Two residents of Botun warned a journalist from "Vijesti" yesterday Nikola Saveljić that he should not "provoke with questions" and that he "will fare badly in the field, not those who send him," if he continues like this.
Saveljić said they did this after he asked the DNP leader a question. Milan Knežević, who, after questioning, compared the journalist to his aunt who "asks and answers questions herself."
Saveljić reported from Botun yesterday, after Knežević called on the people of Botun and Zeće to urgently gather on his X-order because "the police have stopped traffic for freight vehicles and are obviously preparing an intervention against the residents of Botun", which the Police Directorate denied.
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"I didn't interrupt him (Knežević), I know that's his manner, I let him finish and thanked him for his answer. After that, two locals approached me and said in a very unpleasant tone that I was working against them. That I didn't support them, that I had to understand them. To that, I told them that I was just doing my job and that I hadn't offended anyone with my questions. One of them replied that it wasn't the first time I had provoked them, and that I had done it once in Golubovci. He also said that I had to be careful, because I would be the one who would do badly in the field, not those who sent me," said Saveljić, stating that he later found out that it was about B. C. i NS
He also specified that the same two men approached him once again to explain that everything they had told him previously was "their opinion."
"Regardless of the decent distance I kept, I smelled alcohol on at least one of them," Saveljić said.
Explaining that he was accused of "not being provocative for the first time," the journalist said that this was a similar incident from September 13, when during a press conference between Knežević and the president of the Zeta Municipality Mihaila Asanović asked for a comment regarding the promise of the Podgorica authorities to remediate the red mud pool.
"And then two people from Botun approached me, and warned me in a similar way, claiming that I was working against them. One of them repeated it to me today. Although I told my superiors everything at the time, I asked that the incident from KIC Zeta not be processed further in any way, because I considered it an isolated case that would not happen again, and besides, these were elderly people, so I thought that at that moment I should not elevate their behavior to a higher level," said Saveljić, adding that then, as yesterday, official representatives from Botun apologized on behalf of individuals.
He emphasizes, however, that during yesterday's "bukvice" between B. Ć. and NS, he did not feel safe.
"I did not feel safe at that moment, which I later told the representatives of the people of Botun in a conversation. I received an apology from them, but also assurances that they would talk to those people and that what they did did not mean that I and 'Vijesti' were not welcome in Botun. Some younger people from Botun approached me, who told me that I was a 'light character' and apologized again on behalf of these two people. I understand the people of Botun, and I know that the behavior of these two people does not represent and is not a mirror of the whole of Botun, but it should not have happened again," said Saveljić.
Jovović: Let Knežević leave jokes for the community in front of the store in Mojanovići
Editor-in-chief of "Vijesti" Mihailo Jovović told Knežević to stop insulting "Vijesti" journalists, and that he would report any further mistreatment of journalists to the competent authorities.
"I would like to tell MP Knežević that it would be a good idea for him to insult 'Vijesti' journalists in the field today, and to leave his jokes for the company in front of the store in Mojanovići, with a beer."
Jovović assessed that Knežević was copying Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić poorly:
"I know that he is trying to copy his boss Vučić in his abuse of journalists when he is asked an awkward question, but it is clear to everyone that the 'leader of Serbs in Montenegro' is doing a very bad job, because, fortunately for us and for him, he has clearly not yet reached the recklessness and imagination of the main Ćaci. I also know that he was nervous, because it turned out that his call to defend Zećilend was a dead end - there was no police raid, and the response was not what he had hoped for, so he only continued to abuse the people of Zeći and their sincere concern for their health and the environment in which they live, for the sake of his own petty political promotion."
He states that "because of this nervousness, he insulted our colleague, who was only asking for an explanation for the 'blank'."
"However, his joke could have had much more serious consequences than it did - it encouraged the MP's followers to harass the journalist, because the leader didn't like the sub-question. By the way, MP Knežević could perhaps see to it that the flow of alcohol into the tents is reduced a little, and thus use his leadership influence a little more usefully."
Jovović said that "something useful happened" today.
"Knežević broke his oath to boycott the hated 'Vijesti' for the rest of his life, so he answered Nikola's question. But, if he hoped for that, it was in vain, 'Vijesti' will no longer publish his jokes from the networks and from the Assembly, except perhaps as an example of bad manners and bad humor. I am telling him and everyone who thinks of 'advising' 'Vijesti' journalists in this way, that every next time we will immediately report it to the competent authorities, even if those people, led by Knežević, lock themselves in the Zeta Municipal Assembly building."
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