19. 06. 2014

Mijatovic backs better atmosphere in media

"On 2 June I spoke with Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic regarding my statement and the issue of online censorship and informed him that the trend of removing websites and blocking online resources and comments must be reversed. He assured me that he and his government will tackle these issues. Prime Minister Vucic and I agreed to meet at the earliest possible time in order to discuss these and other media related issues," Mijatovic said in her report.

"On 27 May I issued a public statement to express my concern about a worrying trend of online censorship and urged the authorities to nurture uncensored debate on issues of public interest, especially in times of crisis, such as the current situation with flooding in the region," she said in the report.

"I also brought to light the detention and police interrogation of persons for allegedly spreading panic. I stated that arresting individuals because of their blogs, comments or other written content is not acceptable. I urged the authorities to put an end to this trend and stop interfering with the work of online media outlets," Mijatovic noted.

The report also mentions the letter Mijatovic's office received from Slavka Draskovic, Director of the Serbian Government's Office for the Diaspora, on November 29 regarding the pressure on the Serbian minority in Croatia and further enhancement of hate speech in the Croatian media.

In response to this, Mijatovic notified Draskovic that although her office closely monitors developments connected to hate speech, such content-related issues should be dealt with by a national judicial process.

In her report, Mijatovic recalled that she issued a public statement on December 13 expressing her concern about the blocking of access to online media content, as investigative news stories were deleted from some media websites after these were hacked.

She also quoted the case of an article authored by journalist Miodrag Sovilj which was removed from numerous websites, including the website of the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia and Autonomija.info.

"I urged authorities to do their utmost to protect the culture of free Internet that exists in the country," Mijatovic said in the report.

The report also states that on December 16, Mijatovic wrote to the authorities regarding an attack on journalists from B92 and Prva TV in Backi Gracac in the municipality of Odzaci. In the letter, she welcomed the fact that Minister of Justice Nikola Selakovic condemned the incident and called for a full investigation and prosecution of those responsible.

"On 14 January I issued a public statement welcoming the arrests made in the case of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija in 1999. I also reminded the authorities that the killings of journalists Dada Vujasinovic in 1994 and Milan Pantic in 2001 remain unsolved and urged the continued investigation of these cases in order to bring those responsible to justice," Mijatovic said.

In the report, she also noted that she wrote to the authorities to request additional information on an incident in which police officers allegedly entered the home of Lily Lynch, a journalist and editor of Balkanist.net, in the middle of the night for questioning.

She also mentioned the case of RTV Mladenovac journalist Dragan Nikolic who was interviewed by the police because of a post on Facebook, allegedly insulting and damaging reputation and dignity of public figures. In the report, she also referred to the incident when the website of Pescanik was attacked and unavailable.