Over the past month, the Centre for Social Stability, a non-governmental organisation known for targeting independent journalists, intensified its ongoing smear campaign against Veran Matić, President of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and member of the Permanent Working Group on the Safety of Journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns these shameful attacks and calls on Serbian authorities to respond promptly by launching an investigation into the Center for Social Stability.
On 18 March 2026, the Centre for Social Stability incited hostility towards ANEM President Veran Matić on its social media, with a declaration dangerously echoing a 2003 remark by former Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić before the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.
Weeks before the attack, Veran Matić and other media figures were portrayed as “enemies of the state” in the documentary series ‘Evil Age 2 Creating Propaganda’. The documentary, which consists in selective framing and fabricated narratives to discredit independent journalism, was broadcast on national and cable TV on 29 January, and rebroadcast by the pro-government media Informer early February. Footage in the documentary showing Matić at the commemoration of murdered journalist Slavko Ćuruvija heightened particular concerns for his safety.
While multiplying dangerous rhetorics against Veran Matić, the organisation recently published a list of 45 future targets in upcoming episodes. More than half of those named are independent journalists, many affiliated with United Media Group, who have previously been targets of political pressure and threats that remain unpunished to this day.
Representatives of organisations tirelessly defending journalists under attack are also threatened, including Željko Bodrožić, president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), an EFJ affiliate, and Ana Lalić Hegedis, president of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV).
This smear campaign is part of a deep-rooted trend of intimidating and silencing those who work to defend press freedom and professional journalistic standards. While the Centre for Social Stability is named as the producer, the identity of its author, narrator, and sources for the images and video remains unknown.
“The broadcast of such defamatory and manipulative content on television during primetime, coupled with the authorities’ lack of response, reflects a climate of impunity when it comes to attacking journalists. Those in authority, including Vučić and his party, who publicly discredit journalists and other representatives, bear responsibility for this public harassment. We are also alarmed by the prolonged absence of a functioning Council of the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (REM), which has permitted the dissemination of harmful and potentially dangerous content over the past two years,” said Renate Schroeder, Director of the EFJ.
The EFJ, alongside its partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalists, will undertake a two-day mission to Belgrade on March 26–27. This mission is a follow-up to a previous solidarity visit, which concluded that the situation was already critical for the safety of some Serbian journalists. Since then, despite our repeated calls and recommendations, the situation has deteriorated alarmingly.
Source: EFJ
