Association of journalists from Bosnia's northwestern city of Banja Luka called on media especially public broadcasters to stop covering the stories of tabloids and websites without Impressum, because such articles target certain media outlets and journalists, the association's steering board said on Monday.

The Banja Luka Club of Journalists’ Steering Board convened on Monday to discuss the recent attack on BN Television's (BN TV) journalist, Vladimir Kovacevic, and the police report regarding this attack which was submitted to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office assessed the attack as attempted murder.

The association will hold meetings every week as of now to discuss the matter and provide support to Kovacevic.

Sinisa Vukelic, a news editor and member of the association, said at a press conference in Banja Luka on Monday that it was the injured journalist's father and not the police inspectors who discovered some important details of the attack.

“The inspectors did not check the area near the car, to look for possible evidence. Is any of the responsible ones going to respond for these omissions,” Vukelic said.

“We will be following every day how is the investigation going, we will be meeting every day and follow the investigation,” he underlined.

Vukelic slammed certain media outlets for carrying the information about the attacked journalist receiving the sum of USD 80,000 in return for the attack, assessing this as “shameful, inappropriate.”

By doing so, they put the target on Kovacevic's forehead, according to Vukelic.

BN TV's Kovacevic was physically assaulted on August 26 by two still unidentified persons who, according to the attacked journalist, had beaten him with expandable batons and inflicted him severe injuries.

Kovacevic briefly addressed reporters on Monday, informing the public that he was successfully recovering. He did not answer the question if he feels his safety was jeopardised.

“I am not scared but it's not that I don't care. I have a family, two children. I got a son five days before the attack happened. I don't feel I'm in jeopardy but we know what happened. Anything I say will be wrong,” he added.

Journalists staged protests in several Bosnia's cities following the attack to express support to Kovacevic but also to point at difficult circumstances they work in. They urged the institutions to find the perpetrators of the attack on BN TV's journalist and punish them adequately.