MEDIA SCENE OF SERBIA IN MAY 2026

The drastic deterioration when it comes to the freedom of the media and media workers was recorded in the "World Media Freedom Index for 2026" prepared by the international organization Reporters Without Borders, with the resolution "On the escalation of attacks, capture of the media and the decline of media freedom in Serbia" adopted at the World Congress of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and in the "Report on the work of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists for 2025". When it comes to state institutions that deal with human rights in Serbia, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, expressed dissatisfaction with the current situation. Ten international journalistic organizations for media protection and freedom of the press sent letters to ministers of European affairs throughout Europe to inform them of the conclusions they reached during their visit to Belgrade and based on the data they had access to regarding the number of physical, legal and online attacks on journalists. Association of independent electronic media organized a discussion on the topic of threats to media security workers by means of digital surveillance, especially by installing spyware.

At the end of May, news was confirmed that an agreement had been reached on the sale of Adria News S.à r.l., which manages the regional media network Adria News Network (ANN), to the international investment group Alpac Capital. Company for newspaper and publishing activity NIN d.o.o. announced that it transferred the ownership of its entire publishing portfolio and rights to the NIN brand to the company Politika novine i magazini d.o.o. Ana Mihajlovski Grubin, former editor-in-chief and owner of the Naš portal (Our portal), announced that she is stepping down from all positions in that media because, as she said, she cannot guarantee editorial autonomy, professional standards and conditions for independent editorial work.

The public was horrified and strongly condemned the shameful message published on the social network X by the member of the Board of Directors of Radio and Television of Serbia, Predrag Azdejković, on the occasion of the death of the famous cartoonist Predrag Koraksić Koraks. The editor-in-chief of Informer TV, Dragan J. Vučićević, used offensive statements to "clarify" the reasons why railway traffic in Serbia was closed during the large civil protest at Slavija square in Belgrade. Minister of Information and Telecommunications Boris Bratina called his "right" to insult - the right to media pluralism.

The journalist of the Zoomer portal was pushed away by a member of the police with a shield after the end of the protest in Slavija, the editorial office said. A death threat was sent to the editors of the Mašina portal via Instagram. Journalist Srđan Nonić also received a threat of an attack on his life via Facebook. The Association of Serbian Journalists reacted to the attack on the editor of the "Volim Zrenjanin" portal Aleksandar Blanuša. The Acting Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade Prof. Dr. Valentina Arsić Arsenijević inappropriately addressed live in the program TV N1 journalist Tatjana Aleksić . The Complaints Commission of the Press Council made a unanimous decision that the media Večernje Novosti, Alo, 24sedam and Užice Oglasna tabla, with texts referring to journalist Veran Matić and members of ANEM, violated the Code of Journalists of Serbia. The practice of banning journalistic reporting continued during May.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Zaječar rejected the objection against the decision rejecting the criminal complaint filed by Miljko Stojanović for the attack he suffered by police officers. The first basic public prosecution in Belgrade filed an indictment for the attack on TV Insider journalist Nataša Mijušković. The Second Basic Court in Belgrade passed a first-instance verdict in the case against the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation following lawsuits filed by former members of the State Security Department Miroslav Kurak, Ratko Romić and Milan Radonjić. With that judgment, the Foundation is obliged to pay the total amount of RSD 1,035,000.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media organized a two-day discussion on media project co-financing and published an analysis of the project co-financing process that showed the extent of its senselessness. The data published in the daily newspaper Danas and the analysis of the portal Cenzolovka lead to the same conclusion.

The reader can be informed about all of the above in the Monitoring of the media scene in Serbia for the month of May 2026.

This publication was published with the financial support of the European Union. The Association of Independent Electronic Media is solely responsible for its content, and that content does not necessarily express the official views of the European Union.

Text of this Monitoring Report was prepared by expert monitoring team from the law office "Savović" in cooperation with ANEM.