RSF: Serbian journalists suffer record number of attacks

“Nearly a year after the start of the protests — sparked by the deadly collapse of the canopy of a railway station in northern Serbia on 1 November 2024 — journalists covering them continue to be targeted. Media professionals have suffered at least 89 physical attacks in one year, a record,” a press release on the RSF portal said.

It added that there were 82 attacks on journalists and media crews in 2025, about half of them perpetrated by law enforcement officers. RSF warned that law enforcement officers look the other way when journalists are attacked by pro-government activists.

Pavol Szalai, director of RSF’s Prague Bureau, paid tribute to Serbian journalists “who are heroically covering the protests in the face of the institutionalization of violence by the Vucic regime” and added that press freedom in Serbia is at stake, as is our right to information about events in this European Union (EU) candidate country, including the authorities’ respect for the right of assembly”. He called the international community to provide financial, legal and political support so that they can work safely and so that their attackers are brought to justice.

“Following appeals in July and August 2025 by RSF and other international and Serbian organizations, the European Parliament strongly criticized the Serbian government in a resolution adopted on 22 October.

RSF noted 2 particularly violent days in Novi Sad when reporters from 7 media outlets, including N1 and a student news portal team, were attacked in September and October.

“Out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Serbia ranks 96th,” the press release said.

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