News

Following the KRIK article "Ćaci(ji): Guardians of the Party," published on Wednesday, November 5, journalist Nataša Mijušković from TV Insajder recognized one of the men depicted in the article as the individual who harassed her on Sunday, November 2, around 11 PM, near the makeshift tent camp in front of the National Assembly of Serbia. The individual in question is Jelenko Pijevac, who repeatedly squeezed her arm and threatened that "all her bones would be broken" if she did not show them her phone and delete all the photos and recordings she had taken in that area.

The political decision for the ruling majority not to elect a candidate in any area would represent a nullification of everything achieved so far in the process of electing members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), as well as a complete denial of the efforts of all involved actors to carry out the process in accordance with minimal legal standards, states a letter from 12 candidates for the REM Council.

"When a member of the Gendarmerie approached us, I repeatedly stated that I was a journalist, and he said in a harsh tone: 'What are you filming?' and struck me on the arm and the phone."

During October 2025, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded at least 163 cases of verbal attacks on critical journalists and media, directed by 22 high-ranking state officials and members of the ruling party through public appearances and posts on social media.

Vice President of the Assembly of Serbia Elvira Kovač called on the SNS and SPS to vote for 8 candidates for the REM Council, while boycotting the candidates in the category of national minority councils because the Hungarian candidate Bodžoni did not pass. Opponents of this proposal believe that this would sabotage the entire process, which has been unsuccessfully ongoing for a year.

If the media within the United Group are shut down, weakened, or 'tamed,' the independent media scene will be decimated.

The European Commission has published a report on Serbia's progress in the process of accession to the European Union. The section concerning media and freedom of expression begins with the assessment that "the environment for media and their free, independent, and professional operation is restricted."

At the webinar "One Year Later: Media Freedom and the Safety of Journalists in Serbia," organized today by Media Freedom Rapid Response, journalists and media experts assessed that following the collapse of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, and the wave of protests, there was a sharp response from the authorities—accompanied by an increase in violence against reporters, political pressures, and control of information.

It has been a year since the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) was left without a Council, and television stations without oversight. It’s not as if they were regulated before, since the REM Council served to protect the interests of the authorities and media tycoons, but this past year will still be remembered as a time of the most brutal propaganda, sowing of hatred, promotion of violence, and persecution of government critics, unlike anything seen since the 1990s.