Urgent warning: BC Partners and United Group hold independent media hostage, block buyout

The owners and management consciously refuse to confirm stable financing for the newsrooms, which represents institutional pressure, but this time from within the company itself, with the clear aim of paralysing employees and causing fear for the survival of the media. BC Partners (BCP) and United Group (UG) are actively preventing the only solution that would guarantee the independence and security of the newsrooms and are blocking the only concrete offer that guarantees editorial independence, professional standards, and sustainability – a management buyout, which was signed by the editors and news directors themselves in four countries.

BC Partners and the management of United Group also refuse to respond to the request regarding the announced measures for the alleged "strengthening of editorial independence." Although these measures directly affect the work, credibility, and public mission of the media in four regional states, the owners and management still do not explain what exactly is being planned, who would create these measures, and how they would protect, rather than undermine, existing editorial autonomy. The owners and management have not in any way spoken out regarding the latest cases of horrific threats and repeated insults by officials in Serbia directed at our employees, which indicates that nothing is being done to preserve professional standards.

In a letter dated 5 of December, the editors requested a minimum of transparency, a clear explanation of the planned measures, the method of their implementation, and guarantees that they will not endanger existing editorial independence. Even after two weeks, there is no response, and we are convinced that the silence of the owners and the absence of clear guarantees cannot be interpreted as neutral; they produce insecurity and justifiably increase suspicion that the announced measures are not aimed at strengthening, but at weakening independent journalism.

Our offer for a management buyout remains in force. It represents a responsible and sustainable solution that protects the public interest and professional standards. In the context of United Group's publicly emphasized commitment to withdraw from markets outside the European Union, there is no rational reason for the sale of the news business through a management buyout to be ignored. For over seven years, BC Partners has not shown a readiness to realise an exit from the investment, even though this is precisely the common practice of investment funds upon the completion of an investment cycle.

We seek an answer to the question of what exactly is needed and what BCP and UG expect in order to approve our buyout offer.

Employees in our newsrooms and the public in the countries where we operate deserve a clear, immediate, and unambiguous answer – both regarding the offer for a management buyout and the announced measures concerning editorial independence. The lack of communication deepens the concern that key decisions are being made without transparency and without a real intention to protect the values that these newsrooms have built during the previous decade.