How journalists who ask questions are faring in Serbia: Jugpress and Nova naša reč left without permanent staff.

The Regional Information Agency Jugpress from Leskovac, whose most recognized brand is the eponymous portal, was left last week without a single permanent employee.

Ljiljana Stojanović, the editor-in-chief of Jugpress, has gone to the employment office, but not to await her pension there. She made this decision to save a few dinars for the media house she has led for 19 years and will continue to lead.

For the same reason, Ivan Spirić, a journalist with the Leskovac weekly Nova naša reč, with which Jugpress collaborates closely and for which Ljiljana Stojanović is a volunteer project writer, has also recently registered at the employment office.

The story of Jugpress and Nova naša reč is an illustrative example of how local media, prioritizing the public interest, are trying to survive with limited resources and the challenges they face along the way.

Two minimum wages to save two media outlets

Although Jugpress and Nova naša reč have been media outlets founded by different entities for years, they have shared space and some personnel to reduce costs.

Now, they have decided in agreement that Ljiljana Stojanović and Ivan Spirić will go to the labor market.

“We went to the employment office because we saw it as the only way to ensure the survival of Jugpress and Nova naša reč,” says Ljiljana Stojanović.

Specifically, when the editorial teams of the two media outlets concluded this year's local competitions for co-financing media content production projects, they realized that they were faced with yet another round of “belt-tightening.”

Two minimum wages for these two media outlets represent a significant saving.

“At the local competition in Leskovac, we received considerably less money than the previous year. Moreover, our projects were not supported by any municipality in the Jablanica district. We are quite convinced that this is an organized effort, as evidenced by who received the support. As is the case throughout Serbia, when it comes to the distribution of money from local budgets, in Leskovac, media that have no reach or awareness are the ones receiving funds,” says Ljiljana Stojanović.

She adds that prior to the conclusion of the competition, they received sarcastic remarks from local authorities suggesting that they should not expect much funding from the budget since they “support students and the opposition.”

“We only report on what is happening in the city,” Stojanović asserts.

The content itself clearly indicates that Jugpress and Nova naša reč are media that do not spare criticism of either the government or the opposition. According to Ljiljana Stojanović, the only thing they are unconditionally committed to are the rules of journalism.

“Due to our editorial policy, no one advertises with us. Even the money allocated for advertising by public enterprises and institutions is not available to us,” says Ljiljana Stojanović.

Foreign donors, according to her, have also not been particularly generous in recent years.

“Foreign donors have begun to give money to large organizations, which are announcing sub-grants of 3,000 to 4,000 euros for projects lasting one year, and even that money reaching local media is decreasing,” explains our interlocutor.

To reduce the costs of publishing Nova naša reč, they first switched from full color to black-and-white printing, then reduced the number of pages, and finally decided to take a two-month summer break.

“We already owe 500,000 dinars for printing, so going to the employment office is practically the last step to try to keep Nova naša reč alive until the end of the year. What will happen afterward is uncertain,” says our interlocutor.

Nova naša reč has been in existence for a full 11 years and is the only printed media outlet in the Jablanica district and one of the few that has survived in southern Serbia.

“We have been fighting for 14 years, but if no one wants us and no one other than us cares about our survival, then we will not survive,” says Ljiljana Stojanović, adding that Jugpress's survival is currently unquestionable only because its fixed maintenance costs are lower.

Jugpress is expected to celebrate two decades of existence next year and is one of the first portals established outside Belgrade.

Artificial competition, SLAPP lawsuits, orchestrated campaigns, and “friendly warnings”

A lack of funds is not the only problem. One way in which the influence of independent media is being suppressed is through artificially creating competition. Jugpress and Nova naša reč have been subjected to this type of pressure several times over the past decades.

“Leskovac Voice is the latest attempt of this kind. It is a municipal bulletin of eight pages, the dynamics and circulation of which are unknown, but more than four million dinars are allocated annually from the city budget for its publication,” says Ljiljana Stojanović.

She adds that after the promotion of the first issue of Leskovac Voice, they received messages from local authorities stating that Nova naša reč should not receive budget funds because there are party newspapers and a city bulletin.

Jugpress and Ljiljana Stojanović, as the editor-in-chief of this media house, were once also targets of SLAPP lawsuits.

In Nova naša reč, there are six employees, while Jugpress has eight, but Ljiljana Stojanović is one of the most prominent figures, and she is often personally targeted due to her journalistic work, facing attacks and accusations on social media.

Last year, a campaign was launched against her in pro-government media due to a question she posed to Minister Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski at a press conference.

This did not overly disturb her.

However, she became seriously concerned when, in early July this year, she received a “friendly warning message” from several individuals in security structures that they were “setting her up” and that she should “be careful.”

“To this day, I do not know exactly what it referred to, but given that the warnings came from people well-connected with security structures, I took it seriously. The next day, I published this and reported it to the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists,” Stojanović recounts.

Interestingly, she considers it noteworthy that after the statement from NUNS regarding the whole case, there was, as she says, a “sharp reaction from the mayor's office.”

“The reaction referred to the part of the statement concerning the discrimination of Jugpress when calling for events. As proof that we are not invited to events, the cabinet provided an email list that does not include Jugpress. The reaction also contained an explanation that the distribution of money in the local competition in Leskovac was fair and that the decision was made by a committee,” explains Stojanović, adding that this is the first time in the history of Leskovac that a journalist has been “named” on the city website.

There was not a word in the response from the City of Leskovac regarding the main theme of NUNS's statement.

The only positive outcome from all this is that Jugpress is finally on the email list of the city’s PR department.

However, this still does not guarantee that they will receive invitations to all events.

“It is interesting that in recent months we have not received invitations when ministers from the Serbian Progressive Party come to Leskovac, while ministers from the Socialist Party of Serbia do not avoid us. For events they attend, we regularly receive invitations,” says Ljiljana Stojanović.

She adds that invitations to such events do not come via email, but rather by phone from someone in the PR department.

“We have reached a point where if you do your job, and a journalist's job is to ask questions, you get punished. Then come attempts to shut down the media where you work,” explains our interlocutor.

This, Stojanović believes, is also an unequivocal warning to all media, saying: “Here is how those who dare to ask questions fare.”

Source: Cenzolovka