United Media (UM) said on Tuesday that it had informed the international community of the latest attacks by Serbian state officials against independent media in the country.

“United Media, which includes N1, Nova, Danas and Radar, informed representatives of the international community, European officials, organizations dealing with the protection of journalists and media freedom, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps in Belgrade, about the latest attack by the authorities on independent media in Serbia,” UM said in its letter.

„We are addressing you on behalf of United Media, a company that operates more than 120 media outlets across Southeast Europe, regarding the recent escalation of attacks and targeting of independent media in Serbia,” it added.

It said that UM media outlets are viewed as the few remaining with independent editorial policiesbased on objective, timely and truthful journalism, in the public interest and in line with professional reporting standards. “That is why those media face continuous pressure and attacks by government officials, leaders of the ruling parties, pro-regime media, and powerful business people.

“The pressure has increased in recent weeks after mass protests across the country against the lithium mining project, which were reported by UM media outlets respecting the public’s right to be informed,” the letter said.

“The orchestrated campaign reached its peak with the statements of the Serbian president and Parliament speaker, who claimed that United Group minority owner Dragan Solak and UM media outlets are behind a conspiracy to assassinate President Vucic, even though they are aware that critical reporting in the public interest is not a revolution. and that owning shares in media companies is not and cannot be any kind of conspiracy,” the UM letter said.

“Bearing in mind the far-reaching consequences of propaganda campaigns like that to the fragile media freedom in Serbia, UM has been forced to alarm the domestic and international public.

„Those accusations are complete nonsense, and they are dangerous and irresponsible because they threaten and endanger journalists and prevent them from doing their important social job – informing the public about topics of public importance. The authorities have offered no evidence to support claims of an alleged conspiracy. „No institution has announced itself on this occasion.

“The free media, its journalists, management and minority owners have been declared enemies of the state and the people, traitors, and are being criminalized and discredited daily through various campaigns of spreading false accusations. The government is consciously creating a toxic environment to intimidate journalists and independent media with the ultimate goal of suppressing any critical tone in society that deviates from the official narrative that they and the government-controlled media are promoting.

UM cited data from the Slavko Curuvija Foundation which reflects the extent of the attacks: during 2023, five pro-regime tabloids published 628 articles in which independent journalists and media were targeted 884 times. In particular, they pointed out, the media N1 (225 times), television, newspaper and portal Nova (220 times), and the portal and newspaper Danas (178 times) were targeted. When negative mentions of tycoon media, Solak’s media, Solak’s portals are added to these texts, as many as 80 percent of the total negative mentions of critical media refer to United Media (704 in total), it said.

„The consequences of those campaigns are obvious: more than 40 attacks on journalists working for N1, Nova, Radar, Danas – both verbal and physical were recorded in the same period. Journalists were intimidated, they received the most gruesome threats, including death threats, they were followed to the their apartment buildings. The perpetrators remain mostly unknown, and the prosecution and police acted slowly, inadequately and often without any result. This is best illustrated by the months-long procedure concerning the physical attack by the editor of the pro-government tabloid Srpski telegraf on the investigative journalist of the Radar weekly, Vuk Cvijic,“ UM said.

The letter also expressed fear that the latest events are just the beginning of a final showdown with the independent media and appealed to relevant domestic and international institutions not to remain silent.

„We believe that it is necessary to act urgently to protect the right to freedom of information and to remind the Serbian authorities of the European values and standards that they have pledged to adhere to. We appeal to you to ensure an understanding of the situation and draw attention to the problem, so that it is clear that the world is following the events in Serbia with increasing concern,“ the United Media letter said.