At least five female journalists have been dismissed due to student protests, and not all are willing to go public.

At today's gathering "Stop the Persecution of Journalists," organized in Belgrade by the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), female journalists expressed that they received their dismissals mostly directly from management, without the knowledge of editors, and called on their colleagues not to be afraid of pressures, noting that the number of dismissals and pressures is higher, but many are not ready to speak out publicly.

The editor of the weekend edition of Politika, Sandra Gucijan, stated that she and the editor of the chronicle, Dorotea Čarnić, were dismissed due to a change in the job classification at Politika, which resulted in the elimination of their positions, leading to their being classified as technologically redundant.

"I did not violate the editorial policy. My last article was 'Aleksandar Vučić in Niš' on the front page. From that perspective, I was aligned with the editorial policy. The problem in my case, and in my colleague's case, is that we published our activities during private, free time on social media, which are also closed," Gucijan said.

She urged her colleagues not to be afraid "even though the current regime thrives on that fear," emphasizing that not everyone can be dismissed, and that therefore they should be supportive of one another. She read messages from her colleague Čarnić, who could not attend today's forum, stating that the goal of today's forum is to highlight that "the authorities increasingly retaliate with dismissals against female journalists who have professionally performed their jobs without hiding their political views, to which they are entitled by law."

"I hope that awareness will awaken regarding how journalism is in crisis and how crucial media work is for the state of our society. I thank my colleagues for their support. Students reminded us that solidarity is the only remedy against tyrannical power. Without it, the regime will trample us," read the message from Dorotea Čarnić.

The host on Juronjuz (Euronews), Marija Šehić, stated that she was not dismissed as a technological redundancy, but due to alleged violations of work discipline, unprofessionalism, failure to fulfill work obligations, and violations of journalistic ethics, after she and some colleagues distanced themselves from the management's statement condemning the student blockade of RTS.

"There were numerous situations and numerous phrases that at that moment did not attract attention, such as 'Be smart,' 'Slow down,' 'Wait, stop, do you know who you are working for,' 'Let's be smart,' and then phrases directed at the editorial staff, 'I am trying to save your jobs, let’s be smart, you have children,'" Šehić said.

She assessed that the argument "Be careful, you know who you work for" cannot apply in the case of journalistic work, stating that journalists work for the audience, the reader, the viewer, and that their overseer is the public, meaning that "no one else should be the one to control, direct, or censor you."

Journalist Vojislava Crnjanski Spasojević from Večernje Novosti stated that she was declared technologically redundant after distancing herself from the publication of personal data from the passports of two students in the online edition of Novosti, as well as posts on Instagram during participation in student protests.

"The day after that, without any warning, offers for another job, or any conversation, I received a paper declaring me a technological redundancy after 31 years of service, 15 of which were at Večernje Novosti," Crnjanski Spasojević said, adding that even her editors were unaware of her dismissal and learned about it from her.

The editor of the online edition of Elle magazine for Serbia, Tara Đukić, stated that she received her dismissal after the publication of an article about student protests, specifically when an excerpt from the article was posted on Instagram, which was noticed by the company's owner, Igor Žeželj.

"At that point, threats and intimidation began from the top of our company, a thousand calls directed at the entire editorial staff from the four of us, specifically aimed mostly at me as the web editor, demanding that I withdraw and delete that article, my editorial piece in which I reference and quote students, and then an article about collective traumas, in which they see themselves paranoidly," Đukić said.

She added that not only did she refuse this, but she also reacted very vigorously, after which it was "very theatrically announced to her that she was a technological redundancy, as if she was going to be executed," and that her results had been poor over the past six months.

The president of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever, assessed that "it is frightening what is happening, and that deep changes are occurring after the fall of the awning in Novi Sad and the way politics is reflected in the editorial offices."

She stated that she spoke with colleagues in Brussels to see how it is possible to react without it being just letters and warnings, noting that she sometimes feels frustrated when the only tools they have in hand are "angry letters to the European Commission and Ursula von der Leyen," after which she is unsure what can happen.

"I admire you, I respect you, and we want, together with the Brussels office, to help as much as we can. Whether it is new letters, or a joint action that we can call upon the 75 members of the European Federation of Journalists to send personal messages and messages of solidarity, let’s talk about it and agree to do something visible," Sever said.

The representative of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, Dragana Bjelica, stated that these dismissals are traumatic events not only for the journalists who were dismissed but also for those in journalistic associations, noting that "we are aware that a hot summer awaits us, and we do not know what will happen in the fall."

"Today we are here to stand in solidarity against the persecution of journalists in Serbia. I know that not all those who have experienced persecution, pressures, and threats are with us here today; some do not want to speak publicly, some have agreed on a mutual departure with their employers, but they also went through a traumatic period and pressures not to work in accordance with what their code and profession require," Bjelica said.

The Secretary-General of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, Tamara Filipović, assessed that repression against journalists is growing at a terrifying speed, with around 180 cases recorded since November, which has not been documented in the entire previous year.

She added that NUNS is aware of the cases in the editorial offices but does not go public until the journalists themselves are ready to speak out about it.

"We also know what is happening at RTS. One colleague was fired, contracts for three colleagues were not renewed, but they were signatories, members of Our Protest. Our lawyers are here; we are more focused on professional rights, but we have long understood that the attack on professional rights goes through labor rights," Filipović said.

The president of the Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), Veran Matić, emphasized that we must consider how many such cases we will have in the future and what we will do then.

"We need to see what our options are to protect the media, our colleagues. At this moment, it seems to us that we are living at the end of journalism, for various reasons, one of which is repression and a determination to end professional journalists and media once and for all here," Matić assessed.

Source: Beta / ANEM