Belgrade Protestors Call For Press Freedom

Protestors gather outside state TV headquarters in Serbia to protest threats against journalists. (Voice of America)

Journalists and press freedom activists gathered outside the Serbian state TV headquarters in Belgrade on October 16 to call on President Aleksandar Vučić and other officials to stop threatening journalists, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports.

Titled “Journalists Against Phantoms” and organized by the Media Freedom Group, the protest took place in response to an event two days prior at Serbia’s N1TV channel. RFE/RL reports that two masked men threw threatening leaflets into the backyard of N1TV’s building. According to a tweet by N1TV news director Jugoslav Ćosić, the attack was intended to “upset journalists and N1TV employees, and to threaten their integrity and security.”

According to RFE/RL, N1TV regularly covers anti-government protests in Serbia.

In its press release, the Media Freedom Group wrote that Serbian journalists frequently experience intimidation that goes unpunished. “There is no security for those who treat their jobs seriously,” the statement said. The group added that authorities intend to silence all media outlets that refuse to spread propaganda in support of Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party. The press release demanded “that the violence against those who speak and think freely, and who do their jobs responsibly and honestly, be stopped.

A similar event happened in February, when RFE/RL reported that death threats, including a threat to blow up N1TV’s office, were issued to N1TV staff and their family members. N1TV executive producer Igor Božić noted that the threats were received on the same day that Vučić called N1TV an “anti-government” outlet.

The incidents involving N1TV are the latest in a wave of hostility against journalists in Serbia. RFE/RL reports that the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists recorded 89 incidents of threats or assaults on journalists this year. According to EURACTIV, this number has more than doubled since 2016. In April, a video targeting Serbian journalist Slobodan Georgiev was released on Twitter, sparking widespread condemnation from journalists and media watchdogs, Balkan Insight reports.

The most serious incident occurred in December 2018, VICE reports, when investigative journalist Milan Jovanović’s home was set ablaze. Assailants hurled Molotov cocktails and fired shots at his front door, but the 70-year-old journalist managed to escape this third assassination attempt with his wife. Jovanović, a reporter for the news website Žig Info, told VICE that he believes he was targeted because of his corruption coverage.

VICEwrites that Vučić is clamping down on press freedom, as his critics are increasingly the targets of threats and intimidation. The governmentdenies this claim, but weekly anti-government protests, beginning in December 2018, demand protections for press freedom. The protests have beendubbed “One in Five Million,” according to Al Jazeera, a reference to Vučić’s comment that “even if five million people were on the streets, [he] wouldn't cede to their demands.”