BELGRADE: Serbian demonstrators gathered for a rally outside a pro-government television channel on Saturday, branding it a “propaganda tool,” in the latest of nearly five months of mass protests.
Holding banners “Manipulator, not a journalist,” waving Serbian and university flags, and blowing whistles, student organizers called on citizens to join the demo in front of the offices of Informer, a television station with a tabloid newspaper of the same name.
“Informer has been spreading numerous lies and falsehoods for a long time,” said Bogdan Vucic, a student at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Science.
The nationwide wave of student-led protests against state corruption has raised pressure on the nationalist government of President Aleksandar Vucic.
It was sparked by the deadly collapse of a roof at a newly-renovated train station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second city, in November.
Since the beginning of the protests, pro-government media have portrayed student demonstrators as “foreign agents,” alleging they are funded by the opposition and plotting a “coup d’etat.”
Bogdan Vucic said one of his student peers had become a target of both the Informer TV station and the tabloid.
“They have published information about his family that goes against the most basic standards of decency, not to mention journalistic ethics,” he said.
According to the Press Council — the regulatory body that monitors newspapers — Informer violated the Serbian journalists’ code of ethics 647 times in 2024.
Many newspapers and channels in Serbia are owned by people with close ties to the government and regularly echo its talking points.
Tabloid Kurir said students “terrorize Belgrade.” Informer alleged they are paid by US aid agency USAID and billionaire George Soros — a regular target of right-wing conspiracy theories.
Another pro-government broadcaster, Pink TV, branded the protest movement an uprising supported by Kosovo, which broke away from Serbia in 2008.
“Such narratives contribute to making students enemies of the state — it creates a violent atmosphere and divisions,” said Bogdan Vucic.
“That’s why we want to put an end to what we could call propaganda — very dirty propaganda.”
Informer is among the most widely-read newspapers in Serbia, with 57,028 copies printed daily. It is cheaper than its competitors at just 40 Serbian dinars ($0.36) a copy.
The group claims its TV channel is the “most watched among cable networks” in the country.
Like other pro-government outlets, Informer benefits from public funding — through advertising purchased by state operator Telekom Serbia — and exclusive interviews with the country’s leaders.
Meanwhile, “the situation for independent media in Serbia is increasingly dire,” to the point where they risk disappearing, said Slobodan Georgiev, news director of television channel NOVA S.
According to the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, the majority of Serbian media derive their income from advertising and opaque public subsidies — both sources largely controlled by the ruling elite and dependent on the media groups’ political alignment.
“Advertisers close to the government, as well as state-owned companies, completely bypass independent media,” said Dragoljub Petrovic, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Danas.
Critical media and journalists are subjected to various forms of pressure, including vindictive lawsuits, public insults, and being labelled traitors.
“Independent journalists face relentless pressure, including direct attacks from the head of state and leading figures of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party,” Georgiev said.
In early March, the president called a journalist who had covered the protests “an imbecile colluding with the demonstrators,” prompting dozens of reporters from southern Serbia to refuse to cover the president’s activities in protest.
On Wednesday, a television campaign aired on national television labelling journalists from two opposition-aligned networks — TV N1 and Georgiev’s TV Nova — “enemies of the state.”
“Unless there are real political changes in the coming years, it is likely that no media outlet will remain safe from the influence or control of President Aleksandar Vucic’s cabinet,” Georgiev told AFP.
Earlier this month students blocked the headquarters of Serbian national television (RTS) in Belgrade for a day, after one of its journalists referred to them as a “mob.”
To reach people in smaller towns across Serbia — where residents often rely on state-backed media that echo Vucic’s ruling party line — protesters have spent weeks criss-crossing the country on foot.
Contacted by AFP for comment, Informer’s editor-in-chief did not respond.
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Serbian students protest at pro-government media ‘propaganda’
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Serbian students protest at pro-government media ‘propaganda’
- “Informer has been spreading numerous lies and falsehoods for a long time,” said Bogdan Vucic, a student at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Science
- The nationwide wave of student-led protests against state corruption has raised pressure on the nationalist government of President Aleksandar Vucic
Hong Kong ex-media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison in national security case
HONG KONG: Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and a fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in one of the most prominent cases under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.
Lai was convicted in December of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. The maximum penalty for his conviction was life imprisonment. Given he is 78 years old, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
His co-defendants, six former employees of his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists, received jail terms between 6 years and 3 months, and 10 years.
Lai smiled and waved at his supporters when he arrived for the sentence. But before he left the courtroom, he looked serious, as some people in the public gallery cried. When asked about whether they would appeal, his lawyer Robert Pang said no comment.
The democracy advocate’s arrest and trial have raised concerns about the decline of press freedom in what was once an Asian bastion of media independence. The government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used news reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong.
Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the security law in 2020. Within a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists also were arrested and the newspaper shut down in June 2021. The final edition sold a million copies.
Lai’s sentencing could heighten Beijing’s diplomatic tensions with foreign governments. His conviction has drawn criticism from the US and the UK
US President Donald Trump said he felt “so badly” after the verdict and noted he spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Lai and “asked to consider his release.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government also has called for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
Before the sentencing, Lai’s daughter Claire told The Associated Press that she hopes authorities see the wisdom in releasing her father, a Roman Catholic. She said their faith rests in God. “We will never stop fighting until he is free,” she said.
Judges ruled Lai was the mastermind
Lai founded Apple Daily, a now-defunct newspaper known for its critical reports against the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. He was arrested in August 2020 under the security law that was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists.
In their ruling, three government-vetted judges wrote that the starting point of Lai’s sentence was increased because they found him to be the mastermind of the conspiracies. But they also reduced his penalty because they accepted that Lai’s age, health condition and solitary confinement would cause his prison life to be more burdensome than that of other inmates.
They took into account that Lai is serving a prison term of five years and nine months in a separate fraud case and ruled that 18 years of Lai’s sentence in the security case should be served consecutively to that prison term.
Urania Chiu, lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University, said the case is significant for its broad construction of seditious intent and application of the term “collusion with foreign forces” to certain activities by the media. The implication is particularly alarming for journalists and those working in academia, she said.
“Offering and publishing legitimate critiques of the state, which often involves engagement with international platforms and audiences, may now easily be construed as ‘collusion,’” Chiu said.
Lai has been in custody for more than five years. In January, lawyer Robert Pang said Lai suffered health issues including heart palpitations, high blood pressure and diabetes. Although Lai’s condition was not life-threatening, Pang argued his client’s health, age and solitary confinement, which the prosecution said Lai requested, would make his sentence “more burdensome.”
The prosecution said a medical report noted Lai’s general health condition remained stable.
Co-defendants get reduced sentences
The former Apple Daily staffers and activists involved in Lai’s case entered guilty pleas, which helped reduce their sentences Monday. Under the security law, reporting on offenses committed by others may result in reduced penalties and some of the staff members served as prosecution witnesses.
The convicted journalists are publisher Cheung Kim-hung, associate publisher Chan Pui-man, editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, executive editor-in-chief responsible for English news Fung Wai-kong and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.
The two activists convicted in the case, Andy Li and Chan Tsz-wah, also testified for the prosecution.
Before sunrise, dozens of people stood in line outside the court building to secure a seat in the courtroom.
Former Apple Daily employee Tammy Cheung said she could only support them spiritually by seeing them. Cheung hoped the defendants will be released from prison soon, saying it would be great if they could reunite with their families before the Lunar New Year next week.
“Whatever happens, it’s an end — at least we’ll know the outcome,” she said.
Case considered a blow to Hong Kong media
Lai founded Apple Daily in 1995, two years before Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony. The publication drew a strong following with reports that were occasionally sensational, investigative scoops and short, animated video reports. Articles supporting the city’s democracy movement, including anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019, attracted many pro-democracy readers.
In 2022, Hong Kong plunged 68 places to 148th out of 180 territories in the press-freedom index compiled by media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders. The city’s latest ranking was 140th, far from 18th place in 2002.
Amnesty International said the sentence marked “another grim milestone” for Hong Kong.
“Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity,” Sarah Brooks, Amnesty’s deputy regional director, said.
Lai was convicted in December of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. The maximum penalty for his conviction was life imprisonment. Given he is 78 years old, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
His co-defendants, six former employees of his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists, received jail terms between 6 years and 3 months, and 10 years.
Lai smiled and waved at his supporters when he arrived for the sentence. But before he left the courtroom, he looked serious, as some people in the public gallery cried. When asked about whether they would appeal, his lawyer Robert Pang said no comment.
The democracy advocate’s arrest and trial have raised concerns about the decline of press freedom in what was once an Asian bastion of media independence. The government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used news reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong.
Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the security law in 2020. Within a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists also were arrested and the newspaper shut down in June 2021. The final edition sold a million copies.
Lai’s sentencing could heighten Beijing’s diplomatic tensions with foreign governments. His conviction has drawn criticism from the US and the UK
US President Donald Trump said he felt “so badly” after the verdict and noted he spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Lai and “asked to consider his release.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government also has called for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
Before the sentencing, Lai’s daughter Claire told The Associated Press that she hopes authorities see the wisdom in releasing her father, a Roman Catholic. She said their faith rests in God. “We will never stop fighting until he is free,” she said.
Judges ruled Lai was the mastermind
Lai founded Apple Daily, a now-defunct newspaper known for its critical reports against the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. He was arrested in August 2020 under the security law that was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists.
In their ruling, three government-vetted judges wrote that the starting point of Lai’s sentence was increased because they found him to be the mastermind of the conspiracies. But they also reduced his penalty because they accepted that Lai’s age, health condition and solitary confinement would cause his prison life to be more burdensome than that of other inmates.
They took into account that Lai is serving a prison term of five years and nine months in a separate fraud case and ruled that 18 years of Lai’s sentence in the security case should be served consecutively to that prison term.
Urania Chiu, lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University, said the case is significant for its broad construction of seditious intent and application of the term “collusion with foreign forces” to certain activities by the media. The implication is particularly alarming for journalists and those working in academia, she said.
“Offering and publishing legitimate critiques of the state, which often involves engagement with international platforms and audiences, may now easily be construed as ‘collusion,’” Chiu said.
Lai has been in custody for more than five years. In January, lawyer Robert Pang said Lai suffered health issues including heart palpitations, high blood pressure and diabetes. Although Lai’s condition was not life-threatening, Pang argued his client’s health, age and solitary confinement, which the prosecution said Lai requested, would make his sentence “more burdensome.”
The prosecution said a medical report noted Lai’s general health condition remained stable.
Co-defendants get reduced sentences
The former Apple Daily staffers and activists involved in Lai’s case entered guilty pleas, which helped reduce their sentences Monday. Under the security law, reporting on offenses committed by others may result in reduced penalties and some of the staff members served as prosecution witnesses.
The convicted journalists are publisher Cheung Kim-hung, associate publisher Chan Pui-man, editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, executive editor-in-chief responsible for English news Fung Wai-kong and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.
The two activists convicted in the case, Andy Li and Chan Tsz-wah, also testified for the prosecution.
Before sunrise, dozens of people stood in line outside the court building to secure a seat in the courtroom.
Former Apple Daily employee Tammy Cheung said she could only support them spiritually by seeing them. Cheung hoped the defendants will be released from prison soon, saying it would be great if they could reunite with their families before the Lunar New Year next week.
“Whatever happens, it’s an end — at least we’ll know the outcome,” she said.
Case considered a blow to Hong Kong media
Lai founded Apple Daily in 1995, two years before Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony. The publication drew a strong following with reports that were occasionally sensational, investigative scoops and short, animated video reports. Articles supporting the city’s democracy movement, including anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019, attracted many pro-democracy readers.
In 2022, Hong Kong plunged 68 places to 148th out of 180 territories in the press-freedom index compiled by media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders. The city’s latest ranking was 140th, far from 18th place in 2002.
Amnesty International said the sentence marked “another grim milestone” for Hong Kong.
“Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity,” Sarah Brooks, Amnesty’s deputy regional director, said.
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