ZORAN SEKULIĆ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF FONET AGENCY, DIES AFTER BRIEF ILLNESS!

Zoran Sekulić, the owner, director, and editor-in-chief of the news agency FoNet, passed away on the night of July 21 after a brief illness, at the age of 66, his family announced.

Zoran Sekulić was born on September 6, 1958, in Belgrade, and in 1981, he graduated from the international studies program at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Law. He began his professional journalistic career in 1982.

Sekulić was the founder of FoNet News Agency, the first private news agency with an independent editorial policy, which began operations on February 7, 1994.

He was a member of the Management Board of the Media Association, the largest business association of newspaper publishers, news agencies, and portals in Serbia, and a member of the Management Board of the Press Council. In September 2011, he served as the negotiator for the media community (Media Association, NUNS, UNS, NDNV, and Local Press) with the Government of Serbia during the drafting of the first Media Strategy.

Esteemed Career and International Recognition

For his contributions to media reforms in Serbia, the OSCE awarded him as the personality of 2012. By decree of the President of the Republic of France, François Hollande, Zoran Sekulić was awarded the Legion of Honor in the rank of Knight. This prestigious French decoration, established by Napoleon Bonaparte, was presented to Sekulić at the proposal of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Jean-Marc Ayrault.

In 2020, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded Zoran Sekulić the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2022, the jury of the League of Experts (LEX) of Serbia, which brings together eminent specialists in law, economics, sociology, political science, culture, education, ecology, and medicine, honored him with the Knight of the Call award.

He began his journalistic career in 1982 as a collaborator at Radio Belgrade, Program 202. From 1983 to 1993, he worked as a journalist and editor at the Tanjug News Agency. He reported from all major domestic and international state and interstate gatherings during the Yugoslav crisis, including sessions of the SFRY Presidency, negotiations between presidents of Yugoslav republics and provinces, and the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, chaired by Lord Carrington in The Hague.

Due to disagreements with Tanjug’s editorial policy, he resigned as editor of the Political Section in the autumn of 1992. In November 1993, he left Tanjug and founded FoNet together with his colleague Nebojša Magdeski, with whom he parted ways for business reasons in 1994. Since then, he has been the sole founder and owner of FoNet.

Legacy at FoNet and Beyond

Leading FoNet, through which more than 700 journalists, cameramen, photojournalists, audio and video editors passed in 31 years, he contributed to the agency gaining a reputation as a professional, impartial, reliable, and credible media source, recognized both domestically and internationally.

Fifteen years ago, he conceived, created, and implemented the concept of digital multimedia and multiplatform interactive agency news services – written, photo, audio, and video news – the first of its kind in Serbia and the region. At the Prix Europa media festival in 2005, one of the most prestigious and respected international showcases of electronic and digital media, FoNet’s interactive multimedia news system was ranked among the top 25 informational online platforms in Europe, competing with the largest European traditional and web media.

He developed FoNet’s specialized TV formats – Kvaka 23, Agreman, Kiosk, Vidokrug, Pressek, Stigma, Kosinus, and News in 60 Seconds.

He was a special correspondent from European Union institutions, including the European Council and European Parliament, NATO, the Council of Europe, the UN Security Council and General Assembly, the State Department, the Kremlin, Beijing, Shanghai, Jerusalem, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Athens, London, Bucharest, and others.

He professionally developed through numerous study visits to professional associations and newsrooms in London, Cardiff, Bonn, Berlin, Brussels, Strasbourg, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Washington, Miami, and the universities of Columbia in Missouri and UCLA in Los Angeles.

He authored thousands of agency and newspaper articles, audio and TV reports, published in Serbia and the region, and cited in numerous foreign media. As a keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator, he participated for years in the most important domestic, regional, and European conferences and expert gatherings in the fields of media freedom, journalism, and the media industry.

The family will announce the place and time of the funeral at a later date.