News

The professional association of police "Dr. Rudolf Archibald Reis" in a statement "strongly rejects the tendentious and generalizing claims made in the statement of ANEM... portraying police officers as a systemic threat to media workers."

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) strongly condemns the brutal threats directed at journalists and employees of television N1 following their reporting on incidents in Novi Pazar. N1 has received four new messages calling for their murder, execution, and extermination of their families. These messages contain open and extremely violent threats that far exceed hate speech and directly endanger the safety of journalists.

Statement from the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) on the jeopardy faced by cameramen and photographers at public gatherings

The response from the Board for Culture and Information to the Independent Association of Journalists (UNS) stating that the list of candidates for members of the REM Council has been determined and that a reconsideration would not be legally grounded or purposeful is concerningly incorrect. UNS stated in its response to the Board and urged it to rectify the irregularities and act in accordance with the law, rather than knowingly violating it.

Physical attacks on female journalists, such as the attack on Jelena Stojković, a journalist for Večernje Novosti, who was assaulted by pushing and twisting her arms while carrying out her journalistic duties, resulting in injuries, by Zoran Dimitrijević, the director of the Public Utility Company Komrad from Vranje, are becoming increasingly common. In the previous year, 2024, for the first time, a higher number of attacks and threats against female journalists was recorded compared to those against male journalists.

The image of my house burning best shatters their narrative; this is what their visits to dissenters look like, says Milan Jovanović, a journalist for Žig Infa, when asked how he feels upon hearing government representatives claim that their supporters have never gone to the homes of political dissenters.

The process of selecting the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media has been ongoing since November of last year. On July 9, the Association of Journalists of Serbia submitted comments to the parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information regarding the proposed members of the Council, stating that six candidates do not meet the requirements. The parliamentary committee responded that the list has already been established and that there is no point in reconsideration. Saša Mirković from the Association of Independent Electronic Media stated that at the committee meeting, an agreement was reached on seven categories, but that there are irreconcilable differences concerning the remaining two.

Leskovac's Jugpress and Nova Naša Reč are illustrative examples of how local media and journalists, whose primary interest is the public good, are trying to survive with limited resources, facing various pressures and threats along the way.

Civil society warns of increasingly dangerous smear campaigns against media workers, the consequences of which can seriously jeopardize their safety. These attacks come from the highest public offices in Serbia. The statement by President Vučić, in which he calls for Veran Matić to apologize to those accused of the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija and "bring them a bottle of wine," represents an unequivocal and dangerous political message: that in Serbia, targeting and calling for revenge against those who fight for truth and justice is once again permissible.