BIRODI: National TV News Programs Favor China and Russia, Much Less EU

Television (Photo: Pixabay)

The Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) reported on Aug. 28 that in their news programs, the TV networks broadcasting nationwide portray most positively Chinese and Russian actors, leaving the European Union (EU) far behind.

“BIRODI’s year-and-a-half monitoring of news programs broadcast nationwide by the TV networks RTS, Pink, Prva, Happy, and B92, as well as the cable channel N1, from Dec.1, 2022 to May 31, this year, shows that in their prime-time news programs the TV networks depicted most positively actors from the countries the Freedom House categorized as non-free, namely  China and Russia,” stated BIRODI.

“The most positive coverage was given to Chinese President Xi Jinping, with 70.1% of the positive time, and China as a country, with 61.9% of the positive time. Third came Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, with 46% of the positive time, while Russia as a country was next with 29.6% of the positive time,” the organization said.

Following Russia is the United States with 22.5% of positive time, while the European Union, Serbia seeks to join, received only one-sixth—15.9% of positive time—compared to the total time it was given in the analyzed news programs. As for N1, the most positively portrayed actor was U.S. President Joseph Biden, with 49% of positive time, followed by Germany with 18.9% of positive time, and then the U.S. with 13.6% of positive time.