Private radio and TV station B92 in Serbia has decided to drop a political talk show following political pressure. Utisak nedelje (‘‘The Impression of the Week’’ in English) has been run by the well-known journalist Olja Bećković. The talk show has been broadcasting for 24 years and has been well received among the audience. It is considered as one of the few programmes critically...
The EFJ has learned today that RTV Mladenovac's journalist Dragan Nikolic was yesterday detained and interrogated by the Serbian police services following a critical comment published on his Facebook profile about the government handling of the recent floods. According to the EFJ affiliate, the Sindikat novinara Srbije (JUS - Journalists' Union of Serbia), Dragan Nikolic was detained by the...
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) is protesting over the criminal sentence for libel handed down to Stojan Markovic, owner, director and editor of Radio Ozon, an ANEM member station based in Cacak. The Primary Court in Cacak found Markovic guilty of slandering former minister Velimir Ilic. The decision was based on Markovic's comment "The Time for Settling the Bills has Come...
Three global press organisations have agreed to assess the media landscape in Montenegro, a young democracy which hopes to join the European Union but whose candidacy has raised press freedom concerns. The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the International Press Institute (IPI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) recently sent a joint delegation to...
The South and East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed alarm at the threats received by TV B92 journalist Sonja Kamenkovic from Zajecar, Serbia. Since the end of August 2010 Kamenkovic has reported on the alleged violent behaviour of a police officer who reportedly injured two young men. The currently suspended police officer allegedly threatened, on several occasions, Kamenkovic and...
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has condemned the physical assault on Blic newspaper correspondent Gvozden Zdravic in Aleksandrovac, Serbia. On September 30, Gvozden Zdravic was physically assaulted while on duty. Zdravic was photographing the local courthouse when the driver of the mayor of Aleksandrovac allegedly ran out of the courthouse and physically abused Zdravic by...
The mayor of the Serbian city of Zajecar, Bosko Nicic has decided to prevent all directors of companies and public institutions in the city from making statements to the media without his prior consent, according to the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO). Directors of companies and public institutions now feel that they must fear for their jobs if they do not comply with the directive...
The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (IJAS/NUNS), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), local Press and the the Independent Journalists' Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (IJAV/NDNV) have urged the government to ban the work and operations of extremist, fascist, neo-Nazi and racist groups in Serbia. The latest case of the beating of journalist Teofil Pancic...
The High Court in Nis, in a defamation case against Serbian daily newspaper Narodnih Novina journalist Dragana Kocic and editor-in-chief Timosenko Milosavljevic, has ruled in favour of the defendants. Together, the two had been sentenced by the Court of First Instance to pay a fine of 1,000,000 Serbian dinars (approx. 10,800 EUR) for publishing an article using quotes from official documents - an...
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed a landmark decision by the Constitutional Court of Serbia rejecting repressive amendments to the Public Information Act of Serbia. The Journalists' Association of Serbia (JAS), an EFJ affiliate, has won its appeal against the Act after its adoption by the Serbian Parliament in August 2009. In the ruling of July 22, the court found in favour...
