The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) and the "Nezavisnost" branch union "express deep concern over the continuous and increasingly intense pressures, professional degradation and systematic collapse of labor rights journalists and media workers in the media house Euronews Serbia", UNS announced today.
As stated in the announcement, Juronujz Serbia "fired journalists, videographers and media workers who defended the profession".
"In the latest wave of dismissals, at least 12 journalists and employees received decisions on the termination of their employment contracts due to alleged technological redundancy, with an explanation of organizational changes and the end of the need for their jobs. At the same time, some employees were offered contract annexes with salary reductions," UNS announced.
He also stated that "the fact that the vast majority of those whose contracts were canceled previously resisted the pressures and attempts to change the editorial policy, and to the detriment of the profession, that this situation has continued since the moment when Minja Miletić, regional director, and Dragana Pejović, editor-in-chief, took over the leading positions is of particular concern."
"For months now, Juronnews Serbia employees have been exposed to: censorship, prohibition of asking questions to government representatives, threats of dismissal, repression for expressing professional disagreement and open demands for loyalty to the owner, not the public interest," UNS announced.
It was stated that "this attitude towards journalists and media workers became more visible to the public when on April 18, without the knowledge and consent of the majority of the editorial staff, the controversial text 'We call on the authorities to enable the work of RTS' was published on behalf of the media, from which as many as 78 journalists and media workers of Juronujz Serbia publicly distanced themselves".
"We again call and expressly demand from the management and editorial staff of Euronews Serbia to immediately stop the dismissals, pressures and degradation of employees, to cancel the decisions on dismissals made in a non-transparent and illegal manner", stated in the statement, which adds that they will continue to monitor the situation and inform the relevant domestic and international institutions about everything.
