United Media has signed a letter of intent to buy 51% of the Vijesti newspaper, website and TV in Montenegro.
According to the letter of intent, United Media, as a new shareholder, accepts to respect and protect the editorial independence and autonomy of Vijesti. The editor-in-chief will continue to be elected at the suggestion of local co-owners and the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), a New York-based investment fund that supports media freedom and has been Vijesti’s minority shareholder since the beginning.
According to Professor Miodrag Perovic, one of the founders of Vijesti, “All three platforms of the Vijesti system have been exposed to an existential threat both by monopolists and nationalists for almost a decade and a half because of its commitment to freedom of expression and professional journalism. We are entering into a partnership with UM convinced it will give additional strength to our media because it nourishes the liberal values and journalism that characterise the Vijesti system in a wider space loyal to those values”.
MDIF CEO Harlan Mandel recognised the development as a strategic collaboration between the two media houses based on their brand values and rooted in the power of their objective reporting.
“At the moment, we see an epidemic of restrained media in Europe, in which private media are being taken over, while the media market in the Balkans continues to be extremely difficult to launch independent media and do business in the market. In this environment, the cooperation of the two most influential brands in the region, recognised for their independent journalism, is welcome because it ensures that quality investigative journalism continues to be the centre of Vijesti’s business mode”.
Aleksandra Subotic, United Media CEO, said: “We always believed that objective and independent journalism is one of the key factors for the development of society. In that context, we appreciate Vijesti’s work so far and the fact that they have resisted various pressures and managed to do their job professionally. We are looking forward to the future partnership, and we believe that it will ensure that this media system expands in future and that the quality content produced by Vijesti journalists reaches a wider audience”.
MDIF is a non-profit investment fund supporting independent media in the region for 25 years. It has a minority stake in the media.
Vijesti is considered the only independent daily newspaper and the only independent TV station in Montenegro.
United Media is part of United Group, the leading telecoms and media provider in South East Europe.
