The Federation of Journalists calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide police protection for television N1.

“The EFJ and IFJ strongly demand that the Ministry of Internal Affairs provide N1 with permanent police protection, including daily patrols, especially for journalists who have been explicitly named in death threats and who require enhanced security,” the statement reads.

The EFJ and IFJ also called on the relevant authorities to urgently identify and prosecute all those responsible for online and offline threats in order to prevent further violence.

“By using dangerous rhetoric against critical voices, President Vučić further endangers journalists who have previously been targets due to their reporting, as is now clearly seen in the case of N1,” the statement emphasizes.

The EFJ and IFJ expressed their full support for N1 television.

“The editorial team of the independent N1 television, which regularly faces threats due to its critical reporting, has recently encountered a frightening escalation of violence from the digital to the physical space of the newsroom itself. Among the incidents is a threatening letter that recalled the terrorist attack in 2015 on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, when 12 journalists and media workers were killed – the letter was addressed to the N1 newsroom,” the EFJ-IFJ statement notes.

The statement assessed that this “obvious deterioration of the situation has occurred after President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić dangerously labeled N1 and Nova S's reporting as ‘pure terrorism’.”

“His rhetoric, including attempts to provoke a reaction from the Prosecutor's Office, has led to six new online death threats directed at N1. Among the messages were: ‘You will hang sooner or later at Terazije’, ‘You will soon be burned’. An anonymous letter sent to the newsroom on July 11 marked a new, frightening stage of violence. While N1 was accused of ‘propaganda’ and ‘anti-Serbian witch-hunt’, the author of the letter suggested that N1 journalists could end up like those from Charlie Hebdo. ‘If you remember how the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo mocked Muslims in 2015…’, was stated in the letter,” EFJ and IFJ reminded.

The statement recalls that the director of N1, Igor Božić, stated in the Third Prosecutor's Office that the allusion to the terrorist attack was “one of the most brutal threats that the N1 newsroom has ever received,” causing immense fear among journalists and their families.

“In addition to the letter, journalist Žaklina Tatalović received a disturbing ‘gift’ in the newsroom from activist Tomislav Lovreković, who had previously appeared as a guest on the regime's tabloid Informer. He entered the N1 premises with a white rabbit and a message: ‘Raise rabbits, not lions.’ The incident was recorded and published by Informer and shared on its social media. Tatalović also recently received an anonymous death threat via email. Since January, the EFJ has registered over 15 threats directed at N1 on the Mapping Media Freedom platform,” the statement reports.

Source: N1