The new (ab)normality in Serbia: The two worst years for media in Serbia since 2000.

Author: Veran Matić

These are the two worst years for journalists and media in Serbia since 1998-1999-2000, when, I must remind you, the Minister of Information was the current President of Serbia. At that time, the infamous Information Law was enacted, which led to the swift punishment of numerous media outlets with severe financial penalties and imprisonment, with the implementation of these penalties occurring within 24 hours, resulting in the closure of media organizations and the imprisonment of journalists.

In 1999, this repression and demonization of journalists culminated in the murder of journalist, editor, and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, who was evidently killed at the direction of the State Security Service. In a lengthy court proceeding, the accused were twice sentenced to 100 years in prison at first instance, only to be acquitted later. That same year, a precedent was set regarding attacks on media houses. During the bombing of Radio Television of Serbia by certain NATO countries, 16 media workers were killed. Instead of clarifying how the decision to bomb a media house was made, this practice was normalized and later used in other countries, leading to the apocalyptic experiences our colleagues in Palestine face, who are literally hunted by Israeli armed forces with super sophisticated weapons.

Twenty-five years later, we have the highest number of attacks on female and male journalists, the highest number of unresolved cases, media closures, and pressures on those remaining free voices to change their editorial policies or to be sold to those who will do so. A hybrid war is being waged against journalists and media: simultaneous targeting by the highest government officials and tabloids, brutal threats, especially towards female journalists who have been the most exposed in the past two years, physical assaults by ruling party thugs, attacks by police intervention units, lawsuits seeking prison sentences for journalists, bans on performing journalistic work, and high financial damages, particularly for the best among us journalists.

Last year and at the beginning of this year, the new normal is that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is resolving fewer and fewer cases of attacks on journalists!

Impunity is almost absolute! One conviction per year in the past two years!

Impunity usually occurs in the most serious cases. Physical attacks on our colleagues Vuk Cvijić, Uglješa Bokić, on female journalists, cameramen, and photographers remain unresolved, sending a message to society – there is no justice for those who bring the truth to the public.

The message has been sent to society as a whole when it is known that journalists and activists are being targeted with spyware, while neither the prosecution nor the police respond to criminal complaints.

It has become normal for thugs – “parapolice” forces tasked with securing gatherings of the ruling party – to attack journalists in the presence of police. Instead of reacting, police officers turn their heads away.

It has become normal to establish a forbidden city in the center of Belgrade, between the Assembly, the Presidency, and the City Parliament. This forbidden city is governed by thugs who are protected by the police. In front of the police, these same thugs attack journalists who come to report on the camp.

There is no response to the torture of a photojournalist by the police. And torture is becoming the new normal.

It has become normal that, at least once a day, a journalist on assignment is endangered. NUNS has recorded over 300 pressures and attacks.

It has become normal for leading politicians of the executive and legislative powers, the president, to target journalists, using hate speech and dangerous terms that produce or incite threats against journalists. Just in September, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded 141 such instances of verbal targeting. That is at least 5 a day, and the sample included the portals of only three tabloids that most frequently violate the Journalists' Code of Serbia.

Tabloid media operate without consequences, conducting campaigns against journalists, inciting violence, and waging campaigns against prosecutors, judges, and all those who strive to maintain professional integrity and respect the law.

It has become normal for thugs to be granted amnesty instead of prosecution during the proceedings, and they are promised future amnesty. Impunity is guaranteed in advance.

Serbia will remember the situation where a prosecutor on a tabloid television asks for amnesty from the president for the case of running over a female student.

Amnesties and absolutions for thugs have become normal, while prisons are reserved for those who think differently.

The president states that all, even those who have served prison sentences, should have their punishments erased from their records.

Journalists are victims in this distorted reality – they are accused and further targeted. Instead of institutions ensuring their safety, female and male journalists are further victimized.

Attacks on female journalists have become more frequent than on male journalists, with added horrific misogynistic threats of sexual violence – normal without sanctions.

Journalists equip themselves for reporting as if going to a war zone, as they are constantly targeted for violence. It has become normal for attempts to protect oneself from aggression to be labeled as aggression.

It has become normal that, in a country on the European path, the minister for journalists and media is a person who once burned the European flag.

That media laws aligned with European standards are not respected, that the work of independent institutions such as REM is obstructed by constant attempts to choose a Council composition that would be an extended arm of the authorities and all those who violate these laws.

The operation of tabloid media is entirely based on lies and hate speech. They conduct campaigns against journalists, prosecutors, judges without any hindrance, which not only constitutes criminal acts and exertion of pressure but also endangers safety.

It has become normal for the president, representatives of the executive and legislative powers, to not only tolerate this practice but to support and encourage it, through numerous abuses of project co-financing and other means to fund factories of lies and the production of evil.

Meanwhile, public services ignore the public interest.

Everything that was not normal, everything that undermines democracy, has been normalized in the past two years. Human rights, along with the word democracy, are trampled on daily.

This new normal has already been noted in numerous reports from international organizations. It is only a part of the distorted reality.

Independent media and journalists are existentially endangered and are in the process of being destroyed and fading away in a totally hostile environment. We must stop these processes immediately, because if there is no freedom of speech and freedom of the media, all other freedoms – if they exist – will be quickly annulled.

Impunity must not become the new normal. Nowhere in the world, not even in Serbia.

We must develop more effective strategies and mechanisms to combat impunity.

* The text was read as a speech at an event marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists “Impunity is a Crime – Let’s Stop It”, which took place on October 31, 2025, at the European House in Belgrade, organized by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).