Jelena Petković: Tabloids Are Exploiting the Death of a Female Student for Political Purposes Ahead of Tomorrow’s Elections

(Source: UNS-N1) The representative of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) in the Press Council Complaints Commission, Jelena Petković, speaking about tabloid reporting (especially by Informer) on the death of a female student at the Faculty of Philosophy, said that the victim was being exploited for political purposes ahead of local elections and that the issue concerns not only journalism, but also basic morality and ethics.

On Thursday, shortly after 10 p.m., a female student of the Faculty of Philosophy died after falling through a fifth-floor window of the faculty building.

Police officers from the Stari Grad police station were first to arrive at the scene and investigated.

Yesterday, journalists’ associations, the Press Council, and the institution of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection called on the media to demonstrate “the highest degree of professional responsibility, restraint, and respect for the rights to privacy and dignity” in their reporting on the student’s death in Belgrade.

Tabloids published a photograph of the victim’s body in which her face was visible, although slightly blurred. Footage from the scene while the police investigation was still ongoing was also published, along with other unverified and disturbing information related to the case.

The UNS representative in the Press Council Complaints Commission says that this was an exploitation of the victim for political purposes ahead of local elections scheduled to be held tomorrow, March 29, in ten municipalities.

“This is not a question of the journalists’ code, but of civilizational values and the moral foundations of dignified communication in the public sphere. These are questions of morality and ethics that go beyond the Code. As far as the Code itself is concerned, most of the information should never have been made public — names and surnames, photographs, the horrifying video, photographs from the investigation scene, even the reading of an alleged autopsy report… Whether this involved leaks from the police or fabricated information, we do not know; that should be determined. Everything was horrifying, and the victim was politically exploited ahead of the local elections. It was the absolute bottom, a cold-blooded exploitation of a victim and tragedy,” she pointed out.

She emphasized that such reporting must be punished.

“It should be punished. The reason we find ourselves in this situation is the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), which for years has failed to react to this kind of reporting. Unfortunately, this is not the first tragedy that has occurred. Without a reaction from the competent authorities, we cannot expect things to change,” Petković said, adding that the Press Council had already received several complaints that should be considered at its next session.

She also expects a reaction from other competent authorities, stating that it is unbelievable that only the Commissioner addressed the issue publicly.

According to the N1 interviewee, the tabloid coverage disturbed the public because it appeared to amount to a call for the arrest of the university rector and the dean of the faculty.

She stated that not only the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics had been violated, but also the law.

“It is not only a violation of the Code, but also of the Law on Public Information and Media and the Law on Personal Data Protection. The Law on Public Information states that the dignity of victims must be respected during reporting — privacy of personal data must be protected, private information must not be disclosed publicly, nobody may be declared guilty without a court decision, and reporting must not encourage intolerance and violence,” Petković emphasized.