UNS: Unacceptable campaign against the editor of the RTS Children's Program, Jelena Popadić Sumić.

After a boy commented on the student struggle in the latest episode of the show "Important Issues," which airs on the public service's second channel, stating that "students are fighting for justice. For our future," a series of articles were published in Informer and Alo that labeled and insulted Jelena Popadić Sumić.

“The series 'Important Issues' consists of authentic statements from children and serves as a mirror of the society and the world we live in. This episode, which has been labeled controversial by the public, was produced according to all professional standards of the series and in accordance with the rules and protocols of the project license, just like all other episodes,” Jelena Popadić Sumić said for UNS.

She emphasized that “any editorial intervention and manipulation of children's statements would be considered by me as a professionally unacceptable political act or self-censorship, which I, as a human being and a professional, do not agree to.”

The Chief and Responsible Editor of the Cultural and Artistic Program of RTS, which includes the Children's Program, Vladimir Kecmanović, stated for UNS that “it is his moral obligation to stand in defense of the people from the Cultural and Artistic Program, regardless of the source of the attacks against them,” adding that this “also applies to defense within RTS.”

UNS emphasizes that such labeling of journalists is unacceptable and warns that aggressive and incendiary speech can lead to threats against the safety of journalists and media workers, especially in times of heightened societal tensions and pressures on the media.

UNS asserts that everyone has the right to be dissatisfied with the work of certain media outlets, that criticism of their work is permitted and desirable, but that insulting, labeling, or obstructing journalists in their work is unacceptable.

Source: UNS