The Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, urged all media in Serbia today to approach that institution if they had objections to the results of the competition for co-financing media projects, regardless of the fact whether local self-governments, city or national authorities organized them, and added that it was one of the ways how the Protector of Citizens can contribute to the improvement of the position of this profession’s members.
“The Protector of Citizens has insisted on improving the socio-economic position of journalists from the beginning of a single journalists’ protection platform development, in which, in addition to attacks and threats, such pressures will also be recorded. That’s the most important issue because it entails many others”, Mr. Pašalić said on the online discussion about the survey themed “Perception of Socio-Economic Position of Journalists and Media Workers in Vojvodina” conducted by the Independent Association of Journalists in Vojvodina and supported by OSCE Mission to Serbia.
The Protector of Citizens may react in cases of objections to the results of the competition for media co-financing, because according to the Law on the Protector of Citizens, that is ranked among one of his competencies, Pašalić has stated.
“The second very important topic is journalists’ mutual solidarity, which will be demonstrated soon when the single platform, which we are creating with media associations and unions, starts recording attacks and pressures on journalists, taking practically the registers from those who have those records” Pašalić has said.
The Protector of Citizens stated that the socio-economic position and solidarity of journalists tells about a critical problem, which is the fear of journalists to organize themselves and join unions and the fear of acting in unions in order to improve their socio-economic position.
“The third topic important to the Protector of Citizens from the point of view of the protection of journalists concerns attacks on female journalists, which are usually marked by misogynistic and sexist undertones, aimed at insulting and harming that person. Such attacks are not aimed at highlighting or criticizing anything that might be the subject to criticism, but they are aimed at insulting a person on the grounds of gender," Mr. Pašalić emphasized.