Between 2015 and 2019, organizations such as Freedom House, Reporters without Borders, and IREX reported a worrying decline in media freedom in Serbia. As stated in their reports, the unstable media landscape was characterized by the state being excessively present in the media market. In addition, journalistic outlets and journalists were subject to strong economic and political pressure, especially the printed, independent media. In the European Commission for 2022 report, the media landscape is described as dominated by the ruling party and the current Serbian president, and no progress has been made regarding freedom of expression. Finally, in 2023, Irene Khan, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on the right to freedom of expression, stated that the state of affairs in Serbia is alarming, the situation being one of “toxic public discourse, from politicians or public officials and amplified by tabloids, scapegoating the media, human rights defenders, ethnic minorities, LGBTI and those critical of the government”. How does this situation influence the day-to-day work of a journalist at an independent news outlet?  Is there space for action and change from the perspective of a socially engaged journalist interested in interreligious and intercultural dialogue? These are but a few topics Jelena Jorgačević-Kisić will address in her talk. Professor Klaus Buchenau will moderate the event.

 

Jelena Jorgačević-Kisić, is a long-time journalist of religion for the government-critical weekly Vreme in Belgrade and president of the NGO “Forum on Media, Religion and Culture of Remembrance.” She holds a BA in political sciences, an MA in the theory of culture, both from the University of Belgrade, as well as an MA in religious studies from the University of Erfurt. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Regensburg, Germany. In her journalistic work, she analyses the relations between religion, society, culture and politics, also writing about interreligious dialogue and human rights. Her book „We give each other good – Nine conversations about ourselves and all of us” (Serbian: “Jedni smo drugima na dobro dati“) was published recently by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Buchenau is professor of Southeast and East European history at the University of Regensburg. At the beginning of his academic career, he focused primarily on sociolinguistics and then on the history of religion. Following the financial crisis 2008, he extended his research interests to include resource allocation, state distrust, and the history of corruption. So far, he has primarily carried out research in the former Yugoslavia, but he has also worked in archives and libraries of Russia, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic.

 

Journalist Talks series is part of the seeFField project of the University of Regensburg, in cooperation with the Volkshochschule Regensburg.