Kurir
 |
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Adria Media Group |
| Editor | Nemanja Pajić |
| Founded | 6 May 2003 |
| Political alignment |
Sensationalism Populism |
| Headquarters | Vlajkovićeva 8, Belgrade, Serbia |
| Circulation | ~60,000 copies sold (2016) |
| Website | www.kurir-info.rs |
Kurir is daily tabloid published in Belgrade. Its tone is abrasive, direct and irreverent, running sensationalist stories that other newspapers won't touch. Although the paper heavily relies on celebrity gossip, it also achieved considerable political influence.
Kurir first issue appeared at the news stands on May 6, 2003. While Kurir's history is relatively short, it is also a checkered one. It goes back to the state of emergency, declared following the assassination of Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, when another daily tabloid named Nacional was shut down.
Using its broad powers under the state of emergency act, Serbian government's Ministry of Culture and Information headed by Branislav Lečić issued a temporary ban on publication of Nacional daily on 18 March 2003 for "publishing a number of articles relating to the state of emergency and for questioning the reasons behind the state of emergency".[1] Then on April 1, 2003, the Belgrade city commercial court started liquidation proceedings against Nacional's publisher in Belgrade, Info Orfej. Despite an appeal, the company's equipment, including 118 computers, was seized on April 21, 2003, two days before the state of emergency ended.
Many of the former Nacional staffers found employment in newly formed Kurir, including Dragan J. Vučićević, ex Nacional deputy-editor-in-chief who took the same post at Kurir. New paper bore an uncanny resemblance to the old one, both in tone and layout. This led many critics to conclude that Kurir continued where Nacional left off. In addition to Kurir, another similar daily tabloid Balkan attempted to move into the void left by Nacional's ban. Even the original Nacional sort of reappeared - under the same financial backing, new staff, and a new name Internacional. However, neither publication could keep up commercially. Balkan folded in early 2005 while Internacional changed its name to Srpski nacional along with a format makeover.
Many credit Kurir for providing the final nudge to Prime Minister Zoran Živković's shaky government, in effect forcing it to call early elections for December 28, 2003. Throughout fall of 2003, Kurir ran stories of dodgy voting practices in Serbian parliament and blasted the ruling coalition (DOS) MP Neda Arneric for misusing her parliamentary voting rights.
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