Brankica Stanković ( sr-cyr, Бранкица Станковић; born October 1975) is a prominent Serbian

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

reporting on topics of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, i ...

in Serbia. She is the main writer of the investigative television news programme ''Insajder'' (Serbian for "

Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

") produced by the B92 television between 2004 and 2015, and by Stanković's own news production company since 2016. Her reports led to much controversy, and she routinely receives

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

s. For that reason, she has been placed under 24 hours

police protection The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

since December 2009.

Early career

Stanković was born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

(then

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

) in October 1975.Brankica Stanković
profile on B92 official site After high school graduation, she enrolled a private

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

school, but quit after two years. She began her career as a journalist for radio and television company

RTV Studio B RTV Studio B, more often called Studio B ( sr-cyr, Студио Б), is a radio and television broadcaster in Belgrade, Serbia. It was the first broadcast station outside the national electronic media system. Background RTV Studio B broadcasts in ...

in 1996, where she spent a year. In 1997, she switched to

Radio B92 RTV B92, or simply B92 (stylized as b92, formerly BΞ92 and B 92), is a Serbian news station and broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade. Founded in 1989 as radio station, it was a rare outlet for Western news and informati ...

, where she has been working ever since. During the 1990s, B92 was a prominent pro-

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

news broadcasting News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...

company, opposed to the corrupt regime of then-president

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

. During her early career, she was the editor of B92 radio news programming, and was a screenwriter for such weekly programs as ''Jutopija'' and ''Apatrija''. She also worked as a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...

for

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

and German

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

B92

In 2004, B92 television launched a program called ''Insajder'' (''Insider''), with Stanković as chief editor. It is an investigative TV program whose aim is to expose

and

political crime In criminology, a political crime or political offence is an offence involving overt acts or omissions (where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of the state, its government, or the political system. It is to be distingui ...

in Serbia. Since 2004, nineteen seasons of ''Insajder'' were broadcast, two each year, with each season containing between two and nine episodes, 82 episodes in total (as of October 2013).Insajder archives
on B92 official site. Retrieved 8 October 2013. The first season of ''Insajder'' was about the political aspects of the

assassination of Zoran Đinđić Zoran Đinđić, the sixth Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, was assassinated on Wednesday 12 March 2003, in Belgrade, Serbia. Đinđić was fatally shot by a sniper while exiting his vehicle outside of the back entrance of the Serbia ...

. While working on this topic, the ''Insajder'' crew found out that after

Milorad Ulemek Milorad Ulemek ( sr, Милорад Улемек; born 15 March 1965), also known as Milorad Luković () and "Legija" (), is a Serbian former commander of the Serbian police special unit, the Special Operations Unit (JSO) and a former paramilitary ...

, Đinđić's assassin, was arrested, he was not taken to the police custody, but to the office of then

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Dragan Jočić. Later episodes investigated such topics as: the Customs Mafia case, high-profile

cigarette smuggling The illicit cigarette trade is defined as “the production, import, export, purchase, sale, or possession of tobacco goods which fail to comply with legislation” (FATF 2012). Illicit cigarette trade activities fall under 3 categories: # Con ...

, and secret transfers of state money to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. This led to the arrest of former Director of Customs Bureau

Mihalj Kertes Mihalj Kertes ( sr-Cyrl, Михаљ Кертес, hu, Kertész Mihály; 29 August 194729 December 2022), nicknamed "Bracika", was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician. An ethnic Hungarians in Serbia, Hungarian, he became a member of the League o ...

. Other episodes investigated corruption in

RB Kolubara RB Kolubara (full legal name: ''Privredno društvo za proizvodnju, preradu i transport uglja Rudarski basen ''Kolubara'' d.o.o. Lazarevac''; ''Company for the production, processing and transport of coal mine basin Kolubara Ltd. Lazarevac'') is a ...

, links between politicians and

football hooligans Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...

and other

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...

groups, corruption with

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of state-owned companies, corruption in

RTB Bor Serbia Zijin Bor Copper, formerly known as RTB Bor, is a copper mining and smelting complex located in Bor, Serbia. History Formation and expansion The first geological explorations of copper ore in Bor area were conducted in 1897 and cov ...

and many other major cases of political corruption and crime. After reporting on the criminal records of many football hooligan leaders and their links with mafia and politicians in 2009, Stanković received multiple death threats from hooligans. The most infamous incident occurred on 16 December 2009 during the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

football game between

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

and

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

when a group of hooligans supporting FK Partizan stabbed with knives an

inflatable doll A sex doll (also love doll, fuck doll or blowup doll) is a type of anthropomorphic sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner. The sex doll may consist of an entire body, or just a head, pelvis, or other body part (vagina, anus, mouth, pe ...

representing Stanković. During the incident, hooligans chanted "You're like a serpent, you'll follow Ćuruvija, Brankica the whore", referring to the death of

Slavko Ćuruvija Slavko Ćuruvija ( sr-Cyrl, Славко Ћурувија, ; 9 August 1949 – 11 April 1999) was a Serbian journalist and newspaper publisher. His murder on 11 April 1999 in Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia provoked international outrage and wide condemna ...

, another prominent investigative journalist who was assassinated in 1999. Belgrade's

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

sentenced three hooligans to

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

s of 10 to 12 months in October 2013 for making death treats to Stanković. Miloš Radosavljević Kimi, the leader of the "Alkatraz" hooligan group was separately sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2010. In 2013, B92 published Stanković's autobiographic book titled ''"Insajder: My Story"''. ( sr, "Insajder, moja priča"). In 2014, she was awarded the

Courage in Journalism Award The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

given by

International Women's Media Foundation The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

(IWMF).

Insajder.net

In 2016, Stanković quit job at B92 in order to launched her own news

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

and investigative

internet portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayi ...

Insajder.net. Her company continued producing the "Insajder" programme for B92 television (renamed "O2 television" in 2017). Insajder.net also produces several other TV programmes ("Insajder debata", "Insajder bez ograničenja") broadcast in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

by N1 television and TV Prva.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stankovic, Brankica Journalists from Belgrade Investigative journalists Serbian women journalists 1975 births Serbian television presenters Serbian women television presenters Living people