IFJ - Serbia: One Year of War Against Journalism

As Serbia faces increasingly violent state reactions to student protests demanding accountability and measures against corruption, following the tragic death of 16 people due to the collapse of a canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, in the north of the country, on November 1, 2024, journalists are under attack, including physical assaults, threats, and intimidation.

They are illegally monitored and targeted with SLAPP lawsuits simply for asking questions, reporting on issues, and covering protests. Journalists are dangerously labeled as "foreign mercenaries," "terrorists," and "anti-Serbs" by the highest state officials in Serbia, starting with the president. Verbal attacks from government representatives resonate like a chilling echo on pro-government television, whose national programming serves as a complete and constant weapon against independent media.

The full extent of the state attack includes the abuse of parallel structures, including thugs on the streets and bots in the online space. Despite reactions from numerous international media and journalist organizations, the situation in Serbia continues to deteriorate.

Record Number of Attacks

The statistics are extremely discouraging. Since the first day of this year, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) has recorded 289 attacks, threats, and pressures. This includes 90 physical assaults, 123 threats against journalists and media, six verbal attacks on media, and at least 70 cases of pressure on media workers. This is the highest number ever recorded since NUNS began monitoring journalist safety in 2008.

“There are a large number of pressure cases that have yet to be included. There are so many each day that we simply cannot update quickly enough,” emphasizes Marija Babić, a lawyer and researcher at NUNS, warning:

“The safety of journalists in Serbia is at its lowest level in the past 20 years. The social and political crisis strongly affects journalists. Frequent protests and police reactions further increase the risks that journalists face in the field. While we are recording a record number of physical attacks on journalists, it is particularly concerning that a significant number of the attackers are police officers.”

Instead of protecting journalists, an increasing number report that the police beat and attack them or that the police remain passive witnesses to attacks on journalists.

Babić highlights that since March 2025, NUNS has registered 50 cases in which journalists were targets of police violence. In another 16 cases, the police did not react to the attacks, even though they were legally obligated to do so.

Vera Matić, president of the Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), points out that the most common attackers are “para-police forces” recruited by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party to secure their gatherings.

“Since the beginning of August, members of intervention units have started to physically attack journalists. We have recorded more than 22 cases. We also have documented cases of torture and detention. The number of verbal attacks from leading politicians in the executive and legislative branches is increasing,” adds Matić, who has himself been targeted multiple times.

In just September 2025, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded 141 cases of verbal attacks on journalists and media by high state officials and members of the parliamentary majority.

The Rule of Law Remains Passive

The highest number of reported attacks is on journalists from United Media, the leading media company in Southeast Europe, owner of TV N1, Nova S, the daily Danas, and the weekly Radar. These media are known for their commitment to independent journalism.

“Our newsroom has recorded at least 40 different attacks (since November 1), from physical assaults to horrifying death threats. Yet, the state does little or nothing to protect journalists. This cannot be mere ignorance or incompetence. Their intention is to intimidate journalists and force them to leave their jobs,” says Igor Božić, program director of TV N1, the exclusive partner of CNN.

Surely, Božić emphasizes, “those threats, targeting in pro-government tabloids, and verbal attacks from government representatives push people out of the focus of their work.”

“These attacks achieve the goals of thugs and political activists. This will remain the case until the government, or rather the institutions, start doing their job professionally and stop making a distinction between 'their' and 'other' journalists,” concludes Božić.

Young students and freelancers, journalists, and photo-reporters, who often lack editorial support, have played an exceptionally significant role in reporting on the protests.

“They have recorded numerous significant moments, while themselves being targets of a large number of attacks. Some of those attacks have been extremely brutal,” recalls Marija Babić.

In a rarely sharp resolution on Serbia, adopted on October 22, the European Parliament condemned “in the strongest terms the wave of state-influenced violence, intimidation, and indiscriminate arrests of peaceful demonstrators, journalists…” as well as “campaigns of defamation [and] intimidation of the media.”

The resolution “calls on Serbian authorities to ensure media freedom” and demands that “the highest officials cease incendiary rhetoric that incites hostility or violence…” As protests continue, and TV N1 remains the main source of independent information for many, the Government of Serbia “appears to have negotiated with the owners of United Media to ‘weaken’ independent media under its auspices,” primarily N1, warning that “if confirmed, this would represent a serious attack on the already endangered media pluralism in Serbia.”

Impunity as the Norm

All this is happening in a country where there is complete impunity for the murders of journalists from the 1990s and early 2000s. Impunity continues with the latest wave of violence.

This year, there has been only one conviction. The Basic Court in Sremska Mitrovica convicted the attackers of journalist Verica Marinčić, editor of the IN Media portal, and her colleague Miodrag Blečić.

“Impunity is becoming the rule. It directly encourages new attacks and threats. Perpetrators know that they will almost never be sanctioned,” emphasizes Babić.

“Until last year, we were convincing journalists to wear vests marked PRESS and other visible identification. Now most do, but neither the thugs nor the police care… Journalists have become targets,” concludes Matić.

The SHARE Foundation from Serbia has reported an increasing number of cases where journalists and activists are targets of intrusive digital surveillance tools. Some have been forcibly taken in or summoned to police stations and coerced into handing over their phones. Without their knowledge, devices have been illegally unlocked and infected with spyware.

As a result of the prolonged wave of violence and impunity, some journalists from Serbia have relocated, while others need protection, and all journalists reporting from the protests must take special security measures.

There have also been cases where journalists lost their jobs for advocating ethical reporting. In addition to the stress and pressures of reporting from protests, most journalists and media workers are underpaid, work excessively long hours, which leads to additional stress and burnout.

Solidarity is Key

Can we really expect the world of high politics, with its tepid and indecisive reactions to “journalist killings” in Gaza, to show genuine concern for journalists under attack in the southern neighborhood of the European Union?

Journalists targeted in Serbia have shown they can.

In mid-September, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), and the Institute for Media and Diversity – Western Balkans held a protest in front of the Government of Serbia in support of Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza.

ANEM and B92 Fund raised €5,000 to assist journalists in Gaza, contributing last week to the Safety Fund established by the International Federation of Journalists.

As the anniversary of the canopy collapse on November 1 approaches, with an expected large gathering of citizens in Novi Sad, NUNS and ANEM will be there to help: to advise journalists on how to protect themselves, to document, respond, and appeal.

But what will we do to support and protect professional journalists who risk their well-being to help us see the truth?

Source: IFJ

This text was written by investigative journalist Jelena L. Petković, who has been working for years on the fight against impunity for crimes against journalists and has conducted years of research on the murders and disappearances of journalists in Kosovo. She has interviewed more than 200 interlocutors: relatives, colleagues, acquaintances, and members of international missions, uncovering new information about disappearances and murders.