On the Internet station of the weekly "Vreme", on October 4, 2025 at 7:31 p.m., under the title "SNP trade union: Criticism of a colleague's singing is not hate speech", a text containing a number of incorrect, incomplete and unverified information about the personality of Nataša Tasić Knežević, opera artist and soloist of the Opera, was published. Serbian National Theatre.
The person named before the publication of the disputed text was not contacted by the author of the text or the editors of the website of the weekly "Vremena", as a result of which there was a violation of the provisions of the Law on Public Information and the Media, as well as the provisions of the Code of Journalists of Serbia, which regulate the basic principles of professional and ethical journalistic work.
The published information seriously damages the reputation, honor and personal rights of Nataša Tasić Knežević, as well as her professional integrity.
First of all, the published title of the text contains a conclusive disinformation dash, because the subject of the announcement of the Union of Artists and other members of the SNP can in no way be classified as union matter, since it represents an attempt to evaluate the artistic quality of the opera artist Nataša Tasić Knežević.
The artistic assessment of the quality of the appointed opera singer does not represent the protection of the labor and social rights of employees or a request for the improvement of working conditions in SNP. On the contrary, in the manner described - by uncritical and one-sided transmission of disputed information from the union announcement, the public defamation, discrimination and slander of Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević, carried out on a racial and national basis, by colleague Bojan Glušica was validated.
Furthermore, Ms. Nataša Tasić Knežević has nothing to do with offensive tabloid writing to the detriment of her colleagues, nor did she accuse anyone of racially insulting her, because the Romany Party filed a criminal complaint to clarify the facts surrounding the attack on her. For the aforementioned reason, Bojan Glušica was also called by the police to provide information as a citizen, and not to give a statement in the capacity of a procedural subject, as it was incorrectly presented and as a result of which the dress rehearsal of the comic opera "Ero from the Other World" was unnecessarily interrupted. Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević received the same invitation.
Therefore, it is absolutely incorrect that the dress rehearsal of the comic opera was interrupted and canceled due to the procedure of Nataša Tasić Knežević, because it was a matter of the usual legal procedure of the police prescribed by the provisions of the Law on Police and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Furthermore, Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević has nothing to do with the accusations against her colleagues, because she personally did not initiate any proceedings against her colleagues before the competent state authorities, nor did she initiate any public media lynching against SNP employees with her actions, since she is one of them and shares "both good and evil" with them.
The contentious text also contains manipulation of the audio recording of the public performance of Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević, because it is a selectively chosen audio recording that was taken out of context, with the aim of creating the idea of "falsification" of the artist, even though she is named as an artist with a twenty-year career recognized in the country and abroad.
And finally, trade union organizations are not authorized or qualified to assess the artistic quality of someone's artistic work or to give criticism, because by doing so they exceed their constitutional and legal role in the state and society - protecting the rights of employees before the employer. Also, the obvious apology for the defamatory and discriminatory publicly expressed views of Bojan Glušica, based on the skin color and nationality of Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević, contained in the controversial text and "union" statement, does not represent the protection of a critical attitude towards professional standards and artistic work, but an example of gross abuse of the union in support of hate speech and discrimination.
Therefore, by publishing disputed, inaccurate, defamatory and unverified factual claims about the personality and professional work of Ms. Nataša Tasić Knežević, the named person's personal and professional reputation was damaged and at the same time the general Serbian public was misinformed.
Following all of the above, we ask you to act in accordance with the legal disposition and publish the submitted response of Mrs. Nataša Tasić Knežević to the disputed published information in its entirety.
