Attacks on the editor of the Regional Information Agency Jugpress Ljiljana Stojanović by pro-government tabloids, because of the questions she asked the Minister Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski at the media conference held on Saturday in Leskovac, have been going on for three days. These media accused the journalist of attacking and condemning the minister, pointing out that “she cannot refer to the increase in the birth rate, because she gave birth to children herself later.”
At the conference, Stojanović asked the minister how old she was when she gave birth to her first child, since she had previously criticized women for giving birth at a late age.
After that, the editor of Jugpress was accused of being “Šolak’s journalist”, and that the question she asked was a “primitive invasion of privacy” and “pure rudeness and an obvious lack of arguments”. Television Informer dealt with this topic in detail in the morning program.
The Minister of Economy, Adrijana Mesarović, who was also at the mentioned media conference in Leskovac, joined the pressure. She wrote on her Instagram account that “such comments not only show obsessive hatred for women and mothers, but also brutal hatred for everything the government does for the citizens of Serbia.”
“We must not remain silent to those who are obviously trying to come to power by drawing targets and humiliating women who have given birth and who have not given birth!”, added Minister Mesarović, among other things.
The editorial office of Jugpress announced that Ljiljana Stojanović did not insult or belittle women in general and that she did not “attack” the minister Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski, as is persistently promoted in the campaign calling for the lynching of Stojanović and JUGpress, which is led by two ministers and some the media.
“As you can see in the video, Stojanović did not evaluate anyone’s ability to perform ministerial work, putting it in the context of who gave birth or did not give birth to children, which is an absolutely private matter for every woman, like those whom Stamenkovski calls ‘late they are giving birth’, and so is hers,” the press release of Jugpress states.
Unfortunately, the new incident is another case of a complete replacement of theses and the deliberate targeting of journalists and women journalists who dare to ask questions that have not been prepared in advance, and an attempt to turn criticism of the work of public officials into political campaigns for a change of government.
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) strongly condemns the malicious spin of tabloids and the participation of ministers in the campaign against journalist Ljiljana Stojanović.
It is senseless to demand that the tabloids, which do not recognize the Code of Journalists of Serbia and do not respect professional standards to stop the lynching campaign against the editor of Jugpress, but we note that it is necessary for the state of Serbia to stop giving money from all citizens to these media, through media contests and public procurement.
We demand that public officials take responsibility for what they say and do, that they do not participate in attacks on journalists by accusing them of something they did not say, but condemn and do not encourage such texts. Ljiljana Stojanović did not humiliate women, as Minister Mesarović states, and it is certainly not her goal to come to power.
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
Belgrade, October 7, 2024.