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When, in 2015, following the adoption of a set of media laws, the then President of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, Vukašin Obradović, spoke about the pillars of project co-financing – public interest and strict control over the spending of funds – expectations were high. In theory, the system was supposed to ensure that public money went to the highest quality media projects, primarily investigative ones, while control mechanisms would guarantee the legality and purposefulness of the expenditures.

On April 11, we marked 27 years since the unpunished murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, a prominent Serbian journalist and publisher of Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin. As the Latin saying goes, "Fiat justitia ruat caelum" – "Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." But what can we say when there is no justice, and the heavens have fallen upon everyone in Serbia? We live in a state of criminal anarchy and unprecedented violence.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has established a database of the results of the competition for project co-financing of media content for the year 2026, as well as a registry that allows tracking which candidates for project evaluation committees have been selected at which levels and in how many committees.

On Easter, April 11, 1999, journalist and owner of the Daily Telegraph, Slavko Ćuruvija, was killed. The story of the time in which Slavko Ćuruvija lived and worked serves as a reminder to all who draw targets and to those who have targets drawn upon them—what happens when darkness prevails.

Representatives of journalistic associations, colleagues, and friends today laid wreaths and lit candles at Svetogorska 35 in Belgrade, at the site where journalist and owner of the newspaper "Dnevni Telegraf" and the weekly "Evropljanin," Slavko Ćuruvija, was murdered 27 years ago. They called for the protection of attacked journalists and media.

Written by: Predrag Simonović

The Service That Kills Free Speech Has anything changed? The pen cuts better than the sword. The acting prosecutor Milenko Mandić stated in his closing remarks: “Slavko Ćuruvija had to be removed so that the seed of rebellion he represented would not take root. So that other successful individuals would not, like Ćuruvija, refuse to submit to the system.” “Ćuruvija was anchored in the system, and his rebellion against the system came at the most dangerous moment for the regime, at a time of war danger, when it felt most vulnerable.” 

On the anniversary of Ćuruvija's murder, we once again call on the state of Serbia to fulfill its responsibility to end the impunity for Ćuruvija's killing. At the same time, the authorities must take coordinated measures to stop the cycle of violence against journalists in the country... If the authorities do not act, they will bear significant responsibility for any future attacks or murders of journalists, states the declaration of 10 international organizations on the occasion of the anniversary of Slavko Ćuruvija's murder, a crime for which no one has been punished.

In nearly two-thirds, or 17 out of 29 commissions formed to date for the evaluation of media projects, all selected members have achieved the maximum score of one hundred points, and most of them come from pro-government journalistic and media organizations, according to a study by UNS.

The representative of the Professional Association of Journalists of Serbia (PROUNS), Slavoljub Ristić, and the representative of the Journalists' Society of Vojvodina (DNV), Biljana Ratković Njegovan, have been replaced by other members in the committees for evaluating media projects in Svrljig and Dimitrovgrad, as well as in Rekovac and Gornji Milanovac, due to a conflict of interest, UNS has learned.