Press (newspaper)

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	Amber Press Ltd. Cyprus (50%) Mediavox d.o.o. (10%) Biljana Kralj (22%) Đoko Kesić (6%) Dragan J. Vučićević (6%) Svetomir Marjanović (6%)
Editor	Đoko Kesić
Founded	December 15, 2005
Headquarters	27. marta 69/14, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Official website	www.pressonline.rs

Press is a daily middle-market tabloid newspaper published in Belgrade.

Press Publishing Group also owns a daily aimed at businesspeople called Biznis, as well as a lifestyle weekly magazine Lola and a glossy monthly magazine called FAME. Founded in late 2005, the company has quickly established itself as one of Serbia's leading media enterprises.

According to its most recent annual financial report submitted to Serbian Economic Register Agency, the company has 136 employees and it posted an annual profit of RSD58,830,000 (approximately € 0.7 million at the time) for the calendar year 2007.

Ownership

The Press owners control the paper through an entity named Press Publishing Group d.o.o. that's registered as a limited liability company since mid October 2006.

Initially, it was co-owned by three parties: Amber Press Limited company from Cyprus (50%), individual Đorđe Stefanović (40%), and Mediavox d.o.o. company from Belgrade (10%). However, since Mediavox is also owned by Stefanović, Press Publishing Group was essentially a 50-50 joint venture between Stefanović and Cypriot Amber Press.

Then in May 2009, the ownership got restructured with Stefanović's 40% stake divided amongst 4 individuals: Biljana Kralj (22%), Đoko Kesić (6%), Dragan J. Vučićević (6%), and Svetomir Marjanović (6%).

History

In mid December 2005, Press became the latest in a growing series of Serbian print media publications that came into existence due to a group of journalists leaving their previous place of employment en masse to start a new paper. This is how Vreme weekly was started in 1990 (left Politika), Naša borba in 1994 (left Borba), and Glas javnosti in 1998 (left Blic).

In this case, the majority of Press staffers including editor-in-chief Đoko Kesić and his deputy Dragan J. Vučićević worked at Kurir from its inception in May 2003 until early December 2005. At that time a dispute over revenue sharing came to a head, resulting in about 90% of Kurir's staff leaving the paper. Public accusations of corruption and political skulduggery started flying thick and fast between Kurir owner Radisav Rodić on one side and Kesić-Vučićević editing duo on the other. During mid December 2005, Vučićević and newly named Kurir editor-in-chief Antonije Kovačević even publicly squared off in an impromptu TV duel on BKTV's talk-show Klopka hosted by Olivera Kovačević (no relation to Antonije Kovačević), but apart from a lot of shouting and theatrical rhetoric not many concrete facts were established.

Led by Kesić and Vučićević, the group that left Kurir announced plans of starting their own daily tabloid named Dnevni kurir, however, Kurir owner Rodić immediately filed a complaint with Trade Court, protesting copyright infringement. The court agreed with him and issued an immediate junction prohibiting publication under that name. Though they felt Kurir became what it is in large part due to their own efforts and skills, Kesić & Vučićević decided not to pursue the matter further legally and ended the issue by naming their new tabloid Press, instead.

Its premiere issue came out on December 15, 2005.

Press vs. Bojan Krišto

In late November 2008, Press began running a series of articles about Bojan Krišto, CEO of the state-owned company JP Aerodrom Beograd that's in charge of Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport. The issue was his free-spending ways when it came to handing out bonuses for himself and members of the company's managing board. Since by the nature of the position, Krišto is politically delegated by G17 Plus, a party that's a member of the ruling coalition, the whole thing soon erupted into a political scandal. Opposition MPs demanded his resignation along with pressing of criminal charges while even the President of Serbia Boris Tadić chimed in calling the situation unacceptable. Much of the public's anger was directed at Krišto's party boss Mlađan Dinkić who is also the Minister of Economy and Regional Development as well as the Deputy Prime Minister. For a while it even appeared that this is the beginning of the rift in the Serbian ruling coalition and some even went as far as suggesting that in combination with other disagreements between government members such as the Russian gas deal this airport case might just make the government fall.

No such thing happened, however, as Krišto resigned on November 25, 2008 under the weight of public pressure while Dinkić went on B92 programme Utisak nedelje on November 30, 2008 and more or less defended his party colleague. Dinkić repeatedly referred to the entire episode as "witchhunt" and even suggested that part of the motivation for Press to go after Krišto might lay in his apparent decision to make them pay the outstanding sum on the sponsorship deal that allowed the Press logo to be printed on the back of boarding passes issued at the airport. The very next day Press responded to this by saying they will present Dinkić with all the details of that particular business deal and demand that he issue a public apology for the "libelous remark".

Editorial history

• Đoko Kesić December 2005 - November 2007
• Dragan J. Vučićević November 2007 - November 2010
• Svetomir Marjanović November 2010 - May 2011
• Veljko Lalić May 2011 - present

External links

• Press Online - Official website