The Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Dejan Ristić, repeated several times during this year that the number of attacks and pressures on journalists, that is, “obstructing the work or endangering the safety of journalists”, has decreased compared to last year. These figures were also presented at a press conference held last Friday. However, data from the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) shows that the number of physical attacks has nevertheless increased.
Minister Ristic said in November that since the beginning of the year, there has been a significant decrease in the number of cases of obstructing the work of journalists and endangering security by about 30 percent.
In 2023, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) recorded a total of 184 attacks and pressures on media workers in its database, while this year there were slightly fewer (164). However, it should be emphasized that the data for 2024 are still not complete, because a large number of pressures have not yet been entered into the database.
According to the current data in the IJAS database, only the number of “pressures” has decreased, from 123 in 2023 to 71 in 2024. However, precisely in the “pressures” category, not all data have been entered yet.
In other categories, the numbers have increased. This year there were more physical attacks, attacks on property and verbal threats. So the numbers show otherwise.
| Year | Total number of attacks | Physical attacks | Attacks on property | Threats to property | Pressures | Verbal threats |
| 2023 | 184 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 123 | 47 |
| 2024 | 164 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 72 | 69 |
It should be clarified that IJAS records all pressures that can negatively affect the work of journalists, and this includes targeting of media workers by politicians and other media, withholding answers at conferences, i.e., when journalists receive insults instead of answers to questions, ban on monitoring parliamentary proceedings and other public events, SLAPP lawsuits and other similar things.
IJAS general Secretary Tamara Filipović Stevanović, speaking at the conference on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, pointed out that the database of IJAS and the database of the prosecutor’s office in which attacks and threats against journalists are recorded are different.
“By inspecting the prosecutor’s office base, we saw that at least 20 attacks that took place, which we know were reported, are missing, so now we need to investigate why they are not in that base,” stated the general secretary of IJAS.
In addition, not all threats and attacks against journalists that occurred in Serbia were reported to IJAS. For example, in the record of threats and attacks against journalists, which is maintained by the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, there are also cases that were reported to the prosecutor’s office in Serbia, and about which IJAS had no knowledge. Thus we arrive at a much larger number of threats and attacks that have actually occurred. We noticed that there are ten cases in the prosecution’s database that were not reported to IJAS.
IJAS repeatedly emphasized that this year there were long-term and aggressive smear campaigns, which could be seen in the examples of Ana Lalić, Dinko Gruhonjić and Tamara Skrozza. In Skrozza’s case, the relevant ministry got involved, accusing her of hate speech.
In the last few months, it is noticeable that the institutions are acting selectively.
There is no progress in the case of the attack on journalist Vuk Cvijić. As the media reports, the police have not yet submitted the footage of the attack to the prosecutor’s office. At the same time, in cases of interference with the work of journalists from pro-government media, the rioters are arrested and prosecuted as soon as possible.
Also, in the shortest possible time, it was discovered where the threats to the Tanjug newsroom were coming from, and on the other hand, the suspect for the threats addressed to the journalist Ana Lalić escaped from house arrest and to this day there is no information about his whereabouts.
From the examples mentioned, it can be concluded that the institutions can react adequately, but it is obvious that in certain cases there is no will.
IJAS has repeatedly called on the authorities to condemn threats and attacks on journalists, to prosecute those responsible and for institutions to send a message to the public that attacks on media workers are unacceptable.
In the coming year, as before, IJAS will continue to provide support to independent and professional journalists, as well as to inform international institutions and organizations about the state of media freedom in Serbia.