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18. 09. 2014

IJAS: 18 ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS IN SERBIA THIS YEAR

18.9.2014 (Beta, EurActiv.rs) - There have been 18 attacks on journalists in Serbia during 2014 so far, out of which nine were physical assaults. This information was presented by the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (IJAS - NUNS) on September 18 at the conference "Safety and Protection of Journalists - Call to Action", held in Belgrade. At the event IJAS presented a database of attacks on journalists in Serbia containing some 360 cases since 2008. Representatives of the Council of Europe, responsible ministry and journalists' associations from several countries participated in this conference which called for better protection of journalists.

"From January till August 2014 there were 18 incidents, including nine physical assaults on journalists. The remaining nine cases were verbal attacks and attacks on property", said IJAS President Vukašin Obradović at the press conference in Belgrade.

The database was created "as a reminder to the society and the state that there is no rule of law and freedom while journalists are at peril", Obradović said.

Nadia Ćuk, Deputy Head of Office of the Council of Europe mission in Belgrade, stressed that all attacks on journalists have to be investigated timely, and perpetrators have to be subject to court proceedings.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information Saša Mirković stated that one of priorities of the Ministry was passing of media laws in order to create preconditions for journalism profession.

William Horsley, a member of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on protection of journalism and safety of journalists and the media freedom representative of the European Federation of Journalists, pointed to the importance of international documents, the Internet, and the state responsibility.

"We are living in a paradox. We have more freedom of speech than ever, but the freedom of media has been at its lowest in the past decade", Horsley said.

Veran Matić, President of the Committee for investigating murders of journalists, said that the IJAS database on attacks on journalists is important, but that the database of the Ministry of Interior is also important in order to find perpetrators more quickly.

"We have been witnessing ritual murders of journalists, and impunity is the cause of brutal attacks on journalists", he said.

Timur Shafir, International Cooperation Director of the Journalists' Association of Russia, stressed that six journalists were killed during conflict in Ukraine, and that none of 17 attacks on journalists in Russia has been solved.

"Today's journalism is worse than it was several years alo, and some 30% of jobs in journalism have disappeared", said Zdenko Duka, President of the Croatian Journalists' Society.

The participants also remembered the attack on the Tanjug news agency correspondent Dejan Anastasijević who joined the event via video-link and said that, to his best knowledge, nothing is being done to find out who attacked him back in 2007.