Fokus portal's reaction to the attempt to discredit journalist Degirmendžić

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The editorial board of the independent online magazine Fokus condemns the cheap attempt to discredit and pressure their journalist.

"We reject with disgust any connection or political influence. We will not reveal our sources, but we will emphasize once again that they have nothing to do with politics or politicians," stated, among other things, the Editorial Board of Fokus.

A campaign aimed at discrediting Fokus and our journalist Semira Degirmendžić, and linking them to political options and individuals, has been launched on several anonymous Facebook pages and profiles. Based on what can be seen and analyzed from previous posts, this is a network of bots and pages that can be directly linked to the ruling political structures.

This is an attempt at retaliation and seeking an alibi for the "Respirator" affair, which our journalist Semira Degirmendžić published based on facts and official documents, and which colleagues from other independent media outlets continued to investigate and process.

"The editorial board of the independent online magazine Fokus condemns the cheap attempt to discredit and pressure our journalist Degirmendžić by publishing notorious falsehoods and some kind of fake schemes. We reject with disgust any connection or political influence when publishing the initial text about the 'Respirator affair'. We will not reveal our sources, but we will emphasize once again that they have nothing to do with politics or politicians. Our motive in this, as well as in all other stories about crime and corruption that we have published, is exclusively professional and journalistic. We know that it is difficult for the people who ordered such filth to understand this, because, guided by their rich experience in this field, they believe that journalists only reveal affairs when they are 'ordered'. This is an insult to all of us, as well as to our colleagues from other independent journalistic editorial offices in BiH who, day after day, uncover various affairs and criminal activities of individuals in power and work under almost impossible conditions and constant pressure. Due to all of the above, Fokus will report this case to the competent police authorities," said the reaction of the Editorial Board of Fokus, with a message that you cannot scare or buy us!