SRG in Aranđelovac: Incidents and attacks on journalists must be avoided on the day of local elections, March 29.
In every location on the day of local elections in the past few months in Serbia, there have been violent incidents, violent obstruction of media workers, and attacks on journalists. The attacks most often occur from violent groups that are identified as the security of the ruling party. The police have not protected journalists in any of these cases, even when they were present at such situations, said Veran Matić, President of the Managing Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists.
.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
At a meeting of part of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists with local media journalists and prosecutors in Aranđelovac, it was emphasized that in the last year and a half, the number of incidents, pressures, threats, and attacks directed at journalists and media in Serbia is rapidly increasing.
“It is very important to communicate with media representatives in the cities where local elections are held on March 29. We will be on duty at each of these locations on election day to communicate and avoid incidents and attacks, reacting effectively and quickly with the help of the prosecution and the Ministry of Interior,” announced Matić at the meeting organized by ANEM in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia.
Marija Babić from the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) emphasized that 2025 is a record year with more than 380 incidents against journalists, and it is particularly concerning that 116 physical attacks have been recorded.
“The majority of cases are related to protests organized across Serbia. It is also alarming that the police did not react when journalists were attacked, leading to a significant number of attacks by the police and unjustified arrests and detentions. From March to the end of the year, there were 77 such cases. We continue to observe a trend of increasing attacks and threats, as data from the first two months of this year indicates that the situation remains unchanged. Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded 71 cases of endangerment of media workers' safety,” assessed Babić.
Stevan Ristić, President of the Managing Board of the Association of Media, stated at the meeting that in previous years, we did not experience such an “epidemic of violence” where we cannot even process all situations, while many cases go unreported because journalists have lost trust in institutions.
“It is important to report every attack, threat, and pressure...,” Ristić emphasized.
The meeting was attended by media representatives from Aranđelovac, Kragujevac, and Lazarevac, as well as prosecutors from Aranđelovac, Smederevo, and Velika Plana, in addition to members of the SRG.
Dragan Todorović, editor of the E Stvarnost portal from Aranđelovac, stated that they did not experience physical attacks, but there were instances of “pats on the shoulder” while he was reporting from protests and events that he streamed on social media.
“The audience must have an objective picture and assess for themselves. However, some disagreed with our work and tried to obstruct us by organizing bots,” Todorović assessed.
Jovanka Nikolić, editor of Glas Šumadije from Kragujevac, noted that the police in that city behave differently compared to other places in Serbia, citing an example where they immediately removed a woman who attacked their journalist in front of the SNS stand last year.
“Unfortunately, my colleague decided after that not to pursue journalism anymore. Those of us who are older have become accustomed to it; we receive constant threats via the internet daily,” explained Nikolić.
Maria Popović, editor of the Pravo u centar portal from Lazarevac, pointed out that her media outlet is the only one in this Belgrade municipality that reported from protests, which led to a series of problems.
“I had no issues with the local police, but there were problems with uniformed individuals who come as needed to Lazarevac and do not allow me to approach events. Additionally, there are insults, filming my house and family members... We do not feel safe, and we do not know who to turn to,” said Popović.
Marija Obrenović, President of the Managing Board of Lokal Press and editor of the Kragujevac portal Pressek, emphasized that the situation in local media is very difficult, and the safety of journalists at events depends on whether they are secured by the local police or come from other areas.
**Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)**
*The project “System for the Prevention of Violence and Protection of Journalists” 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.*
