Today solidarity, tomorrow survival: Journalistic and media associations call for a protest on April 1st.
Journalistic and media associations are calling for a protest on Wednesday, April 1st, at 10:30 AM, on Kralja Milana Street near the Presidential building, in response to the attacks on journalists that occurred on March 29th during the elections held in ten municipalities and cities in Serbia.
With this gathering, we aim to demonstrate solidarity with our colleagues who were attacked that day, who work daily in the public interest, and to highlight the increasingly difficult and dangerous position of journalists in the field. Over the past year and a half, we have witnessed a continuous rise in pressures, threats, intimidation, and physical attacks on journalists and media workers. What occurred on election day represents the culmination of this process, a moment in which some journalists were exposed to direct threats to their lives.
Attacks on journalists are not isolated incidents; they are a systematic assault on the public's right to know. A society in which journalists are targets of violence is not a free society and becomes a space of fear, silence, and unpunished violence.
The protest will begin at 10:30 AM, the time when the first attack on a journalist occurred, followed by serious physical assaults that endangered the lives of some of our colleagues.
Therefore, we invite not only journalists and media representatives but all citizens to join us and show their support. We also call on journalists and citizens from other cities to gather simultaneously at 10:30 AM at locations of their choosing to demonstrate solidarity, unity, and readiness to stand together in defense of free and safe journalism.
The safety of journalists must be an absolute priority for every democratic society. Professional journalism and the truth are endangered where fear prevails and where those seeking it are silenced by force. That is why we stand with them, clearly and loudly, in the fight for their safety and dignity.
When journalists are targets of violence – it is a defeat for every society!
Media Association (AM)
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)
Online Media Association (AOM)
Branch Trade Union of Culture, Arts, and Media "Independence"
Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV)
Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS)
Business Association of Local and Independent Media "Local Press"
Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation
Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS)
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