ANEM ALARM: "Ethnic blood cells are being counted again" - threats to a journalist following reporting on the SNS

This is the third wave of threats and attacks in the past month, which have intensified following Demeter Filipčev's reporting on the activities of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). ANEM reminds that journalists must not be targets of threats, insults, and intimidation due to their professional work.

 “We receive threats daily. I thought that in multinational Vojvodina, it would not happen that the threats mostly relate to my non-Serbian nationality. Otherwise, I am non-national, but the commentators clearly do not know that. We are going back to the 1990s, once again counting ethnic bloodlines. There are mentions of 'throwing under the ice,' referring to what Hungarian fascists did during World War II, unfortunately, among other places, in Bečej. So, we are returning to the discourse of World War II and hatred, which I did not expect to this extent in 21st-century Serbia. Sexual insults and threats have already become commonplace, as well as misogynistic comments and messages telling me to return to the stove. I am a bit surprised; everything feels somewhat surreal, but what worries me is that there are more and more such comments. In just two or three posts from Bečej’s mosaic in recent days, we have hundreds of such comments, which intensified after the reporting on the SNS,” says Demeter Filipčev. 

 ANEM warns that the frequency and intensity of such messages indicate that this is not an isolated case of insults and threats, but rather a continuous pressure on journalist Demeter Filipčev due to her reporting on the ruling SNS during the pre-election campaign for parliamentary elections. It is unacceptable for the professional reporting of a journalist to be accompanied by threats of sexual violence, misogynistic attacks, and insults based on nationality. 

In recent months, ANEM has recorded a series of attacks, threats, insults, physical obstruction, and attempts to prevent journalists from reporting on events and gatherings of the SNS, along with the abuse of police power. 

ANEM once again calls on the relevant institutions to urgently respond to these attacks and ensure conditions in which female and male journalists can safely and fearlessly perform their work.

The project “Improving the System of Prevention and Response Mechanisms in Cases of Threats to the Safety and Life of Female and Male Journalists in Serbia” is being implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insajder TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union.