{"id":32058,"date":"2021-10-28T17:47:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=32058"},"modified":"2021-12-15T15:23:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T13:23:49","slug":"the-company-of-adria-media-groups-owner-creates-campaigns-for-the-ruling-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/the-company-of-adria-media-groups-owner-creates-campaigns-for-the-ruling-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The Company of Adria Media Group’s Owner Creates Campaigns for the Ruling Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wireless Media<\/em>\u00a0(WM) is an IT company that designs and creates websites and other digital content for other companies, to promote themselves online. This company founded a special section that has been working on promoting local authorities and the Serbian Progressive Party <\/em>since 2017, says a source of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia <\/em>(CINS) well acquainted with the company\u2019s operations. The source wanted to remain anonymous, but CINS got confirmation for the claims made in the piece from multiple sides and through documents.<\/p>

The Progressive party appeared among WM\u2019s clients at one point, specifically the chapter in Stari Grad, one of the few Belgrade municipalities that were not controlled by the ruling party at the time. Their cooperation continued even after the party came to power in the municipality in 2020.<\/p>

Over the last three years, this company has designed websites and social media accounts for Belgrade and Sombor, and has established social networks for Pan\u010devo, Novi Sad, Subotica and Sremska Mitrovica.<\/p>

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PROMOTION ACCORDING TO THE SAME MODEL; SOURCE: INSTAGRAM PROFILES OF SEVERAL CITIES; COLLAGE: CINS<\/figcaption><\/figure>

How cooperation with the Serbian Progressive Party <\/em>was established and realized is best illustrated by the case of the Pan\u010devo brand Pan\u010devu Treba<\/em> (Pan\u010devo Needs<\/em>), <\/em>which they worked on until July 2020.<\/p>

It all begins with a meeting between Wireless Media <\/em>and the mayor. Company representatives explain that they are social media experts, that they have Beograd \u017divi <\/em>in their portfolio, and then they discuss the City\u2019s <\/em>priorities with the mayor. Then WM commissions an opinion poll from the IPSOS polling agency and finds out what the biggest problems are according to the citizens, what the successes are and to whom the citizens attribute them, what they think about the authorities and the like. Based on that, the company was able to come up with a strategy for promoting the city leaders and life in the city.<\/p>

In this case, an opinion poll conducted in April 2019 showed that optimism was low among Pan\u010devo citizens, and so Pan\u010devu Treba <\/em>aimed to boost optimism on social networks and to show that the city government keeps its promises.<\/p>

It turned out that the results of the local authorities, the mayor and the members of the city administration were not visible enough, and so the strategy sought to show the mayor\u2019s interaction with the citizens, his presence in places where projects were being carried out, as well as \u201chis love for Pan\u010devo.\u201d<\/p>

The focus was on the brand of the City, <\/em>the slogan, the tone of the messages, visual appearance, etc.<\/p>

The then Pan\u010devo mayor,\u00a0Sa\u0161a Pavlov<\/strong>, from the ranks of the Serbian Progressive Party, <\/em>confirmed in a statement to CINS that he had met with Wireless Media <\/em>representatives, at their initiative. They asked him what the most important investments were and what plans the city authorities had for the upcoming period. It was important for them to learn what they should focus on in the promotion, Pavlov explained to CINS:<\/p>

\u201cSince I had a four-year term of office, they needed an opinion on what had been done and what, in my opinion, should be presented in the media.\u201d<\/p>

Violeta Jovanov Pe\u0161tanac <\/strong>worked on the project as a journalist. Pe\u0161tanac is an editor on the websites Zeleni Minuti <\/em>(Green Minutes<\/em>) and Pan\u010devo MOJKraj <\/em>(Pan\u010devo MYNeighborhood<\/em>) and has been covering environmental topics for years, for which she has even won awards. According to the Media Financing database of the Journalists\u2019 Association of Serbia, <\/em>since 2017 she has received just over 7.5 million dinars in media competitions through her consulting agency and the association, and just under 3.2 million of that sum came from Pan\u010devo<\/em>.<\/p>

Although our interlocutors from Pan\u010devo confirmed that Pe\u0161tanac had worked on the project, when contacted by CINS she first denied any ties to the project, and then refused to answer any questions.<\/p>

In less than six months in 2020, 140 videos were posted on the Pan\u010devu Treba <\/em>page on YouTube<\/em>, i.e. on average 23 videos per month.<\/p>

The promotional videos were made from people at the local level. The ones we spoke to do not hide the fact that it was political propaganda. Cameraman Sr\u0111an Milivojevi\u0107 <\/strong>explains what the work looked like:<\/p>

\u201cThey call me up: \u2018Come on, the opening of a playground needs to be shot,\u2019 for example. I go there, shoot the opening of the playground, give the card to the video editor and I\u2019m done with it.\u201d<\/p>

Such footage went to video editor Radovan \u0110eri\u0107<\/strong>, who received instructions on how to edit it. He explained to CINS that they had also used footage from other televisions, such as Pink TV <\/em>and local Pan\u010devo TV.<\/em><\/p>

WM had project coordinators at the local level, and sometimes they were local officials of the Serbian Progressive Party.<\/em><\/p>

Embellishment of reality at \u017de\u017eelj\u2019s expense<\/strong><\/h2>

In most cases the promotion started before elections, and in some cities it ended after them. Former Pan\u010devo mayor Sa\u0161a Pavlov confirmed that everything had been done for election campaign purposes:<\/p>

\u201cWe all wanted what we had done to be seen, to be properly validated for a future period. I see nothing strange there.\u201d<\/p>

This statement may be taken as confirmation of sorts that the promotion was a part of the campaign of his party, the party from which he and the other city officials hail, said Nemanja Nenadi\u0107 <\/strong>of Transparency Serbia.<\/em><\/p>

The money spent on the promotion was not included in the Progressive party\u2019s financial statements, and Nenadi\u0107 said that the donation had to have been reported to the\u00a0Anti-Corruption Agency.<\/em><\/p>