EFJ condemns attacks on journalists Gruhonjic and Mulliqi

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has voiced strong solidarity with Getoarbe Mulliqi, Executive Director of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), and Dinko Gruhonjic, journalist and Program Director of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV). Both were subjected to smear campaigns and political labeling in Serbian tabloids.

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Full solidarity with Mulliqi and Gruhonjic, facing new political labeling and long-standing smear narratives.

The attacks followed the publication of an analysis by Mulliqi and Gruhonjic concerning media coverage of dealing with the past in the Western Balkans. The SafeJournalists regional network also condemned the campaign, which began with an article in the Serbian tabloid Informer. This article used derogatory and ethnically charged language, including the term "Siptarka," a slur against Albanian women, to attack the authors.

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The article portrayed their professional work and research findings as an attack on Serbia, while targeting Mulliqi on the basis of her Albanian ethnic identity and Gruhonjic through political labeling and long-standing smear narratives.

SafeJournalists stated that the reporting portrayed the journalists' professional work as an attack on Serbia, targeting Mulliqi based on her Albanian ethnicity and Gruhonjic through political labeling. The network deemed the use of ethnic slurs and discriminatory rhetoric "unacceptable and dangerous," warning that such reporting violates journalistic principles and fosters an atmosphere of hostility and potential threats to journalists' safety.

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The SafeJournalists Network considers the use of ethnic slurs and discriminatory rhetoric against journalists to be unacceptable and dangerous.

Further concern was raised regarding a public statement by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia. The Ministry mentioned the authors by name in a negative context, which the SafeJournalists network found inappropriate. They argued that singling out individual authors and questioning their credibility risks contributing to an environment where journalists become targets of public pressure and intimidation, rather than addressing the issues raised in their research.

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Particularly concerning is the subsequent public statement issued by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia, in which the Ministry refers to the analysis and, in a particularly negative context, mentions the authors of the analysis by their names.