SERBIA'S MEDIA SCENE IN MARCH 2024
The monitoring of the media scene for March brings an overview of key events related to freedom of expression and the process of implementing existing regulations in the field of project co-financing.
In Monitoring, you can read key findings both from the annual publication "Media Freedom in Europe: Time to Turn the Tide", produced by partner organizations of the Council of Europe Platform, and from the annual report on the work of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists (PWG).
The month of March is a sign of increased pressure and attacks on journalists - the editor-in-chief of the media "Inđija Independent Media" ("IN Media") Verica Marinčić, while reporting on the protest organized by the residents of Čortanovac, was pushed out of the building of the Municipality of Inđija. There were threats, insults and calls for lynching of Ana Lalić Hegediš, journalist of the Nova.rs portal and executive director of NDNV, and Dinko Gruhonjić, editor-in-chief of the "Vojvodina Research and Analytical Center (VOICE)" portal and associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. Journalists who reported in front of the Novi Sad Welfare Center were also threatened, as well as journalists who reported from sports events. Journalist Milivoj Pantović's laptop was damaged under unsolved circumstances. Journalist Slaviša Milanov was detained by the traffic police, despite the fact that the results of the tests he underwent were negative. Threatening messages were sent to the editorial office of the daily newspaper Danas. Journalist Gordana Momčilović Ilić was threatened in the parking lot while she was standing next to her bicycle. High-ranking state officials kept N1 journalists under pressure.
In March, two meetings of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists were held - one on the occasion of the March attacks on journalists mainly from Vojvodina, and the second, a regular meeting, the first in 2024. The reader can find out more about this, as well as the challenges encountered when implementing project co-financing, in this month's Monitoring of the Media Scene.
Media monitoring was published with the financial support of the European Union and the OSCE Mission to Serbia. The Association of Independent Electronic Media is solely responsible for its content, and that content in no way expresses the official views of the European Union and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
This Monitoring Report was prepared by expert monitoring team from the law office "Savović" in cooperation with ANEM, and the entire report can be found at this link.
