Abuse of the media for personal enrichment: How Šolak’s propaganda machine operates under the guise of a false fight for free speech
The media of United Group, that is, a handful of Dragan Šolak’s most loyal associates, continue to fiercely defend the image and legacy of their now former boss, thus maintaining a completely absurd situation that arose after Šolak’s move to sell most of his business for an enormous sum of money.
Despite that, saving Šolak has remained the main task of N1, Nova S, and other media outlets. Kurir has, in its articles, thoroughly explained what has now surfaced – Šolak harnessed the aforementioned media in the same way he did when, over the decades, he set in motion his well-oiled mechanism for eliminating competition, cheating business partners, and siphoning money out of the company... In all those behind-the-scenes dealings, he always relied on media propaganda, political influence, bribery, and lobbying manipulation.
The management crisis within United Group served as a kind of stage on which, before the public eye, all the anomalies of Šolak’s media machinery came to light – a machinery still trying to conceal the real picture, at the centre of which has always been Šolak’s bare personal profit, measured in millions, even billions of euros. The majority owner, BC Partners, has clearly confronted the scale of his harmful business practices, which Kurir had persistently warned about, and this resulted, earlier this year, in a split – Šolak’s removal from the company’s Advisory Board and a search for justice through the courts. Kurir revealed that the core of everything lies in Šolak’s demand for a bonus of as much as €250 million after the sale of SBB and other parts of the group, as well as in a hidden network of companies and associates through which he siphoned money from the joint enterprise.
Commissioned statements
Although it is perfectly clear that Šolak’s motives should never – not even in this case – be sought outside the sphere of profit, money, and personal interest, his key media strike forces, N1 and Nova, refuse to abandon the false story that this is a righteous fight for media freedom. Because of Šolak’s hard core within these media outlets, he carried out yet another unscrupulous maneuver, and, by lamenting over the allegedly stifled media freedom that he himself fabricated through his own mechanism, he is now trying to slip €250 million into his own pocket.
We are still witnessing the final convulsions of an attempt to defend the indefensible and present Šolak as a guarantor of media freedom, as was suggested by editors and journalists in commissioned statements during the so-called management crisis and their pleas for Šolak to be reinstated in managerial positions.
Šolak is doing what he has always done, as Kurir has reported in several series. Through his media, he amplifies the “concern” of the public over disagreements within certain parts of the company regarding the decisions of the majority owner, spreading the story regionally through media outlets in countries where United Group operates. However, this only shows how the abuse of the media for Šolak’s benefit goes beyond regional borders. It is becoming increasingly clear to everyone what Šolak has been doing with his businesses in the region in recent years.
When it comes to media influence and manipulation, it should be mentioned that an important link in creating the false image of a pro-European and pro-Western orientation of Šolak’s media was the introduction of the American CNN franchise into the company’s portfolio. The N1 television channel, as CNN’s affiliate in the Balkans, helped Šolak attach the flag of the Western world to his business dealings and thereby secure that kind of protection for himself. However, Kurir – followed by other investigative media – revealed that Šolak deceived both the public and his business partners and various protectors, because he was simultaneously entangled in financial flows that reached the Russian state and its oligarchs. In doing so, the myth of the alleged ideological and value-based course of Šolak’s media and the other parts of his business empire was shattered.
He wanted to shut them down for €120 million
Perhaps the strongest proof that Kurir was right when it warned about Šolak’s false image and the highly problematic credibility of his company is the discovery by United Group’s new management that, in January of this year, Šolak was ready to shut down N1 and Nova S for €120 million.
In the end, there remains only a handful of editors and journalists who still refuse to acknowledge that this is a man without any ideology or values, with only one goal before him – to take the money and run. Only the most naïve and ill-informed consumers of media content from N1 and Nova S can still believe that the aforementioned €120 million would have been used by Šolak to ensure the professional independence of these media outlets, as was claimed in their statements and reports.
Is there anyone left who still believes that Šolak’s main motivation for selling SBB was anything other than the astronomical €250 million bonus? Can there really be any doubt, given the fact that he sold part of the company to none other than Telekom Srbija, which he had previously branded as the chief enemy of free speech in Serbia?
Kurir stands by the public appeal it has previously made: if there is still even the slightest chance that all this is false, it would be reasonable to expect Šolak to show the noble side of his character and hand over his potential €250 million “victory” to the employees of N1 and Nova S, to help secure their independence and future.
Kurir Editorial Team
