Pavol Szalai, head of the EU/Balkans desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told N1 on Thursday that Serbia is exiting Europe in terms of media freedom.
“It’s far away from the remaining European countries. … The situation in Serbia is at a historical low,” he said commenting Serbia’s low ranking on the World Press Freedom Index. He said Serbia never ranked lower on the Index since 2002.
“Unfortunately, what’s happening in Serbia is far from being original, and the main person responsible for this bad situation, President Aleksandar Vucic, is just applying the recipes and measures that were tested in other countries, and he’s been doing that for years,” he said.
Szalai said Vucic was placed on the list of press freedom predators last year because he introduced predatory techniques against press freedom. He warned of political and physical violence against journalists, with the assaults partly resulting from political attacks such as Vucic’s accusation that N1 is terrorist.
“The political attacks against N1 and have been systematic for years. I was shocked when I traveled to Belgrade, not the last time, but the time before that, a couple of years ago, and saw graffiti near the presidential office accusing N1 of treason. This is absolutely not normal in a European country. This is why I’m saying that Serbia is leaving Europe in terms of press freedom. It’s becoming a non-European country. And also, I have to say that the sustained political pressures raised concerns at RSF and other press freedom groups about editorial independence of N1 vis-à-vis its owner and management,” Szalai said.
Source: N1
