The Coalition for Media Freedom expresses solidarity with and support for Veran Matić and other colleagues, associates, and collaborators who have been targeted in the piece Zlo doba 2: Stvaranje propagande (Evil Times 2: Creating Propaganda). This content – presented as a “documentary series” – through selective framing and insinuations constructs a narrative that portrays professional actors working in the public interest as hidden centers of power and “enemies of the state,” contributing to a climate of lynching and increasing the risk of threats and pressure. On Thursday, 29 January 2026, the content was broadcast massively and in a coordinated manner via TV Prva and B92 (with national coverage) and multiple cable channels, including Informer TV and Documentarna TV, giving messages that target individuals and delegitimize the entire professional community a disproportionately wide reach.
At the same time, we wish to emphasize that this is yet another in a series of attacks, discrediting efforts, and campaigns directed at other individuals and organizations engaged in public-interest journalism, the protection of professional standards, and the development of the media landscape in line with European and international principles. Increasingly, the public space is being shaped by an atmosphere in which the work of professional media outlets, newsrooms, associations, and civil society organizations is presented as acting “against the state” – a dangerous and fundamentally false thesis.
Although the Centre for Social Stability in this episode places one organization, ANEM, in the foreground, such an approach in practice fuels a culture of conspiracy theories that reduces complex social processes to a single alleged bearer of influence and one “center of power.” Social change, especially in the field of media freedoms, is never the result of an individual, but of the long-term work of numerous actors, including members of the Coalition for Media Freedom, some of which have existed for more than three decades and have continuously contributed to building professional standards and institutions.
The professional media community is not shaped, nor will it ever be shaped, by one man. It consists of journalists, editors, organizations and associations, researchers, trade unions, legal representatives, initiatives, and citizens, people whose core characteristics are critical thinking, constant questioning of social reality, and responsibility toward the public. Among those targeted are numerous members and honorary members of IJAS and IJAV (Kruna Savović, Stevan Dojčinović, Dinko Gruhonjić, Ana Lalić Hegediš), as well as many colleagues from UMG media outlets, Insajder, and other prominent professionals working in the public interest.
The Coalition for Media Freedom warns that targeting people and organizations with accusations that they act against the interests of the state carries serious consequences: it encourages pressure, threats, and endangerment of safety, and narrows the space for free public debate. People and organizations engaged in public-interest journalism and the protection of professional standards do not work against the state – on the contrary, they contribute to strengthening institutions, the rule of law, and the democratic order of society, in accordance with the principles this state has proclaimed and adopted through international obligations and strategic documents.
We remind the public that the role of civil society organizations, media associations, and professional communities is to conduct monitoring, point to abuses, oversee the work of those in power, and actively participate in dialogue with all relevant actors, both domestically and internationally. This is not a “conspiracy,” but a basic mechanism of a democratic society: that power is held accountable, that the public receives verified information, and that decisions are made with the participation and critical contribution of citizens and the professional community.
As a professional media community, we are proud of the steps that have meanwhile been taken, at least “on paper,” through legal solutions and assumed international obligations. These steps were made solely and exclusively due to our consistent advocacy for advancing the public interest, while public officeholders are making strenuous efforts to obstruct this process, and the key problem remains the selective, or absent, implementation of these very solutions. Precisely in such an environment, where competent institutions do not respond consistently and in a timely manner, content such as the Zlo doba series remains without a clear institutional assessment and accountability, further encouraging the production of campaigns that target and delegitimize those working in the public interest.
We therefore call on all institutions, media, and public officeholders to refrain from narratives that foment hostility toward professional media and civil society, and to urgently condemn targeting and smear campaigns directed at individuals and organizations working in the public interest. Free, pluralistic, and professional journalism is not a threat to the state—it is one of the foundations of a society that strives for democratic development.
The Coalition for Media Freedom remains committed to the joint struggle for a media landscape aligned with European and international standards, for the protection of journalists, and for citizens’ right to be informed.
Coalition for Media Freedom: the Media Association, the Online Media Association (AOM), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of Local and Independent Media “Lokal Pres,” the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, and the “Nezavisnost” Branch Trade Union of Culture, Art and Media.
