Pavol Szalai, Director of Reporters Without Borders Prague Bureau, spoke to N1 about the drastic deterioration of journalist safety in Serbia. He noted that attacks are becoming increasingly frequent, while trust in the police and the prosecution has been severely eroded. Szalai warned that the situation is alarming and that there is real danger of serious crimes being committed against journalists.
N1: We have been talking for years now, you have been following the situation in Serbia for years. What is your main impression of what has been happening in Serbia over the last few years?
“Well, when I was coming here, I knew, of course, the situation was bad. Serbia is ranked 96th out of 180 countries in our World Press Freedom Index. But I have to say that even I was shocked when I heard during this mission in Serbia the stories of journalists, how they walk in the street, they are pushed and threatened because people, citizens recognize them, saw them on propaganda media, designated as traitors, enemies of the state, some of them fear for their life. We met a journalist who says he got hundreds of threats and he no longer believes the police can solve this issue.
“So I think that what really is the essence of this deterioration is two elements. The first is that journalists really have very little or no trust in the police, and also little trust in the prosecutor’s office, which was something that before the protests was working and there was some kind of investigation possible and some justice was possible for attacks against journalists. So this system is basically under so much pressure of cases and so much political pressure that it is not protecting journalists at all.
“The second problem is that really we are at a moment here in Serbia, very serious moment, when all the red lights are on, all the alarming signs are on, and I really fear that journalists will be killed. You know, this is like a situation that could precede a very serious crime against a journalist. And we as an organization, a few months ago, we had to send to a journalist association here in Serbia funds to buy protective equipment, helmets and vests, because of the protests. And we didn’t do this for many years in this country.
“So I think our mission is a wake-up call to the authorities that they really have to do something, otherwise there will be a huge, huge tragedy.”
N1: The mission found that Serbia is one of the worst places for journalists at the moment in Europe, but many people in Serbia don’t actually know that because that is not reported on pro-government media.
“Yes, I think even journalists like Veran Matic, who is a defender of press freedom, who did a lot to bring justice for crimes against journalists, he is one of the most threatened journalists in Europe today. So I’d like to also express support for him.
“There are two realities. One is the real world, the more than 100 physical attacks on journalists last year during the protests, a documentary which is aired on several stations where Veran Matic is threatened with death. And then there is a different reality of state officials who claim that the safety of journalists is not a problem in Serbia, and that the main problem is maybe some cases of journalistic ethics.
“But I mean, this is now the question of media freedom here in Serbia – a question of life or death. And we met one pro-governing media which also attacks journalists and which also wrote that, you know, why does a journalist association need protective equipment? Is it because they are aware of some upcoming riots? They interpreted it as a provocation. And this is really not something that media should do to their colleagues, journalists.
“And at the same time, this media asked us for solidarity. Well, I think solidarity is mutual. So I think I would also like to call on journalists to be respectful to each other and also on all media to respect pluralism and journalistic ethics.”
N1: During this mission you spoke to the police as well, to the prosecution and, as you said, to the political authorities. So what did you get from them?
“Well, I think at the meeting with the police, the officials, they denied the wrongdoing. I think, according to our numbers, a big part of the physical attacks on journalists in the protests, if not the majority, was committed by the police officers.
“And when journalists were assaulted by protesters or this organized gang, because they are actually an anti-journalist gang which goes to these protests, they would turn away the policeman or policewoman. So I think that meeting didn’t have really a specific result, unfortunately.
“With the prosecutor’s office it is different and I think there has been a good system for protection of journalists. You know they have orders to pick up these cases very fast I think 24 hours to open a case. But this prosecution system is under double pressure. The first is political pressure and then the pressure of the sheer number of cases, the huge number of cases, and the slow responsiveness or lack of will from the police to investigate and to give information to the prosecutors.
“So I think that the whole system of protection of journalists is broken down. Everything that was built in the past and everything that Veran Matic and Ana Brnabic also contributed to in the past.”
N1: You also mentioned that authorities question the ethics of independent media, but do they ask for the ethics of pro-government media, tabloid media? Do they ever notice? Do they speak about that?
“We spoke about that in the meeting. We raised that issue. We also raised it at this meeting with pro-government media. But of course there are breaches of journalistic ethics. I think that each media needs and should have, and many of them do have, mechanisms to correct these mistakes and to prevent them. And I think pluralism is really, really important.
“So more points of view in the same media while keeping a certain editorial line. But one thing is, let’s say, some mistakes or some faults, but another thing is to systematically smear journalists, to systematically publish videos which are not signed and which communicate death threats to journalists or which treat them as state enemies.
“These are systematic and organized smear campaigns against critics of the government. And no press council can solve this. This has to be solved by a regulatory authority, REM.
“We know, however, that the REM Council has not been elected. This is also something that we discussed with the authorities. And it’s really important that this body, you know, is working and is elected to this objective, in a transparent and efficient manner. And to independently oversee that media respect their legal obligations.”
N1: You also met with Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic. She is one of the most vocal when it comes to attacking independent journalists on social media. What did she have to say about that?
“Well, we asked her to stop these attacks, and also we asked her to condemn some of the most serious political attacks on journalists. I don’t think that in the conversation she committed to it. And actually, we tried to explain to her that these political attacks lead to physical attacks, and that they create this atmosphere of impunity. And of course, they are amplified by the pro-government media. And they are like a license to kill.
“She didn’t seem to be aware of the seriousness of the problem of the safety of journalists and of the role that these political attacks play. However, she did commit to ensuring that Serbia replies to alerts about press freedom.
“We have this platform for the safety of journalists within the Council of Europe, and this is the context that we came in. And on this platform, which is publicly accessible, we publish these alerts about attacks on journalists or media. And then the states are obliged to respond.
“Serbia has a relatively low level of responses, and Ana Brnabic committed to making sure that this rate of replies will increase. So this is something positive. She also expressed interest in dealing with abusive lawsuits. We call them SLAPPs. These are legal threats against journalists, which have as objective to threaten them, I mean legally to harass them in courts.
“And she said she wants to deal with this, but we tried to explain to her that the problem is also the trust. I mean, journalists associations, civil society, many of them no longer want to work with her and with the government because they don’t trust them.
“So we need a gesture from her, that’s what we told her, to signal that she means this cooperation and she means this seriously. Because, yes, I mean, it’s really hard to trust Ana Brnabic.”
Source: N1
