January 23, 2021, Nis – Journalist Gordana Bjeletić, editor-in-chief at Juzne Vesti, an investigative news portal in Southern Serbia, was targeted to online death threats with her editorial colleagues. Online harassment might seem harmless, yet, those initiatives could carry severe consequences. The journalists in Serbia are subjected to such attacks, impediment in the field because of the political climate.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is deeply concerned about the journalists' safety in Serbia. We, therefore, urge the authorities to take these attacks critical and should be investigated. We document many women journalists as a target of online smear campaigns. Some of them were even physically assaulted as a result of such threats.

The CFWIJ spoke to Gordana Bjeletić, editor-in-chief of Juzne Vesti, to understand her and the editorial desk’s situation after being a target with online death threats and how they took measures against any form of attack.

On December 21, 2020, a day after airing the story about a security staff fired a gun on a group of men approaching a private property and injured an individual in Nis, Juzne Vesti’s editorial staff became the target of serious death and rape threats, including their children.

According to Gordana, the insults they received are not their first time however, she said she was terrified after reading those threats. “Being a professional journalist in Serbia and reporting investigation stories here which we do, puts you in a position to be threatened all the time.” “What I can see the difference compared to the last couple of years, the threats are more explicit. Hate speech now is a common practice in this political atmosphere,” she continued.

Gordana said the political atmosphere in Serbia has been getting tense especially after the last election. She added neither measures nor laws have been implemented against the threats she and her colleagues face.

“We are not safe enough while we do our job,” Gordana told CFWIJ. She said she was physically assaulted by the lead party supporters while covering the election. “They prevented me from covering the elections and throwing me out,” she added.

She continued, “We do not speak up enough about what we face every day. This is simply because of the political atmosphere, the society we live in our country. The government pretends we live in a peaceful community and ignores the threats we are exposed to. The authorities do not provide us with any safeguards or protection in real life.” 

The journalist included women journalists are more subjected to such attacks and gender-based discrimination. “As a woman journalist, we are more subjected to the attacks. People can threaten you with your children or they can assault you while you cover news in the field.”

According to her, especially being encountered with hate speech is a very common attack they come across.

For the last incident the news outlet faced, Gordana said, “As editor-in-chief, I felt very concerned and at the same time, I thought this is my responsibility to protect my staff.” Adding that the police did not investigate the incident sufficiently, the journalist continued, “People do not think the consequences of what these attacks would cause the journalist. They just write it,” 

She concluded the intimidation against the journalists' challenge every day will not stop them to seek stories. Gordana said, “I believe this is a way to insult and intimidate the journalists but they will not succeed in this matter.”