AMONG THE FIRST IN THE WORLD
The Journalists Association of Serbia was established on 21 December 1881 in Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, under the name of Serbian Journalist Society. That organisation was one of the first four professional journalist associations in the world and as far as it is known, it is the only one, which has been operating continuously to date. The first-ever newspaper in Serbia, Novine serbske (The Serbian Newspaper), came out in Kragujevac in 1834.
The first Press Law was adopted in 1870, when 37 newspapers were being published in Serbia. Altogether 22 newspapers and magazines were being published in Belgrade in 1881. The oldest among them was the official Srpske novine daily. At that time, the writing for newspapers was the main occupation of at least a score of people in Serbia's capital.
THE FOUNDERS
Since journalism was not a recognised profession in those times, several Belgrade journalists and editors began making preparations for the establishment of a journalist association. The idea of doing that was struck upon by Milan St. Marković, who was the editor of the Porota (Jury) magazine. Following a number of preparatory discussions and meetings, an assembly of journalists was convened on 21 December 1881, when it was decided to go ahead with the establishment of the Serbian Journalist Society. The first Rules, known as the Statute, drawn up by Milan Marković, were adopted on that occasion.
The rules laid down three chief purposes of the association of journalists, including:
1. Upgrading of Serbian journalism
2. Provision of mutual assistance when needed
3. Protection of the reputation and interests of journalism
The Signatories of the Rules were: Milan St. Marković (Porota), Stevan D. Popović (Prosvetni glasnik), Dr Vladan Đorđević (Otadžbina, Narodno zdravlje), Stevan Ćurčić (Srpske novine, Srbadija), Dr Laza Kostić (Srpska nezavisnost) and Manojlo Đorđević Prizrenac (Narodno oslobođenje).
Pending the Society’s establishment, all matters were dealt with by Milan St. Marković and Vladan Đorđević, who were actually the first administrators of the Serbian Journalist Society. he founding meeting of the Serbian Journalist Society was held on 20 December 1882 and Dr Laza Kostić, editor of the liberal opposition’s Srpska nezavisnost (Serbian Independence) newspaper, was elected as the society’s first chairman on that occasion.
The Society held sessions according to schedule and dealt with the matters laid down at the founding assembly all until the Timok Rebellion and Dr Laza Kostić’s covert departure from Serbia in 1893. A break was made and the Society almost ceased to exist. The Society was revived in December 1891 and its name was changed to the Serbian Journalist Association. On that occasion, Pera (Petar) Todorović, editor-in-chief of the Male novine (Little Newspaper), was elected as its chairman. He was replaced in due course by Lazar Komarčić, editor of the Videlo (Daylight), and the latter a few years later, by Jovan Đaja. In 1899, Kosta Taušanović took the chair, but he held it for only one year. He was succeeded by Stevan Ćurčić as the last chairman of the Serbian Journalist Society in the 19th century and the first one in the 20th century.
1889 RESTORATION OF THE SERBIAN JOURNALIST SOCIETY
A meeting of journalists convened at the initiative of Stevan Ćurčić was held in late April 1889 in Belgrade and on that occasion, it was agreed to have the Serbian Journalist Society restored.
On 30 April, the MALE NOVINE (The Little Nespaper) included the management’s call to join the Serbian Journalist Society.
Six new members, including also Milan Garašanin, the former prime minister, were admitted at the session held in early May.
1891 BEGINNING IN THE IMPERIAL
A meeting of Belgrade journalists, chaired by Milan Marković, was held on 17 November in the Imperial Restaurant and on that occasion, it was decided to restore the Serbian Journalist Society, which was to carry on operating under the name of Serbian Journalist Association (SJA).
At the meeting of the SJA provisional management of 24 November (chaired by Milan Marković), 22 new members were admitted.
The first general meeting was held on 15 December, and on that occasion, the management of the Serbian Journalist Association was elected, including: Pera Todorović, as president, Stevan Ćurčić, as vice-president, Milosav Kurtović, as librarian, Marko Vuletić, as treasurer, and Jevta Ugričević, as secretary.
1892 NEW STATUTE
The new Statute and Rules of Procedure were adopted and the new association secretary, Ž. Protić, was elected at the SJA meeting of 5 July.
The SJA president Pera Todorović and secretary Ž. Protić presented on 15 October a report on what the press wrote about the assassination of Nikola Pašić. It was concluded that there had been no assassination.
On 13 March, the SJA management decided to send condolences to the Hungarian Journalist Association on the occasion of death of the revolutionary Kossuth.
The existing management of SJA was endorsed at the meeting held on 14 March and new members were elected: Manojlo Prizrenac, as president, and Pavle Marinković, as secretary (he was to be replaced later on by Svetozar Nikolić).
The SJA management, headed by Pera Todorović, resigned at the meeting of 26 December. A committee was elected to manage the Association pending the election of a new management (it was chaired bzyLazar Komarčić)
1895 NEW MANAGEMENT
A new SJA management was elected for the New 1895 Year, consisting of Lazar Komarčić, president, Stojan Protić, vice-president, Svetozar Nikolić, treasurer, Žika Protić, secretary, and Lj. Bojović, librarian. (Stojan Protić refused to be a member of this management, so that Sava Kukić was elected as his replacement). Stojan Protić’s letter explaining why he didn’t want to be the SJA vice-president was published in the Videlo (Daylight) on 8 January.
On 26 January, the SJA management held a session occasioned by the death of Ljuba Nenadović and sent telegrammes of condolecences. The SJA management drafted the new SJA general rules and rules of procedure, which were to be adopted in the first half of 1895.
Simo Matavulja’s letter to Ma[a Vrbica was debated at the SJA session of 17 March. M. Prizrenac, D. Ilić and P. Todorović stood up for Matavulja. At the SJA meeting of 26 December, it was decided to send a letter of gratitude to King Alexander “for being so kind as to amnesty the convicted editors”.
1896 BANQUET FOR A RUSSIAN COLLEAGUE
The Serbian Journalist Association gave a banquet in February on the occasion of arrival of General Komarov, president of the Russian Journalist Association, for a visit to Belgrade.
On 25 February, the SJA management appointed a delegation, which was to request of the Government to amend the newspaper postage rates (the Government complied in 1897 and changed the rate from 15% to 8%).
The SJA appeal to the Serbian journalists in Vojvodina not to take part in the festivities marking the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarians’ arrival there was published in the Videlo (The Daylight) on 19 April. A group of Serbian journalists headed by Pera Todorović paid a visit to Bulgaria in May 1896.
1897 GROWING MEMBERSHIP
The list of members of the Serbian Journalist Association, containing 60 names, was published in the Male novine (The Little Newspaper) on 25 January.
A new management was elected at the SJA annual meting of 25 January, as follows: Jovan Đaja, president, Dr Mika Popović, vice-president, Milan Đorđević, secretary, Svetozar Nikolić, treasurer, Milan Mićić, librarian, and four members.
1898 AT GARAŠANIN'S FUNERAL
The SJA management decided on 24 February that the Association is to be represented at the funeral of the former Serbian prime minister Milutin Garašanin.
1899 TAUŠANOVIĆ AT THE HEAD OF SJA
The management elected at the SJA general meeting of 31 January was as follows: Kosta Taušanović, president, Stevan Ćurčić, vice-president, Milan Mićić, secretary, Milan Arsenijević, treasurer, and Ljuba Bojović, librarian. It was decided on that occasion to call the Serbian writers and journalists to join the SJA.
A protest was published in March against the Danube Steamship Company's demand for the Serbian Steamship Company to stop running the service between Belgrade and Zemun.
1900 THE SAINT SAVA SOCIETY PROVIDES PREMISES
The SJA management staged a concert on 27 January “for the benefit of free lance journalists and their orphans”. The management elected at the meeting of 25 March was as follows: Stevan Ćurčić, president, Milosav Kurtović, vice-president, Milan Arsenijević, treasurer, Milan Mićić, secretary, and Dobrivoje Arnautović, librarian, and Pera Todorović, Milan St. Marković, Radoje Radulović and Jovan Đaja, as members.
The Saint Sava Society put its premises at the disposal of the Serbian Journalist Association for the purpose of housing its management, reading room and library.
The SJA management protested in August against the arrest of Sv. Janošević, the chief associate of the Male novine (The Little Newspaper).
1901 PUT THE PRESS OUT OF THE POLICE JURISDICTION
The management elected at the annual meeting of 15 April was as follows: Stevan Ćurčić, president, Luka Lazarević, vice-president, Milan Mićić, treasurer, and four members.
The Male novine of 14 November wrote that the Association is considering the idea of introducing the journalist examination for young journalists.
At the session of the National Assembly Legislative Committee, consideration was given to the Serbian Journalist Association's motion for the new press law to put the press out of the police jurisdiction and put it under the jurisdiction of regular courts.
1902 THE FIRST SERBIAN JOURNALIST CONGRESS
At the meeting of press associates held on 18 March in Belgrade, the decision to establish a society of journalist associates was adopted.
It was decided at the journalist meeting of 10 February to convoke a congress of Serbian journalists and a committee to deal with that was elected, with Stevan Ćurčić as its chairman.
The First Congress of Serbian Journalists was held in Belgrade from 13 to 15 October and it was attended by about 100 editors and associates from Serbia and other Serb lands.
1903 NUŠIĆ, STANKOVIĆ, VESELINOVIĆ
The Večernje novine (The Evening News) reported on 20 February that the Serbian Journalist Association has admitted 29 new members to its ranks, including also the writers Branislav Nušić, Janko Veselinović and Borisav Stanković.
The new management of the Serbian Journalist Association was elected on 16 March, with Stevan Ćurčić as president, Sreten Pašić as vice-president, Ivan Šajković as secretary and Milan Kostić as librarian.
In late July, the SJA management called the journalists to oppose the public clashes through the press. The SJA presented to the National Assembly a memorandum demanding that the press be put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice.
1904 UNION OF JOURNALIST ASSOCIATES
At the meeting of journalist associates of 15 April, it was agreed that a special organisation of the press associates should be established.
At the meeting of 7 October, it was decided to establish a journalist associates union.
The legal committee of the Union of Journalist Associates was elected at the meeting of 18 November, with Ž. Balugdžić as its chairman and S. Janošević as vice chairman.
1905 YUGOSLAV JOURNALIST COMMUNITY
The Union of Journalist Associates addressed the Russian Government in 1905 with a request for the writer Maxim Gorky to be released from prison.
The Pravda (Justice) reported on 29 April that the Union of Serbian Journalist Associates has sent two of its members to the convention of Yugoslav journalists in Fiumi, the “purpose of which is the establishment of a community of Yugoslav journalists”.
A meeting of writers and journalists from Croatia, Bulgaria and Serbia was held in Belgrade from 6 to 8 November in Belgrade and on that occasion, the possibility of establishing a joint organisation of Yugoslav writers and publicists was discussed. The representatives of the Serbian Journalist Association also attended this meeting.
1906 SERBIAN JOURNALIST AND PUBLICIST SOCIETY
The Pravda (Justice) reported on 5 January that the provisional management (St. Ćurčić, P. Todorović, Vl. Ribnikar, J. Adamović, M. Pašić and J. Mandil) has drafted the new Serbian Journalist Association rules.
The annual meeting was held on 6 January and on that occasion, the new SJA rules were adopted and the new management consisting of Pavle Marinković, president, Milan Mićić and Branislav Nušić, vice-presidents, Ljuba Bojović, treasurer, V. Ribnikar, secretary, and Jovan Mandić, librarian, was elected.
Following a split in the journalist organisation, the Serbian Journalist and Publicist Society was established in early 1906 and it also elcted its own management (Jovan Đaja as president and Božidar Savić and Petar Despotović as vice-presidents).
In February 1906, the SJA Management called the Government to pardon the convicted journalists, but the Government did not comply. The SJA Management conveyed (in February) congratulations to Hungarian journalists as a token of support to their struggle for freedom of the press.
AGAINST DEPORTATION AND MURDER OF JOURNALISTS
In November 1906, the Serbian Journalist Association staged in Belgrade a rally condemning the Bosnian Government for deporting the journalist Stijepan Kobasica, editor of the Srpska riječ (The Serbian Word) of Sarajevo.
In August 1906, a congress was held in Sofia and on that occasion, the Federation of South Slav Writers and Journalists was established. Since it was not willing to accept its observer status, the Serbian Journalist Association refused to attend that congress.
On 8 October, the SJA Management condemned the murder of the opposition journalist Novaković and demanded that the culprits be punished.
1907 VISITS TO BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, MONTENEGRO AND CROATIA
The annual meeting was held on 6 January and the management elected on that occasion was as follows: Nastas Petrović, president, Branislav Nušić and Milan Mićić, vice-presidents, Milan Đorđević, secretary, Ljuba Bojović, treasurer, and Jovan Mandil, librarian.
The organising committee for celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Serbian Journalist Association was formed and the decision to draft the Rules of the Serbian Journalist Association Pension Fund Rules was adopted at the meeting of the SJA Management of 12 January.
A SJA delegation visited several places in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia. The delegation was headed by Branislav Nušić, president, and Stevan Ćurčić, honorary president.
1908 NUŠIĆ ELECTED AS PRESIDENT
The new Management was elected at the annual meeting of 6 January and its members were as follows: Branislav Nušić, president, M. Mićić and Dr V. Marinković, vice-presidents, Naum Dimitrijević, secretary, Ljuba Bojović, treasurer, and Jovan Mandil, librarian.
SJA staged a big cultural and entertainment event, THE PENTECOST FAIR, on the Ada Ciganlija river island (in Belgrade) from 30 May to 7 June. The Vodeni cvet (The Water Flower) comic newspaper edited by Branislav Nušić was published for the duration of this fair.
A special SJA meeting was held on 4 January and the new Rules were adopted on that occasion. The meeting entrusted to Pavle Marinković the task of drafting amendments to the Honour Court Rules.
The SJA general meeting of 30 January elected a new Management and decided for the fusion of the Serbian Journalist Association and the Serbian Journalist and Publicist Society. The new Management was constituted on 1 February, its members being as follows: Stevan Ćurčić, president, Branislav Nušić and Mićić, vice-presidents, V. Ribnikar and Pera Đorđević, treasurers, Milan Đorđević and Jovan Mandil, secretaries, and Dušan Mil. Šijački, librarian. Several foreign journalists and publicists were elected as honorary SJA members, including Jozef Holoček, a Czech writer and journalist and president of the Slav Journalist Federation in Prague.
1910 SLAV JOURNALIST CONGRESS
On 2 June, the Serbian Journalist Association notified the management of the Slav Journalist Federation of its intention to join it. The SJA delegation attending the Ninth Congress of Slav Journalists in Sofia, July 1910, was headed by the SJA president Stevan Ćurčić.
1911 ON STRIKE BECAUSE OF WAGES
The Mali žurnal (The Little Journal) reported on 24 April that Ivan Ivanić had attended the International Journalist Association Congress in Rome, on behalf of the Serbian Journalist Association.
Following the fusion of the two associations (Serbian Journalist Association and Serbian Journalist and Publicist Society), a new management was elected, including: Branislav Nušić as president, Bora Popović and Mile Pavlović as vice-presidents, Ivan Ivanić and Milan Đorđević as secretaries, Petar Despotović and Naum Dimitrijević as treasurers, and Branko Lazarević as librarian.The Tenth Congress of Slav Journalists was staged in Belgrade from 27 to 29 June. A big exhibition of the Slavic press was also staged on that occasion.
The first general meeting of the Journalist Associate Society was held on 9 July and a permanent management was elected on that occasion (Manojlo Sokić, president, Grgur Madžarević, vice-president, Moša Pijade, secretary, and Vojislav Rosić, treasurer).
In 1911, the Journalist Associate Society organised a strike against the owner of the Tribune, who was “keeping his journalists on miserable pay and mistreating them”.
1912 CONGRESS IN PRAGUE
The second meeting of the Journalist Associate Society was held on 27 May, when also its new management was elected (Pera Taletov as president, Svetolik Grabenac as vice-president, Moša Pijade as secretary and Isidor Protić as treasurer).
The Eleventh Slav Journalist Congress was held in Prague in June 1912 and it was also attended by representatives of the Serbian Journalist Association. Branislav Nušić was elected on that occasion as the second vice-chairman of the Slav Journalist Federation Board.
At the session of the Slav Journalist Federation Board held in Belgrade in 1912, Stevan Ćurčić was elected as the second vice-chairman of the Board.
1914 RIBNIKAR ELECTED AS PRESIDENT
The Serbian Journalist Association had its annual meeting on 16 February in the Belgrade Pozorišna kafana (The Theatre Inn) and on that occasion, it elected a new management consisting of professional journalists exclusively.
The new management arranged for the collection of contributions to the professional journalist pension fund.
The first meeting of the management was held on 22 February and on that occasion, Vladislav Ribnikar was elected as president, Branko Božović and Milan Savčić as vice-presidents, Miomir Milenović as secretary, Manojlo Sokić as treasurer, Grgur Madžarević as sub-treasurer and Borisav Minić as librarian.
1919 CONGRESS IN ZAGREB
The First Congress of Yugoslav Journalists was staged in Zagreb on 17 and 18 November by the Croatian Journalist Society and it was attended by representatives of the journalist societies of Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. The Congress was chaired by Milan Savčić from the Serbian Journalist Association.
1920 RENEWED SERBIAN JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION
The Serbian Journalist Association was restored and a new management was elected, with Milan Savčić as president, Manojlo Sokić and Jovan Tanović as vice-presidents, Todor Paranos as secretary and Brana Cvetković as treasurer.
The general meeting of the Serbian Journalist Association was held at the Imperial Hotel in late October and 53 new members were admitted on that occasion. Consideration was given to the Draft Rules of the Yugoslav Journalist Association and the committee which is to present the Draft at the Congress of Yugoslav Journalists was elected on that occasion.
1921 YUGOSLAV JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION ESTABLISHED
Following the death of of the SJA president Milan Savčić, Dušan Nikolajević was elected as the new president of the Serbian Journalist Association at a meeting held in early 1921.
The Yugoslav Journalist Association was established at a congress that was held in Sarajevo on 26 and 31 March. It was decided on that occasion that the existing associations should be turned into sections of the YJA. Dušan Nikolajević was elected as the first YJA president. Moša Pijade was elected as secretary and Ratko Parežanin as treasurer (both from the Serbian Journalist Society).
THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE NOVINAR
The first issue of the Novinar (The Journalist) came out on 31 July in Belgrade and its editor-in-chief was M. Radosavljević (that issue was prepared by the YJA secretary Moša Pijade).
Moša Pijade's motion for the unionisation of journalists was given support at the YJA Congress held on 25 and 26 August in Split (the conclusion to that effect was not implemented).
Pera Taletov served for a short while as the SJA president following the election of Dušan Nikolajević as president of the Yugoslav Journalist Association.
1922 AGAINST THE PRESS LAW
The YJA Belgrade Section was established in February and its first management was made up as follows: Dušan Šijački, president, R. Vesnić and Gabro Pilić, vice-presidents, and Vlada Ristović, secretary.
At the conference held in the Pravda editorial office in February, it was agreed that all of the Belgrade journalists should join the YJA. At the YJA Congress in Subotica (9-11 September), the representatives of the Zagreb and Belgrade sections had a debate about moving the YJA Central Office from Belgrade to Zagreb.
It was found at the YJA Congress in Ljubljana (5-8 August) that the Belgrade Section has not been set up in keeping with the YJA Statute.
The Draft Press Law produced by the Government of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was condemned at the Belgrade Section's meeting of 2 September.
The new management that was elected on that occasion was as follows: Jovan Tanović, president, Ljuba Popović and Miodrag Ivanić, vice-chairmen, V. Lukić, secretary, and M. Sokić, treasurer.
1924 JOURNALIST CLUB IN TERAZIJE
Jovan Tanović and Dr Ljuba Popović attended the International Congress of Journalists, which was held in London from 7 to 12 July, as representatives of the Belgrade Section.
The Belgrade Section elected its new management towards the end of September as follows: Kosta Luković, president, Kosta Krajšumović and Vlasta Petković,
vice-presidents, Boško Radovanović, secretary, and Miloje Sokić, treasurer.
The Yugoslav Journalist Association Club was opened in central Belgrade, in Terazije. The second meeting of the associate journalist union was also held (chaired by Mića Dimitrijević).
1925 FACULTY OF JOURNALISM
The possibility of establishing the Faculty of Journalism in Belgrade was discussed at the third meeting of the free associate journalist union on 10 May.
The new YJA Rules, dealing also with the scope of activity of sections, were adopted at the YJA Congress in Skopje (27-29 September). The Association of Newspaper Owners was established at a conference held on the Politika premises on 9 and 10 October.
At its meeting of 1 November, the Belgrade Section elected its management as follows: Stijepo Kobasica, president, Miroslav Stojadinović and Kosta Krajšumović, vice-presidents, Jovan Lazarević and Vojin Đorđević, secretaries, and Slobodan Vidaković, treasurer.
The meeting of the Yugoslav Journalist Association Belgrade Section sent by cable (1 November) its best regards to the journalists Moša Pijade and Kosta Krajšumović, who were serving their sentences in the Požarevac Prison. At its meeting of 13 November, the management of the Yugoslav Journalist Association Belgrade Section admitted Filip Filipović to that organisation's membership. The Municipality of Soko Banja gave to the Belgrade Section as a gift a 0.5-ha plot of land on which a sanatorium for journalists should be built.
On 6 September, the Government issued the Ordinance on Journalists, which regulates the relations between the newspaper owners and professional journalists. Stevan Ćurčić and Jovan Đaja were elected as honorary presidents of the Belgrade journalist association at the Belgrade Section's annual meeting. The YJA Belgrade Section elected on 14 November its new management: Dragiša Lapčević, president, Mih. Živančević and St. Vinaver, vice-presidents, P. Milojević and Vasa Srzentić, secretaries, and Slobodan Vidaković, treasurer.
1927 YJA PRESIDENT RESIGNS
On 28 June, a group of Belgrade journalists established a new section consisting of 50 members and elected a new management (Milan Popović as president). This section was to be disbanded very soon after that.
The Belgrade Section adopted a resolution severing all ties with the Yugoslav Journalist Association Central Office (the direct motivation for this was the turning of the Journalist Club into a gambling house).
Because of a clash between the Central Office and the Belgrade Section, Krešimir Kovačić resigned from the position of president of the Yugoslav Journalist Association.
A new management headed by the old president was elected at the annual meeting of 20 October: Dragiša Lapčević, president, Predrag Milojević and Đura Banjac, vice-presidents, and Milan Vladisavljević and Dragomir Milovanović, secretaries.
At its annual meeting, on 23 October, the Belgrade Section adopted a resolution condemning the 1925 Press Law as a reactionary one and harmful to journalism.
At the YJA plenary session held on 6 November in Zagreb, the representatives of sections adopted the decision to “liquidate” the disputes with the Belgrade Section.
1928 JOURNALIST RISTOVIĆ MURDERED
In the night between 4 and 5 August (during the demonstrations staged because of the assassination of Stjepan Radić), Vlada Ristović, a Belgrade journalist and former secretary of the Belgrade Section, was murdered in Zagreb.
The Belgrade Section proposed (on 28 October) that the military authorities be requested to allow young journalists to serve their military obligation “at places best suited to their civilian vocation”.
In late 1928, the Belgrade Section management secured premises in downtown Belgrade, Obilićev venac, to serve as a temporary journalist club.
The new Rules under which the existing sections were to be turned into independent organisations were adopted at the YJA annual meeting of 30 December.
1929 FINANCIAL HELP TO MOŠA PIJADE
The Belgrade Section took to court Miloje Sokić, treasurer of the YJA Central Office, for turning the Journalist Club into a gambling house.The decision of the Belgrade Municipality to cede free of charge a site in Frankopanska Street (known as General Ždanova later on and as Resavska now) for the construction of the Journalist Club building, was read at the journalist meeting of 27 October.
The existing management headed by Dragiša Lapčević was re-elected at the Belgrade Section meeting of 28 October. Dobrosav Kuzmić was elected as the first vice-president and Stanislav Krakov as the second, and Dragiša Milovanović as the first secretary.
The Belgrade Section magament sent 500 Dinars to Moša Pijade, who was imprisoned in Sremska Mitrovica.
A special journalist delegation headed by president Dragiša Lapčević paid a visit to the Prime Minister for the purpose of asking him to help the unemployed journalists. In keeping with the YJA Rules, the Belgrade Section changed its name to the Journalist Society of Belgrade (the name of section was to be restored soon afterwards, in conformity with centralisation of the government administration).
1930 PROVISIONAL JOURNALIST CLUB
In late December, a provisional journalist club was opened in Belgrade, at Mišarska br. 3, which was to serve its purpose pending the completion of the journalist club building in Frankopanska street.
1931 DONATION BY MIHAILO PUPIN
In January and February, the Belgrade Section staged artistic evenings, in which opera singers, actors and writers took part.During the drive for collection of contributions towards construction of the Journalist Club Building, the Belgrade Section received 5000 Dinars from Mihailo Pupin, a well'known American inventor of Serbian descent.
The new management elected at the meeting of 4 July was as follows: Pavle Janković, president, Dobrosav Kuzmić and Gradimir Kozmarić, vice-presidents, Pavle Cerović and Živojin Đorđević, secretaries, Nikola Dragićević, treasurer, and Mara Glavodanović, librarian.
1932 RELIEF FUND ESTABLISHED
The Belgrade Section established the Relief Fund as an institution for helping the journalists in the event of their illness, frailty and death. The second annual meeting of the Belgrade Section was held on 2 December and its main topic was the construction of the Journalist Club Building.
1933 CONSTRUCTION OF THE JOURNALIST CLUB STARTED UP
The new management elected at the annual meeting of 23 April was as follows: Dobrosav Kuzmić, president, Gradimir Kozomorić and Grgur Kostić, vice-presidents, Savo Cvetković and Nikola Đorđević, secretaries, and Nikola Dragićević, treasurer.
The construction of the Journalist Club Building at Frankopanska 28 was started up on 1 October 1933.
The Belgrade Section adopted the Relief Fund Statute and the Rules of the Relief Fund for Unemployed Professional Journalists.
1934 NOVINARSKI GLASNIK
The Hundred Years of the Press in Serbia Exhibition was staged in January on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first newspaper in Serbia. The first issue of the Novinarski glasnik (The Journalist Gazette) came out on 15 February. Grgur Kostić was its editor-in-chief.
The Belgrade Section management formed the Executive Committee for Construction of the Journalist Club Building, consisting of Dobrosav Kuzmić, Nikola Dragićević and Dr Oton Krstanović.
The foundation of the Journalist Club Building, in which the charter of its construction is incorporated, was consecrated on 15 July.
The Municipality of Niš ceded to the YJA Belgrade Section free of charge a 600-m2 building site in Niška Banja (a natural health resort) for the construction of a journalist holiday resort.
The Belgrade Section elected its new management (Board of Directors, Supervisory Board and Honour Court) at its annual meeting. Dobrosav Kuzmić, Nikola Dragićević, Dr Oton Krstanović, Radenko Tomić, Grgur Kostić, Vladislav Milenković, Đorđe Pecarski, Marko Kavaja and Vuk Dragović were elected as members of the Board of Directors and Milan Krstić, Desimir Blagojević and Zvonimir Golubović as their deputies.
The Belgrade Section launched a drive for the establishment of a cooperative for the construction of accommodation facilities for journalists.
1935 OŠIŠANI JEŽ LAUNCHED
The Ošišani jež (The Fleeced Hedgehog) humorous paper started coming out on 5 January in Belgrade. Its publisher was the YJA Belgrade Section and Mata Glavadinović its editor-in-chief.
The Journalist Club Building at Frankopanska 28 was formally opened on 7 April in the presence of a large number of distinguished guests, representatives of the highest authorities, ministers, diplomats, church dignitaries and prominent cultural and public personalities.
The YJA Belgrade Section was granted the concession for publishing the Telephone Directory, the proceeds from the sale of which were to be credited to the Relief Fund.
1936 FIRST ISSUE OF THE “ORAL NEWS”
The new Board of Directors was elected at the annual meeting of 15 March and it assumed office on 18 March. Dobrosav Kuzmić was elected as its president, Grgur Kostić as vice-president, Vlajko Lalić and Dušan Timotijević as secretaries, and B. Jovanović, R. Tomić, Ž. Vukadinović, M. Popović and D. Blagojević as members.
The Municipality of Belgrade ceded on 23 April a building site for the construction of a journalist residential building.
The YJA Belgrade Section staged on 22 February the first issue of the Usmene novine (The Oral News) for the benefit of its Relief Fund. On that occasion, Branislav Nušić delivered a lecture on oral journalism.
Two performances were staged in September by the Ošišani jež (The Fleeced Hedgehog), but the City of Belgrade Administration banned further performances.
The Ministry of Agriculture gave to the Belgrade Section five acres of land as a gift, for the construction of a journalist housing complex.
Towards the end of the year, the Belgrade Section management gave a Christmas relief to 22 journalists amounting to 500 Dinars each, including the incarcerated Moša Pijade and Otokar Keršovani.
THE JOURNALIST BALL
A journalist ball was staged on 6 February in Belgrade under the title of 300 Wonders. A paper of the same title was also printed for that occasion.
The first presentation of Oral News for Children was made on 3 January in Belgrade.
The problems of unemployment and old age pension insurance of journalists were considered at the regular annual meeting of 21 March.
A new management (though headed by the president) was elected at the mentioned annual meeting: Dobrosav Kuzmić, Živojin Vukadinović, Radenko Tomić, Gabro Pilić, Vlajko Lalić, Dušan Timotijević, Dojčilo Mitrović, Dragan Aleksić and Mata Glavadinović.
The Belgrade Section elected also the Honour Court at the meeting of 23 March: Pjer Križanić, Bogdan Bilbija and Živan Mitrović.
SEDMA SILA ESTABLISHED
The Commercial Cooperative of Professional Journalists was established at the special meeting of 20 May (instead of the Relief Fund).
The YJA Belgrade Section management concluded an agreement with Radio Belgrade for broadcasting the Daily Report, which was prepared by unemployed young journalists. The Belgrade Section established in 1937 the Sedma sila (The Seventh Power) publishing and advertising company.
1938 JOURNALISTS SURROUNDED BY GENDARMES
A group of pro-government journalists, members of the Yugoslav Radical Community, walked out of the Belgrade Section’s annual meeting on 20 March, without being able to imposing their demands, despite the ruling political party’s support. The majority showed confidence in the old management headed by Dobrosav Kuzmić.
The special meeting of the Belgrade Section was held on 19 June in a strained atmosphere resulting from a clash between the pro-government and opposition journalists, so that the Journalist Club Building, in which the meeting was being held, was surrounded by gendarmerie units.
On that occasion, the management was elected by secret ballot as follows: Gabro Pilić as president and Radenko Tomić, Grgur Kostić, Milivoje Popović, Dragan Aleksić, Živorad Đorđević, Pavle Cerović, Živan Mitrović and Milan Đoković as members.
1939 COURT OF HONOUR DECISION
The Belgrade Section Board of Directors was elected at the annual meeting of 1 April and it was made up as follows: Gabro Pilić, president, Radenko Tomić, vice-president, Živan Mitrović, secretary, and Dojčilo Mitrović, treasurer, and Milan Đoković, Gavra Velikić, Đivo Višić and Marko Kavaja as members.
The Honour Court rendered on 15 May the decision for Dr Kosta Luković, head of the Central Press Bureau, to be expelled from the Belgrade Section membership because he had been persecuting the journalist Vuk Dragović.
The Belgrade Section management appointed a committee for entrance examination in the Vreme (Time) editorial office, consisting of two of its members (president Gabro Pilić and vice-president Radenko Tomić).
1940 PUNISHMENT FOR JOURNALISTS
In the Belgrade Section resolution adopted at the annual meeting of 26 May, the competent authorities were requested to see to the “as equitable as possible application of the Press Law”.
The Belgrade Section Honour Court (Pjer Križanić, Dr Ivan Nevisić and Bogdan Bilbija) rendered a decision punishing a group of journalists/ politicians who had caused the split in the journalist organisation.
The new Board of Directors was elected at the meeting of 28 May: Živko Milićević as chairman and Radenko Tomić, Dr Milivoje Popović, Gabro Velikić, Radmila Bunuševac, Dojčilo Mitrović, Đivo Višić and Milan Đoković as members, as well as six deputies.
New Rules were adopted, under which the YJA was renamed as the Journalist Federation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. These Rules obligated the sections to organise themselves as “autonomous journalist organisations”.
On 26 May 1940, the membership was as follows: 186 full members, 45 novices and 30 apprentices. Of the 274 members of the Association according to the count on 6 April 1941, only 66 or 24.08% carried on working under the enemy occupation, mainly in the German-controlled newspapers. This percentage of collaborators was actually smaller in view of the fact that they also included the infiltrated individuals who wanted to cover up their true activities under the guise of collaboration.
For example, Miloš Brašić was Cominterna's chief liaison with Tito; Đorđe Lobačev worked as a Soviet intelligence officer, as a NKVD colonel at that; and Ljubiša Stojković, Milan Đoković and Đorđe Dedić, who by working on jobs unrelated to journalism were in touch, as the underground workers would put it, which can be seen from the fact that they carried on working as journalists after the war. This also goes for Vladislav Ribnikar, who was awaiting a guide to take him out of Belgrade for the purpose of joining the Partisans in the unoccupied territory.
Of the 66 members of the SJA who worked under German occupation in Serbia, 24 carried on working after the country's liberation. It should be noted that the number of members of the Association kept decreasing in the course of enemy occupation continuously, from 142 members in 1941 to 136 in 1942, 117 in 1943 and 86 in 1944. This decrease applied to both the pre-war members and those admitted in the course of occupation. The pre-war members numbered 66 in 1941, 60 in 1942, 50 in 1943 and 40 in 1944, whereas the newly admitted members numbered 76 in 1941, 76 in 1942, 67 in 1943 and 46 in 1944.
1941 UNDER OCCUPATION
The Belgrade journalist organisation got a new name – The Journalist Association of Belgrade – under the new Rules adopted at the meeting of 30 March (Belgrade).
A new Board of Directors was elected at the mentioned meeting: Pjer Križanić as president and Gavra Velikić, Simo Francen, Radenko Tomić, Đivo Višić, Dojčilo Mitrović, Milan Đoković, Spasoje Đorđević and Radmila Bunuševac Dedinac as members. Živko Milićević, Radenko Tomić and Dojčilo Mitrović were elected as delegates to the Federal Office.
On 6 April 1941, the Belgrade Section had 263 members (including 192 full members, 42 probationary and 29 apprentice ones).
The German occupying authority (Military Commander for Serbia) issued on 20 May the Press Ordinance that dealt with the publishing of newspapers and activity of journalists in the occupied Serbia.
The Serbian Journalist Association was established on 1 September 1941 under the Press Ordinance, and it was directly controlled by the German Propaganda S Department.
The German occupying authority appointed the following management of the Serbian Journalist Association: Radenko Tomić, president, Ivan Nađvinski, secretary, Jovan Tanović, honorary president, and Ratko Parežanin and Vukašin Anđelković, members.
Immediately after the country fell under enemy occupation, a ban was placed on operation of the Production Cooperative of Professional Journalists and on 26 August 1941, the German Military Commander issued the order for the assets of that Cooperative, which had 128 members on 12 March 1941, to be taken over by the Serbian Journalist Association.
The Journalist Federation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (or the Central Office of the Yugoslav Journalist Association) had funds totalling 12,759.94 Dinars on 6 April 1941, including 952.50 Dinars in cash (this amount was taken away by the fleeing deputy treasurer) and 11,807.44 Dinars on the SJA cheque no. 57-563 with the Post Office Savings Bank.
1943 WHERE DID THE JOURNALISTS' MONEY END UP?
The Military Attache of the Royal Italian Embassy in Belgrade, Col. Carlo Cuisi, notified Mr. Radenko Tomić in his letter of 12 February 1943 about the quest for the money of the Belgrade Journalist Federation. According to that report, the sum of 490,000 Dinars was “seized by the Military Command from two citizens (civilians), who had fled from Belgrade, whose names are Moša Pijade and Veselin Masleša”, on 11 April 1941 in Trebinje. According to witness statements, the Yugoslav Military Command deposited all of that money at the County Governor’s Office, which transferred it then to the Tax Office.
The then head of the Tax Office was Petar Klisić (“presently in the Tax Office of Bar”) and the treasurer was Adem Kapetanović (“a Muslim, who has retired and is now living in Sarajevo”). Besides Klisić and Kapetanović, the then president of the Trebinje Municipality, Simo Vuletić, was also heard as a witness. The following was stated in the report: “According to the statements made by the mentioned officers, the records relating to this case are with the Finance Office in Sarajevo, so that the sum involved has thus been credited to the Yugoslav State Treasury.
The Tax Office of Trebinje used the mentioned sum of money and other monies at its disposal towards paying out pensions and relief for two months to the county administration employees and refugees from other regions before the occupation (of that region) by the troops of the Axis Powers. It was acted so in compliance with an order issued by the Minister of Finance Šutej (JAS, General Archives, K-1, f. 1943).
1945 ASSOCIATION’S REVIVAL
The Journalist Association was revived on 29 April 1945.
The majority of members of the Journalists Association of Serbia (more than 80%) were not members of the Communist Party (League of Communists). In contrast to the Writers Association, which included the Communist Writer Activist Group, the Journalists Association of Serbia never engaged in any ideologically organised activity.
1946 JOURNALIST CLUB IN NOVI SAD
The Journalist Club of Novi Sad was established and its Secretariat was elected in the interval between the Management’s 2nd and 3rd session, on 23 August 1946, pursuant to Article 4 of the Rules of the Journalists Association of the People’s Republic of Serbia and in agreement with Milutin Rajković. Božin Stojadinović (Slobodna Vojvodina) was elected as Secretary. The establishment of the Journalist Club of Novi Sad was endorsed on 11 October 1946.
JOURNALIST SCHOOL
The Journalist School of the Journalist Federation of Yugoslavia was opened on 22 November 1946. The JAS was housed then at Bulevar Crvene armije 2/5, Belgrade.
1947 GROWING NUMBER OF FEMALE JOURNALISTS
In the first two years after the Second World War, the share of females in the total number of journalists kept growing strikingly, becoming four times higher than in 1941. In 1946, the staff of the Belgrade media included 250 members of the Association, including 48 female ones. Of the 47 members of the Tanjug Editorial Office, 11 were females and in Borba, Politika and Radio Belgrade, these ratios were 36:9, 40:6 and 7:2 respectively.
The increase in the number of female journalists was evident in the editorial offices based outside Belgrade. In the first half of 1947, the Association had 392 members, of which 83 were females, meaning that the number of female journalists had increased by seven times compared with that in 1941.
1951 ACTIVITIES IN SECTIONS
The JAS Foreign Political Section staged ten lectures from May 1950 to February 1951, the Economic Section staged two lectures and the Sport Journalists Section staged public discussions of current events, film news and sport reviews. More than 10,000 people attended the 15 events staged. Besides Belgrade, these events were staged also in Novi Sad, Čačak, Zemun, Pančevo, Subotica, Zrenjanin and Kruševac. The Language Avisers and Proofreaders Section staged several meetings at which lectures were delivered by Professor Dragoljub Aleksić, a linguist.
The Newspaper Photographers Section made preparations for an exhibition of photographs, but that exhibition was not held because “of the Secretariat’s inactivity”, according to the JAS Administration report.
PRIZES AWARDED FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Journalists Association celebrated its 70th anniversary in 1951 and journalist prizes were awarded on the occasion for the first time.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION A MUST
Altogether 168 journalists from 15 media were enrolled in university courses, but only 107 were passing exams regularly.
PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS OF CURRENT EVENTS
The Association staged 28 public discussions of current events, of which seven in Belgrade and the rest in Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Sremska Mitrovica, Kosovska Mitrovica and other major towns. Furthermore, it also staged 16 lectures.
1952 VOTING AND “INAPPROPRIATE REMARKS”
At the 7th Annual Meeting held in Belgrade on 13 April 1952, the Polling Committee’s report also included the following explanation: “The Committee has established that 213 members have cast their votes at the Meeting. Of these votes, one has been declared invalid because the voter had written inappropriate remarks after the names of candidates”.
Having announced the result of the secret ballot, the Polling Committee also stated the following: “When the names of candidates were being dictated to typists who were mimeographing the ballot papers, the name of comrade Ljubomir Stojanović was ommitted by mistake from the list of candidated presented to the Meeting by comrade Branko Dadić. This mistake was made by comrade Nikola Kapetanović and it was noticed only after the voting”.
1953 ONLY SIX UNEMPLOYED JOURNALISTS
The Association’s Secretariat was seeing to the employment of journalists in the course of 1953. The Association intervene in favour of employment of four young journalists in three Belgrade media and one in a Pančevo one. Three journalist proofreaders were also found employment and a journalist was given employment in the government administration sector, so that at the end of 1953, there were only six unemployed journalists.
1954/55 TROUBLES WITH TANJUG
Tanjug was housed on the premises of the Journalist Club at Generala Ždanova 28, Belgrade, and under an agreement with the Association, it was supposed to pay rent to it as provided by the Ordinance on the Use of Office Premises, amounting to 10,000 Dinars (it was paying 20,000 Dinars monthly until 31 December 1954), which was a very low rent, indeed. The Association’s management took the position that the issue of the building and premises for the Association’s activities should be settled either by getting Tanjug to buy the Association’s building and the Association to buy another building with the proceeds of such sale or getting the Government, which had housed Tanjug in the Association’s building, to give some other building to the Association.
1955 CLOSED TO JOURNALISTS
“One of the problems the Journalists Council of Kosovo and Metohija is trying tackle is in the fact that the highest forums of the Autonomous Kosovo and Metohija District are not showing enough understanding for the work of journalists. As an example of this, we would like to point at the many sessions held behind closed doors, without any need for being held in that way”.
(From the Report of the Board of Directors of The Association of Journalists of the PR of Serbia presented at the 10th Regular Meeting).
THE FIRST JOURNALIST HOUSING COOPERATIVE
The first-ever journalist-housing cooperative was established in late July 1955 in the framework of the Journalists Association of Serbia, for the purpose of helping in the coping with the housing problems of journalists. Journalists were short of housing in general and the ones working in the small media in particular. The cooperative attracted 36 journalists in a very short time.
The People’s Board of the Belgrade Skadarlija Municipality gave to the cooperative as a gift from the so-called general people’s property the building site at Makedonska ulica br. 19, Belgrade, for the construction of an office and residential building, with a pharmacy on the ground floor and 15 apartments on the five floors above. In settling the issue of ownership with the municipal authorities and the Urban Planning Office, the Board of Directors of the First Journalist Housing Cooperative also proceeded with the construction of a residential building consisting of about 20 apartments at Ive Lole Ribara 21, Belgrade.
These two buildings, consisting of about 35 apartments, were to house all of the homeless members of the Cooperative. Loans were provided for the members who did not have enough money of their own for covering their share in the Cooperative.
(UNS Archives, 11th Regular Meeting, 1956. report presented by Miodrag Jevremović, President of the First Journalist Housing Cooperative).
EXHIBITION OF THE PRESS
In November, a chronological presentation of development of the Serbian press and the media published in Serbia was staged in Bezistan, Belgrade, and the development of radio broadcasting was presented in the Radio Belgrade Building. A small editorial office with a printing facility was set up in Bezistan, where the miniature daily, Izložba štampe (The Press Exhibition), was being produced. Visitors were able to see how the newspaper was being prepared and printed. Although it was planned to last seven days, the exhibition was extended by four days, so as to be open for the Republic Day. More than 60,000 people saw the exhibition in eleven days.
1956 DEBATING CLUB
The Commission for Ideological and Political Work, which was established, together with several other commissions, on 25 May 1956 at a session of the JAS Board of Directors, instituted the Debating Club as the most suitable form of work. Đorđe Radenković, Branko Bogunović, Velibor Popović, Biško Babović and Jaša Davičo were appointed as its directors. The following topics were set for the first six months.
1. De-Stalinisation in the international workers’ movement and resistance to it
2. Typical phenomena of the modern American capitalism
3. Our agrarian problem
4. Trends manifest in our artistic and journalist communities
5. Criticism in the press
6. About reporting
SERVICE FOR LOCAL PRESS
The Commission for Assistance to the Local Press made a motion for Sedma sila Publishing Enterprise to organise a service for the local press and that turned out to be a very successful venture, because the local press accepted with pleasure the articles obtained from the service as a big help in their work.
1957 CORRESPONDENTS SUBJECTED TO HARASSMENT
“It is beyond any doubt that there are cases of journalists being restrained in the field. New correspondents from the provinces are reluctant to criticise and draw attention to weak points because of the harassment they have been exposed to. Some of them were even interrogated because of their articles, despite their being moderate and appropriate. There have even been cases of the journalists being denied access to the information they needed. However, these are both understandable and transient occurrences in our society, which is persistently ridding itself of bureaucratic reasoning and narrow-mindedness.”
(JAS Archives, JAS Special Meeting, 1957).
1958 JOURNALIST LODGERS
The First Journalist Housing Cooperative had more than 150 members at the beginning of 1958. A survey conducted by the Cooperative in the Belgrade media houses showed that more than a half of the total number of Belgrade journalists did not have homes of their own. About 150 were lodgers, about a 100 lived in shared apartments and about 50 were accommodated with relatives and friends.
The current President of the Belgrade People’s Council, Đurica Jojkić, showed understanding for the journalists’ housing problems and promised help, both in the making of down payments for the construction of residential buildings and in allocation of building sites (near the Stamenković Brothers Cultural Club Building in Karaburma district, near the Red Star Football Grounds and in New Belgrade).
(JAS Archives, 12th Annual General Meeting, Report on the Journnalist Housing Cooperative Activity)
MILK PER CAPITA
“A freelancer brought recently to our editorial office an article about the milk supply in Belgrade. It was stated in that article in letters, not figures, that five hundred wagonloads of milk are delivered to Belgrade every day. I asked him whether he had checked this figure, because it was clear to me that the actual quantity of milk delivered is much, much smaller. He said that he was told so at the Secretariat for Industries. Having considered that figure together, we found that it meant ten litres of milk per inhabitant per day. The actual daily milk deliveries amounted to only five wagonloads, which meant 0.10 litres per inhabitant.”
(Jaša Davičo, at the 12th Annual General Meeting held in Belgrade on 28 February 1958)