{"id":9458,"date":"2016-03-24T18:40:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/en\/?p=9458"},"modified":"2016-11-10T17:06:44","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T15:06:44","slug":"smear-campaign-against-krik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/en\/smear-campaign-against-krik\/","title":{"rendered":"Smear Campaign Against KRIK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Donate\"<\/a>Almost since its founding, KRIK (Crime and Corruption Reporting Network) has been the target of many attacks by the pro-government tabloid Informer<\/em> and other media close to the government and criminal circles. Informer has, on several occasions, made false accusations about KRIK’s editor-in-chief Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, representing him as partner to foreign secret services.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the following texts, you can track the development of the anti-KRIK campaign and the campaign against other independent media, and follow the reactions it caused.<\/strong><\/p>\n11-8-2016<\/span>\n\n

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\"informer-naslovna-07-11-2016\"<\/a>The pro-government tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c again launched a campaign against KRIK and other non-profit organizations involved in investigative journalism for their research on crime and corruption. The tabloid\u2019s article \u201eDirt: America and the EU Pay Liars and Racketeers<\/strong>\u201c falsely accuses KRIK and other research organizations of \u201ealmost every day unnecessarily falsifing Serbian public affairs and calculating to bring about chaos in Serbia.\u201c This article is on the front page of the tabloid, which also shows a photo of KRIK\u2019s editor Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

We remind everyone that KRIK is an organization engaged in investigative journalism, and does not create the affairs<\/strong>, nor does it represent anyone\u2019s interests. KRIK is funded by donations and its tax obligations regularly meet in accordance with legal regulations.<\/p>\n11-3-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Pro-government tabloid “Srpski telegraf” accused KRIK of participating<\/a> in \u201ctaking down (Prime Minister) Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107\u201c and \u201csetting up\u201c his brother.<\/p>\n

Placing KRIK in this context is particularly dangerous and represents a threat to the safety of our journalists, especially when one considers the current situation in Serbia, where for the past several days the entire country has been in talks about a recent assassination attempt on the Prime Minister, while some government officials have said that his brother was also a potential target.<\/p>\n6-27-2016<\/span>\n\n

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The pro-government tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c again attacked the editor of Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, stating that the aim of researching the assets of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 was to \u201eproduce a chaotic atmosphere so as to prove that thieves and criminals are in power.\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 earlier sued the newspaper and its owner and chief editor Dragan J. Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107 due to the lies stated by \u201eInformer\u201c.<\/p>\n6-25-2016<\/span>\n\n

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In their article, \u201eCourt Punishes Them, Forigners Reward Them,\u201c published on June 25, the daily newspaper \u201ePolitika\u201c attacked the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) in an attempt to challenge the credibility of our organization and the award we had received. Journalist Vi\u0161nja Aran\u0111elovi\u0107 said our story on Belgrade Mayor Sini\u0161a Mali\u2019s property assessments was \u201eflawed text\u201c<\/strong>, that we had not check all the documentation, and that \u201esome details of the story are controversial\u201c.<\/p>\n

The Editor of KRIK, Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, stated in response to this article that the credibility of our research on 24 apartments on the Bulgarian coast, which were bought by offshore companies that Mayor Mali is a director of, has not been called into question, and pointed out that the public still does not know who the mayor bought the property for.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201eRather than insisting on knowing to whom this money the mayor is secretly investing to, journalists attacked colleagues who have made a great discovery,\u201c says Doj\u010dinovi\u0107.<\/p>\n6-24-2016<\/span>\n\n

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\"Stevan-Doj\u010dinovi\u0107\"Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, editor of Crime and Corruption Reporting Newtork (KRIK), has sued I\u0161tvan Kai\u0107, an associate of Vladimir Beba Popovi\u0107, because of lies that Kai\u0107 published on his website. In an article published in March, Kai\u0107 accused the editor of KRIK of being a \u201efake journalist\u201c and an \u201eeditor of an organization falsely registered as a media,\u201c<\/strong> that Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 had \u201ecriminalized people close to the government and the prime minister\u201c and had participated in \u201eracketeering marked targets\u201c. Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 was falsely accused of working for the late Miki Raki\u0107 and Boris Tadi-, as well as for people from the prosecution and the police.<\/p>\n6-6-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Journalists’ associations condemned the declaration of the editor of \u201ePe\u010dat\u201c, Milorad Vu\u010deli\u0107, saying that the statement that KRIK editor Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 was a \u201eforeign invading mercenary\u201c who was trying to provoke a war in the Balkans would jeopardize his safety.<\/p>\n

\u201eThis vocabulary exceeds not only the boundaries of journalistic ethics, but is also a direct call to lynch Doj\u010dinovi\u0107<\/strong>\u201c said a statement signed by the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) and the Association of Online Media (AOM). These associations have <\/span>urged relevant authorities<\/span><\/u><\/span><\/span>, notably the prosecution, to take the measures envisaged by the law to protect Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, as they believe that these statements directly threatened his security.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ongoing campaign<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s article in the pro-government tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c has said that \u201eDoj\u010dinovi\u0107 plans to overthrow the government in Macedonia.\u201c This is part of a campaign that has been ongoing for months against the editor in chief of KRIK<\/strong>, Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

Once again, \u201eInformer\u201c has made a number of untruths against Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, accusing him of \u201etraining the Macedonian opposition to overthrowing the government.\u201c<\/p>\n

False statements from the tabloid\u2019s article include comments from Milorad Vu\u010deli\u0107, editor of \u201ePe\u010dat\u201c and Vladimir \u0110ukanovic, deputy Prime Minister and a member of the Serbian Progressive Party. They attacked Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, who the deputy prime minister called \u201eSoro\u0161 agent\u201c, while Vu\u010deli\u0107 called him a \u201eforeign invading mercenary\u201c who tried to provoke a war in the Balkans.<\/p>\n4-22-2016<\/span>\n\n

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KRIK Editor Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 has filed a lawsuit against the tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c<\/strong> and its editor and owner Dragan Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107. Over the course of less than a year of work, Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 and KRIK were on ten front pages of \u201eInformer\u201c which accused the editor of KIRK of being a \u201efalse journalist\u201c, \u201eWestern spy\u201c, \u201emafia associate\u201c, \u201esadomasochist\u201c and \u201eterrorist\u201c who \u201efabricates affairs\u201c – all this without any evidence. None of the texts are signed, nor do any of them name the sources of these allegations.<\/p>\n4-11-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Daily newspaper \u201ePolitika\u201c, in an article titled \u201eSelectively Investigative Journalism\u201c, joined the pro-government tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c in an attempt to discredit KRIK. KRIK has earlier complained to the Press Council<\/strong> of “Politika”\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n

\"Politika\"<\/p>\n4-06-2016<\/span>\n\n

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After the publishing of the \u201ePanama Papers\u201c, a global project that involved more than 100 organizations of investigative journalism including KRIK, pro-tabloid \u201eInformer\u201c again attacked the editor of KRIK, Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107. In an article titled \u201eSadomasochist Steva Raped Panama”, the tabloid repeated the falsehood that have been published against Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 in the past few months.<\/p>\n3-31-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Stampo Antimafioso<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Italian organization \u201eStampo Antimafioso\u201c expressed solidarity with the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) for the assault in which KRIK has been exposed to.<\/p>\n

\u201eWe know how difficult it is in Europe to get to the right information. You are trying to overcoming great difficulties and for that we are grateful. As colleagues, we are sorry for the insults which you are exposed to and which are most likely caused by prejudice or ideas that are not helpful for the development of democracy,\u201c says editorial staff of the organization.<\/p>\n3-23-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Reporters Fund, Poland<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"WojciechReporters Fund, a Polish organization run by investigative journalists, strongly supports Serbian journalist Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 who is under attack in his homeland.<\/p>\n

“We want to express our unconditional solidarity in this moment of severe political persecution that he is subjected to,” said the statement.<\/a><\/p>\n3-22-2016<\/span>\n\n

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Dragan Janjic,\u00a0IJAS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"DraganVice-President of the\u00a0Independent Journalist’s Association of Serbia (IJAS), Dragan Janjic, said that state authorities are accomplices in the campaign against independent media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is symptomatic that the threats and campaigns are against the media which are investigating either the property or affairs of the people in high government positions. I think the government is involved in creating this atmosphere.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Aleksandar Vucic, PM of Serbia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AleksandarSerbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said today that he doesn’t want to interfere in what the media say about each other. \u201cIn Serbia, everyone is free and permitted to say and write what he wants, respecting the legal restrictions.\u201d Regarding the attacks on KRIK, he said that he did not see such a fuss made when 10-20 different media wrote \u201cmuch worse about somebody’s family\u201d.<\/p>\n

Atlatszo.hu<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Hungarian investigative portal Atlatszo supported KRIK and its editor Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\"Atlatszo.hu\"<\/p>\n

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Aleksandar Vucic, PM of Serbia<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"aleksandar_vucic\"Speaking about the attacks of the pro-government tabloid Informer on KRIK and its editor Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107, Aleksandar Vucic said that no one should be bothered by the fact that the owner of the tabloid Dragan Vucicevic \u201cthinks differently\u201d. The Prime Minister commented that it seems no one is allowed to take pictures of Doj\u010dinovi\u0107 in the street, suggesting that the photo published by the tabloid was snapped by a passerby, not the state security services.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, some people want to investigate what no one in Serbia has done before \u2014 how my parents, my father and my mother who are honest, serious and responsible people, bought a house in Jajinci, and how they obtained the apartment,\u201d said Vu\u010di\u0107. “We don’t own anything. They are angered by this, so in their investigation they included apartments from 20 years ago which my father sold in order to buy another apartment. I am not afraid of your lies or your hunts, or anything else that you have been investigating for months now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support from Slovenia<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Udru\u017eenjeThe Slovenian Association of Journalists shared their concerns and support for colleagues from Serbia and the region as Serbian pro-regime media increased the intensity of attacks against those who criticize the government in any way.<\/p>\n

\u201cPro-government media in Serbia are the extended arm of the executive government. Violating basic ethical rules and calling for the lynching of inappropriate public figures will have devastating consequences on society. This not only threatens the security of individuals but also promotes hatred and violence as the only means of communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Na\u0161ega srbskega kolega @StevanOCCRP<\/a> napadajo z vsemi topovi. La\u017emi. Ker odkriva resnico. Podpri @KRIKrs<\/a>! #podrziKRIK<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/VVMoJSDrZE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 DNS – Naprej\/Forward (@novinarSI) March 21, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n