According to data from the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, four times more physical attacks on journalists were reported in 2025 than in 2024. Verbal attacks are almost daily. How to protect yourself, when the repressive regime does not think of protecting those who criticize it
Mode ratio Aleksandar Vučić according to the attacks on professional journalists, i.e. the practical impunity of those who verbally, but increasingly physically, very aggressively tear at journalists, is a clear indication that the government and the state do not want to protect journalists from attacks, because they would have to sanction themselves.
On the contrary, high state and party officials unreservedly and maliciously, in their public appearances and addresses to the media, and through targeting, disparagement – and increasingly unconcealed threats – only further incite aggression towards journalists.
That is why the narrative that only the public remains as the protection of journalists is slowly but surely becoming the prevailing opinion, whereby the safety of journalists is handed over from the hands of state institutions (which by all their powers should protect all citizens, including journalists) to the hands of an amorphous, vaguely defined public that is characterized by only one constant – voluntary arbitrariness in actions.
In such an insecure environment, the question is whether anyone can really stand up to protect journalists, and what the public, if it really is the only remaining protection for journalists, should do.
How to protect yourself
A member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists answers these questions for “Vreme”. Veran Matić.
“When there is no systemic protection by the competent institutions, then journalists, media, associations, associations must self-organize and through various types of support strive to protect journalists and media. First, through free legal support, not only when they are sued, but also to request protection from those who threaten, attack – the best lawyers, through free psychological support when necessary,” says Matić.
He adds that professional technical assistance is also needed to protect journalists from illegal surveillance and wiretapping, and that, if necessary, protection can include sheltering journalists and their families in a safe house, or moving them out of the country, temporarily or permanently.
He states that protection can be achieved by hiring professional security and with professional protective equipment for performing journalistic work in a safe manner, such as a helmet, protective vests, gas masks and goggles.
“It is necessary for every journalist and media worker to go through training for safe reporting. For newsrooms to adopt security protocols that every journalist will adhere to. That they always have some legal means of self-defense with them, so that, if they feel threatened, they do not move alone through streets without lights, near places where there are those who can harm them,” says Matić.
He reminds that during violent demonstrations one should report from a safe distance and connect with other reporters in order to exchange information, primarily when it comes to dangers.
Connecting with honest people
He adds that it is important to use the ANEM Safe Line 0800 100 115 and reminds that both NUNS and UNS have similar contact lines) for reporting all suspicious situations, threats and attacks.
“Any threat to security should be reported to the police. Journalists and the media must be vocal when it comes to their security, so that the public is informed so that they can be easily mobilized. You remember Vulin’s socialists who gathered in front of the N1 entrance as they were soon chased away by employees of nearby office buildings who gathered in larger numbers. Independent journalists who are often in dangerous situations – they are in danger because they want citizens to be well informed about the biggest violations of the law, about the corruption that destroys society and the life problems that citizens face. “Citizens also have to help journalists and the media in order to survive,” says Matić.
He adds that everything he mentioned is currently being used to the greatest extent in Serbia as a form of self-organization.
“It is very important that the international public is also aware, that international organizations react, the media write about the repression in Serbia. Connecting with honest people in different professions is also necessary: there are responsible people in the police, in the prosecutor’s offices, in the courts. Civil society organizations partners are important, especially those organizations that deal with freedom of speech, organization, human rights, minorities, vulnerable groups. “Many of them have budgets that serve to help those who are at risk, including journalists,” concludes Matić.
It’s getting worse.
In 2025, a drastic increase in the number of attacks on journalists was recorded in Serbia, with a record number of physical incidents in the past few years.
According to the data Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2025, four times more physical attacks on journalists were reported than in 2024. By June 2025, 20 physical attacks were recorded, compared to only three in the same period in 2024.
In November 2025 alone, 154 verbal attacks were recorded, with many of them coming from the parliamentary rostrum, that is, the bullies were MPs.
Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) registered more than 120 attacks and pressures by the end of October. August was a record month with 46 incidents, 14 of which were committed by those who are supposed to protect citizens, including journalists – police officers.
The situation is further aggravated by the high degree of impunity and the slowness of the institutions, so although the number of attacks is a record, the number of final judgments remains low. According to the data of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office and professional associations, by the end of September 2025, 12 convictions were handed down in cases established during that year. Additional data for the period up to the end of October mentions a total of four convictions, specifically for cases started in that month or recently concluded.
Out of the total number of cases formed in 2025 until September, which is a total of 94 cases, only 13 percent of them were resolved with convictions. In 14 cases, a decision was made to dismiss the criminal charges, and in as many as 27 cases, state authorities allegedly failed to identify the attackers of journalists even after the preliminary investigation procedure.
Cases of threats are often prosecuted as misdemeanors rather than crimes, which the profession criticizes as inadequate protection.
Collapse of the rule of law
Media associations criticize the police for not responding to the prosecution’s requests, but also for a selective approach, such as banning the presence of certain media at conferences. of the MUP.
The trend in Serbia shows a constant degradation of journalists’ safety. In 2023 and 2024, the number of physical attacks on journalists was relatively low, but opponents of impartial and objective reporting used SLAPP lawsuits and verbal insults.
Brutal physical violence and direct death threats against journalists returned to public discourse together with a general civil rebellion in 2025, and due to such treatment of journalists, Serbia experienced a collapse of the rule of law in terms of media protection.
Source: Vreme
