May 15, 2020
The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation has filed a complaint with the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media, REM, against cable channel TV Kopernikus in response to its broadcasting of a show authored by MP and ruling Serbian Progressive Party official Vladimir Đukanović.
The law and internal regulations of the Regulatory Body explicitly prohibit such an engagement by all party officials or prominent representatives of particular political parties.
In response, REM Council member Olivera Zekić stated that TV Kopernikus would be ordered to cancel the show that’s hosted by Đukanović until the end of the election campaign.
In a reaction to this statement, Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation Executive Director Ivana Stevanović noted that the SĆF is not seeking the cancellation of the show only during the campaign, but rather permanently – given that the REM Regulations relate to the behaviour of television channels under all circumstances, and not only during campaigns.
Speaking on the show a few days later, Đukanović informed his viewers that he would not be hosting the show until the end of the election campaign, anticipating the REM ban, though it has yet to be imposed.
TV Kopernikus is owned by Srđan Milovanović, who has close ties to the Serbian Progressive Party and who bought two television companies with national coverage at the end of 2018 for a price of 180 million euros: TV Prva and TV B92 (formerly TV O2).
