ANEM ALARM: Uncivilized and dangerous statements by the minister and SNS representatives at the assembly session, words can easily become bullets.
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.
Member of Parliament and head of the SNS parliamentary group Milenko Jovanov today referred to N1 during a session of the Serbian Assembly as "Šolak's propaganda-terrorist garbage," stating that N1 is responsible for spinning the narrative about the freezing of EU funds from the growth plan intended for Serbia.
Marijan Rističević from the SNS continued to direct insults at N1. "Madam Chair, I also agree with the previous speaker. He said that psychopaths created a television station. I can testify: those television stations are called N1 and Nova S, thank you."
Cultural Minister Nikola Selaković also accused, during today’s session of the Serbian Assembly, what he described as "blockade-tycoon Šolak's media" of collaborating with the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime regarding the ongoing proceedings against him, and he stated that Dinko Gruhonjić was "literally installed and created to attract someone to do something bad to him…".
ANEM warns that such statements are unacceptable and dangerous as they further jeopardize the safety of media workers in Serbia, which has reached a historically low level in the past year and a half considering the number of recorded attacks and threats. Dinko Gruhonjić and journalists from N1 television are among the most attacked, and every additional lie about them puts them in life-threatening situations. Particularly dramatic is the fact that these horrific slanders and humiliations have been uttered by the highest holders of state functions and members of parliament, without any provocation, during the assembly session.
Targeting media and individuals in the public space is concerning for multiple reasons, but it is especially problematic that this way of operating fuels an atmosphere where threats and attacks on journalists are legitimized.
Let us recall, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded nearly 1,200 verbal attacks on critically oriented media and journalists by the highest state and party officials, including Aleksandar Vučić, Ana Brnabić, ministers, and members of the SNS. Despite numerous appeals from journalistic and media associations, this negative trend continues and has a direct impact on the increase in cases of endangering the safety and obstructing the work of journalists and media.
“We are caught in a very dangerous cycle. Senior state officials continuously and increasingly dangerously label media that do not report according to their wishes, and then regime tabloids and television stations continue and expand campaigns of defamation and targeting. In the end, we have reached an unprecedented number of attacks on media representatives in recent history, while the relevant authorities do not respond or resolve cases. We once again demand from officials and politicians to urgently stop using unacceptable language, and for the competent authorities to start doing their job. We warn that words are increasingly becoming bullets fired at journalists, activists, professors, students, and anyone who thinks differently, and that they can have tragic consequences,” stated Veran Matić, president of the ANEM Board and member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists.
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)
The project “Improving the system of prevention and response mechanisms in cases of threats to the safety and lives of journalists in Serbia” is implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insider TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union.
