The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS/IJAS) said it recorded 24 incidents targeting journalists and media workers in September, including five physical attacks on journalists, four attacks on media outlets and organizations, and 12 cases involving death threats or threats to journalists’ physical safety.
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In its monthly report, NUNS also documented three other threats against journalists, noting that physical assaults, obstruction and intimidation were particularly prevalent during coverage of campaign events ahead of the snap parliamentary elections.
The incidents included attacks and threats against journalists covering rallies held by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), among them journalist Magdalena Kostic in Nis, Glas Zajecara journalist Djordje Djordjevic in Veliki Izvor near Zajecar, LiKVidno editor Nenad Simovic in Kraljevo, and Kovinske Info journalist Milos Ljiljanic in Kovin.
NUNS also reported threats against Danas journalist Safeta Bisevac, TV Nova editor Marko Novicic, television presenter Zoran Kesic, journalist and author Marko Vidojkovic, Zig Info editor Zeljko Matorcevic, and N1 News Director Branislav Sovljanski.
The Association also raised concerns over a campaign targeting N1 journalist Predrag Popovic in certain media outlets after he asked the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade whether proceedings had been initiated over the glorification of Ratko Mladic and the Srebrenica atrocities during a football derby.
NUNS said Popovic’s question had been portrayed as an alleged call for football fans to be arrested, describing this as an attempt to discredit the journalist.
The report also documented physical attacks on N1 journalist Nenad Bozovic while he was reporting from Nis and on Aleksandar Blanusa, editor of the Volim Zrenjanin website. According to NUNS, Blanusa was injured in an assault while covering an event promoting the EXPO exhibition in Zrenjanin.
NUNS said media outlets and social media accounts were also targeted by cyberattacks during September.
The incidents included a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Blok Radio, an attack on the VranjeNews website, a surge of suspicious accounts following the Instagram profiles of the Masina news website, Radar weekly and photojournalist Gavrilo Andric, as well as hacking attacks on the Kovinske Info website.
NUNS also highlighted the case of Massimo Moratti, a researcher with the Italian media freedom organization Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), who was ordered to leave Serbia in September and banned from re-entering the country for one year on the grounds that he posed an “unacceptable security risk.”
According to the report, the order was withdrawn and Moratti was granted permission to remain in Serbia following an appeal and pressure from the Serbian and international public.
The report also examined developments involving changes in media ownership, pressure on the Nova.rs newsroom and the work of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), including disagreements over expanding the list of television channels monitored during the election campaign.
NUNS warned that attacks, threats and interference with journalists covering events of public interest were part of a continuing and troubling trend that seriously jeopardized journalists’ safety and hampered their ability to report from the field.
Teme