Veran Matić: I am afraid we are heading in the direction of what happened in the 1990s with the media.
Hybrid attacks on journalists and media are most commonly used - targeting, insults, threats, disturbing messages, physical attacks, and groundless lawsuits that cause significant damage to the media. Such baseless lawsuits consume a lot of time for journalists and editors running the media, said Veran Matić, President of the Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, while appearing on Nova S television program.
According to him, all of this seems like a path to even greater repression of the media.
“In the 1990s, we had exactly that. First targeting, the introduction of a rigid law on public information, followed by serious threats, exhaustion through legal proceedings, and high fines... The Daily Telegraph went through that path, and it was a prelude to the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, precisely that journey from targeting to judicial verdicts. This is the spiral, and I fear we are heading in that direction,” Matić assessed.
He reminded that this year we have the highest number of threats against journalists, as well as attacks. As he noted, for the first time last year, we recorded a higher number of attacks on female journalists, which is a particular problem.
Matić explained that the majority of threats are directed at specific journalists, and other forms of repression are also being carried out against them, such as attacks, pressure, and lawsuits. Vuk Cvijić, he added, is currently the most exposed journalist.
“There is an obvious idea and plan to remove independent media from the scene, and that is our biggest task: to defend ourselves, and I believe we will be preserved through solidarity and the support of citizens,” emphasized the president of the ANEM Management Board.
He also added that currently not only journalists are threatened, but also civil society and students who are experiencing pressure and violence.
“We must report on all of this in the right way, without any kind of selection,” Matić stressed.
Source: YouTube / Nova S
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