News

In the world of local journalism, where media workers often face the choice between silencing the truth and existential uncertainty, Sanja Petrov and her team launched the portal "Slobodna reč" in Vranje in 2020. Established in response to the "gap" in information and the need to dig "behind the news," this media outlet has set itself the mission of restoring integrity to the profession in an environment where many media capacities are under regime control. For Sanja, the editor of the "Slobodna reč" portal, being an independent journalist at the local level means balancing the mission of informing citizens with the harsh reality in which journalists, according to her, are often either "pitied or spat upon," while the financial survival of the newsroom depends solely on donors who support media freedom.

The media publisher Zaple Media Group, a company established in December of last year, has registered its 13th local media outlet this year – the Puls Vrbasa portal, according to data from the Media Register of the Business Registers Agency (APR).

After more than a decade of project co-financing for media, it has become evident that it does not serve to support the public interest, but rather to reward those in favor. While local media aligned with the authorities are counting millions from city, state, and provincial funds, those known for their critical voice have two approaches to project co-financing: either they apply expecting not to receive any money, or they completely boycott the competitions to avoid giving them legitimacy.

Thanks to TV Mačva, a clone of Informer's Collegium is now in Šabac, as yet another joint operation of the tabloids Alo and Informer across Serbia. Following Čačak, Užice, Valjevo, Novi Sad, and Bačka Palanka... the network for settling scores with critics of the government is expanding.

The German Association of Journalists (DJV) has called on European institutions to respond adequately to the increasingly intense persecution of critically minded journalists in Serbia. The impetus for this appeal is the latest report from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) initiative regarding the deterioration of media freedom and journalist safety in a country aspiring to join the European Union.

The tabloid publishers Alo and Informer – Alo Media System and Insajder team – through their subsidiary Best Media Team, acquired Radio Television Majdanpek from Zaječar this June, which is the publisher of T1 television and portal. Additionally, yesterday, the name change of this company to T1 media was registered, according to data from the Business Registers Agency (APR).

The failure to elect the president of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) at the constitutive session is not surprising, assesses Saša Mirković from ANEM for N1. He states that in a deeply divided society and after nearly 20 months without the REM Council, it is difficult to expect a quick agreement, especially ahead of possible elections when the role of the regulator becomes particularly important.

Although Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia, there are only a few local media outlets. One of them is the portal Moj Novi Sad, whose director Vladimir Bulatović explains that it was created out of a desire to assist the residents of Novi Sad by providing them with the information they need in their daily lives. As political and social circumstances have changed, this portal has also adapted, and they have been closely following student and civic protests for more than a year now.

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) recorded 98 cases of threats against journalists in the first half of this year, which is nearly the same number as in the same period last year, when 100 cases were reported. Furthermore, the year 2025 was a record year for the number of threats, pressure, attacks, discrimination, and obstruction of journalists' work, indicating that the negative trend has not been halted this year.