1200 guests celebrated in Belgrade the 20th anniversary of the leading daily BLIC
Alexandra Delvenakiotis
Corporate Communications, Media Relations, Thought Leadership, Reputation Management, Crisis Communications, Public Relations, Government Relations, Corporate Affairs, Digital Transformation.
"BLIC", the leading daily newspaper and news portal in Serbia, owned by the Ringier Axel Springer Serbia, celebrated its 20th birthday last night in the heart of Belgrade.
More than 1200 guests from the world of business, politics, media and entertainment entered the venue through a tunnel with projections showing the digital transformation of the daily throughout the past 20 years.
Among the guests were decision makers such as the Minister of Justice Nela Kuburovi?, Dragan ?utanovac from the Democratic party, ombudsman Sa?a Jankovi?, the Director of the national TV station Dragan Bujo?evi?, the Minister of Energy Aleksandar Anti?, as well as many well known personalities from the media business.
The guests were welcomed by Jelena Drakuli? Petrovi?, General Manager at Ringier Axel Springer Serbia, who said that "it has already been 20 years since the autumn/winter of 1996 when people bought Blic for one dinar. In the dark age of the nineties, you could read in BLIC all the things others ignored. Then as well as today you could read in BLIC what others felt inconvenient to write about."
Jovan Proti?, Publishing Director at Ringier Axel Springer said that BLIC had always brought a breath of modern Europe to Serbia and that "having independent journalism in a polarized society, such as ours, is very difficult. You are either for or against. But, we do not belong there – we are neither for, nor against. We are guided by one idea only – the idea of a normal life in a democratic, pro-european Serbia. We are guided by the idea of a normal life. For myself and my friends, this newspaper was a symbol, a symbol of freedom and normal life, this was BLIC".
Veselin Simonovi?, Editorial Director BLIC concluded: "BLIC’s task is to investigate, not to give up on a topic when a politician or any authority stands in its way, not to be afraid of covering crime. This has been its trademark until now, and it has to remain so in the future."
Mark Dekan, CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG congratulated the editorial team for "building BLIC with dedication for 20 years and making it into what it is today. As owners and shareholders, we are proud of BLIC. It inspires us with its creativity and independence. Readers trust in BLIC and that is its greatest strength." He added that "BLIC has been fighting for editorial and financial independence since the beginning, and it played an important role in the young Serbian democratic society."