Attacks on Serbia Media 'Aim to Cut Their Funds'

After the pro-government Serbian tabloid Informer again attacked BIRN project coordinator Slobodan Georgiev - calling him one of those "paid by the EU" to cause "chaos" in Serbia - journalists say such attacks are probably intended to pressurize donors to stop financing them.

They believe the Serbian government and media close to the government want to cut outside funding for the independent media since they are aware that - without funding from the EU and other donors - they might close, leaving the government without real supervision.

"They want funding from the EU and other donors to the independent media to stop so the government can silence the free media, not through repressive laws but through a lack of funding," Nedim Sejdinovic, president of the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, told BIRN.

He added that such attacks on the independent media are also aimed at sending a broad message that criticism and monitoring of the government's work are risky and unacceptable.

On September 10, Informer published an article accusing Georgiev of being paid by the EU to smear Serbia. The paper also quoted Zoran Babic, a senior official of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, as calling on "the competent judicial and medical authorities to react" to such actions.

The same day, Dragan Vucicevic, Informer's editor-in-chief, told TV Pink that Georgiev, Sejdinovic and others were being paid to "create chaos" in Serbia.

"There are no plans, there are no real projects that aim to protect human rights, promote democracy … It is only about creating chaos in Serbia," Vucicevic said.

Georgiev himself also believes the government is pushing to cut EU funding for the independent media.

...