The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, expressed regret on Monday for referring to a journalist from a state-run network as an imbecile while denouncing the reporter’s coverage of a large-scale anti-corruption demonstration over the weekend.
Following the tragic collapse of a rail station last year that claimed 15 lives, thousands of demonstrators rallied in the southern Serbian city of Nis on Saturday in the most recent anti-corruption march that shook the Balkan nation.
Several high-ranking officials, including the prime minister, resigned in January as a result of the movement’s months-long pressure on Vucic’s administration.
The president on Sunday referred to a reporter for the RTS station in Nis as an “imbecile… who is flattering and making arrangements with protesters” while on a visit to Bor in eastern Serbia.
Media rights organisations and the broadcaster later criticised the comments and demanded an apology.
RTS issued a statement urging “all political actors to stop trying to regulate and discipline the media” and stating, “We want to do our work without pressure.”
Vucic issued an apology statement on Monday, March 3, 2025.
“Regardless of the torture that I go through every day… I have no right to call anyone an imbecile, and I apologise to the citizens of Serbia and the journalists of the RTS bureau for doing so,” he said.
But in the statement, Vucic persisted in criticising RTS’s reporters for purportedly being a “disgrace to their profession” and lacking neutrality in their reporting.
“They are not journalists, but political activists,” Vucic said.
In a signed statement, about 50 Nis media professionals from various organisations, including regional network N1 and Al Jazeera, felt the apology was insufficient in response to Vucic’s remarks.
“Until a proper public apology is made, we are suspending coverage of all presidential activities,” the statement read.
The country’s long-smouldering resentment of corruption and the purported lack of oversight on construction and development projects was sparked in November when the station roof collapsed in Novi Sad, following major renovations to the structure.
The government has wavered between calling for negotiations and accusing the protesters of having foreign military support.
The administration aims to satisfy a number of the demands made by the student organisers in an attempt to put an end to the demonstrations.
