The Coalition for Media Freedom appeals to the police and the prosecutor’s office to take all necessary actions and investigate the latest dangerous targeting of the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Autonomija portal and journalist Dasko Milinovic by the right-wing organization “Conservative Movement Nasi (Ours)”, which can seriously threaten their safety.
On the posters, which were put up in the center of Novi Sad, and which are signed by “Nasi”, next to them, several figures “who work against the interests of Vojvodina” are targeted, next to which there is a picture of the former Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic. In this way, the NDNV is linked to the Ustasha movement and can create an inaccurate and negative image among a certain number of citizens, and thus open up space for more serious attacks.
We remind that in March of this year, the “Nasi” movement sent emails to the address of NDNV in which it presented a series of insults, accusing this organization as well as the portal Autonomija, of which NDNV is the publisher, of being “foreign mercenaries” and of leading “media war against Russia and Serbia” and “promote Ukrainian neo-Nazism”.
We have repeatedly warned that such actions are very dangerous and that the consequences can be far-reaching. This atmosphere and negative attitude towards journalists and the media is transmitted to citizens, who, most often, on social networks, also send threats, harass and insult journalists and further incite hatred.
The Coalition indicates that the state must take a stronger stand in the protection of journalists and that the issue of solving the consequences of targeting should be raised. We remind that the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists announced a few days ago that in the first six months of this year, there were 42 cases of attacks and threats against journalists, and that only 11 were solved.
The Coalition for Media Freedom consists of the Association of Media, the Association of Online Media (AOM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of Local and Independent Media “Local Press” and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation.