Press (Belgrade newspaper)

Press is a daily tabloid published in Belgrade. It is the latest in a growing series of Serbian media publications that came into existence because a group of journalists left their previous place of employment en masse to start a new paper. This is how Vreme weekly was started in 1990, Nasa borba in 1994, and Glas javnosti in 1998.

In this particular case the majority of Press staffers including editor-in-chief Djoko Kesic and his deputy Dragan J. Vucicevic worked at Kurir from its inception in May 2003 until early December 2005. At that time a disupte over revenue sharing came to a head, resulting in about 90% of Kurir's staff leaving the paper. Public accusations of corruption and political skulduggery started flying thick and fast between Kurir owner Radisav Rodic on one side and Kesic-Vucicevic editing duo on the other. During mid December 2005, Vucicevic and newly named Kurir editor-in-chief Antonije Kovacevic even publicly squared off in an impromptu TV duel on BKTV's talk-show "Klopka" hosted by Olivera Kovacevic (no relation to Antonije Kovacevic), but apart from a lot of shouting and theatrical rhetoric not many concrete facts were established.

Led by Kesic and Vucicevic, the group that left Kurir announced plans of starting their own daily tabloid named Dnevni kurir, however, Kurir owner Rodic immediately filed a complaint with Trade Court, protesting copyright infringement. The court agreed with him and issued an immediate junction prohibiting publication under that name. Though they felt Kurir became what it is in large part due to their own efforts and skills, Kesic & Vucicevic decided not to pursue the matter further legally and ended the issue by naming their new tabloid Press, instead.

Its premiere issue came out on December 15, 2005.

External links

• Dnevne Novine Press official website