Announcements

The state of media freedom in Serbia on the International Day for its observance is best illustrated by our country's ranking in this year's global Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.

Journalist and editor of Glas Zaječara, Miljko Stojanović, received a summons for questioning in the capacity of "defendant" on May 28, after the Police Administration of Zaječar submitted requests to the Misdemeanor Court in that city to initiate misdemeanor proceedings against him for violating the Law on Public Assembly.

Small and local independent media in Serbia face various types of pressures, threats, lawsuits, and a difficult economic situation on a daily basis. Media outlets, particularly at the local level, have limited access to advertising budgets, and due to critical and professional reporting, they increasingly fail to qualify for competitions for project co-financing of media content that are announced at the national, provincial, and local levels.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns today’s attack on a Radio Free journalist in Gornji Milanovac by representatives of the SNS, as well as the ban on the N1 television crew from reporting on the ceremonial opening of the Honorary Consulate of Russia in Novi Sad.

Journalist and editor of the portal Pravo u centar from Lazarevac, Maria Popović, has become the target of mass attacks on social media through threatening and offensive messages following her reporting on the SNS gathering this week in that Belgrade municipality.

The journalists of the magazine Revolt, Lazar Dinić and Ivan Bjelić, along with photographer Zorica Popović, were attacked and seriously injured while covering the elections in the vicinity of Bor. The attack on Lazar Dinić has been characterized by journalistic associations as an attempted murder.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the statements made by the minister and the members of the Serbian Progressive Party at the parliamentary podium, directed against N1 television and Dinko Gruhonjić. It also calls on all public officials and politicians to immediately cease inflammatory rhetoric towards critical journalists and media outlets.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the threats directed at the authors of the show "Good, Bad, Evil" and the columnists of Danas, Marko Vidojković and Nenad Kulačin, which are constantly repeated on social media, with little to no resolution in most cases.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) fully supports Maja Nikolić and Ivan Pavlović in their objections to the conclusions of the Internal Control Department of the Ministry of Interior and their insistence that an additional appeals process be initiated to uncover the truth regarding the inaction of police officers during the attack on the N1 team.