News

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) "undermine the pillars of democracy," and Serbia is one of the countries in Europe with the highest number of such cases against journalists and civil society organizations, it was stated today at the Anti-SLAPP conference.

"Illegal installation of spyware has disrupted my rhythm of life and work, the peace in the editorial office, and family tranquility."

In the lead-up to the "National Assembly" of the Progressive Party in Niš, an experimental program of a new television station in this city has commenced. Operating without permission to use its name and without a license to broadcast, Niš TV has been airing its "pro-regime" morning program for several days, hosted by former associates of the arrested mayor, while the rest of the day is filled with content from Informer. Professor Rade Veljanovski emphasizes that this television station is currently broadcasting outside the law, and that no one can stop them at this moment because the REM Council does not exist. Journalist Aleksandar Stankov assesses that this may be the last attempt for the SNS to improve its ratings.

The time has passed for those who support the SNS, portals where no one works, craft shops, those who violate the Journalists' Code every day and have no connection to the cities where they received funding - but certainly not for those who regularly report on student protests.

On the last day of the deadline for submitting proposals for candidates for members of the REM Council, some names that will be in the running are already known.

This year, there have been 125 recorded attacks and pressures on female and male journalists, while there were 166 such incidents in the entire previous year, stated Marija Babić, a lawyer from the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), today in Niš.

After the A1 portal pointed out irregularities in the competition announced by the Municipality of Sjenica in April of this year – which was intended exclusively for television stations – the local authorities retracted the previous decision and announced a new public competition, this time open to all public information services.

An email warning was sent yesterday to the email addresses of several editorial offices, stating that they will face criminal prosecution if they continue to publish "unfounded and offensive comments" regarding Aleksandar Vučić. The email also indicated that three advisors, who are allegedly associates of the company Meta, will assist in the fight against these media outlets.

From the 80,750,000 dinars allocated by the City of Niš for co-financing media content production projects, 29 projects received a total of 54,170,000 dinars, with the largest share (24 million) going to RTV *Zona plus*, owned by the youngest son of Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić. While in previous years, media outlets owned by Vidosav Vitko Radomirović received the most funding, this time none of the media from his empire received a single dinar. Notably, the portal *Niška inicijativa*, run by Srđan Nonić, made its debut among the recipients with 590,000 dinars.