Dutch media: Defender of media freedom in Serbia (former B92) targeted in smear campaign.
Veran Matić, who led the legendary radio station B92 for many years, has become the target of an unprecedented smear campaign. In a propaganda film recently aired during prime time on Serbian television, he was portrayed as a traitor and a British spy. This is all due to alleged collaboration with foreign embassies, the BBC, Holland, and philanthropist George Soros, who, of course, is never absent from conspiracy theories, reports the Dutch media outlet Bnnvara.
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According to reports, B92 has been regarded for years as one of the most important independent sources of information in Serbia. For this reason, they add, this radio station was a thorn in the side of President Slobodan Milošević during the 1990s. He shut down the station, after which Dutch hackers decided to enable broadcasting via the internet.
The Dutch media writes that through the internet and radio waves, B92 inspired the youth and the academic community to oppose Milošević's authoritarian regime. As a result, both B92 and Matić received numerous accolades. The International Press Institute declared Matić in 2000 one of the 50 most important fighters for media freedom in the past half-century. He also received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which advocates for media freedom worldwide.
Matić's commitment to freedom of expression does not align with the current populist government, notes Bnnvara.
According to Matić, the protection of media freedom today is more urgent than ever.
“Journalists are already facing violence, living and working under numerous threats and physical assaults that remain unresolved,” he wrote this month. “Investigative journalists, who uncover corruption and crime daily, are literally in danger. And there is no one to protect them.”
Matić himself is once again in danger, just as he was in the 1990s when he was arrested and detained.
However, according to Ana Martinoli, who worked at B92 for 18 years, the “brutal and ruthless” attacks on Matić carry a broader meaning.
“The message of the current campaign against Veran is that no one is safe, that there is no security, and that anyone can become a 'target,'” she wrote.
“Twenty-five years after the fall of Milošević, freedom of expression and independent journalism in Serbia are once again under pressure,” concludes former B92 webmaster Sonja Radenković.
Source: Bnnvara
