If anyone can testify to what they are going through journalists at the premises when they dare to do their work professionally - reporting in the public interest, not in the interest of the authorities - then it's Verica Marinčić, editor IN Media portal from India. The list of threats and insults, both online and on the ground, along with the attacks and SLAPP lawsuits she was subjected to, shows painfully clearly what it means to do journalism in a small environment, where everyone knows everyone, the power is held by the local kabaddi, and the institutions do their work half-heartedly, to say the least. Nevertheless, Verica Marinčić knows exactly why she is engaged in journalism, what journalism actually is, and she has the guts to persevere in it. A serious loop.
At the moment, he is facing SLAPP lawsuits - the penalty for one verdict has been paid, the first-instance verdicts for three have been completed and an appeal is pending, four are still to come - the plot of which is a bit reminiscent of a comedy by Larry Charles: namely, during the 2023 election campaign, young karate players were at a reception with the then mayor of Indjija, Vladimir Gak. "Fruškogorski skočko" honey for potency was among the gifts for children's sports success. Portal In Medija received that information immediately, but they waited until the elections were over to publish it, so that, as Marinčić explains, children would not be misused for political purposes. And then, after publication, the lawsuits begin.
VERICA MARINČIĆ: After the publication, some parents rebelled, threatened a little, and then sued us. A total of seven parents for eight children. Namely, they wanted to know who the gift didn't suit, and we didn't want to reveal that information. The lawsuits were drafted in such a way that they claim that we actually targeted and injured children with the photo - which was taken from the municipality's website and which was also reported by other local media. The court took the view that, even if the text is true, such a photo should not be placed under the text because it is not affirmative. At the trial, the children stated that, after that text, their sports successes fell into the water, and that the selector of their association ridiculed them. Then I told the judge that this story has a wider context, because if one selector targets and makes fun of children, then there is no problem with the photos. In short, we were found guilty, we paid the fine according to the first second-instance verdict, the appeal confirmed the amount of 161300 dinars, and we paid it thanks to donations from people from Inđija, from Serbia, Europe, and even the world. A lot of people responded to that action. My assumption is that for all lawsuits, the verdict, as well as the appeal, will be the same as for this first one.
"WEATHER" In previous years, you were the target of various attacks, they also kicked you out of the municipal building, where they physically attacked you, there are also everyday threats... How has it been in recent months??
Although it is about the same, ruling party, the mayor of the municipality has changed in Indjija, and when it comes to him and his close associates, the situation is more relaxed. I am sure, at least, that they would not attack me physically in public. And as far as public discourse is concerned, the situation is almost the same here - there are people who support and those who criticize our work, which is normal, and there are those extremes who write that we are Ustashe, that we should be killed, slaughtered... Even though these things are not normal, we have gotten used to them. We decided to skip the courts, but to discuss it on the spot, face to face.
What it looks like?
For example, the other day I saw a man who for years, under his first and last name, has been writing that we are Ustasha and that we should be killed, where any of us live, our biographies... When I went to the police to consult whether I should report him, in a private conversation I was told that he was in Ratko Mladić's security, that he has Vietnam syndrome and that it is better not to do that. And he continued as before. Then I approached him while he was sitting in a cafe with his friends, and quite loudly, so that half the town could hear, I told him not to do that anymore and that every next letter on the subject of us being Ustasha, or a threat, would not be ignored. His friends later threatened me on the networks, but we know who they are. So my colleague and I decided to personally confront those who write under their first and last names. And it's much easier for them to be stuck at the keyboard than in a public space.
For all these years, are there any examples in your case that they are, What is the famous phrase?, institutions did their job?
It happened once, two or three years ago, that a man, who is normally not close to the government, threatened me via Facebook (because of an article about a local priest who, under the influence of alcohol, caused a scandal in a store). I reported him, he admitted that he did it, but I didn't want to ask for monetary compensation because the man is a bricklayer and has four children. And it's not about money either, but about someone being aware that he has gone too far.
Also, we have very good and close cooperation with the police in Indjija - since 2017, we have gone through all the points related to the protection and safety of journalists and it works great. That cooperation was also shown when the policeman responded on the spot when an elderly man hit me and shouted that I was an Ustasa, and he also attacked my colleague. We didn't want to report him - we felt sorry for him. He is old and poisoned, as if he is reciting headlines from "Informer". In the crowd of protesting children carrying icons and Serbian flags, he saw Ustashas.
But since the whole incident ended up in the media, they told us we had to make a statement. That's what we did. And here, the other day, my colleague and I received official proof that, in the name of the people, we are not Ustashas!
Otherwise, the police really react, but the problem arises in the prosecutor's office. Let's say, when I was expelled from the municipality of Indjija, the prosecutor's office decided that everything was fine. And since that, as the prosecutor says, is not in dispute, I now reckon that with that paper I can enter wherever I want, in a public company, and if I don't like someone, I grab them by the ears and throw them out.
What other difficulties are there?, and possibly advantages, if there are any at all, when you are a local journalist?
We are alone here. Although India has 16 registered media outlets on paper, in reality most of them do not produce anything, but there are some on paper and some of them receive money. Four journalist teams meet on the field and, unfortunately, even though we are from the same city and are colleagues, we are from two sides. None of them ever, let's say at the moment when they kicked me out of the municipality, said a single simple thing: "Hey, stop, that's not right."
This is also the difference between us and, say, Belgrade or Novi Sad, where there is support and solidarity among colleagues. Vanja Đurić, then a journalist for N1, should have come here to defend me.
And then, in addition to all that, there is also one plus in this whole minus story: all of us in the small circle know very well who is who, so those reactions are mostly expected in accordance with the characters of those people. But that's why it has a big impact when a local media in a small community is supported by large, trusted national media, as well as associations.
Research and polls show that the position of female journalists in Serbia is particularly bad - they are more often exposed to threats, attacks on two fronts: and as journalists, and as women. They are more likely to think of leaving the profession. What is your experience??
I noticed that something was wrong, but I did not immediately interpret it as a gender problem, until my colleague pointed out to me: the attitude towards me and towards him is completely different. When I ask something, you can literally hear the eyes roll as soon as I open my mouth, it's all visible on the faces, those facial expressions speak for themselves. And when he asks, although there is still no answer, the atmosphere is different, there is servility and at least some culture of dialogue.
Personally, I don't care what they think of me because they can't think worse than I think of them, and not for nothing, but based on what they do. They only further convinced me that they are misogynists and that they have a serious problem with women. Once, the deputy president of the Inđija Municipal Assembly said that someone writes about children and doesn't have his own, thinking of me. Or, let's say, slandering my appearance, dark circles... All these are primitive, low and senseless insults. If someone does not have children, does it mean that he is less valuable, that he should be silent? I mean, he doesn't have a brain either, so he gives himself the right to talk about everything.
What are the strategies you use to deal with those attacks that, How did you describe them?, they are not normal, but you're almost used to them?
It has become so established on a daily basis that I don't have time to dwell on it or study it studiously. This is the time of the chain reaction: you give me an action, I give you a reaction. The situation in society is such that I don't want anyone to think that I should look around the street because someone wrote something, to think whether, when the dog barks, someone came to break into my house, whether my father, when he is 15 minutes late for a walk, was attacked, hit by a car... I will not live in fear. I'm not miserable, I just live and work in a society where some people with distorted psyches also live. Neither my colleague nor I are the types of people who will fold their tails and give up. We know that we work in the public interest and why it is important for people to be informed about what is happening.
This system of shutting down the media, pressuring, flooding us with lawsuits, pulls our focus to the other side, to be afraid, to self-censorship, to the fact that we must not ask, to move, in the last resort - to exist. There is no point where they didn't stop, it broke my heart when they went to the graves to insult our dead.
For those who threaten us by name and surname, I will look them in the eye. And those who don't even have the courage to write under their own name, I really don't take them seriously.
Finally, what it's like to do journalism in the last few months? Is something different considering the climate in society?
The moment the canopy came down and everything started to unfold, we held an editorial meeting and agreed: this time we have to choose a side. I was involved in sports journalism, I always passionately supported "Partizan" and I never showed sympathy on the field, and I felt like clapping and cheering many times, but journalism does not allow that. However, this is a situation - the most difficult in my twenty years in journalism - in which you have to clearly define yourself. We cannot condone or condone what is happening to the citizens of this country. Because the state is not the government, the state is the citizens.
Another, much easier decision, is that we do not want to report on anything that Aleksandar Vučić does, says or where he appears. He has not existed for us since the first of March, when he insulted his colleagues from RTS.
We have judged that these decisions are the best possible for the public.
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