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In an interview for the portal Lupiga, the president of ANEM, Veran Matić, discusses the increasingly difficult position of independent media and journalists in Serbia, the pressures on the media landscape, the safety of journalists, and the potential consequences of changes in media operating within the Adria News Network.

Matić warns of the growing pressures on independent journalism and the possibility of further narrowing the space for professional media, as well as the danger that models of political media control from Serbia may spill over into the rest of the region.

In August 2026, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) recorded a total of 29 incidents involving journalists and media workers. Four physical attacks on journalists and one attack on the media were documented.

In August 2026, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded at least 107 verbal attacks by state officials, other representatives of the government, and party officials of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on journalists and media outlets. The total number of attacks this month is almost identical to that in July (106) and, on average, represents nearly 3.5 attacks per day.

Project co-financing of media content has experienced a fiasco this year and, in a way, has been buried in its original form from 2015, with no indications that the state intends to finance the public interest in the media, stated Saša Mirković, a representative of the Association of Independent Electronic Media, to FoNet.

Regarding the reporting of the fire in the Deliblatska Sandstone, Veran Matić assessed for Cenzolovka that the announcement from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office about prosecuting individuals for allegedly spreading "fake news" constituted a concealed, but also an open threat to the critical public. Matić warns that such a message has already created a sense of insecurity among journalists who were professionally reporting on the fire and questioning the actions of institutions, pointing to a broader pattern of intimidation and shifting responsibility from institutions to the critical public.

Journalists in Serbia are threatened with death and sexual violence, and attacks extend to their families, with a significant number of cases remaining unresolved. Jovana Gligorijević from the group Journalists Against Violence Towards Women speaks to our portal about how an attack on a female journalist quickly transforms into an attack on her body, appearance, and private life, while Marija Babić from NUNS warns that the system still does not recognize these threats as gender-specific.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) join their member, the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), in expressing concern over the response of Alpac Capital's Executive Director, Pedro Vargas David, to the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Boris Bratina. Instead of alleviating the concerns of employees regarding the future of the media within the Adria News Network (ANN), the wording in the response raises additional questions about the new owner's approach to the editorial policies of the newsrooms.

A total of 47.23 million dinars was distributed in the competitions held in Novi Pazar, Nova Varoš, Priboj, and Prijepolje. RTV Novi Pazar received 19.8 million dinars, while Slađana Ostojić, a candidate from PROUNS, served on four committees.