The murder of Slavko Ćuruvija froze the citizens and prepared the fall of Slobodan Milošević, said historian Branka Prpa, who was next to Ćuruvija at the time of the murder. He adds that the sense of meaninglessness today is created by the fact that the actors of that time are in power today, that RTS has not changed, and that the main characteristic of Aleksandar Vučić is still the persecution of the media.
"Today we have come of age because 18 years have passed since the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija. What is alarming and creates a feeling of meaninglessness and nothingness is that the actors of that time are in power today. Minister of Information Aleksandar Vučić is now the Prime Minister, Tomislav Nikolić was then the Deputy Prime Minister , SRS was in a coalition with Jula and was the creator of the law on public information, by which Slavko and other journalists were put on trial," said Prpa while guesting on Dan live on TV N1.
She adds that the current prime minister and elected president, Aleksandar Vučić, was the main censor during the 1999 war.
"What can be said in continuity is that the persecution of the media has been the main characteristic of Vučić since that first significant function. And that continues in one way or another to this day, and I fear that the Serbian media space is at a serious bottom compared to everything that has been achieved in the last 30 years," emphasizes the guest of Dana live.
Solving Ćuruvija's murder was a priority for many authorities, and the trial of those accused of murder, members of the State Security Service at the time, is currently underway. Prpa says that Zoran Djindjic's government failed to dismantle the state security system and that it continued to exist and became an ally with the new/old elites, which it says used it just as much as the previous ones.
"It is very difficult to expect someone to accuse or investigate themselves. This is a very problematic and optimistic expectation from citizens and journalists. This system must be dismantled, DB must be under parliamentary control, and we know whose control it is now." , assesses Prpa and adds that the way in which state security has been turned into a party police should be abolished for all time.
In her opinion, journalists do not lack courage, but the financing of the media space, which she says is selectively and politically defined, is problematic.
"You don't have space for independent journalism. It's not a profitable activity. The public, which is defined through the activities of the media and journalists, must be subsidized. Today, the media is being destroyed through financial tools - phones are turned on and advertisements disappear," Prpa said.
When it comes to public service, she says that all citizens pay a subscription for RTS and that the primary demand of citizens is for RTS to be a public service. The opposite, as he says, is the private television of Vučić, the SNS and the ruling coalition.
"I was on the first board of directors of RTS after October 5, and I was the first to resign, followed by Milena Dravić, because there was a clear agreement with the authorities in Đinđić's government to build RTS as a public service. But very soon they started interventions, interference in the selection of the editor-in-chief and editor of the news program. There was nothing from the public service from the beginning. There was a great desire to do it, but it ended up so that it has not changed since Milošević's time," assesses Prpa.
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