MEDIA SCENE OF SERBIA IN MARCH 2026

The tragic death of a young woman whose body was found in front of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade - showed where and what journalists stand for when it comes to the right to respect and the right to privacy.

According to the annual report on the state of freedom in the world, "The Growing Shadow of Autocracy" by the international organization Freedom House, Serbia has not left the circle of "partially free countries". The situation regarding media freedom in our country, as assessed by the partner organizations of the Platform of the Council of Europe for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists and the initiative Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), worsened during the previous year.

The Center for Social Stability published on its social media accounts X and Instagram a post: "If any of you see Veran Matić in the next month or two, tell him that he is not the only (pseudo) journalist who grew a beard and to be a little more patient, the sequel is coming soon...". Media and journalist associations from the Permanent Working Group for Safety of Journalists (PWG) supplemented the criminal complaint filed for endangering Matić's safety. The Basic Court in Novi Sad rejected the proposal to determine a temporary ban on the publication of allegations from the show "Evil Age 2: Creation of Propaganda". The campaign against Matić continued with the publication of the text "Censorship under the patronage of Veran Matić targets the media and promotes the fake state of Kosovo". Due to the text in which the malicious claim is made that Matić is "promoting the fake state of Kosovo" through his newspapers, a complaint was filed with the Press Council against six portals that carried the text.

During the local elections, journalist and media associations organized PWG members on duty in the following cities: Kula, Bajina Bašta (from where Sevojno was covered), Lučani, Majdanpek, Kladovo, Bor (where the contact person for Knjaževac was also located), Arandjelovac (from where Smederevska Palanka was also covered). ANEM, UNS and NUNS have made emergency (SOS) telephones available to media workers.

Election day was marked by drastic attacks on media workers. Journalists Lazar Dinić (brutally beaten, suffered a fractured cheekbone and contusion of the cerebellum), Ivan Bjelić (hit on the head and body, suffered multiple hematomas) and photojournalist Zorica Popović (suffered multiple blows to the stomach) suffered serious physical injuries. Journalist Darko Gligorijević was hit by unknown persons with fists, an open hand and sprayed with pepper spray. Journalist Ivana Marsenić's camera was stolen, Miroslav Pantović's camera was broken, Mina Delić was roughly pushed away twice and prevented from reporting, the Insajder media team reported that their vehicle's tires were punctured.

The violence was followed by the police raid on the Belgrade University Rectorate. The attackers were members of the police and unknown persons. Members of the police sprayed journalist Ana Mihajlovski with pepper spray, photojournalist Luka Pešić was hit several times in the head, photojournalist Gavrilo Andrić was roughly pushed away, kicked and hit with a baton, in front of journalist Nađa Gavrilović they waved a baton threateningly, journalist Katarina Redžić was pushed violently, TV N1 journalists were not allowed to report behind the police cordon. An unknown person injured the head of journalist Marko Dragoslavić with a metal object. In the commotion, reporter Tamara Stojanović was knocked to the ground.

During the rally of supporters of the ruling party, journalists were hindered and intimidated. Journalist Violeta Živkov was threatened with breaking her equipment, journalist Vuk Mladenović was prevented from recording, journalist Isidora Kovačević was insulted, cursed and her microphone was hit. For security reasons, journalist Maja Nikolić was forced to remove the label of the media she works for (TV N1) from her microphone.

Even during March, media workers Mladen Savatović and Kristina Demeter Filipčev received threats via the Internet. The media Lice ulice and Naš portal, as well as the Association of Journalists of Serbia, received an anonymous threat that their Meta accounts would be terminated if they did not publicly support the President of the Republic of Serbia.

Seeking a prison sentence of up to one year for allegedly committing the crime of Damaging business reputation and creditworthiness, Millennium Team filed a private criminal complaint against journalist Maja Nikolić. The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade dismissed the criminal complaint against Vladimir Mandić and an unknown person for the attack on the KTV team and Nemanja Šarović, with the explanation that the act did not have "enough intensity of violence" to be considered violent behavior. The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Zaječar dismissed the criminal complaint filed by journalist Miljko Stojanović against police officers. First-instance verdicts were handed down in the case of persecution of journalist Nenad Kulačin and threats to journalist Ana Lalić Hegedis via Facebook.

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

This publication was published with the financial support of the European Union. 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.

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