The Student List is suspected of requesting dossiers on 50 journalists and editors at Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), while a group of employees at the public broadcaster has accused acting News Programme editor-in-chief Borivoje Uskoković of legitimising demands to compile files on his own colleagues.
According to a statement issued by a group of RTS employees, Uskoković publicly read out the names of 50 presenters and editors for whom the Student List allegedly requested dossiers.
The employees argue that, instead of protecting journalists from political pressure, Uskoković is presenting these requests as legitimate, thereby putting the professional careers of dozens of staff members at risk.
Among the journalists and presenters allegedly targeted by these requests are Ivona Pantelić, Dragana Kosjerina Perdu, Nebojša Kotlajić, Milica Nedić and Dragana Ignjić.
According to the employees, the requests for dossiers are being presented alongside claims that RTS is continuously receiving legitimate requests for information about its staff.
They argue that no change of government, election result or political organisation has the right to turn journalists into targets of political investigations simply because they carried out their professional duties during the previous administration.
“It is particularly disappointing that all of this is happening under the slogan of ‘liberating’ RTS. A public broadcaster is not liberated by placing journalists on lists. Media freedom is not protected by compiling dossiers on employees. Democracy is not built through political purges,” the statement said.
The employees have called on the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, as well as international organisations defending journalists, to address the matter urgently.
They are demanding that RTS management publicly clarify who is requesting dossiers on journalists, what these requests contain, which regulations are being used to assess them, and whether the personal data of any employees have already been handed over to political organisations.
They have also called for Uskoković to be held accountable for his actions.
“Someone who presents political demands for dossiers on his colleagues as legitimate cannot simultaneously serve as the guarantor of their professional independence. Journalists are not political suspects. The News Department is not an office for political lustration,” the RTS employees said.
