Two recent reports focusing on democracy and media freedom by the international NGOs Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House went almost unnoticed in Belgrade. On World Press Freedom Day (3 May), EURACTIV Bulgaria looked at their Serbian neighbour, an EU candidate since 2012.
According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report, Serbia is a country “with weak institutions that is prey to fake news spread by government-backed sensational media, a country where journalists are subjected to almost daily attacks that increasingly come from the ruling elite and pro-government media”.
The report mentions that Serbia retains 93rd place in the world in terms of media freedom. The NGO also points out that the Belgrade government used the coronavirus crisis to pass a draconian law which, though later repealed, was used to detain the journalist Ana Lalić in April 2020 for reporting information about a local hospital.