The media ecosystem in our country is affected by the expansion of false, sensationalist, and manipulative news, polarization, political influence, and many other factors, while journalists (especially investigative reporters) are continuously exposed to attacks, pressure, and threats that rarely result in legal proceedings.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia reported 183 attacks on journalists during 2023, including physical assaults, property damage, threats, and various forms of pressure. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the media environment as “contaminated by propaganda, influence trading, and fake news” following the allocation of four national broadcasting frequencies to pro-government media outlets in July 2022.

In order to contribute to increasing media independence, the sustainability of local media, and the improvement of professional standards, particularly among young journalists, the Belgrade Open School, with the support of the Kingdom of Sweden, organized the Journalism Academy for the third consecutive year within the programme “Advancing Media and Youth CSOs for Prosperous Democratic Development of Serbia.”

This year’s Journalism Academy concluded with a final training session in Šabac, where participants had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges of investigative journalism from Jelena Zorić, as well as about journalist safety from legal expert Rade Đurić from the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia.

The event also provided an opportunity for participants to present their final works - complex media productions developed over the past two months in collaboration with their mentors, experienced journalists from leading media outlets.

On this occasion, monetary awards for the best final works were presented to three journalists:

• Lazar Ranđelović for the work “Paths of Illegal Landfills” (Bor region)
• Tamara Radovanović for the article “From No Credentials to Staggering Income: Millions for Two Companies in the Last 4 Years of SNS Rule in Niš” (Južne vesti)
• Ana Adamović for the article “The Investor Builds, Institutions Sleep”