October 2, 2023
The two largest unions of journalists in Serbia, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia, UNS, and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, NUNS, have both condemned the Vranje City Board of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) for attacking the editorial department of local news portal Vranjenews.
The local branch of the ruling SNS accused Vranjenews of promoting the “terrorist and war criminal (Kosovo Prime Minister) Albin Kurti”, of “justifying the provocateur, warmonger and instigator, murderer of Serbs in Kosovo, by openly acknowledging the so-called Kosovo and Kosovo Police”
NUNS considers such rhetoric unacceptable, as this kind of verbal attack against the media directly endangers the safety of journalists and turns them into targets for further attack.
UNS pointed out in an announcement that attacks of this kind represent a danger to journalists. The SNS local board has previously employed this same practice, when it directed harsh insults against Infovranjska, another Vranje-based news portal.
