The Complaints Commission of the Press Council determined that the portal “Vreme.rs” violated points 1 and 4 of Chapter I of the Code of Journalists of Serbia
Based on Articles 19 and 21 of the Statute of the Press Council and Articles 15 and 16 of the Rules of Procedure of the Appeals Commission, the Appeals Commission of the Press Council at the session held on August 28, 2025, unanimously adopts
THE DECISION
With the text “Dejan Stojiljković: The lawsuit against me is full of strange coincidences”, published on August 5, 2025, the portal “Vreme.rs” violated points 1 and 4 of Chapter I (Truthfulness of reporting) of the Code of Journalists of Serbia, according to which journalists are obliged to accurately, impartially, completely and timely report on events of public interest, adhering to the basic journalistic standards prescribed by the Code, i.e. the silence of facts that can significantly depress the public’s attitude about an event is equal to their deliberate distortion or telling lies.
When deciding on the appeal of Srđan Nonić, the Commission assessed that the appellant rightly points to one-sided reporting, since the author of the text bases almost the entire text on the claims of Dejan Stojiljković, without trying to hear the other side, or even to state the relevant parts of the lawsuit. The part of Nonić’s statement that was transmitted from the “Danas.rs” portal is not enough to be considered as representing both opposing sides in the dispute.
The reader cannot find out from the text what is really the subject of Nonić’s lawsuit against Stojiljković, because the portal only conveys the statements of the writer, who interprets the lawsuit in his own way and speculates about Nonić’s motives for filing the lawsuit, why it was filed at a certain time, and the like. This makes the reporting non-objective and biased, because the media takes sides in the personal conflict between the writer and the journalist.
Also, intentionally or not, certain facts are kept silent, or rather, the content of the lawsuit itself, which is the reason for the text, is completely silent.
Source: Vreme
