Letter to the Government of Serbia

To the Government of Serbia,

The Board of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) wishes to place on record its concern over statements indicating that Serbian news agency Tanjug could be forced to change its role from a national news agency to serve more as a state PR office.

Tanjug is a well-known brand in the news agency business and the agency is since many decades a member of the international news agency community. So was Tanjug one of the founders of the European Alliance of News Agencies when a number of European news agencies in 1956 decided to create a news agency organisation for cooperation and exchange of experiences etc.

Tanjug has recently under the present management been re-vitalised both financially and editorially. This positive development led to that CEO, Ms Branka Djukic, in 2011 was awarded the EANA Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality.

The EANA Board would therefore urge you to avoid changing Tanjug´s mission and instead secure the agency´s position as an independent provider of unbiased news services to traditional and new media in Serbia and abroad.

We appreciate the Serbian government´s ambition to modernise the rules under which Tanjug operates. For a news agency´s trustworthiness, both within the country and towards its international partners, it is vital that the ownership structure, whichever one chosen, is clear, transparent and makes the provision of true and unbiased news the foremost editorial goal.

EANA comprises privately and publicly owned news agencies in 31 European countries and serves as a forum for cooperation and information for the news agency business. In the understanding of EANA the news agency business constitutes the very basics of news gathering and distribution and has to be seen as a backbone of true and unbiased news reporting in a democracy. It is a business that needs a healthy environment abounding in freedom of the press, fair competition and simple and basic rules to operate. To secure an economic and legal environment for news agencies operating in accordance with these rules is therefore one of EANA´s main concerns.

August 26, 2013

Peter Kropsch, CEO of news agency APA, Vienna and President of EANA
Clive Marshall, CEO of news agency Press Association, London
Jiri Majstr, Director General of news agency CTK, Prague
George Penintaex, Editor-in-Chief and Acting Director of news agency CNA, Nicosia

Erik Nylen, Secretary General of EANA