The Student List of Serbia has demanded this Tuesday the immediate resignation of the management of the public broadcaster RTS, which it accuses of having served the former president Aleksandar Vucic throughout the electoral campaign. The process ended with the victory of the candidates supported by the students of Serbian universities and the defeat of the nationalist leader, who had been in power for more than ten years.
"We demand the immediate resignation of the General Director of RTS, his deputy, the chief editors, and the chief editors responsible for the news program, as well as all the editors of that program," the Student List warned in one of its first major announcements after its victory last weekend.
In a statement released on Instagram, the university movement emphasizes that "citizens have the right to receive truthful, complete, impartial, and timely information" and reminds that when a publicly owned media "subordinates the exercise of that right to the interests of political power, it undermines public trust, deepens social divisions, and deviates from its fundamental function."
In their message, the students extend their reproaches beyond the electoral period and criticize, in general terms, that RTS has inadequately shown the student demands and civic discontent after the tragedy that occurred at the Novi Sad train station, where 14 people died due to the collapse of a canopy. That event was the trigger for the mobilizations that ultimately crystallized in the social movement that has ousted Vucic.
According to the Student List, the opacity that marked the Serbian government's response in the weeks following the canopy collapse also extended to the public broadcaster, as it evidenced "the lack of adequate critical scrutiny of the work of public officials." "In our opinion, disseminating government messages without due verification and context represents a serious violation of professional standards," they add.
Finally, the student group announces that the representatives elected by the list will receive instructions "to include among the priorities of their parliamentary work the initiation of the procedure to fill the vacant positions" in the council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media "and ensure its full composition of nine members."