Veran Matić: 10 years of KRIK – a decade of excellence in investigative journalism 

Author: Veran Matić

When you go to the website of the KRIK and when you open the About Us O nama section, you find yourself in awe. First, you see that they have nothing to hide and that the regime’s narrative about them for many years does not correspond to the photos, biographies and everything that is so transparently presented to the public. 

You will notice how important content they produce – it is a veritable treasure trove of first-class investigative stories, content from RasKRIKavanja  or the property database of politicians baze imovine političara  from the current government and the opposition, the Judge Who Judges Prosudi ko sudi database – which contains data on judges who judge the most important cases. There’s also the Black Book Crna Knjiga database of mafia murders, as well as profiles of clan leaders on the Underworld Bosses Šefovi podzemlja section. 

The editorial staff of KRIK deals with investigative journalism, certainly the most challenging and often the most thankless job. Investigative journalism requires exceptional dedication to the basic postulates of journalism, incredible energy, patience and persistence, great knowledge and even greater courage. 

Today, in all countries of the world, such newsrooms are undesirable: in some they are treated as a necessary evil, but most often as enemies, often bigger than, for example, the political opposition or dissidents. In our country, investigative journalists are most often persecuted and mistreated, precisely because they work in the public interest. As much as we recognize KRIK through the cruel attacks of politicians, tycoons and other powerful people, as a public, we appreciate their extraordinary texts, research stories, databases from which we can draw conclusions ourselves, which is why each of their stories raises incredible dust. From one story, a series of new ones emerges that expose the anomalies of the society we live in, presenting precise and undeniable arguments and evidence. 

In the past ten years, most of KRIK’s investigative stories have not been bypassed by serious domestic and international professional recognition and awards (Data Journalism Award, Sigma Award, CEO SEEMO award for outstanding merit in investigative journalism, Anti-Corruption Champions Award, Global Shining Light Award, European Press Prize, “Dušan Bogavac” and “Jug Grizelj” ethics and courage awards, “Srdjan Aleksić” and “Duško Jovanović” regional awards). KRIK journalists have been EU winners several times. awards for the best investigative stories from Serbia, as well as the “Dejan Anastasijević” national award. 

This seemingly small newsroom enjoys the enormous support of the silent majority in Serbia, which is impatiently waiting for new contents. The same public tries to help the work of the newsroom with donations – and this close connection with the public is the greatest recognition for the newsroom. (I know many people from different structures of society who regularly pay donations to KRIK – no matter of their size, those donations are material help but, above all, direct support for the idea of the transparent, open and responsible society and government that works in the public interest.) 

The editors of KRIK have always been mainly female journalists. Currently, that ratio is 13:6 in favor of female journalists. I really believe that this is one of the reasons why KRIK is such a strong newsroom. Many times I was convinced of the strength and professionalism, adherence to the basic postulates, not only of the profession, but also of the most important life values ​​of the KRIK editorial office. It is a newsroom that constantly works in extraordinary circumstances (before KRIK was founded, several of its leading journalists worked at CINS, the Center for Investigative Journalism). 

Readers get used to stories that they read with pleasure and horror, forgetting how much courage it takes for a person to spend years in the triangle between organized crime, big “business” and politics. It is the most dangerous area in which a journalist can find himself in peacetime circumstances. People get used to reading stories and forget how much it is hard and stressful to deal with it, even for a month. However, the resistance they provide is insoluble for any form of repression. 

It seems to me that there is no such an established group of social media accounts. When the new content of KRIK sees the light of day, then the internal unity, harmony, mission and strategy that guides them are best seen. Of course, a strong penetration with the public, the audience. 

In the case of KRIK, courage goes without saying. That’s why I didn’t start the text with the problems they face. Recently, they discreetly boasted that they are the first media in Serbia to receive an international certificate of journalistic excellence, which in some sense is a greater recognition than bombastic awards, because they are being awarded for certain texts or research, and this certificate speaks of the fact that the entire editorial office consistently respects all the standards of the profession, at the world level.

Precisely because of these standards and reputation, the most influential politicians and those whom they have enabled to become enormously rich, do not hide their incredible contempt for every text and editorial. To the extent that they are being punished in a variety of ways: lawsuits with elements of SLAPP, (flooding with lawsuits that aim to intimidate them and take away their precious time from court obligations), orchestrated campaigns, brutal attempts to discredit, incredible lies and dangerous targeting. 

In every situation, KRIK’s response is dignified, thorough, with a lot of knowledge about rights, laws, with a strong permeation of conviction in the correctness of everything that has been researched and published. I regret that, for example, students of journalism, and also journalists, do not come to the numerous trials to which the editorial office of KRIK is exposed, because they would learn a lot about journalism and the rule of law, but also about practices against journalism in the public interest. Always well prepared, the accused journalists and the legal representative readily defend the positions and claims, impressing everyone who cares about the true values ​​of the journalistic profession and the fight for the rule of law. It’s another battle they’re fighting, in addition to the one for professional investigative journalism. They invest tremendous effort, time and resources in the fight against incredible lies and slander, against lawsuits that only aim to stop or hinder them in their work, against threats of drastic punishments, against court practice that is changing and becoming more and more hostile to professional journalism. 

When we look at the records of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, which have been kept since 2016, when the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists was established, in the case of the KRIK newsroom, we notice the regular reporting of all cases of threats to security: three break-ins into apartments, from which nothing of value was lost, happened only to the journalists of this newsroom. No case has been solved to date. Reported stalkings also represent unsolved cases. Numerous threats have an epilogue in international warrants, transferring cases to the records of unknown perpetrators, dismissal of criminal charges or still open requests to the police to collect the necessary information. In the past nine years, only one case was resolved with a conviction (one year in prison, suspended for three years). 

At this moment, the KRIK newsroom is facing more than 15 lawsuits and court processes, in cases with elements of SLAPP lawsuits, mostly in Serbia, and perhaps in the region. 

When looking at the database of attacks on journalists led by NUNS, from the founding of KRIK to the present day, six verbal threats, four attacks on property (breaking into apartments and seizing phones, which were used to record the event) and 27 threats (among them statements and lawsuits, and the list includes the most powerful people in the country, from the Prime Minister, then the President of the Assembly, Ana Brnabić, through the heads of the BIA, Aleksandar Vulin, Vladimir Orlić and Bratislav Gašić, ministers Siniša Mali, Nebojša Stefanović, Jelena Tanasković, Nenad Popović (who sued four times and never came to the trials, which took up a lot of valuable time for the editorial office), police powerful people such as Dijana Hrkalović, MPs Aleksandar Martinović, Vladimir Djukanović, businessmen close to the authorities such as Nikola Petrović and Bogoljub Karić, defendants in major cases, such as Predrag Koluvija, and judges, such as Dušanka Djordjević, who with her husband lawyer, because of true information taken from public sources, demands prison sentences, work bans and financial penalties… The concentration of hostility and power behind the unresolved threats, attacks and pressures on the KRIK newsroom: from criminal, to tycoon and political, life threats, lawsuits aimed at financial exhaustion and threats of prison sentences, makes this newsroom the most vulnerable in the region. 

On Tuesday, July 8, the editorial office of KRIK will mark ten years of its existence, in front of the court and in the courtroom, where they will be tried according to the lawsuit of judge Djordjević, who demanded a prison sentence for the editor and the journalist, as well as a work ban for the journalists. There is no greater symbolism for the position of the KRIK editorial office and journalism in today’s Serbia. There is no stronger resistance than the KRIK editorial board, together with all those who support them. I would like this text to help you understand the seriousness of the situation journalism is in today in Serbia. So that, through solidarity with independent media, through direct and practical support, we manage to stop the destruction of freedom of speech and media. 

Support us! – Podrži nas! – KRIK