The independent television channel N1’s editorial staff, regularly threatened for their critical reporting, recently faced a frightening shift from online violence to offline threats within the newsroom. Among them, a threatening letter reminding N1 of the 2015 terrorist attack at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 journalists and media workers, was addressed to the staff.
The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ), joined their Serbian members in urging the Ministry of Interior for police protection of the independent television channel N1 whose security needs to be stepped up.
The evident escalation occurred after the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić dangerously labelled N1 and Nova S’s reporting as “pure terrorism”. Vučić’s rhetoric, including the attempts to prompt the Prosecutor’s Office into action, led to six new online death threats directed at N1. ”You will hang sooner or later on Terazije,” “you will soon be burned,” are just a few examples.
The anonymous letter sent to the newsroom on 11 July marked a new, frightening level of violence. While accusing N1 reporting of ‘inciting propaganda’ and running an ‘anti-Serbian chase’, the author of the letter suggested that N1’s journalists could end up like those at Charlie Hebdo. “If you remember the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo played with and joked about Muslims in 2015,” read the letter.
N1 Director Igor Božič told the Third Prosecutor’s Office that the terrorist attack allusion was “one of the most brutal threats our editorial office has received,” causing immense fear among the journalists and their families.
In addition to the letter, journalist Zaklina Tatalović received an intimidating “gift” at the newsroom from activist Tomislav Lovreković, who previously intervened as a guest speaker for pro-government tabloid Informer. He entered N1 premises with a white rabbit, accompanied by the message “breed rabbits, not lions.” A video of the incident was broadcast by Informer, and shared on its social media. Recently, Tatalović was threatened with death in an anonymous email.
Since January, the EFJ has recorded on the Mapping Media Freedom platform over 15 threats targeting N1.
The EFJ-IFJ firmly request the Ministry of Interior that the N1 newsroom be afforded police protection, specifically through daily police patrols. This is particularly crucial for journalists who have recently been explicitly named in death threats, requiring heightened vigilance.
We also urge authorities to immediately identify and prosecute all individuals responsible for online and offline threats to prevent further violence. By using dangerous rhetoric against critical voices, Vučić inevitably put critical voices already facing threats for their reporting in even greater danger as demonstrated with N1.
We express our full support to N1.
Source: EFJ
