Journalists in Serbia Welcome World Press Freedom Day Amidst Declining Media Freedoms and More Attacks

Belgrade, panorama (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

May 3, the World Press Freedom Day, was marked around the globe, as well as in Serbia, but, according to statistics released by local and international organizations, Serbian journalists are facing a clear decline in media freedoms.

The state of media freedom in Serbia is considered alarming, according to a report by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) platform, written after a support mission to Serbia and published ahead of the World Press Freedom Day. The report states that in recent months, pressure and attacks on media workers have reached levels not seen in decades, endangering independent and investigative journalism and deepening the long-standing media freedom crisis, the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) reported.

The report notes that threats have escalated after student-launched protests following the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, and that the harsh response by the authorities further worsened political tensions, which spilled into the streets and were reflected in attacks on journalists reporting from the field.

The report goes on to say that journalists are exposed to physical attacks and death threats, targeted by high-ranking state officials, placed under surveillance, and exposed to orchestrated smear campaigns. Although Serbia has formally advanced two positions on the 2025 World Press Freedom Index and now ranks 96th out of 180 countries, the representative of the Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) for the European Union (EU) and the Balkans, Pavol Szalai, described the advance as "illusory progress," since the overall media freedom index in the country dropped at the same time, according to NUNS.