Tabloids heavily purchase local media: The authorities are consolidating the media landscape and further enriching their propaganda tools.

According to data from the Business Registers Agency (APR), three new portals have been established that are not yet operational – pribojtv.rs through the company Informativni centar Priboj, kolubaratv.rs through the company Miomedia (Mionica), and macvatv.rs through the company Infomačva (Šabac). All three companies are owned by Best Media Team, which is jointly owned by Alo and Informer, specifically their publishers Alo Media System and Insajder Tim.

They recently acquired the company TV-5 Užice through which they have now officially registered the existing portal of that television as a separate internet media outlet – tv5.rs.

Saša Mirković, a representative of the Association of Independent Media, states that these media acquisitions by the two Serbian tabloids are primarily conducted to create the illusion of media pluralism in Serbia, but also to prepare the ground for complete media control ahead of the elections that President Aleksandar Vučić has been promising for months.

As he emphasizes, quantity does not necessarily mean quality in this case; we will get a new pile of media that do not adhere to professional standards and journalistic codes.

– We know how the owners of these tabloids behave with their primary companies, so we cannot expect anything other than bare propaganda and violations of all professional standards here – says Mirković.

He explains that the government is currently consolidating the media landscape through the tabloids Alo and Informer on one side, as well as through front organizations like the Center for Social Stability, which has recently established dozens of portals, on the other side.

– Telekom is also involved in this media space control initiative, having gained the ability to purchase media through changes in the law, which it is doing, as well as developments in United Media where editorial positions are obviously changing to complete the narrative ahead of the elections – he continued.

He recalls the President's words when he spoke about the new composition of REM and mentioned that if independent experts were elected, they would shut down Informer.

– Of course, no one mentioned shutting down Informer, but the mere fact that the head of state is engaged with a media outlet that constantly violates all possible regulations and laws clearly indicates their intentions. They want to further strengthen Informer in this way, which is not even a media outlet, but a flagship of the government, their symbol – stated Mirković.

The subsidiary of Alo and Informer, Best Media Team, has also established two completely new companies, Miomedia and Infomačva. Best Media Team, which was registered on December 24 of last year, has purchased nine local media outlets since the beginning of the year, including RTV Golija from Ivanjica, Televizija Kikinda, Televizija 5 from Užice, TV Lav Plus, TV Priboj, the portal valjevo5.rs, RTV Bačka Palanka, Lotel Plus from Loznica, and Santos television from Zrenjanin.

As Mirković explains, the story around financing has also been closed, especially in the last two years, where tabloids and regime media are abundantly funded through projects or public procurements.

Independent and professional media experts have been prevented from participating in the commissions for allocating funds to media outlets due to the points engineering organized by the previous Minister of Information, Dejan Ristić.

These points, he adds, are distributed among those who are aligned with this government from some so-called expert conferences, and who have very questionable biographies and academic papers.

– When you have such commissions, you cannot expect that the funding for media co-financing will go to those who are professional and critical. The circle is closing so that in media competitions, from the state down to the smallest municipality, funds are received only by regime media, often tabloids. Those who do not succeed in obtaining funds this way, because there are numerous media outlets that daily violate the journalists' code, have public procurements as an alternative model. Currently, much more money is being allocated for tabloids through public procurements to bypass the rules that apply in project co-financing. Not to mention advertising or money from cable operators – he concluded.

It is worth noting that Alo Media System, along with Bojan Avramović, also owns the company INI media, which operates Niš TV, an unregistered television station, and the registered portal of the same name. This company, at the end of 2025, acquired "Rock Radio" from the Pink Media Group owned by Željko Mitrović.

Rade Veljanovski, a retired professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences and a media expert, says that the regime has been trying for years to create a media system that is entirely in their hands.

A portion of their media, financially supported and instructed, is now acquiring other media to multiply the propaganda influence over all local and regional media.

– This is possible due to the recent changes in media laws, where the prevailing view, which was also present in Europe, is that media concentration is not controlled through ownership but through content analysis in media. However, that was a trend in Europe where it is possible for one owner to have multiple media outlets with different content and varying opinions. This has, of course, never happened here. We raised the threshold and allowed one owner to possess as many media outlets as they want, which is now backfiring on us – said Veljanovski.

Encouragingly, he adds, this view has changed in Europe, and media ownership is now viewed more restrictively. In the new European Act on Media Freedom, which came into force last year, media ownership has become more strictly controlled.

The current regime, he believes, will not take this path and align domestic regulations with this act, but if the government changes, it would be wise to change the laws so that we no longer find ourselves in a situation where one person can own a large number of media outlets and abuse that power extensively.

Veljanovski states that all new media acquired or established by the joint company of the two well-known tabloids will soon be significantly financially rewarded from local and state budgets.

– Just as they have received until now, it will continue with these new media outlets. The provisions of the law on project co-financing for media have turned into their opposite. It is now financing a vast number of regime media, where the rules of the law are neglected. The idea was to help small local media and media in minority languages to survive in this way, as they do not have commercial content and are essential for achieving public interest. But this is not respected; only media close to the regime, often tabloids, receive funds, and in this way, the state is practically in ownership of those media – he concluded.

Source: Danas