News

The International Conference of the Association for Political Science of Serbia, the Gathering of Political Scientists at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade, concluded today with a round table on the topic of **“The Struggle for REM: The Challenge of Independence and Accountability in the Regulation of Electronic Media in Serbia.”**

On July 11 of this year, the N1 editorial team received a threatening letter by mail, reminding us of the attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, during which 12 employees were killed. More than three months later, it is still unknown who is responsible, and the prosecutor's office is not responding to N1's inquiries. On the other hand, the Ministry of Internal Affairs quickly clarified the case of the letter with three bullets sent to Minister Ivica Dačić in just one day.

Who should react when the chief and responsible editor of a television station shows intimate photographs of a student who testified about police torture during a live broadcast? At a time when the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) has had no Council for almost a year and lacks the ability to perform its functions, which institutions are responsible for sanctioning the media?

In the year following the collapse of the awning in Novi Sad and the death of 16 citizens, there were 225 incidents of threats against journalists, as reported by the UNS database. Thus, between November 1 of this year and last year, the number of threat cases more than doubled compared to the period between November 1 of last year and the year before, when 99 such cases were recorded.

Representatives of the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, which consists of various media organizations and organizations engaged in media freedom, laid 16 white roses in the Danube this morning in Vienna as a memorial to the victims of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad and as a sign of support for the people in Serbia.

Media freedom and independent journalism are the essence of any democratic society, and we expect high-ranking officials to refrain from verbal attacks and threats directed at independent journalists, stated the newly appointed head of the EU Delegation in our country, Andreas von Beckerath.

Radio-Television of Serbia has announced a competition for the appointment of the General Director of this public media institution, as reported today on the RTS portal and in the daily newspaper Politika. The current director, Dragan Bujošević, will complete his second five-year term in February 2026, and he is no longer eligible for re-election to this position.

The largest local media players received hundreds of millions in budget funds again this year. Radoica "Maša" Milosavljević, companies linked to Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić, Goran Lalić, and former officer Slavko Stijaković fared the best. For Vidosav Radomirović, whose media outlets began covering the protests, the amount was drastically reduced.

The selection of a new Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) is entering its final phase, while the European Commission, in its latest progress report on Serbia, insists on strengthening the independence of media institutions. Journalist and former member of the REM Council, Višnja Aranđelović, and attorney from the Association of Journalists of Serbia, Gordana Konstantinović, point out issues regarding transparency, irregularities in the selection of proposers, and uncertainty about the further course of the procedure.