November 15, 2017<\/p>\n
Participants in the panel discussion on the role of the media in the process of European integration, on behalf of the Group, were addressed from the audience by the director of the Centre for Investigative Reporting of Serbia (CINS), Branko \u010ce\u010den, while the other members stood in black T-shirts with the message \u201cEU Do More\u201d.<\/p>\n
As a sign of solidarity with the problems of the media in Serbia, they were joined by numerous conference participants from the countries of the region.<\/p>\n
Tamara Skrozza, one of Serbia\u2019s most renowned journalists, said at the conference that \u201cthe EU should not fight our battles, rather only not hinder us in efforts to fight for media freedom in Serbia\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe face daily threats. The tabloids that are edited by the ruling party put us on the front pages and mark us as foreign mercenaries and traitors. We are exposed to constant economic, political and physical pressure. Members of the ruling party use all uncovered and hidden, lawful and unlawful methods to exhaust us and cause us to disappear. And the EU and its representatives openly applaud the political leaders who are responsible for this state of affairs. They also applaud Vu\u010di\u0107 because, as they tell us, he is a guarantor of stability. But without free media this is false stability, this is theatre, this is nothing,\u201d said Skrozza, and said that for her personally, as well as many other independent journalists in Serbia, the situation under Vu\u010di\u0107 today is worse than it once was under Milo\u0161evi\u0107.<\/p>\n
She appealed to EU officials to use their influence in the process of Serbia\u2019s EU accession negotiations and prevent the further destruction of the media scene.<\/p>\n
It was announced from the European Commission that they will invest in new initiatives to support independent journalism and the sustainability of media companies, such as training young journalists in the region and technical assistance programmes for public services and digitisation.<\/p>\n
European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, emphasised that \u201cfreedom of expression is crucial for the EU\u201d, and that \u201cwe continue to monitor cases of violence against and intimidation of journalists with the utmost care and vigour\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
November 15, 2017 Representatives of the Group For Media Freedom spoke at the \u201cMedia Days of the Western Balkans\u201d conference in Tirana and called on the European Union to support free, professional and responsible journalism in Serbia, and not to ignore the desperate situation in which it finds itself. Participants in the panel discussion on the role of the media in the process of European integration, on behalf of the Group, were addressed from the audience by the director of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-en"],"yoast_head":"\n