Part of State TV Staff: Public Broadcaster Management Continues to Violate Basic Journalism Ethics

Serbian Public Broadcasting Service (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

The employees of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) acting within the informal group  Nas pRoTeSt (Our pRoTeSt) accused the RTS management on May 5 of “continuing to violate the fundamental principles of journalism” after the blockade of the RTS buildings in Belgrade ended.

In an open letter published on the Cenzolovka website, they accused the RTS management of “putting the public broadcaster at risk again” by violating those principles, “while refueling social conflicts.

"The end of the blockade is not the end of the fight for an objective RTS. It will go down in the annals of this institution that you addressed almost no one of the RTS staff during the blockade. Not only did you deny us the right to work, but also any information as to how to act in a crisis. During that time, a small group of people produced a program in which students were called Nazis, the area in front of the RTS building was described as a ghetto, and we, the people who have been fighting for objective reporting, were labeled blockers," says the letter signed by more than 300 current and former RTS employees.

They asked the RTS management to explain why the public service "has never discussed why the new ceiling in a just renovated school in Raca collapsed" and why RTS viewers "have never learned the truth as to who was responsible for the eye injury” a Gendarmerie member suffered during the protest on Aberdareva Street.

They appealed to RTS management “not to retaliate against" the RTS staff who had publicly supported student demands and protests.