ANEM Assembly: Strengthening the Media Landscape Can Lead to Significant Social Change
Through strong media networking, we can protect each other and also bring about significant social changes. This was already the case during the 1990s when the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) served as the backbone for change. It is important to take a step towards empowering the media scene in Serbia and demonstrating collective strength and influence, emphasized Veran Matić, President of the Board of ANEM, at the Association's Annual Assembly held in Belgrade.
According to him, over the past year, ANEM has managed to rise again and currently counts 45 members, while new membership requests are coming in on a daily basis.
"We have all gone through some kind of hell, and hell is yet to come. The goal of this meeting is to see how we will live and work in the next year and how we will confront what is coming our way—repression and a continuation of security threats," stated Matić.
As he added, ANEM has recently focused primarily on safety, considering the escalation and increase in threats and attacks on journalists. He reminded that in the past period, 20 training sessions for media workers' safety were organized, 24 meetings of the Permanent Working Group for Journalist Safety took place, along with 10 trainings for writing media projects and two gatherings of competition commission members.
Through the Safe Line for Journalists at 0800 100 115, more than 600 calls were received last year, and a total of 1,100 reports were registered from 2022 to 2024.
Milorad Tadić, a board member of ANEM and the founder of media outlet Boom 93 from Požarevac, expressed at the association's assembly that the current gathering gives him great optimism for what lies ahead, even though it will be quite difficult, but everyone is accustomed to such situations as they survive in the well-known way.
"When we established ANEM in the 1990s, we had a slogan – 'network-balance-check and balance' and everything we do today can enable us to be stronger and louder, allowing that idea to thrive in a different form," Tadić noted.
Slobodan Krajnović, a board member of ANEM and the founder of Radio 021 from Novi Sad, reminded that he has been with ANEM since day one and welcomed the media that have joined this association.
To the present representatives of more than 40 media outlets, Veran Matić also presented special recognitions for "professional work, respect for the journalist code, and perseverance and courage in the fight for freedom of speech under challenging circumstances, amidst attacks, pressures, and threats."
List of all ANEM members:
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