MEDIA SCENE OF SERBIA IN FEBRUARY 2026

Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have published unfavorable reports regarding the freedom of media and journalists in Serbia. The Center for Social Stability was active in terms of professional discrediting and endangering the security of Veran Matić. The response to their activity - expressed first by the broadcast of the supposedly documentary series "Evil Age 2: The Creation of Propaganda", and then by the announcement of the next step in the form of "The Evil Age Documentary, in the following episodes you will watch" and "Special for the end: Veran Matić", where they will attack 45 more people, mostly journalists, and continue to develop the established directions when it comes to Matić - criminal charges were filed for endangering security, a lawsuit was filed for damages due to injury to honor and reputation, and a proposal was filed for the determination of a temporary measure prohibiting the publication of allegations from the controversial show, as well as the unanimous opinion of the members of the Press Council Commission that 25 portals violated the Code of Journalists of Serbia. Jelena Ćuruvija, the daughter of murdered journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, submitted to the Constitutional Court of Serbia the Initiative for the initiation of proceedings for the constitutionality assessment of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC). She and the foundation named after her father submitted disciplinary charges to the High Council of the Judiciary against three judges who participated in the acquittal of the Court of Appeal in the case of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija (Dušanka Đorđević, Marko Jocić and Dragan Ćesarović). The Board of Directors of Radio and Television of Serbia appointed Manja Grčić as the general director and with that decision brought the professional public to the question: Will the public service defend the public interest?

During the protest, several journalists were prevented from reporting: the Razglas News portal journalist and editor Žarko Bogosavljević, the Storyteller portal journalist Brankica Matić, associate of the University Echo website Milica Stevanović, Reuters journalist. The Revolt portal journalist and editor Lazar Dinić and his colleague Ivan Bjelić received threatening messages after the protest. Members of the police physically attacked photojournalist Gavrilo Andrić, the Mašina portal journalists, student photojournalist Luka Pešić, YouTube channel Srbin Info journalist Nada Gladović, journalist Darko Simić, TV Nova S journalist Sanja Ignjatović Eker. Dejana Cvetković, associate of the media Cenzolovka, Vreme, Južne vesti and the editorial staff of the multimedia platform Tampon zone, was accused of non-objectivity in order to prevent her from reporting. The editors of the Radar weekly, especially journalist Milan Ćulibrk and columnist Predrag Simonović, were threatened via the Internet (Simonović also via video calls directed at his wife and underage daughter). Through the Internet, threats were also directed to the co-authors of the "The Good, the Bad, the Evil" podcast Marko Vidojković and Nenad Kulačin, the Jugpress editors, Prof. Dr. Smiljana Milinkov, assistant professor Dr. Stefan Janjić, TV N1 journalist Ksenija Pavkov, editor-in-chief of the research portal KRIK Stevan Dojčinović. Due to the hacker attacks, the media websites worked with difficulties – Radar, Južne vesti, Glas Šumadije, Pressek, Vranje news, Kraljevački Krug and E-Braničevo from Požarevac.

The First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade informed the public that police officers found the suspect for the attack on journalist and TV N1 cameraman Maja Nikolić and Ivan Pavlović. Through his accounts on social networks, the leader of the "Love, Faith, Hope" movement and KTV television reporter Nemanja Šarović informed the public that the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Zrenjanin filed a criminal complaint against him for allegedly committing the criminal offense of Obstruction of Justice (Article 336b paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code). The first-instance verdict in the proceedings based on the criminal complaint filed by TV N1 correspondent from Niš, Milan Stojanović, was canceled in February 2022 and the case was returned for retrial.

The civil society organization Partners Serbia publicly reacted to the fact that the Ministry of Justice, for the second time, began to amend the Law on Data Secrecy, keeping information about the activities of the working group and the course of the reform process out of public view. More than a month after the deadline for publication, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications published the register of candidates for members of the commissions that will decide on the distribution of funds in competitions for co-financing the production of media content in the field of public information. Before the Misdemeanor Court in Belgrade, the journalist of the Zoomer portal Darko Gligorijević presented his defense in the proceedings that were initiated against him in July last year. Although he was reporting for his media about the incident, he was charged with violating Article 7 of the Law on Public Order and Peace and was detained by the police.

The reader can learn more about all of the above in this month's Monitoring report.

This publication was published with the financial support of the European Union and the RS Ministry of information and telecommunication. The Association of Independent Electronic Media is solely responsible for its content, and that content does not necessarily express the official views of the European Union and the RS Ministry of information and telecommunication.

Text of this Monitoring Report was prepared by expert monitoring team from the law office "Savović" in cooperation with ANEM.