05. 03. 2015

ANEM CONDEMNS CAMPAIGN AGAINST TV B92 AND PROGRAMS “INSIDER” AND “REPORTER”

Belgrade, 5.3.2015 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly protests against the continued campaign led against journalists of the ANEM member TV B92 and especially the team of the TV's investigative programs "Insider" and "Reporter".

TV B92 aired on 2nd March 2015 the first program of the series "Reporter", prepared and edited by journalists of the awarded program "Insider". The program dealt with the business of the largest Serbian football clubs. "Crvena zvezda" and "Partizan" reacted with press releases even prior to the airing of the program, accusing the journalists of inflicting damage to the state and the society on the whole with such programs. What ensued were the attacks of the football clubs' management through media close to them, requests for the termination of the police security of the "Insider" editor Brankica Stanković, and finally physically preventing a journalist of "Reporter" (by disabling her microphone) to attempt to get a statement from the director of the Football Club "Crvena zvezda" Zvezdan Terzić. 

ANEM is questioning the real intentions of the leaders and management of the clubs, who call in their press releases on the football fans to "publicly say what they think on... the TV B92's attempt to ruin the club". At the same time, they call in question the fact that journalist Brankica Stanković is protected by the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Brankica Stanković was put under police protection almost six years ago, not of her own will, but by the decision of a responsible state body, during airing of the series "Insider - (In)Efficiency of the State", which dealt with criminal acts of certain leaders of the football fans' groups, because of the threats she had received from this milieu. Bearing all this in mind, what the leaders and the management of the clubs are doing cannot be understood otherwise but as a ruthless and open call to lynch.

ANEM also points to the fact that by passing judgments on TV programs before they are aired, by drawing a parallel between reporting on abuses in football clubs and the attacks on the state, by obstructing the work of journalists in collecting information and by calls to lynch an atmosphere is created where the reporting on a topic of undisputable public interest in Serbia is practically banned.

ANEM expresses its full solidarity with the colleagues who are under attack and calls on the responsible authorities in Serbia to ensure full implementation of media freedoms and the freedom of expression in Serbia, and to prevent stifling of the media debate on issues of public interest in a manner unsuitable for a democratic society - by threats addressed at journalists and pressures against them.

ANEM President, Milorad Tadić