THE MEDIA SCENE IN SERBIA IN MAY 2025.
ANEM monitoring report for May 2025 on freedom of expression, old and new regulations and analysis of SLAPP lawsuits
In the Monitoring of the media scene for the month of May 2025, the reader can be informed about the new reports of the international organizations Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders, as well as about the conclusions reached in the discussions that took place during the visit of representatives of international associations and organizations in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium.
Journalists' associations used the International Day of Media Freedom to once again point out the problems faced by media workers. ANEM, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and representatives of the journalists' association held a meeting in Niš with journalists, representatives of the prosecution and the police. The Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office published data on the actions of public prosecutors in criminal cases to the detriment of the safety of persons who perform tasks of public importance in the field of information.
The Platform for the Safety of Journalists of the Council of Europe has recorded the termination of the twenty-year employment of Politika journalists Sandra Gucijan and Dorotea Čarnić. The expression of a different attitude cost the employee and three part-time associates of RTS employment relationship and the extension of the employment contract, stated a group of employees of that media gathered in the initiative "Our pRoTeSt". After more than two months spent in detention, activists Davor Stefanović, Srđan Đurić and Mladen Cvijetić were issued a measure prohibiting them from leaving their apartment with electronic surveillance.
In this month's Monitoring, the reader can learn about the case of Marko Marjanović, alias Kristal Met Dejmon, about the attacks on Insider journalist Stefan Miljuš, TV N1 cameraman Marjan Vučetić, Južne Vesti journalist Tamara Radovanović, TV Nova journalist and cameraman Ivana Marković and Dejan Marković, Glas Šumadije journalist Nikoleta Jošović, journalists reporting from Jelašnica and Grljan, journalist and editor of the portal KoSSev Tatjana Lazarević, correspondent of Australian radio SBS Nikola Doderović; about the arrest of photographer Gavrilo Andrić; about the threats sent to the editors of the Bečejski mozaik portal, journalist and editor of the Storyteller portal Vladimira Dorčova Valtner and TV N1 journalist Žana Bulajić; about the lawsuit filed by media publishers TV N1 and Nova S against the association Center for Social Stability due to the publication of disputed video material; on the targeting of Glas Zaječar journalists Miljko Stojanović and Anđela Risantijević; on the annulment of the verdict for endangering the safety of the journalist Nova S Isidora Kovačević and the dismissal of the criminal complaint against the journalist Srđan Škoro. A special place in monitoring is the reminder of the murdered and missing journalists in Kosovo.
Monitoring of the media scene follows the process of amendments to three key laws for the field of media: the Law on Public Information and Media (ZJIM), the Law on Electronic Media (ZEM) and the Law on Public Media Services (ZJMS); the outcome of the process for the selection of REM Council members; the decision of the Appellate Court in Belgrade, which confirmed the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Belgrade, which dismissed as unfounded the claim of Dijana Hrkalović, former state secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the dispute against Stevan Dojčinović, editor-in-chief of KRIK investigative portal and the association that founded the portal.
All of the above you can read in the Monitoring of the media scene for the month of May.
This publication was published with the financial support of the European Union and Norway and the Balkan Fund for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the USA. 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, the Government of Norway, the German Marshall Fund and the Balkan Fund for Democracy.
This Monitoring Report was prepared by expert monitoring team from the law office "Savović" in cooperation with ANEM.
