Serbian journalists face escalating threats in a polarized media landscape

Jelena Obucina is one of many journalists working in Serbia who have received threats in connection to her work

Serbian journalists are used to working in fear - targeted by social media trolls, seeing their personal data released, being verbally attacked by politicians and state officials - but the malice directed at Nova S TV journalist Jelena Obucina was extreme even by those standards.

Obucina received messages via twitter, threatening her with “impalement” and stating she “would be burned,” among graphic and specific images of torture and sexual violence.

“The horrible details of what the person will do to this well-known TV journalist in a sense of torture was clearly related to her work,” said Dragana Bjelica, a representative from the Journalists' Association of Serbia.

The messages Obucina received were sent after a statement published in the tabloid Alo wrongly accusing her of threatening Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on television and of making anti-state propaganda.

“Before this message she has been in focus of the tabloids, and the morning program of one commercial pro- government national TV station,” added Bjelica.

“Tabloids are the media on whom the ruling party rely and brutal attacks come from there, as well as … ruling party representatives in the Parliament, “ she added.

The memory of the murder of journalist Milan Pantić in 2001 is still vivid for those receiving threat in Serbia. Pantić, who reported on crime and corruption, had received threat in connection to articles he wrote, before being murdered outside his home. Pantić’s killers have still not been brought to justice.

Bjelica said that, in contrast, a suspect was found in Obucina's case, thanks to her reporting it to the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists that was set up in 2017. The Working Group works with the union, police and prosecutors as well as the Serbian branch of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Obucina isn't alone, however. Recently, several journalists received similar threats, leading to ARTICLE 19 Europe and the Media Freedom Rapid Response partners to condemn the intimidation.

MFRR described “often orchestrated campaigns by pro-government media outlets and members of the public to silence journalists,” urging authorities to protect journalists, despite criticism that the government implicitly condones harassment of reporters.

A few days later, the home address of journalist Nenad Kulačin was published on posters pasted in downtown Belgrade. His colleague at the daily newspaper Danas, Marko Vidojković, received more than 20 social media threats after an appearance on Nova S where he talked about a World Cup game between Serbia and Brazil.

Several tabloid newspapers published identical articles that targeted and insulted Marko Vidojković over his views regarding the match, said the Resource Centre on Media Freedom in Europe.

In early November Danas, which covers human rights issues, received a threatening email that said that “salvos of bullets” could be fired at the staff. The email said reporters there could “end up” like what happened to journalists of the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo, killed in their offices by terrorists in 2015.

The Danas journalists were called the “enemy of the Serbian people,” and “traitors”, with the paper's coverage of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina entity Republika Srpska cited specifically. Since then, there has been a permanent police guard at the newspaper’s offices in Belgrade.

The Safe Journalists Network said, “It is again clear that narrative and negative campaigns that start with statements from high-ranking government officials, usually continued by tabloids, lead to terrible threats from unknown people, especially on social media.”

Attila Mong, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists Europe (CPJ) representative said, “It is a welcome development that authorities in Serbia reacted quickly to the threats made by an unknown individual to the editorial staff of daily newspaper Danas and that they increased patrols around the newsroom.”

Why does it keep happening? “We have a polarized media scene and obvious tensions (and) very strong ruling party influencing,” said Bjelica.

“We must do the best on our own, to do whatever in our power to have a regulated and trustworthy media scene, and protected and economically independent, safe and satisfied journalists and media workers. We can’t neglect the EU influence in the process,” she said.

But, she added: “I don’t see that EU officials are interested in unpunished killing of Mr. Pantic, and I don’t see that EU is doing anything together with other international organizations to resolve cases of 17 murdered, kidnapped, disappeared journalists and media workers in Kosovo.”

Bjelica said that, “We have evidence, the state Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists has the results of police work about the case, and they know who killed Mr. Pantić, but the specialized prosecutors refuse to do their work.”