More than one million euros for pro-regime media in 2025.

In the past year, we witnessed a familiar pattern – the majority of the funds allocated for media from the budget primarily went to media outlets whose editorial policies align with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, specifically with President Aleksandar Vučić.

Front pages filled with praise and devoid of any criticism have proven to be highly lucrative, as publishers signed contracts worth over one million euros with state institutions and local governments just last year.

Politika and Večernje novosti received nearly half a million euros from the budget

Politika and Večernje novosti are owned by Smederevo businessman Boban Rajić. The firm through which he acquired Večernje novosti was established by lawyer Igor Isailović, who is close to Ana Brnabić and Siniša Mali.

Rajić gradually rose to this position. He first took over Večernje novosti in 2019, and then entered Politika in 2022, initially with a 50% stake, later acquiring full ownership. He also became the owner of the Borba printing house in 2024, and the building of Politika in downtown Belgrade came under his control as well. Recently, they announced that they had also taken over the weekly NIN.

When all contracts received by Politika and Novosti from public funds in 2025 are totaled, the amount reaches nearly 480,000 euros.

The publisher of the Večernje novosti newspaper, NID Novosti, signed contracts worth over 286,000 euros in 2025. The majority of the funds were allocated through public procurement, with advertising services for the public sector being the most profitable.

The largest contract was signed with the Ministry of Culture, which allocated over 50,000 euros to Novosti, and with Radio-Television of Serbia, with which they signed a contract worth 25,500 euros.

Through media competitions, Večernje novosti received around 74,000 euros. For the projects “Manifestations as a Brand” and “Notable Belgraders,” the City of Belgrade allocated nearly 43,000 euros to them.

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications allocated just over 18,000 euros for the projects “Protecting Children on the Internet,” “Living with Barriers,” and “The Position of Cyrillic Script in Montenegro.” The remainder of the funds in media competitions came from the cities of Zrenjanin, Loznica, and Sremska Mitrovica.

Rajić's other company, Politika Newspapers and Magazines, performed slightly worse this year. In our previous analysis, we found that this company received the largest share of public funds among all observed newspapers in 2024, totaling over 330,000 euros.

However, in 2025, the total value of contracts, or at least those publicly available, significantly decreased, with Politika receiving around 193,000 euros. Almost all the funds were obtained through public procurement – over 170,000 euros, while media competitions provided them with “only” 23,000 euros.

Publicly available contracts show that the funds obtained from media competitions were allocated by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications for the projects “Demographic Challenges of Serbia: How to Increase Our Numbers” and “Equal on the Field: The Power of Sports in Breaking Down Barriers,” as well as by the municipality of Žitorađa.

From public procurement, they earned the most from advertising. The Directorate for Construction Land and Building of Belgrade was the most generous partner, providing over 29,000 euros. The Post of Serbia and Radio-Television of Serbia each signed contracts worth 17,000 euros.

Contracts worth nearly half a million euros were awarded to Politika and Večernje novosti despite the fact that during the same period, they had together published at least 450 manipulative articles on their front pages.

RTS, Post and EPS among the largest payers of the tabloid Alo

According to publicly available data, the publisher of the tabloid Alo collected over 143,000 euros in 2025 through public procurement and project co-financing. Analysis by Raskrikavanje shows that this tabloid published at least 529 false or manipulative news stories on its front pages during the same year.

Among the largest clients for advertising services were Radio-Television of Serbia and the Post of Serbia, each allocating 17,000 euros to Alo, while Elektroprivreda Srbije signed contracts of almost the same value. Significant funds were also allocated to this tabloid by the Ministry of Finance and the Belgrade municipality of Vračar, both providing around 8,500 euros.

The Municipality of Bač also allocated over 7,000 euros for advertising, making it one of the more significant clients of this tabloid's services.

In addition to income from public procurement, Alo Media System received funds through project co-financing. The City of Belgrade allocated more than 42,000 euros to this firm in media project co-financing competitions.

Informer received around 90,000 euros solely from the budget of the City of Belgrade

The publisher of Informer, the company Insajder Tim, fared better than Alo in 2025 through public procurement and project co-financing. It collected nearly 192,000 euros. Analysis by Raskrikavanje shows that Informer published 399 false or manipulative news stories on its front pages that year.

Through public procurement, this company received almost the same amount as the tabloid Alo – over 100,000 euros.

The largest individual contract Informer signed was with the City Administration of Vranje, which allocated just under 20,000 euros for advertising services. Following that were the Post of Serbia with 17,000 euros, and the Vrnjačka Banja Municipal Administration, which signed a contract worth over 10,000 euros with this tabloid.

An additional 7,600 euros were allocated to Informer by the City Administration for Property, Economy, and Environmental Protection, while significant contracts were also signed with Elektroprivreda Srbije, the Administration for Capital Investments of Vojvodina, and the Tourist Organization of Serbia.

Informer would have gained another approximately 11,000 euros had the City of Novi Pazar not terminated its contract with this tabloid just a month and a half after its signing. The decision for unilateral termination stated that the contract was being terminated “due to the cessation of the need for advertising.”

In addition to public procurement, Informer also generated income through project co-financing. According to available data, the company Insajder Tim received three projects from the City of Belgrade totaling nearly 90,000 euros.

In previous years, part of the funding through project co-financing was also received by the company “Info IT Media,” which was owned by the majority owner and editor-in-chief of Informer, Dragan J. Vučićević. That company has since been dissolved.

Together we are bigger, together we are stronger

At the end of 2025, the tabloids Alo and Informer began a joint expansion into the local media market by acquiring media outlets that have been generating significant revenue from public procurement and project co-financing for years.

Businessman Saša Blagojević, owner of the tabloid Alo and Alo Media System, founded the company Best Media Team on December 24, 2025. Just six days later, this company acquired two local television stations – TV-5 Užice and Lav Plus.

Shortly thereafter, Dragan J. Vučićević, the editor-in-chief of Informer, joined the ownership structure. His company Insajder Tim purchased a ten percent stake in Best Media Team for just 10,000 dinars.

Throughout December 2025 and in the early months of 2026, Best Media Team continued acquiring local media, and today its portfolio includes television stations, radio stations, or portals from Užice, Čačak, Priboj, Valjevo, Bačka Palanka, Zrenjanin, Loznica, Kikinda, and Ivanjica.

Raskrikavanje has previously reported on the financing of local media now part of this company. According to that analysis, media connected to Best Media Team generated nearly half a million euros in revenue through public procurement and project co-financing in 2025 alone.

The publisher of Srpski telegraf received around 130,000 euros through public procurement

During the past year, Srpski telegraf published 293 manipulative, unfounded, or biased news stories, according to analysis by Raskrikavanje. Nevertheless, the publisher of this tabloid, Media Network, secured lucrative contracts worth around 130,000 euros with the state through public procurement.

The largest amount, around 17,000 euros, was allocated to Media Network by the Post of Serbia for advertising in print, while RTS allocated nearly 13,000 euros for the same purpose. For advertising in newspapers, the Republic Directorate for Property signed a contract worth over 11,000 euros with Media Network.

Mondo received over 42,000 euros solely from RTS

The publisher of Kurir, Mondo, received contracts totaling over 113,000 euros through public procurement. The most significant contracts were signed with Radio-Television of Serbia, which allocated 42,500 euros to the publisher of Kurir for advertising its program.

After RTS, the most lucrative contract Mondo signed was with the Post of Serbia, which, as with the case of Srpski telegraf for advertising in print, allocated 17,000 euros.

The company Mondo INC received 18,700 euros through media project co-financing in 2025 for three projects. The most substantial amount, around 8,500 euros, was allocated to Mondo by Novi Sad for the project “Mileva and Novi Sad: 150 Years since the Birth of the Scientist Who Inspires Us.” Besides Novi Sad, the publisher of Kurir also received project support from Vrnjačka Banja and Kragujevac.

The tabloid Kurir and many other media outlets published by Mondo are now under majority ownership of Telekom Srbija.

The state company purchased an 80 percent stake in the company from businessman Igor Žeželj, for an undisclosed amount. Žeželj retains ownership of the remaining 20 percent.

The contract for the sale of Mondo was signed on January 9, 2025, but was made public a year later when the registration was recorded in the Business Registers Agency. We reported on this in January.

In addition to Kurir, which has a newspaper, portal, and television channel, Mondo's portfolio includes several portals such as Espreso, Glossy, Mondo, Sensa, Yumama, Stvar ukusa, Smart life, Lepa i srećna, as well as the magazine Elle. Additionally, it owns the cable television channels Klasik TV and DOX TV.

Source: Raskrikavanje