Reporter without Borders (RSF) is sounding the alarm about the continued use of violence by law enforcement officers against journalists in Serbia.

RSF, together with 11 other press freedom organizations such as the European Federation of Journalists, signed a statement warning the European Union about the rapid deterioration of press freedom in Serbia. The organizations are calling on the Serbian government to cease all attacks on journalists and take necessary steps to ensure legal protection as well as the independence of the press. The organizations also said that the EU should publicly condemn attacks on the media and question the Serbian government about the status of investigations into these attacks on a regular basis.

The statement comes after Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) released an assessment of the emergency of media freedom in Serbia in May. In their report, MFRR found that Serbian media workers are facing an increasing level of censorship, political persecution, and even threats to their lives from state authorities and government officials. The hostile environment towards journalists has worsened after the reporting of the collapse of a railway station roof in Novi Sad, which killed more than a dozen people.

There have been a total of 95 cases of press freedom violations against 184 journalists this year as of July 12, according to Mapping Media Freedom, an online platform monitoring press freedom situations in European countries. Many media workers covering the ongoing student-led protests have been physically assaulted, with many more injured.

President Aleksandar Vučić has repeatedly targeted independent media. He called the reporting of N1 and Nova S, two independent media outlets, “pure terrorism,” which led to the two entities being dropped from the satellite television service EON SAT. The group of organizations also pointed out that the European Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report on Serbia has paid limited attention to the safety of journalists.

In March, Amnesty International reported that they had found evidence of the Serbian authorities using the Pegasus spyware against two investigative journalists with a research focus on state-sponsored corruption.

Serbia has been ranked 96th in the RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, which is lower than any country in the EU. In April 2025, RSF urged the EU to consider Serbia’s violations of press freedom during the review of the country’s application for EU membership.