The brutal announcement on 10 July of the definitive closure of the Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB) TV channel shocked the journalistic community in the Balkans. The last news broadcast was on Saturday. Previously recorded material will continue to be broadcast until the end of July, after which the signal will be permanently switched off. Qatari media outlet Al Jazeera launched its Balkans channel in 2011. It was known for its investigative journalism and regional network of correspondents from Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje, Podgorica, Ljubljana and Prishtina. The dramatic news inspired the following comment from the President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Maja Sever:
Yesterday, I met a colleague, a well-known journalist, who told me that after more than thirty years working for a major media company, he now earns only € 1,100 a month. At the same time, news broke that Al Jazeera Balkans is shutting down. I’m calling colleagues, friends… I can’t believe it. This means that in our part of Europe, where journalism has already been under fierce attack for years according to all indicators, working conditions for journalists are deteriorating, media pluralism is seriously threatened, and now 250 people are losing their jobs. No one knows the actual reason; we’re discussing how such dramatic decisions can be made overnight in that media company without any consultation or transparency.
All of this takes me back a few months, when colleagues at the N1 Television newsroom received an email one day informing them that 26 of them were being made redundant. The explanation: restructuring. The Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ) then stepped in, attempting through negotiations to secure better conditions for those affected, mindful of their livelihoods. Maybe that was the moment we should have taken to the streets. Not long after, news broke that the company crucial to N1 Serbia’s distribution had been sold to a new owner, putting the future of one of the few media outlets not under direct political pressure from Aleksandar Vučić in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Vučić continues to threaten independent media through financial pressure, lawsuits, and public denunciations. For years, we’ve been warning at all levels that this model of media financing is unsustainable and that the survival of journalism has truly become uncertain.
When I posted the news yesterday about Al Jazeera Balkans shutting down, mocking comments started pouring in: “Serves you right, you deserved it!” This kind of rhetoric echoes the troubling debates around the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where some MEPs even went so far as to say, “We actually don’t need journalism.”
When you read the latest Rule of Law Report, it becomes clear that neither the European Union nor, even less so, our national governments consider the defence of journalism a priority. Statements that journalism is a public good remain, for politicians, little more than empty phrases used to simulate democratic values occasionally.
In government and ministries, the media are still largely viewed as publishers or owners, rather than as communities of journalists and workers who are essential to the media’s functioning. Even when the state provides financial assistance to the media, as it recently did with distribution subsidies, there are usually no conditions attached regarding the protection of journalists’ and workers’ rights. In the latest document on the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), journalists aren’t even mentioned, as if media content somehow produces itself.
Yet the quality news and programming on Al Jazeera Balkans were created by 250 people, who are now left jobless, out on the street. Beyond the personal hardship, this decision by some owner or, as they say, a new manager, will further impoverish our media system and the media landscape in neighbouring countries, leaving citizens deprived of truthful information. This is not merely another blow to journalists and journalism – it’s a blow to democracy itself.
That’s why we all need to ask ourselves who’s next in the crosshairs of populism, austerity, and indifference? Will it be doctors tomorrow, so that when we fall ill, we’re left searching for advice on Google? Will it be architects, because “artificial intelligence can draw houses too”? Or will we start trusting only the information served to us by Big Tech companies and algorithms? Journalists are people who choose to educate themselves and dedicate their lives to this demanding profession, one where you’re constantly under attack, facing political pressure, financial blackmail, lawsuits, and insults. We don’t do this to get rich. We do it because we believe in truth, in the value of professional, investigative journalism, and in the idea that informed citizens are the foundation of a democratic society.
The journalists at Al Jazeera Balkans and N1 practised journalism that served the public honestly and courageously. Yesterday, 250 people from Al Jazeera Balkans were fired. A few months ago, brilliant professionals were pushed out of N1. At HRT, public funds are often used to sideline those who uphold the highest standards of the profession. Most people working in the media are underpaid, stuck in precarious jobs, and constantly exposed to insults, threats, and lawsuits.
Yet we are still here, and we will not give up. Because we believe that journalism is a public good and worth fighting for. We have no support, not even from those who publicly swear to uphold the law and ensure a framework for the free work of journalists. Amidst a flood of populism, we’re also losing the trust of the very people we work for: the citizens. Still, we remain loyal only to the public, to the truth, and to honest, professional journalism.
Because journalism is, indeed, a public good. And the defense of truth and democracy.
This text was originally published on the website of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists on 11 July 2025.
Source: EFJ
