Serbian Tabloid Calls Independent Media 'Foreign Mercenaries'

Informer announced on Tuesday that it will publish an article next week revealing who is financing three Serbian "anti-government" media organisations.

Informer accused KRIK - Network for Investigating Crime and Corruption, CINS - Serbia's Centre for Investigative Journalism, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) of taking foreign money "to bring down our government".

"They are asking for 10 euro donations from citizens, although they are getting millions from the West," Informer said in its announcement.

Slobodan Georgiev, a BIRN journalist whose photo was used in the illustration for the announcement, said it was just another episode in a tabloid campaign against BIRN and other independent media.

"This is just a continuation of the campaign that Informer is leading against all journalists who are taking their job seriously," Georgiev said.

"When the government is feeling threatened they always create this type of 'arrest warrant' to discredit our investigative findings," he adeed.

In August 2014, Informer published a series of allegations about BIRN following its investigation into a secret Serbian government contract with the United Arab Emirates carrier Etihad Airways.

Informer also alleged at the time that journalists from BIRN and CINS had been 'stalking' Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, causing him to cancel his summer holiday.

Stevan Dojcinovic, a journalist from KRIK, told BIRN that the new Informer allegations are directly connected with a recent series of KRIK investigative reports about property allegedly owned by Belgrade mayor Sinisa Mali.

"It is clear that this is directly connected with the Sinisa Mali stories. The City of...