The Reporters Without Borders organization registered violations of media rights in reporting on the coronavirus pandemic in 90 of the 193 United Nations member states, including Serbia, the FoNet news agency reported on Monday.

The organization warned that the pandemic has provided opportunity for a number of governments to amend laws and regulations and introduce special measures for the media.

It said that the amended laws made it easier for the governments in some countries, such as Hungary, to silence critical media while in other countries, like Serbia, new laws were not needed to arrest journalists for publishing stories about the coronavirus crisis. Nova.rs portal journalist Ana Lalic was arrested after she published a story about a shortage of protective equipment at the main hospital in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. She was released following a public outcry.

Reporters Without Borders is quoted as saying that government must stop blaming the messenger and take action to protect media freedom and enable journalists to provide reliable information.