The SafeJournalists network strongly condemns the threats to Serbian journalists and the media hunt that has been going on for several days.

The journalists of the portal N1 were threatened in a comment on the news about Rio Tinto, the editorial office of Kossev was threatened in messages on Facebook, and Tamara Skrozza is the target of an organized smear campaign in the tabloids. The direct targeting of the journalist further worsened the announcement of the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Dejan Ristić. After defending Skrozza, professor Rade Veljanovski also became a target. The tabloids then continued to target other media professionals who supported their colleague, including IJAS president Željko Bodrožić.

“But we are waiting for you and we will record it when the time comes… Everything is remembered, once a TRAITOR, always a TRAITOR” – is part of the message of the person who addressed the journalists of the N1 portal in the comments. Among other things, the person wrote that he will die for Aleksandar Vučić, “but before me at least five traitors will die.” The comment also wishes that N1 television broadcasts the funerals of its employees live.

The Kossev portal from Mitrovica, Kosovo, has been addressed for months by the same person on social networks, who sends threats and expresses dissatisfaction with the work of the portal.In the last message left on Facebook, in addition to the insults, journalists were threatened: “You won’t be around for long.” Threats to the Kossev portal, as well as to N1, were reported by IJAS to the competent institutions.

On Monday morning, an almost identical unsigned text (contrary to Article 57 of the Law on Public Information and Media) appeared on the portals “informer.rs” and “novosti.rs”, targeting journalist Tamara Skrozza and accusing her of calling for the assassination of the President of Serbia. On the same day, the negative campaign continued in primetime news on “Pink” Television, and then on other media close to the government. In those articles, journalist Tamara Skrozza is accused of saying in the show “If I were someone”, which was broadcast on TV N1 at the beginning of June this year, that “President Vučić should have been killed on the night of October 5 and 6, 2000.” Scrozza’s sentence from the show, in the part where she talks about the events that happened on October 5, 2000 and says that that night “should have looked different”, was taken out of context and it is clear that the journalist did not mention President Aleksandar Vučić anywhere, nor did she call for his murder. The very sequence of the appearance of these fabricated media reports and false accusations in the media shows once again that it is an orchestrated campaign against Skrozza that is spreading in an organized manner and is not abating. Other media professionals were later involved in the negative campaign, such as Professor Rade Veljanovski, who defended Skrozza in an interview with N1. Not long after the interview, a fabricated headline with untrue content appeared on the Informer portal: “Veljanovski: The fact that Tamara Skroza said that Vučić should have been killed on October 5 is completely normal and many of us from the opposition think so!”, and the professor’s words were inserted which he never uttered.

To make things worse, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications also announced yesterday. The statement, referring to tabloid publications, interprets the statements made by journalist Tamara Skrozza in the media and concludes that it is “hate speech” and “incitement to violence”. Yesterday, the Collation for Freedom of the Media said that this statement by Minister Dejan Ristic shows a level of deep misunderstanding of the concept of preserving freedom of speech and advocacy for the safety of journalists, and opens the way to further persecution and endangering the safety of journalist Tamara Skrozza, but also all other media workers who dare to think and speak critically, and Minister Dejan Ristić to issue a public apology to colleague Skrozza for the shameful announcement that came out of the institution he represents.

The SafeJournalists network, which represents media professionals in the Western Balkans, condemns this week’s events, calls on the competent institutions to quickly find the people who threatened the media on social networks and adequately sanction them. Also, the Network calls on those who started and spread the media chase to stop it as soon as possible. We also call on the holders of state positions to refrain from further inciting hatred towards journalists, because in the past we have repeatedly witnessed the fatal consequences such campaigns can lead to.

The SafeJournalists network will inform relevant national and international stakeholders.

Every attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy and the rights of all citizens.

Association of Journalists of Kosovo

Association of Journalists of Macedonia

BH Journalists Association

Croatian Journalists’ Association

Independent Journalists Association of Serbia

Trade Union of Media of Montenegro

Prishtina – Skopje – Sarajevo – Zagreb – Belgrade – Podgorica, 02.08.2024.

The source: IJAS

Photo: Canva