N1 journalist and cameraman received an award for courage by IJAS
29. October 2020
N1 reporter Jelena Zoric and cameraman Aleksandar Cvrkotic were presented an award for courage by the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (IJAS).
Zoric and Cvrkotic received the Dusan Bogavac award for Ethics and Jourage in journalism for their reporting from the civic protests in July this year along with the Danas daily news desk.
The jury said that Zoric’s brave and ethical engagement in 2020, especially during the protests in July, confirmed all the attributes of honorable and professional journalism adding that Cvrkotic is “a symbol of courageous cameramne and photographers who record important moments with their camera regardless of conditions”.
Zoric told the ceremony that this is a team award and devoted it to all journalism students and future journalists, adding that their main job will be to restore the dignity of the profession. “We have been hearing recently that someone is trying to tell the public that journalists at N1, Nova S and NewsMax Adria are under pressure. That is an insult for us. All of us journalists are not under pressure and we can report ethically and courageously. The pressure is on our editors, bosses, owners. You hear after every good story that cables have been cut, that someone is being told to change to some other cable operator,” she said and thanked United Media CEO Aleksandra Subotic for being there as a show of support “as she does every day” and N1 News Director Jugoslav Cosic as well as Executive Producer Igor Bozic and all the editors who “never told me how to write something”.
Cvrkotic devoted his award to fellow N1 cameramen Vuk Dapcevic and Vuk Mijatovic who came to help report the events in front of the Serbian parliament during the protests “like all other photographers and cameramen who stood shoulder to shoulder with reporters fighting to pass on information professionally, responsibly and bravely”.
