaking procedural rules. The timing of the story's release thus raised suspicion of being politically motivated. Nacional editor-in-chief Predrag Popović later admitted to being tipped off about the Maršićanin story by the Serbian secret police. [3]

In May 2013, while talking about the Serbian tabloids' modus operandi and business model, Serbian Journalists' Association (UNS) president Ljiljana Smajlović referred to Nacional's 2001 Maršićanin story as "the very first instance in Serbia of an important political or business figure undergoing character assassination in the tabloids where the target gets dragged through mud via a sustained campaign that goes on day after day and sometimes even ends up lasting for weeks or months". She added that "the 'success' of the Maršićanin episode—in that those who started it got what they were after as he soon resigned his post and from that point on basically became political roadkill that would within a few years leave politics altogether—led to the same model being replicated over and over again" and that "ever since then, Serbian tabloids have become potent and powerful political tools whereby specific information is leaked to them by the people in positions of power in an effort to incriminate or defame rivals". [4]

In February 2002, the newspaper score a bit of coup when it brought star columnist Bogdan Tirnanić on board.

Ljiljana Buha letters and campaign against Zoran Đinđić

Throughout 2002, Nacional ran a series of stories painting Serbian prime minister Zoran Đinđić in extremely negative light. They started with a piece claiming Đinđić rang in New Year 2002 at a lavish party in Dubai where the bill got footed by known criminals and fugitives from Serbian justice system. [5] Later that year, the paper began publishing a series of letters supposedly written by Ljiljana Buha, estranged wife of politically connected Serbian businessman with underworld ties Ljubiša "Čume" Buha, in which she purportedly claims that Serbian organized crime has infiltrated the highest levels of political power in Serbia, specifically singling out prime minister Đinđić and his political circle of friends and allies. [5]

Though most of the claims from Nacional's Ljiljana Buha letters were in time proven to be either exaggerations or outright fabrications, including strong likelihood that the letters weren't even written by Ljiljana Buha but by members of the Zemun Clan, [5] the letters managed their primary aim of politically damaging Đinđić and his government.

More details of the entire episode came out over the years since. In Miloš Vasić's 2005 book Atentat, the 2001-2003 Serbian deputy prime minister Čedomir Jovanović claimed that during the publishing of the Buha letters and accompanying anti-Đinđić pieces, Nacional editor-in-chief Predrag Popović met with Đinđić in October 2002 "admitting to the prime minister sheepishly and remorsefully that he had been paid to publish the Ljiljana Buha letters because he needs to make a living before offering to stop the whole thing for 50,000". [5] Jovanović added that Đinđić agreed to pay up, but that the Nacional campaign against him continued. [5]

Banned by government and folding

On 18 March 2003, using its broad powers under the state of emergency act, Serbian government's Ministry of Culture and Information headed by Branislav Lečić issued a temporary ban on publication of Nacional due to "publishing a number of articles relating to the state of emergency and for questioning the reasons behind the state of emergency". [6] Then on 1 April 2003, the Belgrade city commercial court started liquidation proceedings against Nacional's publisher in Belgrade, Info Orfej. Despite the fact that they were not met either one of three possible conditions for liquidation of company, that company, by the annual accounts have expressed a profit of around 23 million dinars, that all contributions was paid, the company was liquidated, and 50 employees for indefinite time (of which 32 journalist) and 72 associates, lost their jobs and the means of work (118 computers, 120 desks and other equipment for communications). The company was seized on 21 April 2003, two days before the state of emergency ended. After a year, the Supreme Commercial Court abolished liquidation and the Constitutional Court of Serbia announced that the decision of quench of the media in the state of emergency was unconstitutional.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoran Đinđić</span> Prime Minister of Serbia (2001–2003)

Zoran Đinđić was a Serbian politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003. He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997. Đinđić was a long-time opposition politician and held a doctorate in philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nataša Mićić</span> Serbian politician

Nataša Mićić is a Serbian lawyer and politician who served as the acting president of Serbia from 2002 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragan Maršićanin</span> Serbian politician

Dragan Maršićanin is a Serbian economist and politician. He was the ambassador of Serbia to Switzerland from 2004 to 2009. He served as the Minister of Economy in 2004, only to leave it in order to run for president in 2004. He later resigned from the position and was replaced by Predrag Bubalo in October, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoran Živković (politician)</span> Prime Minister of Serbia (2003–2004)

Zoran Živković is a Serbian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Serbia from 2003 to 2004 and as the Mayor of Niš from 1997 to 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Čedomir Jovanović</span> Serbian politician and businessman

Čedomir "Čeda" Jovanović is a Serbian politician and businessman.

<i>Kurir</i>

Kurir is daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade, Serbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavko Ćuruvija</span>

Slavko Ćuruvija was a Serbian journalist and newspaper publisher. His murder on 11 April 1999 in Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia provoked international outrage and wide condemnation. In January 2014 two people were arrested and two others named by the Serbian police as suspects in Ćuruvija's murder, including Radomir Marković, former head of the State Security Service (SDB) from 1998 to 2001.

Zvezdan Jovanović, also known as "Zmija" ("Snake") is a Serbian former paramilitary and Commander in the Serbian police's Special Operations Unit, sentenced to 40 years in prison for the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in 2003.

<i>Press</i> (Belgrade newspaper)

Press was a daily middle-market tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade between 2005 and 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium</span> Gymnasium school

The IX Gymnasium "Mihailo Petrović-Alas" is a gymnasium located in New Belgrade, Serbia, established in 1961, and named after the Serbian mathematician Mihailo Petrović-Alas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Zoran Đinđić</span> 2003 murder in Belgrade, Serbia

Zoran Đinđić, the sixth Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, was assassinated on Wednesday 12 March 2003, in Belgrade, Serbia. Đinđić was fatally shot by a sniper while exiting his vehicle outside of the back entrance of the Serbian government headquarters.

<i>Pravda</i> (Serbia) Former Serbians newspaper

Pravda was a daily tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade, Serbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of Serbia (2001–2004)</span>

The Government of Serbia under Zoran Đinđić as the Prime Minister was formed on 25 January 2001. It is the first post-Milošević government formed after Serbian parliamentary elections held on 23 December 2000, when the Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition (DOS) won 64.09% of the popular vote translating into 176 seats in the Serbian National Assembly.

Milorad Ulemek, also known as Milorad Luković and "Legija" ("Legion"), is a Serbian former commander of the Serbian police special unit, the Special Operations Unit (JSO) and a former paramilitary commander, who was convicted of the assassinations of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić and former Serbian President Ivan Stambolić. He was also convicted of conspiracy in the attempted murder of Serbian opposition leader Vuk Drašković.

<i>The Third Bullet</i>

The Third Bullet: the political background of the assassination of Zoran Đinđić is a 2014 non-fiction book written by security officer Milan Veruović and journalist Nikola Vrzić. It analyzes the events surrounding the assassination of Zoran Đinđić and gives views on the political background of the assassination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoran Lutovac</span> Serbian politician

Zoran Lutovac is Serbian politician and former diplomat who has been the president of the Democratic Party since 2018. A former ambassador of Serbia to Montenegro between 2008 and 2013, he has served as one of the vice-presidents of the National Assembly of Serbia since 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 Special Operations Unit mutiny (Serbia)</span>

On 9 November 2001, soldiers of the Special Operations Unit (JSO), an elite special forces police unit of the FR Yugoslav State Security Service (RDB), also known as the Red Berets, raised a mutiny in response to the arrest and extradition of the Banović brothers, indicted for war crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the group's opposition to the Government of Serbia headed by Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. The mutiny ended on 17 November 2001 after certain concessions had been given to the Unit and the key figures in the State Security Service were dismissed.

References

  1. Nacional, novi Srpski dnevnik - Srpsko-Hrvatski plagijat
  2. V., D. (23 January 2005). "Marši se razveo!". Kurir. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  3. "Seks partijski neprijatelj broj jedan!". Alo!. November 2010. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  4. Naš gost - Ljiljana Smajlović;GEM televizija, 28 May 2013
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Skrozza, Tamara (6 November 2014). "Strogo kontrolisani vozovi". Vreme .
  6. "CLOSED BELGRADE PAPER "VICTIMISED"". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2009-07-26.