Not a second on RTS about the safety of journalists

We did not see a single second of news on RTS about the important meeting of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists held on Thursday in Niš. Sitting at the table were both female and male journalists from the Niš branch of RTS, who were recently targeted with insults by the President of Serbia. For RTS, this would not only be news that every media outlet would want to report, but also a gesture of solidarity with its journalist, which, judging by the editor's decision, was evidently absent.

It is important for the public to know that the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists held a meeting with journalists who were detained and whose safety was compromised while reporting on a recent protest by the SNS in Niš. This is especially significant as those who should be concerned about their safety, namely prosecutors and police officers, were also seated at the same table. Journalists, whose attacks and detentions in Niš were reported by foreign media, were able to directly pose questions to them, which, apart from the meetings of the Permanent Working Group, never happens anywhere else.

The importance of the event is not only testified by the number of interlocutors at the table but also by the gratitude of the present journalists for the opportunity to receive direct and detailed information about the results of investigations so far and other decisions made by the relevant authorities regarding the attacks and obstruction of reporting they were subjected to.

However, this news did not pass the editorial "sieve" of the Public Media Service, even though their journalistic team was present at the event and prepared a news report.

Before the start of the meeting, statements were given to RTS by Veran Matić, President of ANEM, and Marija Babić, a lawyer from the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia. Both are members of the Permanent Working Group.

Whether the editorial authority disapproved of what the first interlocutor said, who has not been welcome at RTS for a long time, or if they have something against the second interlocutor, is a question to which we can only speculate. In any case, it is hard to resist the impression that this is a case of censorship.

For the Public Service of Serbia, the only relevant interest should be that of the public, which undoubtedly wants to know what is happening with journalists who are professionally reporting on six months of protests and blockades. As well as the fact that we are a country where 123 attacks and pressures on journalists have been recorded since the beginning of the year.

Associations and organizations that are members of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists:

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

Online Media Association (AOM)

Media Association

Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS)

Independent Journalists' Society of Vojvodina (NDNV)

Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS)