Letter of the RBA Council President to the Press daily

Letter of the RBA Council President to the Press daily regarding the text about alleged secret negotiations about  the sale of TV B92

Dear Sirs,

Your newspaper published an article entitled Secret Negotiations on Sale of B 92 on 18 September and an article entitled Sale of B 92 Behind the Scenes on 19 September claiming that I, as Council President of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, "secretly" met and talked with Mr. Minos Kyriakou, owner of the Athens television station Antenna. Similarly, you claim that the subject of our talk was "how Antenna TV, which had purchased Fox TV in Serbia, may also take over TV B92!".

First of all, I would like to point out that what you claim is contrary to truth, which means that it is false. A more careful reader will also notice that your claims are completely illogical.

1. Mr. Kyriakou is not secretly staying in Belgrade. Your staff, who can barely be called journalists, obviously followed him and secretly took pictures from the airport, where police escort was provided to him, as an important guest and investor.

2. I did not meet Mr. Kyriakou secretly, as you claim, in a hidden location, but at a very busy hotel or, more precisely, hotel restaurant. So much for secrecy.

3. No tabloid, including Press, can order me, either as a priest or as Council President of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, to whom, when and, if you like, about what I should talk. Your assumption about the subject of our talk is pure fabrication. Why – you know it best yourself! Because of your groundless and untrue insinuations, I have no intention of informing you about the subject of the talk between Mr. Kyriakou and myself was; for the sake of truth, I shall only say that we never once mentioned TV B 92! Incidentally, like the other Council members, I sometimes meet, on various occasions, with the heads of the RTS, RUV, Fox, Pink, B92, Avala, Košava and other regional and local broadcasters. This is, in itself, an understandable, integral and necessary part of our job.

4. I do not determine the matter of changing the ownership structure of electronic media in Serbia. The Agency of which I am the head does not play a major role in this, either. That matter is clearly determined by laws. Our duty is only to establish, before the public (the professional public, obviously, not the tabloids), if the law was observed.

5. This is the last time I shall respond in such manner to the media speculations on this subject.

Respectfully, Bishop of Jegar, Porfirije, PhD, RBA Council President