Interviews

 Sejdinovic: ‘We Cannot Allow Fear to Beat us’

Nedim Sejdinovic, president of Independent Journalist’s Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), Photo: Vojvodina Media Center

The head of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina says the death threats he has received lately are deeply worrying – but now is not the time to give in to the climate of intimidation.

After receiving hundreds of threatening messages, including death threats, Nedim Sejdinovic ought to be a frightened man.

But the journalist and president of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina told BIRN in an interview that opponents of the Serbian government, now protesting for days on the streets, must not give into fear.

Read more on Balkan Insight.


Serbian Media’s Plight ‘Apocalyptic’, Lekic Warns

Slavisa Lekic. Photo: Media Centre Belgrade

As attacks increase on journalists in Serbia, the new head of the Independent Journalists’ Association, Slavisa Lekic, says it is time to take off the gloves and defend democracy. The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia was formed when it became apparent in the 1990s that truthful and objective reporting was disappearing – and its new chief, Slavisa Lekic, told BIRN in an interview that he believes the situation is similar again today.

Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbian-media-s-plight-apocalyptic-lekic-warns-03-29-2017


Viktor Ivancic: Journalism is On the Road To Suicide

Viktor Ivancic. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Stefica Galic

Iconoclastic former editor of ‘Feral’ says old-style journalism is dead, Croatia’s Social Democrats should be smashed to pieces and calls Prime Minister Plenkovic a human ‘slot machine’. Viktor Ivancic, the founder of the legendary Feral Tribune, an influential alternative newspaper in the region of former Yugoslavia, believes the traditional media are in crisis all over the world.

Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/viktor-ivancic-journalism-is-on-the-road-to-suicide-12-09-2016


Slobodan Georgiev: People Can Be Killed in Different Ways

Slobodan Georgiev is an editor, journalist and programme coordinator at BIRN Serbia. Photo: BLIC/Mladen Surjanac

The BIRN journalist who has received various death threats since being labelled an enemy spy and a foreign mercenary is in no mood to back down. He is loud, not only in the Serbian media, but by nature. However, Slobodan Georgiev did not become notorious only for his sharp tongue. What turned him into a “public enemy” were his award-winning investigative stories and his Twitter account, which receives around three million visits a month.

Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/slobodan-georgiev-people-can-be-killed-in-different-ways-09-25-2016


Ricardo Gutierrez: State of Macedonia Media ‘Worst in Balkans’

General Secretary of the EFJ, Ricardo Gutierrez

The General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, says the outlook for press freedom in Macedonia is depressing, condemning the incarceration of the journalist Zoran Bozinovski. The fact that Macedonia is one of the few countries in Europe to have incarcerated a journalist – not for the first time – speaks volumes about the state of media freedom there, Ricardo Gutierrez says.

Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/ricardo-gutierrez-state-of-macedonia-media-worst-in-balkans–09-23-2016