The United States, the European Union and Bosnian journalists expressed outrage Monday after two masked assailants attacked and seriously hurt a reporter for an independent Bosnian Serb television station. BNTV reporter Vladimir Kovacevic was hospitalized following the beating attack late Sunday outside his home in Banja Luka, the main town in the Serb-run part of Bosnia. BNTV has faced criticism from the Bosnian Serb authorities for its independent editorial policies. "This is the latest of several alarming attacks against journalists and media actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Mijatovic said. The Bosnian journalists' association said the attack was aimed at intimidating independent media and blamed authoritarian Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik for leading a campaign against independent media by proclaiming their reporters "enemies, spies and foreign stooges."

Source: ABC News August 27, 2018 12:25 UTC