Borba (newspaper)

Борба
Borba
Type Weekly (1922–1929); (1942–1943)
Three-times a week (1941)
Daily newspaper (1944–2009)
Format Berliner
Founded 19 February 1922 (1922-02-19)
Ceased publication October 2009
Headquarters Zagreb (1922–1929)
Užice (1941)
Drinić (1942–1943)
Priluka (1943)
Belgrade (1944–2009)
ISSN 0350-7440
OCLC number 12303752
Website www.borba.rs (defunct)

Borba (Борба in Serbian Cyrillic) was a Serbian newspaper, formerly the official newspaper of the Yugoslav Communist League (SKJ). Its name is the Serbian and Croatian word for 'struggle' or 'combat'.[1]

History

The very first issue of Borba was first published in Zagreb on 19 February 1922 as the official gazette of the Yugoslav Communist Party (KPJ),[1] a banned political organization since December 1920 that nevertheless operated clandestinely in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Kingdom of Yugoslavia.. Functioning as the banned Yugoslav Communist Party's propaganda piece, the paper played in important part in disseminating information among the party members, activists, and sympathizers.

On 13 January 1929, a week following the proclamation of King Alexander's 6 January Dictatorship, Borba got banned.

During World War II Borba was published in the Republic of Užice. After the World War II liberation by the Partisans, its publication moved to Belgrade.

From 1948 to 1987, the newspaper was also published simultaneously in Zagreb. For a long time, Borba alternated pages in Serbian Cyrillic alphabet and Gaj's Latin alphabet in the same edition.

In 2002, more than a year following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Borba along with its distribution network were purchased by Serbian businessman Stanko "Cane" Subotić who bought the government shares in the paper. However, under Subotić, the daily Borba barely survived, printing no more than several hundred copies a day while according to business records, the company's monthly revenues never exceeded €30,000.[2]

2009 short-lived revival

Redesigned Borba got announced in December 2008 with Ivan Radovanović presented as the paper's new owner after reportedly buying it from fugitive Serbian businessman Stanko "Cane" Subotić.[3] Before the first issue of the redesigned paper appeared, Serbian deputy prime minister Mlađan Dinkić accused Subotić of still being Borba's true owner with Radovanović only serving as the front man.[4]

Though announced for December, the first revived issue ended up appearing on newsstands on 15 January 2009 under editor-in-chief Miloš Jevtović who came over from the state-owned Tanjug news agency. It was published by "Izdavačko preduzeće Novine Borba" using the Latin alphabet. Content-wise, the paper's new format was conceived as something new on the Serbian print media market with no news wire items and press releases with only analysis of the current events as well as ongoing political and social trends. Initial editor-in-chief Jevtović was soon replaced with Olivera Zekić.[5] However, the paper sold poorly (less than 3,000 copies per day), ceasing publication in October 2009 after less than a year.

References

  1. 1 2 Pål Kolstø (28 December 2012). Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and Other. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 259. ISBN 978-1-4094-9164-4. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Investigation: Mystery Hangs Over Death of Yugoslavia’s Flagship Paper;BalkanInsight, 13 April 2011
  3. ↑ Predstavljene nove dnevne novine - "Borba";mondo.rs, 2 December 2008
  4. ↑ Ponovo izlazi Borba;B92, 2 December 2008
  5. ↑ Impressum

Further reading

External links

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