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There is a strange kind of people in Serbia...

Publishers of six tabloids and daily newspapers close to the authorities received over one million euros in 2025 from state and local budgets through public procurement and project co-financing for the media. Raskrikavanje analyzed publicly available contracts and revealed, for example, that nearly half a million euros was paid to just two companies owned by Smederevo businessman Boban Rajić, Politika and Novosti. At the same time, these media outlets are fulfilling their part of the job for the authorities – on the front pages of six tabloids, Raskrikavanje journalists found more than 1,800 manipulations, mostly from the political section.

On the front pages of six daily newspapers close to the authorities in 2025, journalists from Raskrikavanje found more than 1,800 manipulative news articles. Leading the pack is Alo with as many as 529 such articles, followed closely by Informer with 399. Raskrikavanje has been analyzing tabloid headlines for years, and last year, 2025, has recorded unprecedented levels of manipulation. The six tabloids we analyzed – Informer, Srpski telegraf, Alo, Večernje novosti, Kurir, and Politika – collectively received over one million euros from the budget last year.

In Serbia, 66.3 percent of citizens listen to the radio, but news from this medium is rarely analyzed. On radio stations with national frequency, representatives of the government appear as the main actors in more than 70 percent of the news, while the opposition has not appeared at all.

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications has announced the composition of the committees for evaluating projects for the nine media competitions it has announced for the year 2026.

The network "Journalists Against Violence Towards Women" in Serbia is redefining the way media report on gender-based violence. Established in 2017 and driven by solidarity rather than hierarchy, the group brings together around 100 female journalists who fight against harmful reporting practices, support each other through high-risk reporting, and develop practical tools for change – from ethical guidelines to a pioneering database of photographs. In a media landscape shaped by political pressure, institutional silence, and emotional burnout, their work offers a rare model of collective care and accountability.

Journalists do not produce "content," although I often use this word in editorial meetings and probably irritate my colleagues.

Journalists from local media in Serbia face similar problems and pressures and are often left to fend for themselves, it was assessed this evening after the screening of the film "Journalists Under Pressure – Local Voices" at the European House in Novi Pazar.

Among correspondents in southern Serbia, there are millionaires, but not in terms of income, rather in the number of kilometers traveled. Aside from the established definitions of the profession from journalism textbooks, which describe a journalist as someone who regularly sends news and reports from cities or countries outside their home editorial office, current correspondents in the south have their own perspective on the profession – based on their personal experiences, they say that it is “nice to be in this field, but not advisable,” that it is a “pathological love,” that correspondents in the south are “first when it comes to work, but last when it comes to payment,” or that “the journalistic job is the hardest to do, but also the hardest to give up.”