Opposition protest in front of RTS: You have become the loudspeaker of Aleksandar Vučić

BELGRADE, (Patria) - Several opposition parties and movements held a protest in front of the RTS building due to, as they stated, "continuous violation of the law and blocking of the opposition on the public service", B92 reports.

Dragan Đilas, Boris Tadić, Zoran Živković, Dragan Šutanovac, Vuk Jeremić, Borko Stefanović, Janko Veselinović, Saša Janković, Sanda Rašković Ivić, Duda Ivković, Srbijanka Turajlić, and Siniša Kovačević came to the rally, and supporters of Marko Bastać's "Šta radite bre" arrived on bicycles. None of the opposition leaders spoke at the rally. 

The gathered people carried flags of the People's Party, the New Party, the Movement for Freedom of Citizens, the coat of arms of the capital city, and the flags of Serbia. There were also banners against "media darkness" at the rally. 

Members of the opposition parties are demanding the dismissal of the public service's general director Dragan Bujošević, the editor-in-chief of the news program Nenad Lj. Stefanović, and the chairman of the Supervisory Board Vladimir Vuletić. The gathered people booed the RTS Dnevnik at 7:30 PM. 

Former RTS journalist and member of the cultural council of the New Party, Rade Radovanović, addressed the attendees, telling the RTS management to resign because the company "is no longer a public service". 

"This company is no longer a public service, it is not even a state television. They have turned into the radio-television loudspeaker of Aleksandar Vučić," said Radovanović. 

Playwright Siniša Kovačević stated that RTS should be the "first defense of democracy and a house of eternal truth seekers" and added that the current leadership of RTS consists of those whose diplomas were obtained at a university "where the main subject is obedience". 

He said that people gather every few years in reruns at the place where a public media service and a house of democracy should exist, but that RTS is not that today, but rather a "public house that carries out every order from its master".

Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences and member of the Movement for Freedom of Citizens of Serbia, Rade Veljanovski, addressing the attendees, said that only one option and one leader can be seen on the RTS program and added that RTS is "making Saint Aleksandar Vučić". 

Zoran Gavrilović from the BIRODI organization presented data at the rally on the representation of the opposition and ruling parties in RTS news programs, stating that the opposition is represented in seconds, mentioned in a negative connotation, while such connotations for the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, who is most represented on the public service program, are almost non-existent. 

Media researcher Jovanka Matić assessed that only a one-sided picture can be seen on RTS and that there are no topics that interest citizens.