Zoran Sekulić, founder and director of FoNet, passed away

Sekulić was born on September 6, 1958 in Belgrade, and in 1981 he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade, Department of International Studies.

He started his professional journalistic career in 1982.

Sekulić is the founder of the FoNet News Agency, the first private news agency with an independent editorial policy, which started working on February 7, 1994.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Media Association, the largest business association of newspaper publishers, news agencies and portals in Serbia, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Press Council.

In September 2011, he was a negotiator of the media community (Media Association, NUNS, UNS, NDNV and Local Press) with the Government of Serbia, during the drafting of the first Media Strategy.

For his contribution to media reforms in Serbia, the OSCE awarded him "Person of the Year" award in 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. The prestigious French award, established by Napoleon Bonaparte, was awarded to Sekulić at the suggestion of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Jean-Marc Ayrault.

In 2020, the President of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeier, awarded Zoran Sekulić with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The jury of the League of Experts (LEX) of Serbia, which brings together eminent experts in the fields of law, economics, sociology, political science, culture, education, ecology and medicine, awarded him with the Knight of the Call award in 2022.

He started his journalistic career in 1982, as an associate at Radio Belgrade, program 202.

From 1983 to 1993, he worked as a journalist and editor at the Tanjug News Agency. Reported from all the most important domestic and international state and interstate gatherings during the Yugoslav crisis, including meetings of the Presidency of the SFRY, negotiations of the presidents of the Yugoslav republics and provinces, as well as from the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia, under the chairmanship of Lord Carrington in The Hague.

Due to disagreement with the editorial policy of Tanjug, in the fall of 1992 he resigned from the post of editor of the Political column. In November 1993, he left Tanjug and founded FoNet together with his colleague Nebojša Magdeski, with whom he parted ways in 1994 for business reasons. Since then, he is the sole founder and owner of FoNet.

15 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.

He developed FoNet's specialized TV formats - Catch 23, Agreman, Kiosk, Vidokrug, Pressek, Stigma, Kosinus and News in 60 seconds.

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

He trained professionally in 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 is the author of thousands of agency and newspaper articles, audio and TV reports, published in Serbia and the region, quoted in numerous foreign media.

As an introducer, panelist and moderator, he has been a participant in the most important domestic, regional and European conferences and professional gatherings in the field of media freedom, journalism and the media industry for years.

The place and time of the funeral will be announced by the family on a later occasion.