Cameramen (BETAPHOTO/ARMENIJA ZAJMI BESEVIC/EV)
The reporters of the Autonomija.info website, established by the Independent Society of Journalists of Vojvodina, have received open death threats, while a N1 news crew was harassed while reporting from a protest in Vrbas.
According to a press release issued by the Independent Society of Journalists of Vojvodina, Autonomija.info's official Facebook page received a message "calling its reporters 'Communo-Ustashi' and telling them that they 'will all be awarded for their posts with two 9.2 millimeters each' clearly referencing firearms and shooting."
The press release went on to state that the threat came after Autonomija.info's daylong reporting on incidents during the opening of an exhibition in Backi Petrovac and on clashes between the residents of Novi Sad's Liman neighborhood and thugs attempting to deface public property.
"Messages like this can no longer be taken individually -- they are part of a broader atmosphere of violence with impunity, encouraged by years of tolerance for inflammatory speech and politically motivated attacks on the free press," the statement read further.
The ANEM Association of Independent Electronic Media said in a press release on Aug. 11 that, in Vrbas, "a group of thugs in signature black T-shirts and with baseball caps who, organized by the ruling party, appear at student and civic protests to put a violent stop to them, harassed the N1 news crew reporting from the rally in Vrbas."
The statement read that "vulgar curses and insults were directed against the reporter and cameraman" and against "the members of their families," stressing that it was "especially disturbing that, during the taping of the event and the live on-scene report, the members of this group interfered with the work of the news crew by directing laser pointers into the eyes of the reporter and cameraman and into the camera lens itself."
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