The Fall of Press Freedom — One Loud Voice Remains: Maria Popović’s Open Letter is wake up call

Across Europe and the Western Balkans, freedom of the press is recognized as a pillar of democracy. But in Serbia today, that pillar is cracking—not only under the weight of censorship and media closure, but under a deeper, more tragic reality: the slow erasure of the people who embody independent journalism. This letter is written by one of them. It is not just a testimony, but a call to action for all who believe that human rights include the right to speak, work, and live without fear.

This is not just a letter. It is a testimony of courage. It is the voice of Maria Popović — a seasoned journalist, editor, and civil society advocate — who has dedicated her life to independent reporting in Serbia. She doesn’t speak from behind a press podium or through institutional platforms. She speaks from exile, exhaustion, and experience.

Her story is not isolated. It echoes the quiet desperation of countless media professionals across the Western Balkans whose commitment to truth has cost them safety, opportunity, and the right to live with dignity. In Maria’s case, that cost meant leaving her country at the age of 51, battling illness, and continuing her journalistic mission from the back rooms of a seasonal job in Croatia. This is her cry — not for charity, but for solidarity. Not for applause, but for bread.

Her words challenge us to listen while voices like hers still remain. What follows is her open letter — a call to media associations, civil society networks, donors, and defenders of human rights to act before silence becomes permanent.

Maria Popović’s Open Letter

„OPEN LETTER

To media associations, civil society networks, donors, and all actors advocating for media freedom and human rights in Europe and the Western Balkans

In Serbia, it’s not just the media being shut down – it’s people

I write to you as a journalist, editor, founder, and representative of a civil society organization that runs an independent local media outlet. This letter is personal, but it speaks for many of us who have been working under unbearable conditions for years – and who are now slowly disappearing from the public space. Not because we want to. But because we are being erased.

In Serbia, it’s not just media that are being shut down – it’s people. Writers. Editors. Female journalists. Media workers.

Independent journalism is under increasingly aggressive attack – not just through institutional pressure, but through direct targeting of the people behind the work. Harassment, threats, economic suffocation, delegitimization – these are daily realities for the majority of us.

Most of us working in local independent journalism are women. Most of us have already endured what is now spreading rapidly: fear campaigns, silencing, and dehumanization – carried out systematically and shamelessly.

So I ask: don’t human rights include the right to work and to live with dignity?

If the answer is yes, then we must say it clearly: in Serbia, it’s not just media outlets that are being shut down – it’s people.

The most recent examples are the stories of the editors of IN Media and Lokal Press. But their cases are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens, even hundreds of us living this in silence. Now, when we have been humiliated and dismantled, the next step is total erasure.

I personally tried to find an alternative – to leave journalism and secure employment in another sector. But the doors were closed. Because in today’s Serbia, if a company is successful, it usually means it is aligned with the ruling power. If it isn’t – it’s not allowed to succeed.

For us, independent journalists, there is no alternative. No job. No safety. No prospects.

That’s why, like many others, I had to make the most painful decision: to leave my home, my family, and my country – to work a seasonal job in Croatia, at the age of 51, with a diagnosis of systemic lupus. My daily routine now looks like this: 8 to 10 hours of work in a restaurant, followed by another 5 to 6 hours working remotely on my media outlet. It’s dangerous, exhausting, and unsustainable – but it’s the only way to survive.

And the deepest pain comes from being forced to leave – and the sense that my own country has abandoned me.

Let me remind you: a local media funding call in my hometown expired over a month ago. We haven’t received any official response. And we don’t need to – because we were already told, before applying, that we would not be selected. Openly. Directly. Without shame.

So I am calling for the following:

1. An urgent joint response – public or institutional – to condemn the systemic pressure on independent local media and media workers, especially women.

We don’t need pity. We need solidarity.

2. The initiation of a process to map and design sustainable support models for local media and their founders.

We do not need one-time aid. We need access to meaningful, dignified work. We need long-term partnerships with civil society networks, donors, and professional associations.

3. The creation of a working group of CSOs and media actors to explore and pilot:

employment pathways for journalists from vulnerable outlets within civil society (as researchers, trainers, communicators, educators),

inclusion of independent media in EU-funded and international civil society projects,

building a shared resource and support platform for collaboration, mentoring, and resilience.

In this spirit, I am not asking for sympathy or ad hoc donations. I am asking that we find ways to work, earn, and live.

Bread – not applause. Partnership – not pats on the back.

Include us. Hear us – while we still have a voice.

Sincerely,

Maria Popović

Journalist & Editor – “Pravo u centar”

Organization Name: CSO Center for grow and development“