Veran Matić: I insist on accountability for attacks on journalists and the media (VIDEO)

In the Nova S podcast "Hello Nevena," he recalled a text from Duga in 1988, where Dragoš Kalajić stated in one sentence that David Albahari and he were traitors of non-Serbian origin.

"And this is some kind of usual model that has appeared later as well; there were combinations with the Ustaše, and so on. I was being monitored by the BIA, or rather the State Security Service at that time, starting in 1987. I personally confirmed this by looking at my file in 2001. Thus, my entire 40 years have been under the surveillance of the State Security Service and the BIA, who very often launch lies and various speculations, and various setups, disqualifications, and discreditations, in order to dehumanize certain individuals or declare them targets for elimination, as is commonly said," Matić noted.

He assessed that the current media campaign against him has arisen due to his exceptional hyperactivity related to the defense and protection of journalists who have been particularly attacked over the past year and a half.

"So, I am active in a permanent working group for journalist safety, at the same time as the president of the Commission for Investigating the Murders of Journalists, and I am involved in resolving the ruling related to the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija. For two years now, the authorities have been in a frontal attack on the media and journalists, with the intention of completely eradicating them. I believe that when journalists, independent journalists, disappear, when there are no independent media, then there is no accountability, and then it's completely... There are no problems with what they regularly do, with that enormous corruption, and with that enormous plunder that has taken place in recent times. I insist on accountability for those who have been attacked, and I very often attract the arrows aimed at me by those who simply want the media to cease to exist, and that is primarily the authorities," Matić explained.

He added that he speaks very openly about where the causes of these attacks lie, and that they are at the very top of the state.

"They come from Aleksandar Vučić, from Ana Brnabić, from leading figures in parliament, Bakarec, Jovanov. Thus, the most horrific statements that dehumanize and turn journalists into targets are precisely those made by them, and then it goes further to even more terrifying figures like Dragan Vučićević, Informer, and a whole series of tabloids, turning into threats on social media, and leading to a new cycle of harm and intimidation, which then results in attacks on journalists. I would compare this to the way Slavko Ćuruvija was demonized," he emphasized.

**The transcript of the entire guest appearance is available on the Public Service portal.**