ABSOLUTE CONTROL! Šolak's media concentration and centralized information management

The mechanism set up by Dragan Šolak for the purposes of destroying unwelcome competition rests on a greedy taking over of media space, carried out in three different ways: founding new media outlets; purchasing those which are on sale; and eliminating all unsuitable media entities from the market. The objective of this strategy is to ensure that this Serbian billionaire has the biggest share in the concentrated media market so that he could implement his plan for centralized information and information flow management.

The Law on Electronic Media and the Law on Public Information and Media from 2014 gave a particularly strong tailwind to Šolak's plans. These laws allowed distributors to create content and start their own channels. As a result of Šolak's intensive lobbying in Brussels and the Serbian governments misestimate that Telekom would be privatized, the group ensured that laws were passed that suited the interests of its owner.

Under the provisions of the new laws, the cable television channel N1 – CNN's partner in the Balkans – started to broadcast content via the largest regional operator, Telemach Group's SBB, from 30 October 2014. As a result of the fact that they were owned by one and the same person, TV N1 was provided the privilege of taking the number one spot in the SBB digital system.

Although the draft of the law envisaged that operators are not allowed to offer "news programming-specific media services", this provision was amended in the final version of the law owing to Šolak's money and lobbying in Brussels.

David Petraeus, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, whose business plans and ambitions the Serbian government learnt more about during the former director of the CIA's two visits to Belgrade in the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014, was hired as part of the effort to amend the law.

The second pressure front came from the Brussels-based law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, hired by United Group to lobby with the EC. As a minority owner of United Group, EBRD also lobbied in Brussels for amending the law, citing the same arguments as Gide.

As a result of the lobbying, the enlargement unit returned the Law on Public Information and Media to Serbia with the comment that Article 46 should be amended to allow distributors to create content via an affiliated legal entity. The Government of Serbia accepted wholesale Brussel's suggestion that the controversial provision should be amended.

Control and expansion in the news sphere

Even though the public inquiry saw the argument that the proposed solutions favour Telekom often put forward, the exact opposite was the case in practice. While privately-owned operators were allowed to start their own television channels and create media content, the provisions of the Law on Public Information and Media prevented Telekom as a state-owned (i.e. publicly held) joint-stock company to start and own media outlets, which essentially tied its hands and made participation in media competition on equal terms impossible.

Since its inception, and in particular after the enactment of the set of media laws in 2014, Šolak's group has placed under direct or indirect control a great many media outlets across the Balkan region and Slovenia. For example, in the last ten years the group has founded or acquired over 100 media outlets of different profiles, of which no fewer than 25 are predominantly news-based TV channels, radio-stations, web portals, and print media.

As a result, nationally distributed television channels such as Nova TV, Nova BH, Nova M, and Nova – which is a nationwide TV channel in Bulgaria – are in Šolak's direct ownership. In addition to national news TV channels, the group also has a number of cable news channels, such as three regional branches of TV N1, Nova S, and Newsmax Adria – which was in the works but was scrapped after the US election and the defeat of Donald Trump.

The process of buying and founding media outlets pressed on in 2021, when an agreement was made on taking over the majority ownership share in the Montenegrin consortium Vijesti, which includes Montenegro's daily newspaper with the highest circulation, the national TV channel with the highest viewership ratings, a web portal, and numerous specialized publications. United Media also owns the Danas and Nova dailies, Bulgaria's Telegraf and Monitor, and the Europost and Politika weeklies. Šolak owns many news portals in the region, the most important ones being Dnevnik.hr, Nova.rs, N1info.com, Dariknews.bg, and Vesti.bg.

Naked ambition to establish a monopoly

In addition to the media in the group's direct ownership, the mechanism also includes a range of non-profit media outlets maintaining invisible but recognizable interest ties with Šolak's empire, as evidenced in their activities, which are always in step with the interest of the group. Easily identifiable among them are the so-called investigative media like Krik, Birn, the CIJS, and Cenzolovka. The group also controls the NIN and Vreme weeklies, maintaining similar sorts of ties though media advertising.

More than the number of media outlets controlled by Šolak at the moment, the size of the media concentration and the intentions of the first Serbian billionaire – who spends the money made in the Balkans at the most prestigious global destinations – are more tellingly indicated by the designs that he has revealed over the years, for which he has spared no expense. The group's ambitions and growth model are clearly seen in the internal information from the company's financial statement for the first half-year period of 2020, stating that the group has completed over 100 acquisitions between 2000 and the present day.

Media irresponsibility

This process is not complete yet, with many new acquisitions under way and the group openly revealing its ambition to break into the mobile telephony market, set up the infrastructure for a 5G network, and take over new nationally distributed media. It is a well-known fact that in 2018, in addition to buying nationwide television channels Pink M and Pink BiH (now Nova M and Nova BiH), Šolak had his sights set on buying TV Pink Serbia for a whopping 500 million euros. Given that negotiations with the owner of the Greek Antenna Group on buying TV Prva and TV O2 were under way at the time, it is evident that the owner of United Group would have established a media monopoly in Serbia had these media acquisitions been completed.

Realizing that he could not achieve his goals using money and market purchases, Šolak redirected a great deal of his resources towards forming a political party under his control, through which he is now aiming to get his hands on political power in order to use the institutions to take over the remaining key media outlets currently out of his grasp.

In this way, a news monopoly of the region's richest euro billionaire would be developed in Serbia and the wider area from the currently imposed duopoly (with the media outlets outside of the group pushed to the opposite side by the operation of the mechanism). As his actions so far indicate that he puts personal interest over public interest, there is no doubt that his goal of concentrating media ownership would usher in the dark ages for media freedom and democracy in this part of the world.

The fact that his media as a rule have fictitious registrations abroad in order to avoid legal responsibility testifies to the claim that Šolak does not vie for domination in the media sphere to promote and boost media freedoms and responsible, independent journalism. All those who have sought legal remedies for fake news published on Šolak's television channels have seen it first-hand. According to available information, no cases have as yet been reported of someone successfully filing a complaint against TV N1, which illustrates well the eschewing of responsibility.

The Kurir Editorial Staff