Nacional (newspaper)
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Milorad Antonić |
| Publisher | NIP Info Orfej d.o.o. |
| Editor | Predrag Popović |
| Founded | 4 December 2001 |
| Political alignment |
Sensationalism Populism |
| Ceased publication | 18 March 2003 |
Nacional was a Serbian daily newspaper published in Belgrade from 2001 until 2003.
Owned by the NIP Info Orfej publishing company whose general manager Milorad Antonić previously made a profit on the Belgrade-based Ekskluziv magazine and Bijeljina-based Ekstra magazin, Nacional's first issue appeared on 4 December 2001. Published in the ambitious initial circulation of 60,000 copies, the paper managed to establish itself fairly quickly on the market. With its semi-tabloid content format, the paper's chief editor was Predrag Popović while Dragan J. Vučićević was his deputy. Svetomir Marjanović, another prominent journalist on the Serbian daily tabloid scene was a feature editor.
Nacional was published under the mantra 'Dnevni list Srbije' (Serbia's daily). Visually, the paper was a carbon copy of the Croatian Ninoslav Pavić-owned Jutarnji list daily with almost the same layout and exact same Latin font. Furthermore, its name mirrored that of a Croatian weekly magazine owned by Ivo Pukanić.
The paper was shut down by a government decree during Operation Sablja following the assassination of Zoran Đinđić in March 2003.
One of the most notable stories the paper published was the 2001 revelation of then 51-year-old parliamentary speaker Dragan Maršićanin's extramarital affair with a young woman working as a stenographer at the Serbian assembly. The two were caught at Hotel Jugopetrol on Mount Zlatibor and the paper ran the salacious details of their relationship for days.
The story appeared against the backdrop of continuous in-fighting in the ruling DOS coalition in the wake of Maršićanin's removal from the parliamentary speaker position due to procedural issues. The timing of its publishing thus raised suspicions of being politically motivated. Nacional editor-in-chief Predrag Popović later admitted to being tipped off about the Maršićanin story by the Serbian secret police.
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