Veran Matic

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Veran Matic

Veran Matić (* 1962 in Šabac , Yugoslavia ) is the co-founder, director and editor-in-chief of the Belgrade radio and television broadcaster B92 , the most important independent media company in Serbia , which in addition to radio and television also offers an online service, a book publisher, a concert agency and the cultural center REX operates. In addition, he was chairman of the Association of Independent Electronic Media ANEM ( Asocijacija Nezavisnih Elektronskih Medija ) for ten years . He is one of the founding members of the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO).

Professional career

Veran Matić has been active in the journalistic field since 1984. He initially worked for youth and alternative media in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana , including for the independent Belgrade radio building Studio B . In May 1989 he founded B92, the first completely independent radio station in Serbia.

In the 1990s, the station was banned several times, but it always managed to continue its work. On March 24, 1999, only a few hours before the start of the three-month NATO bombing as part of the Kosovo war , radio B92 was illegally taken over by a group close to the regime and again banned. Veran Matic was arrested and imprisoned for a short time. Despite the ban, the station managed to continue broadcasting its program over the Internet before it could start broadcasting again a few months later.

Veran Matićs as an author

Veran Matić is, together with Dejan Ilić, co-author and co-editor of the volume Truth, Responsibility, Reconciliation: Examples from Serbia (Samizdat B92, Belgrade 2000).

Veran Matić's articles have been published in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times , The New York Review of Books , The Wall Street Journal , Index on Censorship , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Le Monde, and The Nation .

With the contribution Creation of the Information Space: “Commando Solo” he participated in the Other voices project in April 1999 . Echoes from a war zone of the Austrian radio show Kunstradio - radio art .

Awards

Veran Matić has received numerous international awards for his achievements over the past twenty years:

  • 1993: New York Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual award
  • 1998: The Olof Palme Prize of the Olof Palme Memorial Fund
Veran Matić received this award together with two colaureates, Viktor Ivančić, the editor-in-chief of the independent Croatian weekly newspaper Feral Tribune, and Senad Pećanin, the editor-in-chief of the magazine Dani (Die Tage) from Sarajevo. They were honored for their highly professional journalistic work.
  • 1999: At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) he was declared one of a hundred Global Leaders for Tomorrow , together with two other representatives from the ex-Yugoslav region, Veton Suroi, the editor of the newspaper Koha Ditore from Kosovo, and Saša Vučinić, who heads the company Media Development Loan Fund .
  • 1999: Prize for courageous journalistic work from the USC Annenberg School for Communication
  • 1999: Prize for social justice from the organization " Children Uniting Nations " (Social Justice Award Children Uniting Nations)
  • 1999: Ilaria Alpi Prize : The Ilaria Alpi Prize is dedicated to the Italian RAI TG3 reporter Ilaria Alpi, who lost her life in Mogadishu (Somalia) under unexplained circumstances.
  • 2000: The International Press Institute selected him as one of the 50 heroic fighters for freedom of the press. (International Press Institute - IPI, World Press Freedom Hero).
  • 2004: Belgrade Journalism Prize for 2003 : Veran Matić received the Belgrade Journalism Prize thanks to his tireless commitment to objective and balanced reporting as well as to fundamental and human rights.
  • 2009: Legion of Honor ( La Légion d'Honneur ), the highest French order of merit, in the order class Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur . He received this award for his fight for freedom of the press, which he had headed for years as the founder and director of B92.

further activities

Conference contributions (a selection)

  • Turbulent Europe: Conflict, Identity and Culture, EFTSC, London, July 1994
  • Virtual Diplomacy: Global Communication Revolution and Conflict Management, US Institute for Peace, Washington, April 1997
  • Media at the Service of Life: Protecting Civilians from Violent Conflicts, International Center for Humanitarian Reporting, Boston
  • The Tradition and Transition in Informative Journalism , Freedom Forum, European Media Forum, London, May 1997
  • The Cantigny Conference Series: The Information Revolution and Its Impact on National Power Foundations, McCormick Tribune Foundation and Center for Strategic & International Studies, September 1997
  • Access to Electronic Media in Conflict Zones, United States Institute of Peace and Voice of America, Washington, October 1997
  • Tomorrow's Europe, an event of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Baden-Baden, Germany, 23.-24. January 1999
  • 1999 International Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, February 1999

Web links

Commons : Veran Matić  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.kunstradio.at/WAR/VOICES/matic-commsolo.html
  2. ^ Matic, Djindjic awarded Legion of Honor . Homepage of B92
personal data
SURNAME Matić, Veran
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Serbian journalist, chairman of the Association of Independent Electronic Media ANEM and head of radio station B92
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Sabac , Serbia