ANEM and other organizations demand that REM revoke TV Informer's broadcasting license.

Informer Television has been contributing to the erosion of professional and ethical standards in the media in Serbia for years. Hundreds of court rulings have been issued against Informer for violations of personal dignity and infliction of emotional distress, and numerous proceedings are still ongoing. The editorial policy of this television station is dominated by views that unconditionally support the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the recent government, as well as a one-sided representation of events from the perspective of representatives of the ruling party, while critical voices and dissenters face targeting and stigmatization.

Hate speech, falsehoods, media witch hunts, and the targeting of critics of the recent government have become the business model of this media outlet, which, despite numerous violations of the Journalist Code of Serbia, is among the largest beneficiaries of public funds for project co-financing of media content.

The inactivity of institutions, the two-year block of REM, and inadequate sanctioning of legal violations have led to a backlog of offenses by Informer Television, while the direct cause of public outrage is the uncertainty regarding when REM will begin to discuss the programming shortcomings and violations of this and other television stations.

“An autocratic regime that kidnapped and imprisoned institutions and created a dysfunctional state was peacefully removed in the elections. However, on the very first day, there was an incident in front of Informer and Pink television stations, as well as an intrusion into the Informer building. Certainly, no one approves of such violent acts. The justified anger of the citizens, however, must have certain limits; it must not be violent and harm what the Student Movement has managed to achieve for the past two years. These media outlets can be described not as media, but as propaganda centers from which hate speech has been disseminated for years, in some cases for decades, violating the Journalist Code, their own licenses, and obligations undertaken in obtaining broadcasting licenses and national broadcasting permits. Due to the continuous and systematic violations of media regulations, professional standards, the Constitution, and ratified international agreements, we are initiating a request for the revocation of Informer TV's broadcasting license before its expiration,” emphasized the president of ANEM, Veran Matić.

We insist that the REM Council begin to operate, and that representatives of the pro-government part of REM accept this initiative, which is extensive due to the large number of violations by Informer Television, including those already identified by REM’s expert service through program analysis.

“It is important to place decisions that are crucial for the freedom of information into regular procedure and to necessarily limit the freedom of information when we have a situation where certain television stations and media threaten and target citizens. The pernicious hate speech has turned the screen of TV Informer into one of the largest poisoners in Europe today, which is absolutely unacceptable. We hope that REM will very soon make a decision to revoke the right to broadcast such programming, as we saw yesterday that nothing has changed in this television's programming and that the poisoning and violations of laws and all tenets of the journalistic profession will continue,” added Matić.

The initiative of media and civil society organizations is written on 14 pages and contains complaints, evidence, and explanations of the regulations and legal provisions that TV Informer has violated and for which REM is requested to revoke the broadcasting license.

At just the last three sessions held in October, the expert service submitted 11 opinions to the REM Council regarding violations or possible violations of the Law on Electronic Media and REM's regulations by TV Informer, of which in two cases particularly severe legal violations were noted due to intentional violations of electoral obligations. However, due to the division among the Council members, no measures have been imposed.

We remind you that REM has not been able to impose measures for more than 18 months, after the previous Council of this body’s mandate expired on November 4, 2024. Reports from the Monitoring and Analysis Service, which continued to publish reports based on complaints filed against electronic media even after the expiration of the mandates of the REM Council members, show that the conditions for permanently revoking the license of Informer Television would have long been met had there been an effective REM Council and the ability to impose measures regarding submitted complaints and recorded violations.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)