Support to Media and Pressure on Authorities Way to Better Media Environment

Media

The EU integration process as a topic attracts less attention in Serbia's mainstream media than other topics related to the EU, Russia or the U.S., reads the latest report by the Clingendael Institute, unveiled on July 20, and adds that the quality of media reports on foreign actors was low, as reflected in the absence of essential debate and/or credible sources.

The report highlights the importance of information, the right to information, freedom of expression, fight against misinformation and spread of fake news in conditions of a global pandemic, as well as how foreign policy bias in reporting in Serbia stems from a lack of media freedom in the country.

Such reporting may have a negative effect on public opinion on membership in the EU, and all that is directly linked to the characteristics of the media landscape in Serbia, says the report titled Declining Media Freedom and Biased Reporting on Foreign Actors in Serbia.

The Dutch think tank points out that media ownership remains insufficiently transparent and that the media privatization process has not been completed, that many media outlets are dependent on state financing as they are not economically sustainable enough. Those factors enable the Serbian government to informally manage and influence the content and tone of what is reported, which leads to (self-)censorship and biased reporting, reads the report.