Dialogue is the most natural way for any society to overcome a crisis, but how can you have a conversation when the minister of information calls for media outlets to be shut down, labeling them “outposts of foreign agencies,” said Friday the participants of the panel “Safety, Democracy and the Media in Serbia,” organized by the EU–Serbia Joint Consultative Committee.
N1 TV Program Director Igor Bozic said that the station has documented more than 80 attacks on its staff and brand, both physical and verbal, including severe threats against its journalists.
“The threats range from calling us ‘Ustashas,’ and accusations of being a terrorist media outlet, to calls for us to be killed or burned, with people claiming to know where we live and what cars we drive,” said Bozic, recalling an incident just a week ago involving an N1 crew outside the pro-government tent encampment near the Serbian Parliament.
Bozic also addressed the ownership situation at United Media, because of which editors and journalists have launched an initiative to buy out the outlet from United Group owners to ensure its survival.
He warned that, in the current situation and under the current pressure, there is a real risk N1 could be placed under the control of the state-owned Telekom Srbija.
Bozic argued that even if the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) is formed, it will serve no purpose without free and independent media.
Bozic also revealed that six months ago he, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy director Igor Bandovic, but others also, were targeted by Pegasus spyware, which had been illegally installed on their phones.
Bandovic: New elections not the way out of this crisis
Igor Bandovic described Serbia as being in its deepest social, political and institutional crisis to date.
Recalling the November 1, 2024 collapse of the Novi Sad train station canopy, Bandovic said that the tragedy sparked protests by students and citizens, culminating in a massive rally in Belgrade on March 15.
“Instead of dialogue, which we are discussing here, the authorities responded with escalated repression,” Bandovic said, adding that the government is offering no genuine discussion about the changes needed for normal political life in Serbia.
“I do not see new elections as a way out of this crisis because, under these circumstances and conditions, they would not provide an opportunity for the true voice of democracy to be heard,” he emphasized.
Bandovic said that there is no going back to the way things were before November 1, 2024, and that everything that has happened since the canopy collapse has revealed the regime’s true face – “the one we see on the streets, not the one they put on when they visit Brussels.”
Source: N1
