Trade unions
According to some estimates, in Serbia there are around 6,000 journalists. Trade unions do not have a strong tradition among Serbian journalists and, as a rule, in Serbia they cannot rely on support and protection from the unions. The fragmentation and ineffectiveness of the unions makes the self-organisation of journalists rather inefficient (Matic, 2014). "Most journalists are not members of trade unions, due either to fear of employers’ retribution or distrust of trade unions’ effectiveness in protecting their rights" (Matic et al., 2012).
Sindikat novinara Srbije (Trade Union of Journalists of Serbia - SINOS) was established in 2002 with the goal of legal and professional protection of journalists. The organisation gathers around 1,400 journalists. According to SINOS, half of them were left without jobs after the privatisation.