How Magločistač Started

Magločistač was founded in 2015 by Natalija Jakovljević Ivanić
, Ljiljana Elek and Zlatko Romić as a project of the Centar građanskih vrednosti (“Centre for Civic Value”), a local civic society organisation.

The founding of Magločistač was a reaction to the privatisation of state media, which was decided in 2015 and resulted in the closure of many local media outlets in particular. The founding members of Magločistač all have a background in journalism, having worked at a local radio station in Subotica, for example. Mirana Dmitrović, todays editor-in-chief and project manager, joined the team six months after it was founded.

For the first five years, everyone worked as volunteers without a salary. In 2020, Magločistač ran its first crowdfunding campaign, followed by a second one in the same year. This made it possible to pay salaries for the first time.