The Court of Appeals in Belgrade, Serbia, has upheld a ruling requiring Filip Švarm, editor-in-chief of the weekly Vreme (https://vreme.com/), and journalist Nemanja Rujević to pay 80,000 RSD (683 EUR) to one individual for allegedly damaging her reputation. This stems from Vreme’s article “Anatomy of a Dissertation,” (Anatomija Jedne Disertacije) published five years ago on 27 November 2019 which claimed that at least 15% of this person’s doctoral thesis was copied without proper attribution.
While the court did not dispute the accuracy of the article’s claims, it emphasized that only qualified experts, not journalists, can officially determine whether a piece of work is plagiarized. As such, it ruled that journalists are not entitled to publicly label academic work as plagiarism. The judgment has also ordered Vreme to publish the court’s decision, which the publication has already done.
The court decision is strange, because journalists have the right to investigate all cases, including cases of plagiarism, and to present the results of their research to the public, including presenting their conclusions related to a research. If journalists are denied the ability to report on evident wrongdoing without waiting for official certifications, the public’s right to transparency and accountability may be seriously undermined.
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) views this ruling as a dangerous precedent that pressures media into self-censorship. SEEMO stands in solidarity with the Vreme team and will closely monitor this case to ensure the protection of media freedom and the right to report on issues of public interest.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech #southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #serbia #vreme #filipsvarm #nemanjarujevic #journalistontrial #jorunalistattack #SEEMO #pressfreedom #mediafreedom #freemedia