Serbian Media led by Vučić Breach Journalistic Standards and Laws by Publishing Personal Data to Discredit Student Protester
In an attempt to discredit the mass student protests, the Serbian Novosti newspaper published photographs of the passports of two students, Lazar and Luka Stojaković. The headline implies that Croats are leading the student protests, a claim that Serbian tabloids have been pushing as the absolute truth for days, according to Slobodna Dalmacija.
However, as N1 reports, what Novosti conveniently overlooked is that the Stojaković brothers are signed in Cyrillic and identify as Serbian. They hold Croatian passports based on the fact that their father, a Serb who lived in Croatia, moved to Serbia after the Operation Storm and was allegedly wounded in the war while fighting on the Serbian side.
This has sparked reactions across social media, as many have pointed out the falsehoods being spread by certain Belgrade media outlets.
Lawyer Rodoljub Šabić commented that publishing personal documents with photos and placing them in the context of some fabricated subversive activities allegedly supported from abroad is not only a gross violation of basic journalistic standards but also a breach of the Personal Data Protection Law and potentially a criminal act. Moreover, it is a conscious and direct endangerment of the safety of the two young men, as reported by Slobodna Dalmacija.
