The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is concerned about the recent removal of an editor-in-chief in Valjevo, Serbia.

According to information before SEEMO, the new municipal assembly of the town of Valjevo replaced Olga Petrovic, editor-in-chief and managing director of the local municipal weekly, Napred, with Jovan Bugarski, a member of the Serbian Socialist Party (SPS).

SEEMO is also informed that Napred journalists, who have been on strike since 11 July in protest of Petrovic’s replacement, were not allowed to enter the premises of the weekly.

SEEMO condemns the replacement of the editor-in-chief by the new local government, which was elected in last year’s local elections. “This situation is even more worrying, since it is an old practice in Serbia that a newly elected government names new editors-in-chief; a process that goes against all journalistic principles,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General. “Also, the right of journalists to recommend or to vote in a new editor-in-chief has not been respected.”

“SEEMO would like to emphasise that governments should not interfere in the editorial independence of any media outlet and that a free working environment for journalists is a basic principle of any democratic society,” Vujovic added.

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For any further information please contact:
SEEMO – IPI, Spiegelgasse 2/29, 1010 Vienna, Austria,
Tel (SEEMO+HELP LINE): +43 1 513 39 40, Tel (SEEMO): +43 1 512 90 11 11,
Fax: +43 1 512 90 15, E-mail: [email protected], Web: http://www.seemo.org