The Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, NUNS on Wednesday condemned an online campaign targeting Serbian-language media operating in Kosovo.

Anonymous videos posted on a Telegram channel targeted news websites KosSev and Kosovo Online, radio stations Kontakt Plus and Kosovska Mitrovica and television station TV Most, claiming that they are pro-NATO, an intended insult.

The video posts said that the media outlets “persistently talk about how they are objective and ‘honest’”, but claimed “they have been broadcasting NATO and KFOR [NATO’s Kosovo force] commercials for years”.

The posts claimed that the media outlets’ aim was “to be financially rewarded for their ‘hard work’”.

KosSev was described as a media outlet that “defends Shiptar [derogatory term for Albanians] terrorists” and “works for the government in Pristina and for NATO”.

“NUNS points out that this is not the first case of the serious targeting and threating of journalists from the KoSSev website, and we call on the relevant authorities to investigate all the circumstances of this event and the threats that threaten the safety of all journalists in Kosovo,” NUNS said in a press release.

A separate series of anonymous videos was posted on social networks at the end of July, targeting journalists from N1, Nova and Danas, media outlets seen as critical of the Serbian government.

One video said that “their evil intention is to destroy Serbian identity, culture, tradition and religion”.

The head of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever, called on the Serbian authorities on Tuesday to publicly condemn attacks on journalists.

“I have to admit that when I saw these videos, I was shocked. I can’t fathom how anyone could make something like this. Just because it’s on Tuesday in a semi-amateur way doesn’t mean it’s not very dangerous and scary,” Sever told Nova TV.

The European Union’s annual report on human rights and democracy in the world for 2022, published on Monday, said that in Serbia, “cases of threats and violence against journalists remain a concern and the overall environment for the exercise of freedom of expression without hindrance still needs to be further strengthened in practice”.