Journalists and media workers have been exposed for a long period of time to serious threats and physical attacks that directly threaten their safety, but they are increasingly exposed to various pressures that indirectly threaten their safety.
According to data from the “Base of attacks on journalists” of the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS), a total of 684 attacks on journalists in Serbia were registered in the period from 2017 to the end of April 2022. Of particular concern is the fact that 62 physical attacks on journalists were recorded in this period.
According to the long-term experience of NUNS, which has been running a base of attacks and pressures since 2008, of the criminal offenses that journalists encountered in connection with the performance of their journalistic work, the most common were: minor bodily injury (Article 122), violent behavior (Article 344), persecution, violent behavior at a sports event or public gathering (Article 344a), racial and other discrimination (Article 387), causing national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance (Article 317), causing general danger (Article 278), abuse and torture (Article 137) and others.
What can be seen as a trend in the last few years is the growth of the total number of incidents and the drastic increase of various types of pressure on journalists and the media. It is also very worrying that there has been an increase in the number of physical attacks.
In 2020, according to the data of the Association of Journalists of Serbia , 107 attacks on journalists were recorded, while in 2021 there were more than 74 attacks, Slobodan Radičević, a member of the Working Group for the Safety and Protection of Journalists, said at the beginning of December 2021, at the presentation of the results of research on pressure and attacks on journalists.
” In 2020, 59 cases related to the safety of journalists were opened in public prosecutor’s offices, and 66 cases by the end of October 2021. Of the total number of cases, including last year and this year, six convictions were handed down, and of the total number of cases from 2021, a third was dismissed ,” said Radičević at a conference at UNS.
In the UNS research, an anonymous survey was conducted in which more than a hundred journalists from journalist associations and trade unions participated, who stated that their work was most affected by ” economic insecurity, threats and pressures” .
Efforts made by journalist associations, the civil sector and international institutions, especially when it comes to the safety of journalists, still depend “on the famous political will” to resolve something or not.
” During the last year, we had some court cases of threats and attacks on journalists, which were resolved quite quickly, and the perpetrators were found and prosecuted relatively quickly. However, when you look a little deeper into the structure of those attacks, you see that they are some free shooters, who decided to deal with this or that journalist. What we witness every day, the constant targeting of independent media and journalists, as well as twisted threats from the highest levels of government, is already becoming really dangerous. Such a sick atmosphere that is constantly being created in society, of course, will invite some who believe in it to take matters into their own hands and settle accounts, and that’s what scares us a lot “, warns Ivana Stevanović , executive director of the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation.
Journalists from local media and correspondents from smaller towns are also under attack from thugs who are in the way of free speech. The problem of their safety is particularly complex because they are in a situation where they encounter bullies every day, and the reactions of the competent authorities are, most often, very slow and inadequate.
We remind you that the murder case from 2001, when journalist Milan Pantić, correspondent of Večernje novosti from Jagodina, was killed, has not yet been solved. There is still no clear progress in this case, although the public and journalists believe that the Prosecutor’s Office has enough information for further action.
What is particularly worrisome is the fact that in 2020 the number of attacks on female journalists increased and that the number of online attacks and pressures continues to increase from year to year.
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A survey conducted by NUNS in 2020 showed that 36% of respondents answered that in the last five years they had received threats via online channels or had their security compromised in any other way. Of these, 42% claimed that it was a consequence of one of their texts, and 27% that it was due to the overall work.
Source: KruševacPRESS
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