According to Željko Bodrožić, president of the Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the state of emergency has only worsened the situation of non-aligned media, often subject to the discredit of the media controlled by power.

“The state of emergency has exposed the government’s intention to silence the media that are not under its control and to prevent independent journalists from doing their work, and I hope that now even those who in the past have supported – for opportunistic purposes or who knows what reasons – the so-called stabilocracy of [Serbian President] Aleksandar Vučić, turning a blind eye to blatant violations of media freedom motivated by alleged higher purposes, have realised that Serbia, with the current government, now deranged and out of control, is sinking into darkness and madness”, says Željko Bodrožić, president of the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (NUNS).

Even this year, despite the state of emergency, Serbian journalists’ associations remembered the anniversary of the death of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, owner of the Telegraf newspaper, brutally killed on April 11, 1999. The murder of Ćuruvija, like many other murders of Serbian journalists, to date has not yet had a final judicial epilogue. At the time of the Ćuruvija murder, the state of war was in force in Serbia, proclaimed in response to NATO’s military intervention against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Therefore, a comparison between that period and the current situation in Serbia spontaneously arises.

Indeed, it is possible to draw numerous analogies between the current situation and the dark 1990s, also because many members of the Milošević regime today hold the highest institutional positions. But there are also differences. First of all, in Serbia today there are no draconian laws against journalists, there are no police raids on the editorial offices, no mass arrests, physical attacks and murders of journalists set up by the state.

However, today we are once again witnessing all those dynamics that preceded the regime’s brutal campaign against journalists in the late 1990s. Thus, in Vučić’s Serbia, independent journalists are persecuted and demonised by pro-government media, while most independent outlets are now financially devastated, as they are constantly excluded from competitions for the allocation of public funding and hindered in their attempt to attract advertisers.

Over the past month, more precisely since the state of emergency was introduced, these dynamics have accelerated and we have witnessed the attempt by the government to formally introduce censorship; a journalist was recently arrested, while all non-aligned journalists are openly labelled as enemies of the Serbian state and people.

Do you think censorship exists in Serbia today? Or are there various, sometimes very sophisticated mechanisms of pressure on journalists and the media? What kind of pressures do journalists face?

Aleksandar Vučić’s regime controls the vast majority of Serbian media and does so unscrupulously. Particularly problematic is the fact that public broadcasters – the Serbian Radio Television (RTS) and the Vojvodina Radio Television (RTV) – have put themselves completely at the service of power, with the aim of glorifying it. The few free, independent outlets that carry out their work professionally, pursuing the public interest, are the target of attacks orchestrated by the leadership in power. For years now, “inconvenient” media have been sabotaged in all ways in their work, with the result that today most struggle to survive. This is particularly apparent at the local level. Since the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came to power, the local media landscape has changed completely, because many local media have closed their doors, while others have adapted and try not to step on the government’s toes, just to survive.

Journalists and the Serbian government collaborate in certain areas, for example within the Permanent Working Group for the Protection of Journalists, and have also collaborated in drafting the new media strategy. What do you think of this collaboration? Do you think the government’s intentions are sincere?

The Permanent Working Group for the Protection of Journalists has achieved some results, but is unable to protect journalists from the government’s attacks. In a country where the attorney general acts as if she were a member of the ruling party’s leadership, and the police are acting as assault infantry for SNS officials, we can hardly expect representatives of state institutions that are part of the Working Group to find the courage to urge the start of investigations which could, for example, reveal that the government party’s propaganda machine is involved in a brutal stigma and criminalisation campaign against journalists carried out on social networks.

The Serbian government eventually supported the implementation of the new media strategy only to fulfill the deadlines linked to the EU accession process, and certainly not out of desire to respect the freedom of the press and of expression and to strengthen media pluralism. Here even the laws count for nothing, and we have no guarantee that the adoption of the media strategy will lead to a change in the government’s attitude towards the media and journalists. Indeed, the conditions in which we work deteriorated just as the strategy was being drawn up. The government, while accepting most of the proposals for the new strategy put forward by the independent associations [of journalists], has continued, with even greater brutality, to brand the media where the members of those independent associations work as enemies of the [Serbian] state and people – a situation that has become even more dramatic with the introduction of the state of emergency.

To what extent is the state of emergency being exploited to put pressure on the media and journalists and to ban any critical voices from the public debate?

Unfortunately, our hopes that the government would take a more responsible attitude during the pandemic, which poses a danger to all citizens, proved to be vain. Since the opposition, which was weak even before the introduction of the state of emergency, at the behest of the government has now almost completely disappeared from the public space, the government targets independent journalists, as they are the only ones who raise uncomfortable questions, that is, questions on subjects of public interest that should be brought to the attention of the public.

In your opinion, when and under what conditions could the media situation in Serbia improve?

I do not see how the current government can help improve the situation, it is clear that it does not want to. The government’s only goal is to maintain control over all nationally-broadcast television stations and the vast majority of traditional and digital media. They want to keep the independent scene (i.e. the media outlets that have managed to survive the past eight years since Vučić came to power) in a half-life state, to be able to use it as a screen to hide what they do not want the democratic world to see, while at the same time continuing to attack and intimidate it.

However, independent media enjoy the support of the EU and many international organisations. So what is missing?

The support of the EU and other democratic countries is apparent; in Serbia many independent media manage to survive in these difficult times thanks to funding obtained through calls from the EU and various international organisations. However, the whole situation is somewhat schizophrenic, because the EU continues to support Vučić and has only recently begun to use harsh tones in criticising the state of democracy and media freedom in Serbia. It is as if we were a football team to which the Europeans have generously donated the shirts and shoes to allow us to play, and now those very Europeans do not want to see that the referee is openly robbing us. It is an illogical and unsustainable long-term situation.

Do you think that the PR agencies are beginning to dominate the media sector and that professional and independent journalism is taking a back seat?

Unfortunately, propaganda has won over journalism, and tabloids have further degraded the profession for us, so the situation is even more bleak. However, we must not give up and, as long as we can, we must serve the public interest and raise all the issues that interest citizens, and above all investigate how the government spends public money and monitor possible abuses of power for private and party interests. They say the darkest hour is before the sunrise, and as the situation in Serbia is rather gloomy, I hope that proverb turns out to be true.

The article was republished from Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa with permission.

BANJA LUKA, 29.04.2020. – The Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska has ordered the competent courts to be notified of the suspension of misdemeanor proceedings against 18 persons initiated by the Decree and the Decision on banning panic and causing disorder during the state emergency on the territory of RS.

Both of these normative acts were repealed under intense pressure from the public, the professional journalistic community and the civil sector. In this regard, the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line contacted the RS MOI asking what would happen to the misdemeanor proceedings initiated on the basis of these decisions.

– In accordance with an earlier statement by the Ministry, police departments of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska were instructed to initiate proceedings for annulment of misdemeanor orders issued on the grounds of these two normative acts, following the procedure prescribed by the Instruction on the manner of applying the Law on Misdemeanors. Also, for misdemeanors issued on the same basis, which were processed through the request for initiation of misdemeanor proceedings, it was ordered to inform the competent courts about withdraw from the filed claims – states a reply from the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska addressed to the BH Journalists Association.

The MOI of RS notes that in accordance with the aforementioned normative acts, a total of 18 misdemeanor warrants were issued to natural persons, and that no warrant was issued to a legal person or a media outlet.

BEOGRAD, 28.04.2020. – Osnovno javno tužilaštvo u Novom Sadu odbacilo je krivičnu prijavu protiv novinarke portala Nova.rs i članice Upravnog odbora Nezavisnog društva novinara Vojvodine (NDNV) Ane Lalić, potvrđeno je u odgovoru tužilaštva tom udruženju.

PRISHTINË, 28.04.2020 – Asociacioni i Gazetarëve të Kosovës dënon fuqishëm sulmin fizik ndaj gazetarit dhe pronarit të Televizionit Puls, Nenad Milenkovic, që ndodhi dje në Mitrovicën e Veriut.

Sipas raportimeve, Milenkoviç është sulmuar nga katër persona të maskuar para ndërtesës komunale të Mitrovicës së Veriut. Milenkovic ka marrë tretman mjekësor, pas goditjeve që ka pësuar në kokë dhe trup.

AGK kërkon nga organet e drejtësisë që sa më shpejtë t’i hetojë motivet e sulmit dhe ta zbulojnë këtë rast, i cili në themel dëmton lirinë e shprehjes dhe medias. AGK u bënë thirrje të gjithë akterëve lokal ta dënojnë incidentin dhe të angazhohen për të parandaluar kërcënimet dhe sulmet ndaj gazetarëve.

SARAJEVO, 28.04.2020. – The BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line wrote to the Institution of Ombudsmen/Ombudsman for Human Rights of BiH requesting that this institution issue a Finding, Conclusion or Recommendation regarding the Order of the Crisis Staff of the Federation of BiH, the Crisis Staff of the Canton of Sarajevo and the Crisis Staff of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, which refers to the ban on the presence of journalists and the media at press conferences of these bodies, formed during the pandemic of Covid-19.

– The BH Journalists Association welcomes the decisions of the crisis staffs and the governments of the Federation of BiH, Sarajevo Canton and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton to establish a media pool as a safe and reasonable way to organize press conferences in this crisis period. However, at the same time, we warn that organizing press conferences without the physical presence of journalists, as well as excluding the possibility of their direct dialogue with public officials during the conference, necessarily leads to censorship, incomplete informing of citizens and possible political manipulation of certain information – says the letter from the BHJA to the Institution of Ombudsmen/ Ombudsman of BiH.

BH Journalists say they do not know why these three crisis staffs restricted journalists from accessing press conferences or allowed them to do so in a limited way – by receiving questions via e-mail and selecting questions to answer. All three crisis staffs, in response to why the disputed Order was issued and why journalists were excluded from direct communication, cited as a justification that they were protecting the health of journalists and respecting the ban on gathering.

– The BH Journalists Association considers these decisions to be political and manipulative, and directly pointed against media freedoms and the right of journalists to access public events and information in a free and non-discriminatory manner. We also see these decisions as an attempt to institutionalize censorship, a “cover” to avoid answering questions of public importance and directly violating citizens’ freedom of information in the Federation of BiH, Sarajevo Canton and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.

For all the above reasons, we invite you to issue a Finding, Request or Recommendation to the crisis staffs mentioned above which endangered media freedoms in Bosnia and Herzegovina with these decrees, all with the aim of easing or completely abolishing the orders issued – concluded the letter from BH Journalists.

BH Journalists and the Free Media Help Line asked the Ombudsman to comment on the Order banning disturbance of public order and peace by causing panic and disorder in the area of ​​the Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo, which was issued on April 10 this year. The said order prohibits “the presentation or transmission of panic-causing news, interfering with the enforcement of decisions and measures by municipal authorities and other institutions” through the media, social networks and other communication means, with sanctions for potential offenders from 1,000 to 9,000 BAM.

– This order represents a harsh attack on freedom of the media, freedom of expression and the right of individuals to publicly express their views, and gives disproportionately large rights and opportunities for individuals, in this case to persons from the Municipal Civil Protection Staff of Stari Grad Sarajevo, to censor the media and restrict citizens’ right to freedom expressions through social networks. A similar order was issued in Republika Srpska on April 6, but it was repealed late last week under intense pressure from the public, the professional journalistic community and the civilian sector – BH Journalists recall.

In the coming period, the BH Journalists Association will conduct a survey among journalists and the media outlets about violations of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of access to public information by crisis staffs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PODGORICA, 27.04.2020. – The Ministry of Culture recently decided to allocate 150,000 EUR to support the print media at the time of the corona virus epidemic.

The decision was preceded by a competition to which all print media with national circulation applied.

Projects for the daily newspapers Pobjeda, Dan and Vijesti will receive 43,500 EUR each, while the Dnevne novine will get 19,500 EUR.

The decision itself, submitted by the Ministry to the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro, did not specify the details of the supported projects.

The Call for Proposals for Creating and Producing Program Content in Daily Print Media in the light of the situation and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was launched on March 20, is intended to support projects aimed at timely, credible, professional and objective informing of the citizen, in the context of the situation caused by the corona virus pandemic, protection against misinformation and fake news, support for the exercise of citizens’ rights to pluralistic information and ethical reporting on high self-regulatory principles.

The main criteria include, inter alia, the importance of the project for improving informing to the community from a health, educational and comparative perspective, as well as contributing to the diversity of media content and pluralism of information and content in daily print media.

In addition, the Ministry appreciated the transparency of the ownership structure of the media, the number of employees, the importance and quality of the project (creativity, the reality of the budget and the sustainability of the project), as well as the monthly average of copies sold in the last three months.

The print media recently welcomed the initiative of the Association of Managers of Montenegro, which demanded more favorable credit lines from the Investment and Development Fund for the press.

As previously announced, assistance from the Ministry of Culture was also provided to local public broadcasters, in the amount of 35,000, and commercial and public broadcasters were exempted from paying a fee to the Electronic Media Agency, in the amount of 80,000 euros.

Nezavisno udruženje novinara Srbije ne čudi pad Srbije na listi Reportera bez granica (RSF), jer se mogao očekivati još lošiji rezultat imajući u vidu nivo i nastavljeni trend pada slobode medija i bezbednosti novinara u Srbiji u prethodnoj godini. NUNS svake godine od 2016. godine zajedno sa svojim partnerima iz Regionalne platforme za zagovaranje slobode medija i bezbednost novinara radi istraživanje “Indikatori za nivo slobode medija i bezbednost novinara”. Poslednje za 2019. godinu, koje će u narednih mesec dana biti publikovano, uzroke pada na listi RSF uočava zbog sledećih faktora:

• Novinari su i dalje fizički ugroženi zbog obavljanja svog posla. Nakon tri godine jednocifrenog broja fizičkih napada, u 2019. taj broj je opet dvocifren (11 fizičkih napada).
• Verbalne pretnje po život novinara su stalno prisutne  i drže se na istom nivou već pet godina unazad (u 2019  bilo je 23 pretnje), dok se broj i vrste pritisaka uvećavaju iz godine u godinu. Prošle godine smo zabeležili 80 takvih incidenata (2018. – 72, 2017. – 62, 2016. -33).
• Slučajevi krivičnih dela učinjenih na štetu novinara retko završavaju na sudu, dugo su u predistražnom i istražnom postupku, tako da i dalje imamo dva slučaja ubistva novinara i jedan pokušaj ubistva u predistražnom postupku.
• Slučaj paljenja kuće Milana Jovanovića naveden je u izvještaju RSF-a. Optuženi je suđenje koristio za klevetu Jovanovića i pretnje javnim tužiocima… NUNS pažljivo nadgleda ovo suđenje i izveštava o njemu, i na ovom slučaju možemo zaključiti koliko je pravosuđe slabo. U saradnji sa organizacijom Article 19 NUNS dostavlja informacije o ovom slučaju specijalnim reporterima za ljudska prava Ujedinjenih nacija i OEBS-a kako bi ovaj slučaj bio ispraćen od početka do kraja.
• Zapaljiva retorika političara i nosilaca vlasti uperena je na novinare koji izveštavaju u javnom interesu i više od 30 % pritisaka potiče upravo od političara, što ohrabruje druge građane da svoj bes iskale upravo na novinarima. Na taj način se šalje poruka da je to dozvoljeno i društveno prihvatljivo ponašanje.
• Kampanje blaćenja nezavisnih novinara i redakcije i dezinformisanje javnosti u tabloidnim medijima je dobila još veće razmere, a mediji koji to čine uživaju naklonost vlasti, što kroz državne fondove što kroz javno izražavanje podrške.
• Trend zatvaranja državnih institucija i njihovog odbijanja da pruže informacije od javnog značaja je nastavljen i u prethodnoj godini.
• Socijalno ekeonomski uslovi rada novinara i dalje predstavljaju značajan problem, i možemo ih slobodno nazvati prekarnim radnicima, a sindikalna organizovanost izostaje

Razlozi zbog kojih je možda ovaj pad na listi manji nego prethodne godine vidimo u sledećim činjenicama:

–          Medijska strategija je završena uz participaciju svih relevantnih aktera na medijskoj sceni, ali nakon tri godine, što je dragoceno vreme koje je izgubljeno za poboljšavanje uslova rada novinara i medija zbog neodgovornosti države koja je proces izrade dugo vodila na neadekvatan način i uz odsustvo struke. Strategija je odličan polazni dokument, ali imajući u vidu svakodnevno ponašanje predstavnika države koja je formalni potpisnik, plašimo se da i taj dokument ne ostane samo mrtvo slovo na papiru.

–          Stalna radna grupa za podizanje nivoa bezbednosti novinara nastavila je sa radom u 2019. godini. Komunikacija, način prijavljivanja slučajeva i brzina reakcije na napade su pozitivne strane rada ove grupe, ali na efikasnosti procesuiranja slućajeva treba još mnogo da se radi.

Predsednik Srbije i vladajuće partije Aleksandar Vučić izjavio da smatra da je razlog pada Srbije na listi RSF činjenica da još uvek nema presude u slučaju Milana Jovanovića, čija je kuća zapaljena u decembru 2018. Mi smatramo da postoji mnogo više razloga od toga i savetujemo mu da bi trebalo da izveštaj pročita pažljivije.